Pimping a guitar...

[phantasmagorovich]

using unexpected materials in art is what makes it fun and worth talking about. right?

+2

especially the talking part.

[phantasmagorovich]

One cover of wine:


Current state,
3 covers of wine, one coffee, one pencil graphite, sealer:


Can't wait to continue with this...

[kosta]

That is looking f'n gooooooood man! I'd be tempted to do a blackburst around the edges. I saw this tutorial online that got me to thinking about trying it on a project guitar some day: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burst.htm

[phantasmagorovich]

That is a nice tutorial!
Somewhere along the line I had the idea of putting a faux gilt along the edges but I think this one will get the full bastard look. No fancy stuff for her.

[kosta]

THE FULL BASTARD LOOK. I love it. I somehow think Masked Elwood will also support this. The relic'ing these guys in NY do is kind of interesting and might be worth a look for some FULL BASTARD inspirations:

http://cobraguitars.com/

[phantasmagorovich]

Hum....

That is highly inspirational stuff, since it takes the whole relicing schtuss to an extreme where it almost could be fun again. Makes me consider putting a light colour finish on top and relic until this shines through again...

I wonder If I could just put wax on part of the body where I want it to relic, go over it with spray paint and then warm it up to take off the paint again?

[kosta]

I bet you could. I bet you could sir...

[mathias]

Current state,
3 covers of wine, one coffee, one pencil graphite, sealer:


Can't wait to continue with this...

This is looking great!

[eatyourguitar]

I think it looks great. can I suggest leather or wood pickguard. maybe woodburning or painting a name on it.

[mathias]

A reminder of the progress on this.

Before:


After:


The wood grain really came out with this technique!

[phantasmagorovich]

Surprise! This is how it looks now:





I have decided to paint the back and sides in this turquoise to make the red stand out better. After the sealer dried and I put some wax on it the colour darkened to some sort of brown and I thought it needed contrast.

@eatyrguitar:
I am not a huge fan of wood pickguards and leather somehow seems wrong. I am thinking of using material out of context though. Maybe a metal pickguard? Copper might be an option though it might look cheesy too. But maybe I will just not use a pickguard at all.

@mathias:
Thanks! I tend to think that any treatment would have improved the looks of the guitar though.

Other than the turquoise back here's the current state of affairs:

- in an attack of 'support your local businesses' I have decided to order Barfuss Pickups, not The Creamery. ONly problem is that the dude has so many awesome things to choose from that I can't make up my mind. But I will call him tomorrow and maybe he can help me on the phone. He has humbucker-sized Jazzmaster-pickups in his line that make me go insane. Or P90's in that offset Wide-Range style. Or Wide Range Humbuckers. Or P90's. Or Filtertrons. It is insanity.

- I will order all the other electronic parts tonight.

- I'm still thinking if I should scallop the frets from the 15th upward. Maybe I'd use that part of the neck then...

- I am also thinking about replacing the wraparound bridge with a roller bridge and put a Vibrato tailpiece on this beeyatch.

- I will replace the Synchromatic on the headstock with something sayin FULL BASTARD. (Just made this up now.)



All in all I have the feeling that I am very impulsive about this whole affair. I decide on something and then put it to work the same day. Normally I am a planner though so this is very unusual for me. I am really happy with the direction this is taking.

[eatyourguitar]

you might not like the scalloped frets if you have never tried it. it can be difficult at first to get all the notes to intonate properly cause the tendency is to press down when playing. even if you do scallop, I wouldn't do 15 fret and up. maybey just the last 4 frets.

[phantasmagorovich]

Oh, I always thought the idea behind scalloped frets is for the notes not to intonate properly... The last four frets is probably good enough. I honestly never play that far up on the neck unless I make a bunch of awful noise so I thought why not? But then again: why? On the other hand this is probably the modification that I can decide on last.

[phantasmagorovich]

Here she is. I will most likely get new Pickups in a couple of months but there is no way to this month. I will at some point add a vibrato, but again it will have to wait. I just finished her and I feel terrible because I don't have strings so that I cannot give her a testride.

[mysteriousj]

nice!