Bainzy Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 I'm going to be building a run of 6 Les Pauls, so many simply because the wood worked out very cheap in bulk (the 4x4 neck timber and body/top all work out to roughly 3m lengths of timber). 2 are going to be for friends, and I'm just charging the basic cost of materials (wood/plastic/paint etc) to cover my costs for doing it, and one of those friends is a guy called Cameron. We've discussed what he wants his LP to look like, and I made a rough mockup: What do you guys think? After seeing Fred Gabrsek's work, we both decided it would be really cool to ebonise the Madagascar Rosewood and write Cameron's name on as the inlay in Chinese symbols and maybe add some other graphic designs. I'm just wondering what to do with the back - the wood will be Sapele (chambered for the body), I guess we could paint it black, cherry red etc, but I'd rather like to do a natural or brown finish on it; I'm wondering what you guys would do with it. Also, what about the headstock? We could have Cameron's name in English as the headstock logo in a mock Gibson font, but it'd be nice to put some designs below that too to make the headstock look a bit more interesting. Anything else that might customise the guitar too, I'd like suggestions on that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 be careful about putting someones name in multiple places on your work, it turns cheesy real fast; stick to either the heqadstock or 12th fret; freddys a good guy; you should see if he'll let you use his duplicarver for the top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 be careful about putting someones name in multiple places on your work, it turns cheesy real fast; stick to either the heqadstock or 12th fret; freddys a good guy; you should see if he'll let you use his duplicarver for the top I agree here, I'd put the name in only one place, and in my opinion initials would be better anyways. Since the LP is such a simple design, I think that any inlay work should compliment the original design, not tear the eye away from the whole and onto one detail. In short, I think that covering the fretboard in Kanji or whatnot is too "busy." I might go with his initials or name on the headstock, or, if you still want to keep with the East Asian feel, a Chinese character in the middle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Ditto. Tailpiece works OK as well on guitars that have them. I'm still trying to talk the guy I'm building a guitar for right now out of blasting his 'nom de plume' across the fingerboard in GIANT MOTHER OF PEARL LETTERS. No clue if that'll work, though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted March 13, 2007 Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 Good luck with it, Mattia. It must suck to get the feeling that you might have to build something that you might have done differently, perhaps radically so. I guess that's one of the downsides of building for someone else. I've already had people come up to me and say hey, you should build a guitar for a friend of mine. It's such a fun hobby, but I'm NOWHERE near competent enough to try to build for someone else; i don't think I ever will be. Ah, well, it's fun at least. You mentioned the tailpiece, and an idea struck me. I think, if looking to personalize a guitar, why not see if you can take the tailpiece to get laser etched with his name in a scroll-type font. I think it'd look pretty classy and not as obtrusive as the inlays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted March 13, 2007 Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 (edited) I offered to build the first prize for the winner of a student singer/songwriter comp, ergo this. It's taken me, well, about this long (8 years) to get comfortable enough with building to build for others, and this is the first instrument I'm building that's not for a good friend. I haven't quite given up yet; I'm hoping I may scare him off with the price of large MOP blanks - I had set a budget, and basic features, and Giant MOP Letters are not part of it End of the day, though, it's his design, and if he's happy, I'm happy. Most of the rest of the body (carves on top/back, basic design, appointments) are pretty much at my discretion, so I'm certainly having fun with it; it's my first guitar in this style, think Myka's Dragonflys (carved and braced arched spruce top over chambered mahogany body, but with a carved back). Edited March 13, 2007 by Mattia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted March 13, 2007 Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 I totally agree with everything said so far....less is more. I personally don't like intricate inlays on fingerboards but I can see the attraction if they're done well, unfortunately adding more & more of something doesn't always make it more attractive. I don't even like 12th fret inlays because everyone is doing it & it reminds me of my first electric, a Marlin Sidewinder that had a marlin at the 12th fret. I think that the combination of large inlays & Chinese symbols will make the guitar look incredibly dated in a few years...plus I can guantee that the symbols won't mean what you think they do, just ask anyone who's had one tattooed on them & then been laughed at in the local takeaway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted March 13, 2007 Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 If you inlay the fretboard in separate Chinese letters, I'd lean toward keeping the inlays in the traditional locations (1,3,5,7,9,12,15,17,19, etc) unllike your mock-up. Inlay on even-numberd frets just looks wrong to me. Controls: besides the usual LP layout, you can also (A) install push-pulls on the volumes (or tones) to tap single coils of the humbuckers (provided you get the right pickups that permit this), or ( install an active 3-band EQ with a master volume (but you'll lose the toggle-switch-as-kill-switch functionality). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainzy Posted March 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 (edited) Thanks for the suggestions guys. I don't agree with the notion that the symbols will look "dated", Cameron has lived in East Asia for a large part of his life and definately isn't wanting this as some sort of fashion trend. At the end of the day Cameron is pretty happy with the mockup, and we'll work together on finalising the inlay designs - the only reason the symbols are even spaced on the mockup is because that's a .jpg of a different guitar that I cut and pasted onto my mockup to show a general vibe of the idea. The symbols don't necessarily have to be his name, they could say something else that would actually make sense in Chinese, not just phonetically. Bear in mind some people like different inlay designs, some don't, and as long as Cameron is happy then I'm happy. Edited March 13, 2007 by Bainzy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted March 13, 2007 Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 (edited) Don't get me wrong; I actually quite like a well-done, even slightly over the top/busy inlay. Just...a bogus name scrawled across the fingerboard is a bit tacky/Johnny Cash-y to me. For most of my own instruments, I prefer the more toned-down look, when it comes to inlay, but inlay's just too darn much fun to do. Edited March 13, 2007 by Mattia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.