Irv said
A few years ago I purchased an arch top guitar that had the image of a famous jazz guitarist photographically etched into the spruce top.  I think that I got the guitar cheap as a result of it but it was really well done.  I will take a photo of it tomorrow for you.

One of the few odors I cannot stand is from wood burning with an electric “pencil.”  Totally different from a fireplace.  

Thanks Irv. I have been a welder breathing in toxic fumes most of my life so the woodburning is actually a nice change. The worst part of burning a wood that has been previously finished is that you can never really get all the chemicals sanded out, especially on a wood so thin.

The deer in the above picture is one of my drawings. I do better with bears and lions and such, but these two were available to show.

I found a fiddle in an attic several years ago that was beyond repair and I thought what a shame it was that it's existence was ended so poorly. Everything has a purpose and to me, hell is not a place of fire, hell is a life of unfulfilled potential, even for a violin.

Fiddlerman said
Just a thought Mark. Imagine if you did customer image for people on their instruments. I for one would probably hire someone to burn an image of our sailing vessel on a fiddle of violin..... Do you get the gist?  

I have done custom tattoos for people like that, Paintings, airbrush harleys and classic cars, even done my brother's tombstone with his lowrider.

Fresh wood would be perfect, wouldn't even need the whole violin, just the area that was to be burned. Unfinished back, front, even the neck. When the thickness of wood is known, as in I can put it in my hands and feel it, smell it, see the flow of the grain, I can etch and stain, which gives a three dimensional effect. Like scrimshaw. I like a combination of etching and burning, you can feel the print and the shading takes it another place.

I used to build model boats growing up, fascinated by the idea of adventure. Burn the the image of a sailing vessel? I can put you on that sailing vessel playing Ode to Joy.

Doing customer request like that, would be a dream come true.

Fiddlerman said
Great. We'll do it and post the results here for others to do the same.
Maybe even a side income for you if you want.  

I would love to do it.

wtw said
Nice !   

Thank you so much!!!

@Irv none at all. It's all about patience and timing. With a low heat you can burn lines but it's like watching paint dry. Best for shading. With a high heat you can move on pretty good. If you sit in one spot to long, it burns out away from the pattern and you have bulges in the line, and the high heat will actually cut into the wood if you go to slow. To fast and the line will fade when you coat it. Same as tattooing really. You wear gloves to keep your oil off of the wood, which affects the finish, in tattooing it causes infections. You have to have your speed right and pressure light to keep from going to deep. Tattooing it's 1/64 of an inch ( the second layer of the epidermis) and to keep from cutting the skin. And you have to be able to draw and write in reverse of what you see in order to make patterns. Unless you have a light table for tracing or hectograph stencil maker. That's for amateurs and lazy people. The picture comes alive in the first pattern and then you reduce it to lines only, and add the shading into the final pass of the burning process. It's easy if you're patient.

In tattooing you test people by their ability to draw a circle free hand with their eyes closed. Because when you're using ink, you can't see where the line is going. It's not hard with lots of practice, but that takes patience also. It's all about commitment to practice.