ihocky2 Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 I have been building a second guitar at the same time as my Wormcaster. I have dubbed it the Warbird. This is going to be a Christmas present for my brother in-law. I have been working on it so about 2-1/2 months but haven't really taken many pictures until recently. So the first pictures of it are pretty far along in the build. I managed to dye it last night, but did not get those pictures yet. So here is up to the rough sanded stage. Here are the specs for it. Body: Poplar Neck: Hard Maple with 3x3 headstock Fretboard: Bloodwood, 24.75" Scale 2 humbuckers 2 Point Strat style tremolo with Graphtech nut 3-way switch, vol, tone Color: Stained slate gray with red candy coat with a Punisher Skull logo painted in white. Rough sanded Rough Neck http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...rd/DSC03166.jpg Fret Board http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...rd/DSC03167.jpg Body and Neck http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...rd/DSC03172.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 nice! ive always been a sucker for the crazy shapes. but i would to a different finish, like a super heavy flake in clear finish. but thats just me. great so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Somehow it seems like the... "bottom" is too thin. Ie., the pickups and neck seem off-centre compared to the body. Cool shape, though! Is it an original creation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAI6 Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Is there a reason why you free-hand your routes? (noticed this on your Tele body too) And how thick is that body, considering the bridge humbucker route goes through to the spring cavity. Or are the routes too deep...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted October 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 RAI6: The body is a little under 1-3/4" thick I just didn't read my depth gauge correctly when routing the spring cavity so it barely went through, but it still went through. I actually did use templates for this one, but they kind of took a crap on my in the middle of my routing. The jack hole I drilled both ends and then free handed it. The tele I used a template for the bridge pickup which came out well. I couldn't find a good picture to make a template for the neck pickup so I just drill the corners and connected with straight rails. But I do need to invest in a better set of templates. Greg: The body is a mix of original design and modified designs. I took the upper horn from a Mockingbird and changed the angle that it sits at. I used the upper wing from a Beast. The bottom half is entirely orignal. It took me about 2 days to get the top half to look the way I wanted and about 2 weeks to get the bottom half the way I wanted. It just did not want to come together. I got the lower wing after a day or two and was happy with it, but couldn't get the lower horn to work. I originally had the bottom thick in the waist area, but it didn't quite work. It made the lower horn too think and the front horn just wasn't working with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted October 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2007 I have since dyed that body black and then sanded it back to a slate gray. I then layed down a few light seal coats to lock in the color and prevent bleed through to the toner coats. I was happy with the way the slate gray looked with just the clear and was debating not adding the red toner. But I mixed up a blood red toner and tested it on some scrap and was really happy with the color. Once I added the toner coat to the entire body I was blown away with how nice it got and am thrilled that I went with the colors I did. I just now have to build my lacquer coats. This picture is of the body when is was still dyed black. Like usual my pictures tend to be a few steps behind where I am. Hopefully I will have updated pictures in the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted October 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2007 Here are the pics after I applied the red toner coat. There is no lacquer build over it yet so it doesn't have that nice deep wet look yet. Depending on the angle and light it goes anywhere from deep red to black. http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...rd/DSC03507.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/iho...rd/DSC03511.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reyam Posted October 17, 2007 Report Share Posted October 17, 2007 (edited) damn thats a great body, i wanna hear this guitar playing some metal stuff Edited October 17, 2007 by Reyam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted October 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2007 Tradegy has struck. I had just level sanded the body and laid down two coats of lacquer last night and hung it in a spare bedroom to dry. I had a fan running to draw out the fumes, even though after the initial half hour there was not much. This morning I was getting ready for work when I heard a thud. I knew what is was and knew that this thing was too pointy to have survived a drop. Well to my surprise, everything was in tact. But the two tail points and the horn point all had the lacquer buggered up and the wood kind of smashed flat and rounded into a hook. I think I can fix it, but will have trouble matching the color. I had basically set this coming Sunday as a deadline to have the spraying finished and then have my month to wait. Well that is definitely shot now. I have a bunch of poplar left over from this build so I am thinking of starting over from scratch. With the several flaws this already has and this on top of it, I am not happy with the way it will turn out. I will definitely keep this around to practice color matching on and a few other ideas to test first, but I think as of now, this body has met it's match. Luckily building the body is the quick part so I think I can get back on course in a few weeks and will just have to swtich to a different finish that cures quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted May 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I have finally finished this bad boy up. After having to make a second body due to the fall, and having to strip off the conversion varnish and finish it again it turned out great. The color is exactly where I want and it plays great. I ended up switching to a Honduran Rosewood fingerboard after a horrible fretjob and extremely bad chipout trying to remove the frets from the bloodwood. I gave it to my brother in-law and he was thrilled with it. His one room mate saw it and said he was going to tell his dad about it, so I am hopefull that it will turn into my first true commisioned job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 i'm personally not feeling it, it seems off balance to my eyes. and i'm really not feeling the top jack, or the carbon fiber overlay on the headstock... i love the finish though, and the quality of workmanship is definitely there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug 59 Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Cool, well done. I love the colour, that deep red is a favourite! Your lines flow well. If you're doing another one, I would leave the heel of the neck where it is, and perhaps swing your bridge up toward the upper bout just a tad, that would centre the line of the neck as it were. But, well done for a second Guitar. Doug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I like it, but I agree that it might look better if for future models you shifted the centre line slightly, like this: But it looks great regardless! I love the colour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I have to agree Ben. Not a huge fan, and I think the headstock is perhaps a little out of place. Still, well done for passing the finishing line! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted May 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Thanks for all the comments. I pretty much new from the beginning that this would not be a favorite design amongst here, simply because this crowd doesn't get too excited by pointy designs. When I originally made the design I tried to make it look a little more balanced, but in a line drawing in autocad, it just didn't seem to work and looked better, more off centered. But after seing Ben's photoshop work I would agree that it looks much better center up. As for the color, I was tired of black. If I am on the Jackson forum, it's always about having a to be a black gutair to make it more metal and evil. I wanted to show that other colors can work just as well. I am still amazed at how nice the color came out though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Thanks for all the comments. I pretty much new from the beginning that this would not be a favorite design amongst here, simply because this crowd doesn't get too excited by pointy designs. When I originally made the design I tried to make it look a little more balanced, but in a line drawing in autocad, it just didn't seem to work and looked better, more off centered. But after seing Ben's photoshop work I would agree that it looks much better center up. As for the color, I was tired of black. If I am on the Jackson forum, it's always about having a to be a black gutair to make it more metal and evil. I wanted to show that other colors can work just as well. I am still amazed at how nice the color came out though. look at my avatar if you think i don't like pointy guitars i agree, the photoshop makes it look exactly how i feel it would look best. if your next build looked like that i'd be sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I'm also one who favors pointy guitars and I liked the original but I liked the photoshop one better. In a lot of cases I see radical shapes that sacrifice symmetrical for the sake of adding pointy horns. A well designed guitar is going to be balanced and have flow and this goes for a classic design or a radical design. It's easier to modify a classic shape and have success with it but it's really hard to make a pointy guitar and be successful with it so balance is key. I really like the finish and I'd agree that the craftsmanship is top of the line! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted May 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I certainly didn't mean to sound like there are not guys on this board that like pointies. But with the number of strats and tele's we are definitely in the minority. And I am just kind of tired of seeing the same thing with people thinking that to look metal a guitar has to be black, flat black if possible and carried in a coffin case. Perry's multi-scale is a perfect example that in the right hands, even white can be a metal color. I showed this on one other forum and the general consensus was that black hardware would have made it more evil. Give me a break, how much more stereotypical can that be. A player will catch a lot more attention with that than with another black guitar. Don't get me wrong, black is a fine color, I am just tired of that attitude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I certainly didn't mean to sound like there are not guys on this board that like pointies. But with the number of strats and tele's we are definitely in the minority. And I am just kind of tired of seeing the same thing with people thinking that to look metal a guitar has to be black, flat black if possible and carried in a coffin case. Perry's multi-scale is a perfect example that in the right hands, even white can be a metal color. I showed this on one other forum and the general consensus was that black hardware would have made it more evil. Give me a break, how much more stereotypical can that be. A player will catch a lot more attention with that than with another black guitar. Don't get me wrong, black is a fine color, I am just tired of that attitude. i've got a thing for red myself well i guess red and black, as 2 of the 4 guitars i've built were red/black burst dark reds are most definitely as metal as it gets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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