Auto-Wrap on Mica Covered Steels

[Lynn Stafford]

Seems like a viable option for dressing up the front panel of the relatively unspectacular "bowlin' ball" 'mica found on so many of the old Emmons student model guitars.

I had the cabinet one of those professionally wrapped in black a couple of years ago.

[Dick Hitchcock]

Yes, you did Joe, and did a good job!!

[Patrick Huey]

Where would you get something like that done? It sure looks slick...

Bryan
google your local area and auto body wrap.
We have had caskets done in custom wrap like this. A child’s casket done in Minecraft theme and an adult’s in Texas A&M theme. You can pretty much get anything wrapped these days and its not terribly expensive. I’m having the front end of my car wrapped soon to protect against rock chips and bugs as for whatever reason you can’t find car bras for 2020 Nissans and I spend a lot of time driving.

[Dennis Montgomery]

It is self adhesive vinyl with a clear UV protectant laminate. The laminate makes the piece thicker - which makes the installation much easier.
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One 'good samaritan' made it clear that if I produced a vinyl for him and somehow he felt that his guitar was damaged or defaced during installation or removal - I would be responsible for the cost of repair.

As I posted, no good deed goes unpunished. I contacted those who expressed interest and told them I decided to not offer the service.

I'd love to help players personalize their instruments if there's a way to do so without risking life and limb.

I use a similar material to yours designed for snowboard vinyl wraps. The details you provided about your auto wrap regarding lifespan, laminate properties, application and removal apply to the vinyl I use as well. Here's a couple shots of the wraps I've done with it: One on my Mullen SD12 and the other on a BMI SD10 I refurbished and sold as a console steel:




As far as your "good Samaritan" story goes, I never let it get that far! After posting threads showing the wrap process from start to finish, I received a handful of requests for quotes on wrapping others steel guitars but I turned them all down.

Doing a proper job of a full vinyl wrap requires removing all hardware from the top surface. Most importantly, that includes the changer and everything attached to it underneath as well (at least on the Mullen and BMI I wrapped, I'd guess that's likely true for every model out there). While I'm comfortable disassembling and reassembling my steels, I'm not a master builder/setup guy so there's no way I would ever take on someone else's.

I decided the best I could do is point people in the direction of what's required for a DIY vinyl wrap project and offer my help. Speaking of which, here's links to those 2 vinyl wrap threads I mentioned (first for the Mullen and second for the BMI) if anyone's curious to see the entire process. If anyone would like more info, feel free to PM me

viewtopic.php?t=344361&highlight=vinyl+wrapped+mullen
viewtopic.php?t=346379&highlight=vinyl+bmi

[Michael Lester]

Very nice Dennis...bold graphics that will really pop on stage.

Like you, I didn't want to do this for anyone else, but I had several inquiries from players that wanted to spruce up their guitars. I figured 'what-the-heck' I may be able to help.

A complete wrap would be way out of my wheelhouse. I only offered to help with the front panel.

Thanks for your comments.

Michael Lester

[Dennis Montgomery]

Thanks Michael!

So you were offering to wrap the front panel only and that 'good Samaritan' said if you damaged or defaced anything you'd be held responsible for repair? I would have done exactly the same thing you did and pulled the plug on offering to wrap anyone's after that.

The other thing about doing a wrap for someone else - especially for a fee - is it would have to be absolutely 100% perfect. No bad seams, no less than perfectly straight cuts, zero air bubbles no matter how small, etc. I can say that after the work I've done that there's always a couple spots that are a little off in some way...but since it's just for me I can live with it, if it were for someone else, I'd have to reorder a new vinyl sheet and start again

[Jerry Overstreet]

...I'd have to reorder a new vinyl sheet and start again

Been there, done that. That's why it's so important to use the repositional auto wrap with the air release.

My first one was ordinary Oracal sign vinyl and I learned real quick how aggressive that stuff is.

Now, there are several auto detail shops around with experience doing this type of work and the price is more reasonable.

They might be able to do a wrap without any major disassembly too.

That's probably what I'd do next time.

[Chris Johnson]

Hi Jerry,

All I had to remove was the keyhead (+ strings).

[Dennis Montgomery]

...I'd have to reorder a new vinyl sheet and start again

Been there, done that. That's why it's so important to use the repositional auto wrap with the air release.

My first one was ordinary Oracal sign vinyl and I learned real quick how aggressive that stuff is.

Now, there are several auto detail shops around with experience doing this type of work and the price is more reasonable.

They might be able to do a wrap without any major disassembly too.

That's probably what I'd do next time.

