Following along with steps one and two, I've created a bunch of logo roughs that mostly resemble what I've found to be most common in the musical instrument manufacturing industry; there are a lot of brands that have a customized script or serif font for their logos. I expected to find a lot more creative manipulations of text, like a company reshaping the "M" in their name to look like a music note, but the most popular manufacturers you'll hear musicians talk about generally don't have such flare. Here is a link to a Pinterest post showcasing what I mean: 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/696158054871372494/

There is some cleverness to some of these logos but I'm not throwing dirt on industries like Fender or Ibanez since I actually like their stylized fonts. The bold, edgy serif design of Ibanez's logo is my favorite of the bunch, however, this brand I'm designing for felt it'd work best with this more commonly used cursive/script style. 

To clarify, the name "Skillingz" is a nod to my favorite bassist Muzz Skillings, formerly involved with my favorite band "Living Colour". Nothing about that band echoes the elegance I mostly experimented with here, but it's a popular font style for a reason. The way I see it, the brushstroke cursive letters like what Fender uses feels welcoming as well as pristine. On top of that, there's a visual appeal to the brand's own legacy, and even though this is a fictional brand, it felt right to emulate that. 

Anyways, I did try whatever other ideas came to mind, trying not to waver too far away from the audience this logo is meant to draw in. As you can see from the roughs, I still felt the most confident with the cursive/handwritten style, though I wouldn't mind implying more of an edginess that rock/metal fans could appeal to. Once we get to digitalizing these logos it'll be easier to replicate the serif designs I have in mind, though I haven't found anything that's essentially better than the hand-written ones yet.