Anyone know of a good place in the US to get quality engraving done? Keys, lip plate, etc.

It is funny that you should mention that. I am getting the lip plate engraved on my flute as we speak by
http://www.artisticengraving.com/

She has engraved a lip plate for me before and did a wonderful job. She has basic stock designs, but she can all do a custom design if you have one in mind. That is what I did. If you don`t like the basic stock design, email me and I will send you two very beautiful ones that I found that I know she will do.

I have been meaning to ask a few questions about that too. So here it goes, do you know if engraving costs much? I`ve been wanting to get it done for ages and what effect will it have if I get it done on plated keys? I mean will it go through the plating and will I have to get it re-plated? Same goes for my piccolo...
Thanks

Leprachaun

They may do phenomenal work with engraving, but oy, that website is painful. Yellow text on a black background is horrible on the eyes.

Leprachaun,
Most engravers will not engrave anything that is silver plated. It makes it ten times harder to engrave. That is what I was told by many I had contacted. I am getting my lip plate engraved a special designs not shown in her stock designs and she is still only charging me $125 for it. Other people wanted to charge me $300! Sherry has engraved a headjoint for me in the past and did a wonderful job. She is the person that does all the engraving for Flute World.

I was going to get the top of the barrel on my flute engraved since it is empty there (Powell engraves on the body instead) but it would have taken longer and I have an appointment with Powell to get my flutes yearly checkup. I am going to miss Prism! When it is time for new pads on my flute, I would love to get the keys engraved but will probably never get around to it.

Thanks Kara, just one more question. The closest music shop to me is over an hour away do you know if jewellers will do it and sre they trust worthy?

Kara, Thanks for the link to the website. I didn`t really like the stock designs that are displayed on the site, too girly. Any idea where I can find designs to browse? The problem is that I`m not sure what I want, but I think I`ll know it when I see it.

This site shows images of actual engravings, though few. http://www.powleyengraving.com/

It`s funny to see how the flute engraving section is somehow touched up to be a little more frilly vs the patriotic gun, knife, and golf club side.

Yes, but do they engrave your name on your lip plate? I want that engraved on my new flute. In Old English style lettering. If anyone has ever done this please let me know where or who. I hate the floral designs on lip plates. I am a frilly man, but not THAT frilly...HAHAHA!

-Dennis

Dennis,
I am sure Sherry could do that for you from Artistic Engravings. I had to look around to find engravings that I liked. They were hard to find. I mostly came across them when I saw someone else selling a flute that had it on there already.

I always wanted to get a dragon engraved on my flute and have it spitting out fire that went all around the flute. I probably never will though, just in case I ever wanted to sell it down the line, it would be harder to sell.

The dragon idea would be really cool. I`ve got a friend that is a great tatoo artist. I bet he could create a awsome design for me.

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Thanks StephenK for the link. I like some of those better. Some of the engravings on the guns are pretty good.

Kara, if you don't feel like I'm stealing your idea, I would like to follow up on the dragon idea.

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Actually, I think I might change the idea a bit. Have a flying dragon on the headjoint spitting fire toward the crown and have his tail rap around the flute.

After I posted my question about engraving my name I saw that on her site, Kara, she has a bunch of different styles of lettering that she does. So I am guessing she would do letter engraving on a 10K lip plate. I wonder, though. Is it just gold PLATING that doubles the cost or is solid gold going to do that also? I figure with the plating she would have to re-plate it.

Hello does anybody know if a jewellers will do it and if they will engrave my piccolo

Leprachaun, you might be able to find a jeweler that does it, though I am not sure if I would trust them with your piccolo. You could see.

Dennis, if your lip plate is solid 10K gold then there won`t be a problem. I know that she will engrave over gold plated things that are over solid silver.

Well, I got my headjoint back this morning. It is okay, but I am really not all that impressed. I will post a picture of it when I get a chance and let you guys be the judge of that. She does a different type of engraving, so it doesn`t come out like the machine engraved ones.

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Bob,
I don't mind at all if you do the Dragon idea, that is why I mentioned it. If you get it done, I would LOVE to see pictures of it. Going to a tattoo artist is a great idea. When I went to get my nose pierced,(OUCH! DOUBLE OUCH!!) it was at a tattoo place and I got to look through some books and that is where I got the dragon idea.

I don`t have any tats or piercings, but some the work I`ve seen done is extremely detailed and requires a great deal of talent and artistry.

I`ve already called him and he wants to take a look at the instrument. He thinks it would be cool to have one of his designs engraved. My question is, are there any restrictions on what can be engraved? Is shading possible? How much detail? Things like that.

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And in what format do the engravers usually require the design?