82DeanZ Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 (edited) Hey All, Well, I finally finished my Jem Tribute guitar. Well, really more of a USA Custom as it turned out. See my original progress thread here: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...=0entry120854 Here is a teaser pic: See the rest of the pics here (scroll down for the finished pics): http://www.pariah-now.com/Guitar%20Build%2...uild%20Page.htm It is really quite pretty in person with a high WAF factor (wife acceptance factor). The specs are as follow: One piece alder body with a 1/4 in maple top (bargain bin) and natural binding. Quarter sawn maple neck with maple fret board with abalone inlays and abalone side dots. Satin finish on fretboard and headstock and tung oil on the back of the neck. Grover 18:1 mini locking tuners with graphite nut. Dimarzio Evolution neck and bridge pickups. Gotoh Wilkinson Bridge. Gold 3-way switch gold abalone topped dome knobs. Jem style output. Flame maple trem and control cavity covers. Special thanks to Wes for suggesting adding the maple top when I overplaned my alder blank. Special thanks to Drak for the stain black - sand back - stain desired color technique (I even used Solar Lux black!). Special thanks to Brian for the Jem style output tutorial. Special thanks to whoever it was that posted a bass or guitar with wood control and trem covers. I forget who you were, but thanks for the idea whoever you are! And thanks to everyone who posts in general (and of course thanks to Brian for hosting Project Guitar) because I really don't think this project would have come off as well as it did without you. Thanks! The guitar plays and sounds like a dream and sets up better than any of the production guitars I own. I did the fret level myself using a sharpening stone. Right now the action is at 1.0 mm and no buzzing or fretting out. Thats pretty low. I may actually raise it a bit. Thanks for taking a look and let me know what you think or if you have any questions or comments. Best Regards, Mike. Edited September 14, 2004 by 82DeanZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki swordsman Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 beautiful man just beautiful, a lot of guitars with maple necks kinda look like rosewood would look better, but on yours the maple looks great, very much a part of its personality that stain top is lush, btw whats natural binding? i know i should know that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asm Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 natural binding is when the binding strip is masked off, then the top is dyed. so it keeps all the grain lines continuous but you have natural wood binding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Very nice! Great job popping the maple figure, binding looks very sharp too - I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 It is really quite pretty in person with a high WAF factor (wife acceptance factor). Looks great, I hope mine turns out as good as that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzI Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 is this the emmys or a guitar building site haha, nice finish job MzI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted September 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 (edited) Thanks for you kind words. a lot of guitars with maple necks kinda look like rosewood would look better, but on yours the maple looks great, very much a part of its personality I agree. On this guitar, the contrast between the deep blue and the white maple looks really nice. The deep blue and the greens and blues in the abalone reinforce each other nicely as well. ASM answered your question regarding natural binding. It's not easy to do. Next time I will clear coat the binding edge first and then tape and stain to make cleaning up the line easier. Very nice! Great job popping the maple figure, binding looks very sharp too - I like it. Thanks Setch. Coming from you that means a lot. I respect your work enormously. is this the emmys or a guitar building site haha, nice finish job MzI Oh wait...I forgot to thank my sponsors! I'd like to thank Delta power tools for providing the inexpensive, but workable band saw used in the making of this guitar. I'd like to thank.... Thanks again everyone. Best Regards, Mike. Edited September 14, 2004 by 82DeanZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slabbefusk Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Yeh nice guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 Nice job , like I will always say, blue was a color created for guitars! That black sand blue looks awsome, I couldn't say that that top was going to come out with such a figure since on the unfinish states look plain w/ not much figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nouseforone Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 real nice, that finish and everything looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted September 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 I couldn't say that that top was going to come out with such a figure since on the unfinish states look plain w/ not much figure. It suprised me too. In fact, I wasn't even sure I should stain it. I was going to leave it natural, but in the end I said what the hell. I think Drak's Solar Lux Black technique really helped to bring out what little figure there was. I literally pulled the maple out of the bargain bin at the local hardwood store. Who knew? Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky1 Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 (edited) Edited September 19, 2004 by lucky1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdowney Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 HOLY ****!!!!! i am speachless............. amazing job man! it looks better than factory made jems! want to sell it to me? haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted September 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2004 (edited) Thanks for your comments everyone. amazing job man! it looks better than factory made jems! want to sell it to me? haha You're the second person that offered to buy it from me. I took it in for my guitar lesson this week and couldn't get it out of my instructor's hands! He wanted to buy it as well. Also, funny you should make that comment about factory JEMs because that is why I decided to make my own in the first place (a large part of the reason anyway). It's getting hard to justify spending the $1800 or so that they want for your limited choice of a blue or white JEM. Not to say that those aren't nice guitars, but they do tend toward the mundane and are relatively expensive for guitars with opaque finishes. If I'm going to spend that kind of money on a guitar I want some serious eye candy in return. I may go all the way with my next guitar and add in the monkey grip, pyramid inlays and lions claw. Now that I have some experience I feel more confident that I could pull it off. Again, thanks for you kind words. Best Regards, Mike. Edited September 17, 2004 by 82DeanZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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