Hi Jerry,

the snowboard vinyl I use is also repositional - and it would be pretty much impossible to do this kind of job otherwise. I stretch it while laying it out and if I don't like what I see it's a simple matter of lifting it back up and trying again. The adhesive doesn't really activate until it's in place and pushed down hard to squeeze out air bubbles. I've never had a corner or any section peel back and it's been a couple of years since I wrapped the Mullen. The vinyl is really amazing stuff

As far as an auto shop being able to do this without the topside hardware removed, I'm not sure it's possible, but I'd love to see how they'd do it. The main issue for me that meant removal of the hardware was required was how would you stretch the vinyl equally over the changer and on either side of the fretboard? I guess it would be one thing if the wrap was a solid color or something without a pattern that had to be lined up, but in other cases I just don't see how it could be done.

I wonder if anyone here has actually had an auto shop wrap theirs without removal of the neck/changer/tuning tree/etc?

[Dennis Montgomery]

Hi Jerry,

All I had to remove was the keyhead (+ strings).

Hi Chris,

did you do this yourself or take it to someone who specialized in vinyl wrap?

[Jerry Overstreet]

I guess I was thinking of a single neck guitar. On a double it would be harder to do without removing the necks.

Yes, the keyheads have to come off to look right, but those are fairly easy to remove on most guitars.

I had a sign shop measure and cut out the changer and pickup openings from the vinyl. No need to wrap those areas.

I removed the necks and keyheads on the 2 that I did, but I was changing pickups and in one case re-jeweling the necks anyway.

Some of these auto wrap guys are pretty slick and they might be able to do a double neck if the keyheads were removed by just trimming around the necks and the controls. Couldn't hurt to ask if one was so inclined.

[Chris Johnson]

Hi Dennis,

I took it to a local auto wrap shop. Cost about $100 total

[Dennis Montgomery]

Some of these auto wrap guys are pretty slick and they might be able to do a double neck if the keyheads were removed by just trimming around the necks and the controls. Couldn't hurt to ask if one was so inclined.

Pretty slick indeed

I'd love to watch one of these guys wrap a steel with only pulling the keyheads...they definitely have secrets I haven't been able to figure out

[Dennis Montgomery]

Hi Dennis,

I took it to a local auto wrap shop. Cost about $100 total

Really? Wow! For my projects, the vinyl itself is about $75.

I live in a tiny town (pop 2,000) but the next biggest town over we have a guy who specializes in auto wraps and signs. I might have to stop in and ask him about this if the time comes to consider changing the wrap on my Mullen. Of course he better be really good 'cause I'll be comparing it to the job I did after pulling all the hardware

[Michael Lester]

Disclaimer: I am not in the vinyl wrap business. Our company provides Strategic Planning and Marketing Communications to our clients. In a number of cases, wrapping a fleet of vehicles with vinyl was a good marketing tactic.

We were compelled to try to understand as much as we could about vinyls, adhesives, installation, removal and life span because we didn't want to be on-the-hook if a fleet of delivery trucks was negatively affected by the wrap process.

Every instance of wrapping was started only after the client agreed to a list of details describing vinyl life, ink life, adhesive life and potential harm, etc.

We learned that there are dozens of different adhesive backed vinyls. Some can cause great harm to certain surfaces but be just fine on others. Some cause 'ghosting' when removed - a faint version of the original image forever in the surface. Many 'weather' differently. Some require special tools and heat guns to install.

Self adhesive vinyls are generally described as 'Cast' vinyl or 'Calendared' vinyl. 'Cast' vinyl is the better quality and lasts many years.

Now, to the point.

Be very, very careful about choosing the vinyl you might apply or have applied to a guitar that may have cost as much as decent used pickup truck. This stuff can be nasty if it's the wrong type. Some of it, a mere touch is permanently stuck. Some of it stretches - altering the graphic. Some of it tears easily without the right tools.

Knowing the body shops in my area, I can't imagine they would have the patience or skills to completely wrap a complex shape like a fully assembled steel guitar. I would be much more likely to visit a sign shop that might have experience wrapping small shapes or flat surfaces.

FWIW, the printed Cast vinyl with UV coating I used for the leather carved look front panel shown in my previous photo was 30" x 3" - it cost $27.00 uninstalled.

[George Kimery]

You'll have to cover it in black to improve the sound.

[Steve Spitz]

I had a guitar builder wrap the front of a Mullen recently.

It looked great, but he removed the decal without my consent. I understand it would have looked bad had it not been removed, but would have liked to be part of that decision. Fortunately, Mullen was cool with selling me a replacement, which I applied when I sold the guitar, after removing the wrap.

Just something to consider before wrapping. You may want to know there won’t be any issues returning your steel back to the original appearance.

[William Carter]

If only Jeff Newman would have had this technology back in the day, who knows what we would have seen on his rigs.

[Johnie King]

Here’s a GS I dressed up!

[tom anderson]

Here’s a picture of the wrap I had done on my student Emmons. I got the new fretboard from Lynn Stafford and had a piece of Aluminum cut to be the “neck” underneath it.