johnsilver Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 I'm building an SG style guitar for my middle son. He lives in Melbourne, Australia and we are going to visit him in two weeks. Can't wait - 3 weeks in Oz. I'm trying to complete the guitar before I go. If I can't, hopefully the finish will be complete and I'll do the rest with him while I am there. Over a few beers and a barbeque of course. The guitar is based on an SG, mahogany body and neck with a big leaf maple drop top to add a bit of figure. I tried to finish the color in a traditional SG heritage cherry and I wanted the figure to be somewhat subdued under the color. The fretboard is ebony and it has an ebony headplate. This is my second guitar to make. It has many firsts for me: first top over a base wood, first set neck, first block inlays, first custom inlay in the headstock, first toner coat, etc, etc. He wants an SG Standard style pickguard on it, and only wanted one volume and one tone control. It has a 3 way switch and the jack is in the end. It will have Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck (what a concept!). Here is a pic from a couple of weeks ago after a flash coat of nitro. It needs to be sanded out and buffed. More pics to come if I get it completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyunsu Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 beautifull guitar.. and good father.. ^^ wonderfull... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted March 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Hyunsu, thank you. Your comments mean a lot to me. I have watched your work with admiration. I have copied your comments and posted them in my work room. For example, you once said "guitar making is always happy work". I agree. Here is a pic of the body just cut out, and a few more pics. And a few more pics (hopefully, I did this correctly). heel neck front back headstock and inlay fretboard fretboard2 test stringing color Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
american_jesus Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 looking beaufitul man...i really like that top... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Awww beautiful...now why cant gibson do that! Not that it looks bad, but no inlay on the first fret? I love the logo inlay too, nice! My first guitar was an Ibanez SG with three humbuckers...I'd love one like this with 3 p90's and a bigsby Good work...and have fun down here, though now the games are over we have turned off the weather...still if you like autumn the trees are all going into colour...enjoy... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted March 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Guys, thanks. Pete, Gibson makes an SG Supreme with a figured top, although strangely enough not in the classic cherry color. This is partly why I decided to make this guitar the way I did. Sort of a cross between an SG Standard or SG Classic and an SG Supreme. Gibson SG Supreme I've never seen an SG with an inlay at the first fret, even with dot inlays. Guess I could have done that to make it different. Looking forward to getting to Melbun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 I like yours better...hmmm, I've never noticed that on the first fret inlay on SG's, you're right...except on my old one and my LP custom...odd, still You should do a fashion shoot and enter GOTM...can't get enough guitars around here lately, could do well! Gratuituous opportunity to post another pic...nice heel BTW... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderblitz Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Wow nice job. Stripping or binding on the fingerboard ??? If its really stripping, I'd like to know your secret Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Looks great, one thing, my complain about SGs has always been the space between the neck pup and the fretboard... since you posted about the supreme why didn't you go and did the 24 frets too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Beer Man Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Very nice job man, enter it in the GOTM and ill be voting for it. I love the amount of class it has to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screwdelulu Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Looks great! Did you spray the finish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dayvo Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 That is one mighty fine looking guitar When I get my Les Paul done, an SG will be my next project Enjoy your holiday here in Oz If you get time, go to The Dome or The G and check out an Aussie Rules game It would be interesting to see what you have to say about our code of football dayvo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fatalities Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 reminds me of the gibson sg off school of rock! i live in melbourne too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokeros Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Shoot..I got goosebumps and my arm hair shot up when I saw the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingblake Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Thats a nice SG makes me want to build one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted March 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 Thanks for all the support guys. I thought to enter something into GOTM, it had to be a guitar. Right now, its only a guitar body. Some answers: Thunderblitz - its regular old celluloid nitrate binding on the neck and headstock. White, single ply. Maiden, I know what you mean. The "design" of this guitar evolved over time. My son requested an SG Standard