As part of the finishing of the project guitar I want to give the headstock a Gibson-esque look and so, after some online research I used the excellent free vector graphics program, Inkscape, to put together this draft.
There is no “Gibson” font. The nearest I could find was a font called Today. I entered the text into Inkscape, converted the object to a path and then simplifed the path. This gives the effect of the letters “running in” to each other like the original Gibson logo.
The “Less Paul” [sic] text is done using the English font and the model description of “Jazzbeast” (this is not the final name – I haven’t worked that one out yet) using Copperplate Gothic Light.
I’m not yet sure of the best way to apply the lettering. The two options that at this stage are looking most likely are:
- Print black text outline onto waterslide decal paper, colour in the text with white or gold ink and then lacquer over the top. This is probably the most simple but I’m concerned that if the inks are at all translucent then the text will be overwhelmed by the black background.
- The second, and more difficult option, is to make myself a couple of small silkscreens (one for each colour) and squeegee the ink through to the headstock, before covering with lacquer. My concern with this method is how crisp the edges of the text will be.
The silkscreen method is covered in some detail in this video:
Dave Mac's Window on the World 