Ice man Mirror

[trevor.rawlings@raywhite.com]

Hi Guys
I think its time for me to do another build apart from my EVH builds. being a KISS fan for over 30 years I think its time to pay homage to them. Time to order a IC-1 soon and work out how to do the mirror work (thing more down the line of Acrylic Mirror Perspex Sheet rather than glass) Any thoughts ?

Cheers

[pablopepper]

Hi Trevor, I have worked with acrylic as a plastic fabricator for the better part of 15 years. Here are some things I think you will need to consider.

-Acrylic will not shatter like glass, but it will snap fairly reliably along a scored line. You might need to carefully plan out your shatter pattern and cut individual pieces to fit.

-The mirror is actually applied as a thin film to the back of clear acrylic. This film is incredibly fragile and any scratches will show through. Solvent based glues can also degrade the film causing it to shrivel and come away from the material.

-Acrylic can still have a razor sharp edge, not as sharp as glass, but enough to easily slice into skin (my hands and arms are covered in scars that can attest to that). Meaning you will have to infill between all the bits and apply a fairly heavy clear coat, just as you would with glass.

-Mirrored acrylic only comes in 3mm thickness. This means you will be adding 3mm to the top of your guitar which could cause problems when fitting your hardware.

Now, I don't want to say 'don't do it', because after seeing your frankenstrat I believe that, if anyone, you could pull it off. I just think using acrylic mirror as opposed to glass might not be the easy option it seems. If you live in the Brisbane area come and see me otherwise let me know your address, I will send you a sample of mirror to play with and maybe help you decide.

[Scott J.]

Hi Trevor,

Very interesting concept for guitar body! ... it'll sure stand out at crowded gig! 8O

I think Craig (Pablo) is right, anything rigid is probably not the best way to go (for the safety reasons Craig mentioned) as well as the increase in body depth it will create (and all the problems associated with that),

However, as DB says "for any problem there is always a work around" (or words to that effect! ).

I can think of two possibilities (one cheaper and maybe not as viable - the other more viable but more expensive)

1. "Metalised" plastic foils - these come in all grades and thicknesses and definitely provide a mirror finish and also come in any of various tints and colours (as an example of the "cheaper end" of this spectrum think of the "foil" wrappers of toffees!). These films would be need to be glued to the body and would then need to be coated to protect them (as they wouldn't take a lot of wear 'n' tear). I don't know how Wudtone clear go on top of them but probably better with a polyurethane-type coating.

2. Similar thing to 1. but produced on vinyl and used in the auto industry for the car "wraps" for decorations and advertising - I've seen these produced in mirror finishes and they're self adhesive and able to be "stretched" (to a degree) to bend around and over curves. These a re pretty hard-wearing so I don't think they'd require any surface coating to protect them, plus easily trimmed with knife to shape.

As I said, I think option 1 would be cheaper and more fiddly but 2 would give the better and more durable finish.

I think any commercial printer (or even decent art suppliers) should be able to point you in the direction of the metalised plastic foils (1) and any decent vinyl-printing sign/display/advertising service should be able to knock out what you want (especially if they do a lot of work for the auto industry - chrome is always a favourite of the car & bike buffs! )

Don't where you are buts there's a quite such businesses of each type 'round here in Sydney - however a quick Google using appropriate key words should return most such businesses in OZ (if you're having trouble just drop a post here in the forum and I'll dig up some leads for you)

Good luck and keep us all posted with pics of the build - looking forward to seeing the end result!

[WeirdBits]

How about using standard acrylic style mirrored pickguard material and then 'scoring' the shattered pattern through the mirroring layer on the back? You could then spray some clear or whatever over the scoring to prevent the edges from shrinking/curling (or maybe some colour to emphasise the scored lines). If it worked it it would mean you would have the shattered look but with a nice smooth unbroken finish on the top, with no risk of sharp edges, and only the thickness of normal mirrored pickguard.

[pablopepper]

This might help.

http://vintageibanez.tripod.com/psmirror.html

This is how Paul Stanley's 'Mirrorball' Iceman was done. Very cool read.

[gavinturner]

Great link Pablo. This is an awesome idea for a build Trevor. Really hope you can pull it off!

Cheers,
Gavin.

[stan]

great read - do that!

[Tim]

Looking forward to seeing this one Trevor. And from all the great feed back I think everyone else is to.

[trevor.rawlings@raywhite.com]

Almost finished guys ....

[stan]

awesome!