When the word goes around, all kinds of strange things are wanted to be engraved. Knives, spoons, Zippos are now quite regular. And them comes someone who asks whether I could engrave something I’ve never heard about before.
This time it was electric guitar pickup cover. OK, I knew what electric guitar was, begin Queen fan myself, but I had really no idea what that cover was and what it’s used for. A change to learn and widen horizons. Now I know where it goes and additionally also how electric guitars actually work.
Anyway, here’s the engraving I came up with.
![Engraved pickup cover Engraved pickup cover](http://programmerblacksmith.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/pickup_cover1_small.jpg)
Close-up of the engraving.
![Pickup cover engraving close-up Pickup cover engraving close-up](http://programmerblacksmith.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/pickup_cover2.jpg)
This engraving posed quite a challenge. As the detail was nickel plated, it meant “no mistakes allowed”, because when I’d slip during engraving, there’s no way to fix the mirror finish. With non-plated metal, there’s always a chance to sand or burnish down the mistake, but that’s not possible on plated detail.
I think it came out OK.