Hammered Hearts jewellery blog

This is my latest project. Steampunk - industrial electric guitar.

I know it's not strictly steampunk, with the aluminium etc but I had to call it something and I thought it would still appeal to the same crowd. (Actually I think it would technically be called Dieselpunk). It has taken several weeks to do. It takes a while to accumulate suitable bits and pieces and to do good art (if that is what this is?) I find I need to have plenty of time to contemplate and consider and experiment. It is a fairly gradual process. Some projects seem to take forever and others stall virtually at the idea stage and never get completed. This one progressed quite well over several weeks.

I used leather on the back.I wanted old worn looking leather. Around here it is pretty easy to get hold of old leather lounge suites for free or almost free, Usually when they are a few years old and looking very dated or when the dog has eaten part of it. I also rubbed and buffed this leather back after it was installed to give a worn look.

I made a little heart shaped brass logo for the neck mounting using my J-O initials.

Some bits of metal were new but most were quite old and had already been discarded by previous owners in the past. Most of it is made from various old bits and pieces scrounged from wherever I could find them.The idea is to use unusual pieces from a wide range of sources and modify them so that they aren't easily recognizable. Some bits may be vintage of iconic an then it's ok for them to be recognizable. I try not to use anything too rare or collectable in it's own right.

I was lucky to find some copper sheet which was already quite old and heavily patina-ed already.

Now I need someone to tune it up and see how well it plays. I can't play a note myself, but was careful to ensure that everything is still use-able. There's a video clip below of "Paul" from Guitar World, demonstrating a guitar of the same model as this one was, so hopefully it should still play something like that. This is my first attempt at modding a guitar, but hopefully not the last.