Epoxy River Guitar

During the summer of 2019 I decided to make an electric guitar using raw wood and epoxy. The wood is a salvaged live edge from the Santa Cruz area. I cut it to fit in a mold, and poured colored epoxy into the crevasses. Once cured it creates the beatiful river look as pictured below. I then cut the piece to the classic telecaster design, and routed the holes for the pickups, electronics, and neck slot. I painted the guitar body in clear laquer to let the epoxy really shine. It is a beautiful piece of art and took about three months to complete,

The most difficult part of this process was pouring the epoxy. With little previous experience, I researched the best methods to produce the flowing water look. The largest roadblock I encountered was heat. Epoxy cures in an exothermic reaction, so it produces a lot of heat and can burn or crack if not cooled properly, but also needs to be warm to help pop its internal bubbles (I did not have a vaccum chamber to remove bubbles). Add on the Los Angeles summer heat and it is a recipe for disaster. In the end I was thrilled with how the river came out.

Next I’m planning on making an epoxy acoustic guitar when I get the opportunity. That presesnts a whole other set of challenges with how thin it must be, but that’s half the fun of a project like this.