Official Luthiers Forum!

I have a question about adding leather to the top of a guitar either inplace of a pickgaurd or just as a design. I have an idea of adding leather to the top of a guitar and want to know if this is a bad idea?

I have seen a couple other guitars with leather accents (at least it looked like leather) I only saw pictures of them, not in the real thing in person. But none of them were as lets just say "involved" as I am thinking about doing.

My concern is that it will destroy the sustain that my guitar might normally have. Or hurt the tone in some way. I have no technical knowledge to base this on. It is juist a concern I have.

I have an amazing design in mind, but if it will hurt the tone or playability of the guitar in anyway then I will have to scrap the idea. A great looking guitar is just a chunk of wood and metal if it doesn't sound good.

So has anyone here added leather to a guitar on any of your designs before? If so what was the outcome?

Thank you for you help in advance. Sorry for the multi threads I've started. I just have a million quiestions since I am just starting out. I have a good amount of ideas for projects, I just need to know if some of the ideas are even feasible or not.

Scot, what kind of guitar are you talking about?

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Aoibeann

Scot-
I'm a novice, and many others on the forum have the experience, data, and expertise to provide good advice.

Nevertheless, I'm going to give you my two cents anyway.

Everything I've read implies that you're trying to work with materials that have a high stiffness to weight ratio, which will generally increase sustain, volume, etc. I'd wager that leather is lower in stiffness, for it's weight, than any suitable guitar wood, and yeah, it's going to damp the sound. Now, if you're trying to do that for some reason, um...ok. But myu guess is that if you're thinking using leather for aesthetic reasons, you'll have some very undesirable results on the acoustics of the guitar.

I remember looking at that D-28 (D-18?) that Presley used to play, encased in a leather cover, and thinking, "man, that's gotta sound like a bag of rocks"

Nothing specific. I am going to start a solid body electric and had an idea that would require the addition of leather to the top of the guitar for asthetics only. I just wanted to know if doing so would ruin the tone/sound of the guitar.

It is purely for design and aesthetics only. I'm just wondering if it can be done without destroying the sound of the guitar? I know it's not going to help the sound. Now its a matter of how much it would hurt the sound. If it would be considered minor then I'd still think about it. But if it would drastically damage the overall sound of the guitar then I will have to abandon the idea completely.

It won't have the same effect on a solid body as an acoustic. I doubt that it will have much of an impact on the sustain, but I'm sure it will color it. But you know there is really only one way to find out. If you pick up a beater at a garage sale, you can use it to experiment on. This could be an interesting experiment. Keep us posted if you decide to have a go at it.

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Aoibeann

Great idea!

I was only planning on it for my own project build. I never really thought about trying it on a junker. I do have a Les Paul copy that I will be resurrecting from the dead. If it doesn't work out it will be no big loss. I can figure something out for that one. Come to think of it....I do want to cover/fill/get rid of the middle pup route. So I'll come up with something. I wasn't planning on selling the LP copy so I don't mind experimenting with it.

Thanks for the suggestion!

It looks like it is time to do some research on furniture making and working with leather

Sounds like a great place to start. Take notes, take pictures and keep us posted.

Remember, leather comes in lots of varities, thickness, chemicals used to process, splits, hides, etc. Lots to look at and play with.

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Aoibeann

Check out these leather pickguards. Not cheap but very nice.
http://www.eldoradostraps.com/pickguard.htm

Thanks MRS! That is actually the pickgaurd that I saw that gave me the inspiration for my idea. I saw it one of Tom Delongs Teles and thought it was a great looking idea. My design just takes it one step further. Which may be the one step that could destroy the sound of the guitar