toddler68

Unfortunately for me, I don't visit the forum often enough and I totally missed Charlie's inquiry back in February. I have since gotten in touch with him, but he had already commissioned a build of his own. I am still in need of a buyer if there is anyone is in the market for a super cool, totally hand-built custom double neck guitar... in purple.

This is my third build, and has been a long time in the making – roughly six years. It is a double-neck version of my second build and is also a commission. I am a hobby builder with a small basement shop, but I recently acquired a CNC router which I hope shortens my build time :-) Specs: Body/necks: laminated mahogany/purpleheart/walnut, matching truss rod covers 3/4” flame maple top dyed “Midnight Grape” with faux binding Rosewood fretboards, 12” radius, jumbo frets, abalone & MOP “flying dot” inlays Recessed TOM bridge with string through, 12-string stoptail/string-through combo Sperzel tuners (yes, 18 of them) Flame maple/purpleheart pickup rings, tone/volume and pickup selector knobs Matched mahogany backplate and switch covers Gibson Burstbucker 2’s and 3’s Recessed jack Hand-rubbed nitro finish Weighs in at 12.6 lbs

Now that it's done, I'll probably submit to GOTM when I get around to taking some decent photos. Thanks for the referral offer; I will definitely consider it.

I'll see what I can do about a video soon, but right now I have a conundrum - I may have lost the buyer for this guitar. Anybody in the market for a completely custom purple double neck guitar?

Headstock spacing leaves just enough clearance for tuning either neck. The necks are actually angled out slightly... 2 degrees maybe?

Yeah, people really love the curly purple top, but then I flip it over and get a whole new reaction. It has certainly been a long haul, but I'm really pleased with result. I don't think I'll ever do another double neck though - it's just a little too much work for not much more reward. I will definitely enter the GOTM for January though!

Here's the finished product... almost. Still gotta get it fully wired, but all the appearance parts are done and the finish is rubbed out and waxed up. Purpleheart/curly maple pickup rings, knobs and switch tips. Hope you like it! Oh yeah, almost forgot - she weighs in at 12.6 lbs.

OK, finally on to lacquer.

Damn, I knew you were going to say that! To be honest, I'm reluctant to do any more dyeing directly on the wood. The concentration was off on my first attempt and ended up being wayyyyyy too dark; I had to sand most of it back off (then re-bleach the wood and re-tape my faux binding ) Now I have anxiety every time I get close to it with dye. I also stuck with the alcohol dye; because I'm mixing blue and red, I wasn't sure I could get the same purple hue if I used a different type. I did try mixing water with the powdered dye which I don't recommend... it just clumped up and got foamy. Maybe if I mix water with my alcohol solution? At any rate, unless the client wants me to revisit the color, I'm leaving it as-is. I suppose I'd feel more comfortable bursting the edges slightly darker with tinted lacquer; maybe I'll run that by him if he's not happy with it.

OK, I'm pretty pleased with how the stain turned out. It's wet with mineral spirits in the pic, but I anticipate the figure popping even more with a finish. Still waiting on the go-ahead from the client to start shooting lacquer.

Thanks for the reply, Scott. I've only used the dye with denatured alcohol so I guess I'll have to take my best shot at using water. And I'll definitely try your trick of mixing my base color with the black. I did some initial trials on the scrap which I'll post soon.

Here's the location for the jack Top bleached a time or two... I'm trying another stain test... I could really use some advice on this because the whole stain black - sand back technique is confusing me. I didn't have to deal with this on the previous guitar; it was a burl and didn't need anything to "accentuate" the grain. I'm also dealing with faux binding again so I need to understand what my sanding/sealing/dying plan should be. So after doing some initial snooping around in the finishing tutorial area, here are my assumptions regarding the process: 1. Sand top to ~400 grit 2. Mask edge for faux binding and seal with several coats of lacquer 3. Dampen top with water to raise grain and let dry 4. Apply black stain to top and let dry 5. Sand top again to knock off high spots which will lighten black dye, being careful not to sand off lacquer which is sealing binding. 6. Apply color stain to taste 7. Seal top with lacquer Have I missed anything or made any incorrect assumptions?

Big fan of that neck! Got any rear shots that show the heel/body transition?

Of this year? It's awesome to see this thing going again! SR Well, I certainly earned that... It's a running joke with some of my coworkers too. But, I'm glad to be back on the wagon... and hope to be a little more involved over the coming year.