How to Apply Custom Guitar Decals

Custom guitar decals are an affordable and easy way to give your acoustic guitar a unique look. With a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes available, you’re sure to find the perfect decal for your guitar.

What is the purpose of decal?

Whether you’re looking to promote your band, reinforce your image or make a statement, a decal is an excellent way to dress up your guitar without damaging it. Using water-slide decals, you can create any design on the body, neck or headstock of your guitar. They’re also incredibly flexible and can be easily removed if you ever want to change your look.

When choosing a decal, it’s important to pick one that fits your style and matches the color of your instrument. Once you’ve found the right image, print it out on decal paper. Be sure to set the image to be mirror-imaged so that it appears correctly once applied to your guitar. After printing, cut out the design with scissors and soak it in water for 30 seconds to a minute.

Once your decal is soaked, use tweezers to loosen the film from the backing paper. Once the two are separated, gently slide the decal onto the headstock face and move it around until you’re happy with the placement. The water-slide decal is incredibly flexible and, if needed, you can easily reposition it by using your tweezers to gently push or pull it into place.

To protect the decal, apply a couple of clear coats of lacquer. It’s essential that the first coats are very light – smacking on heavy lacquer right away can damage and wrinkle your decal. Just mist on the first coat and wait a half hour or so before applying another.