Thanks AB. Yep, for short runs like this it's the setup fees that will kill us. They don't matter much for long runs.
There is a follow on eBay who does very nice guitar water-slide decals. I doubt he can do metallics, but might do a good imitation. He charges $15 for 2 decals, but I would imagine that the price would go way down for a run the size we want.

We need to decide if we want inkjet printing (good) or silkscreen (great). There will be a big difference in price, delay and quality.