or Special, cherry red with the black pickguard, etc (basically the School of Rock guitar as Fatalities points out). After playing around, I decided to add the maple top and ebony fretboard. He still wants the big black pickguard, so I left it at 22 frets. I located the best figure in the maple on the bottom part of the guitar so it will remain visible after the pickguard is on. Its a fair question as to whether this will all work or not. Oi Dayvo, I like Aussie Rules. I barrack for Richmond. Alas, my misguided son barracks for Collingwood. Screwdelulu, I did spray the finish. I'm not an experienced finish guy. My son has some automotive painting experience and he helped me get started with the modest equipment that I have. Also, I bought Stewmac's finishing book and video. It has several recipes in it for SG Red, so I experimented a little since I had two different color woods. In the end, this is what I came up with. I sprayed a vinyl sealer on the mahogany parts, then filled the pores using a walnut brown pore filler. This left the pores filled and darkened the mahogany. I dyed the maple walnut brown using Colortone dye in alcohol, then sanded it back. I rubbed some of the pore filler over the maple top - it didn't fill anything but did stain the wood a similar color to the mahogany. I made a transparent cherry toner using cherry red Colortone dye in nitrocellulose lacquer and sprayed two coats followed by a coat of clear nitro to lock in the color. After that, it was a matter of spraying multiple coats of clear nitro, drying, sanding and polishing. This is basically the process recommended by Stewmac's book but modified a bit after testing on scrap. Here is a pic of the body after spraying the vinyl sealer. Here is a pic after applying the walnut pore filler. Here is a pic after dying the top with walnut brown (although it looks black) Here is a pic after sanding back the top. Here is a pic after rubbing the top with walnut pore filler and wiping it off. The whole guitar now has a fairly consistent brown color. Here is a pic after spraying the second coat of cherry red toner. My test pieces indicated the cherry color alone came out a bit red, so I added a couple of drops of walnut brown dye to the mixture. Came out pretty close to what I wanted. Thanks again for your support. This forum has been very helpful to me in this project. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 Man, that guitar is awesome bro!! Great job. Oh, and by the way, the guitar should rock for sure with the Seymour pickups. I love that pickup combination myself also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Irizarry Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 That is absolutely gorgeous! Very classy and I love the color too. Can't wait to see the completed project... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al3x Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 wheres mine? i live in melbourne! maybe im really your son.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted March 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 wheres mine? i live in melbourne! maybe im really your son.. Anything is possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted April 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Well, I did a bit of polishing and put the hardware on the SG. Everything went on pretty smoothly. Now I'll begin with the electronics and hopefully complete that early enough tomorrow to go though a preliminary setup. Only one week to go before I leave for Australia. I might make it. Here is a pic of the headstock with tuners (Gotoh Keystone style) installed and truss rod cover on. It's a Gibson cover but upside down as the top of the cover matches the shape of the headstock top. Here is a pic of the guitar as it stands now. The sun went behind a cloud so the guitar looks a little purple. That's a TonePros TOM and tailpiece. I haven't removed the protective cover from the pickguard yet. clicky I'll post more pics tomorrow if I make further progress. Thanks for looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ooten2 Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Wow!! Excellent work and great color. That top really looks nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted April 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Well, I installed the hardware, wired the electronics and strung it up. It's alive!!! I have only done a rough setup, so more to come. One week to go before I fly away to Oz. Another body shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 You know, there is one parameter by which I judge my own work, and that is, if I walked into a music store, and saw one of my guitars hanging there side-by-side next to JEM's and all like that, that I would want to pick my guitar out from all the others and take it home. You sir, have met that challenge and -then- some, you did a beautiful job on it, it is drop dead gorgeous. The emoticons are not working for me tonight, else I would give it the coveted 'Drak 5' award Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Fo' sure. That axe beats the hell out of any stock SG I've seen on the wall anywhere. I like the "players" upgrades too, like the simplified 1-tone, 1-vol setup and the football jack on the side where it's stronger. The JB/Jazz combo certainly doesn't hurt either, although I've been on a nickel-cover kick for some reason lately. All in all, she looks good, plays good, and sounds good, it's all good! Your son better come up with a great Father's Day present, or take you to a lot of cool places in Australia to get you back! Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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