Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

[orpheo]

SOOOOOOO......

What feels like a lifetime ago, I built a guitar with my then-business partner and I took it along to the NAMM show 2015. I was invited to go to the SD Factory with my friends from the blog (who here doesn't love forum member Mincer? No? Shame on you ) and I brought along this axe. It was what I felt like was the apex of my skill. It features a solid rosewood neck, ebony fretboard, maple top on a white korina core, tremolo, 2 p90's and a humbucker. GOD this axe had it all. Except for decent looks. Hey, man, hindsight is always 20-20.

So, a while ago a friend of mine asked for a guitar and I had nothing left for him, so I opted to either refinish an oldie or make him one. I opted for the latter, to be honest, but not after I noticed this axe needed a LOT of work to get it fairly OK. I stuck to my guns, however, and completed this project. What I would do differently?

- not do this complicated finish on a completed guitar.

Not much beyond that.

I lacquer a guitar and glue in the neck afterwards; that's my current process. I simply didn't know how to do that back then.

I also decided to thin the body 5 millimeters, use hybrid gold/black hardware, premium electronics and my 'signature' wiring. Plus, three humbuckers. The added difficulty of routing those in where p90's used to exist was an sacrifice well worth it.

The bridge pickup is a pegasus/customcustom hybrid, the neck is a pearly gates/59 hybrid. Middle is a stock albeit split JazzN. I completely filled the voids in the top and finished the guitar black first. Then I added the gold/purple chameleon burst and splatter, filled that with 2K, then the purple/green chameleon 'binding' and finished that off in 1K. Sand, polish, assemble. Done.

I truly hope you appreciate the effort.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

Oh yeah, the backplates are polycarbonate and I am thinking of giving them a bit of texture? Also, I know there's no trussrod cover: I kinda started hating those and I stopped doing that on my newest guitars; deal with it

 

[Mincer]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

Awww.
This remains a wonderful instrument. That is one of the most unique and cool finishes I've ever seen.

 

[shupe13]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

Dayum.

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[St_Genesius]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

I like the burst, but the splatter doesn't work for me. So I fall somewhere in the middle of the two poll options, I suppose.

 

[nexion218]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

Ah, why no matching headstock? Otherwise I really like it!

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

I like the burst, but the splatter doesn't work for me. So I fall somewhere in the middle of the two poll options, I suppose.

yeah burst no splatter
just looks like it was left out when painting the room

 

[orpheo]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

Ah, why no matching headstock? Otherwise I really like it!

because the last time I did a finished headstock, not even a colored headstock, I wanted to jump off a building while shooting my brains out (It's just too, too complicated).

 

[chadd]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

I kinda dig the orange color and the original really didn't do anything for me. I'm sure you learned something from the process, as well, so it served a purpose. No vote either way, glad someone is trying different things.

 

[The Dali]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

I
LOVE
everything
about
that

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

I love that. Looks like it’s made out of solid industrial metals. I like the copper/patina and splatter. Half metal and half almost steam punk.

Just curious, is there a noticeable difference if the middle hum has screws towards the neck vs screws towards the bridge? How is this one wired? What are the switch positions?

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

yeah burst no splatter

+1

The burst is pretty cool, but I'm not feeling the splatter. Not to say I could do any better finishing a guitar, I'm sure there's someone out there who will be very happy with it!

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

That is one seriously sexy axe! At first glance the splatter on that finish kind of looks like some rock and roll galaxy you could get lost in. Like a guitar out of the flick Heavy Metal.

Very cool concept and the natural neck on that looks amazing. Even the original in its blueish finish was pretty but this is a true rebirth. Hallelujah.

Have you ever had a name for this beauty?

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[orpheo]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

Ha, I'm so surprised you guys don't dig the splatter! I have to admit, though, that it wasn't my first choice. It kinda happened. The material that gives it this flipflop finish look is solvent based and this was my first attempt ever at a solvent based basecoat and it required a totally different spraying technique with my spray gun. The learning curve is steep, my friends. So instead of trying to fix the mistakes in the burst initially I decided to embrace the screw ups and go all in with the splatter. The binding was sprayed later and is clearly, clearly much cleaner and better!

@Metalman_666 I tried to keep the neck as much itself as possible, so it would be evident this is a refinished guitar and not a new guitar. I didn't want to fake or mislead And nop, no name. Wouldn't know what to name it!

@beaubrummels: good questions. The switch does:

bridge full (series)
bridge full + slug coil mid out of phase parallel
bridge full + neck full (standard LP setting)
neck full + screw coil mid out of phase parallel
neck full (series)

Bridge always gets the lower volume/tone control set, neck always the upper. If bridge is engaged, mid pickup gets upper controls. If neck is engaged, mids get lower controls. Don't ask me how I came up with this wiring, I didn't. A forum member did after I asked around and it works very well for me. Auto-splits can't happen with standard pots and a standard 5 way 4 pole megaswitch, helas, and I didn't feel like adding in a push pull pot, so that's that. Could do it at a later date if I wanted, but I feel this is good enough for now. The out of phase single coil + humbucker works very, very well.

If there's a difference between screw inner or outer? Yeah, I believe there is but I wouldn't know what it could be. Didn't test that, sorry!

 

[orpheo]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

Awww.
This remains a wonderful instrument. That is one of the most unique and cool finishes I've ever seen.

Thanks ( are you talking about the old or new finish by the way?).

This axe is totally not your thing, though. It's way too heavy (a true LP in that sense) and screams like a banshee.

 

[JamesPaul]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

In those pics where it is fully framed, it has a cool looking into deep-space vibe for me. I think you did not screw it up.

 

[mojosman]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

The finish is amazing. I’ve never seen another guitar like it. Lots of subtle details that may not stick out at first look, but that you notice and appreciate as you give it a second look. I really like it. Great job!


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[GuitarDoc]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

Oh yeah, the backplates are polycarbonate and I am thinking of giving them a bit of texture? Also, I know there's no trussrod cover: I kinda started hating those and I stopped doing that on my newest guitars; deal with it

Looks like there's a cover on in the top photo.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

I always enjoy looking at your builds...you have a very unique way of seeing things. This one is no exception. I love the creative uniqueness of it.

 

[GreatOz]

Re: Did I screw this up? Vote inside!

I like the 2nd one much more personally.