CrocCaster-013

November 2026... time for a new, unique design!

I've been wanting to work on a crocskin top (a little like my Bolero crocskin) for a Telecaster-shape/style guitar, and the walnut cabinet doors I have available look just like the right candidate for creating such effect, resulting in an all natural brown top with black/dark laser burned engravings.

Finding a correct file for a crocskin tile is not an easy task. The one DBZ uses is really nice, but it doesn't seem to come from a standard or readily available file unlike the laser engraving file used for their "paisley Dellareta guitars".

So I turned to AI with an initial crocodile skin picture as a starting point. After 40mns of careful prompting, I had a file I could feel comfortable to work with in terms of genral look, dimensions and overall rendering, as shown on the simulation below

Besides having a file to laser-engrave, it takes a lot of steps before one can get a ready-to-inlay guitar top!
These include:

• laying out the inlay to be carved or engraved,

• test different laser settings until one provides good results (depth of engraving, overall color/effect result,...)

• careful positioning of the to be inlayed top onto the laser bed, repositioning while the laser works can be expected...

• then a long 7h engraving process, hoping for no power failure as this happened to me in one of my builds

Here are several YT videos of the engraving process (start, somewhere in the middle and the very end of the 7h engraving task), and some still pictures are shown below: (I wore special glasses while taking the pictures or filming the videos, one should NEVER watch laser light with bare eyes)

After enduring 7h of laser engraving, the wood top needs much cleaning, including a first sanding step to rmove all surface burn marks.
I will need to enlighten the wood (where not burnt) or find a "potion" to better reveal the levels of gray that were in the engraving file, as it is now and despite initial cleanup, the top is a little to dark for my taste, especially when it after it receives protection (oil or other) that will naturally darken it and restore a beatiful brown color, at least that's what I aim for!