Drak Posted April 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 that makes sense, i think twin hum will suit it much better - maybe with the neck pickup direct mounted, but thats just minor aesthetics There is a black metal HB pickup mounting ring they sell that I'll use to match the black metal Tele bridge. I personally like pickup mounting rings, call me old school... original 70's widerange humbucker in the neck Tell me more, sounds interesting. we are both going for the tubular quilt look at the moment... but i am going blue!!! apparently thats the best way to win GOTM HaHa! So True. I have a Tele body left from the Steerhead builds that is coming out of mothballs that I'm going to do blue w/ binding. I'm trying to get all bodies caught up with each other so they can all go into the finishing process at the same time. That top keeps calling my attention! Very nice. BTW, I merged your posts, the rules were changed to allow for 4 pics per post so post away! I would have done it blue, but the natural coloring of the wood is pretty irreversible, so some sort of brown it will be. If you want, there are two repeat pics you can remove if you want to, photobucket glitches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ae3 Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 The top looks like the ocean water at sunset in the wet pic And when it dry it looks like it's actually bumpy. You and your insanely awesome pieces of figured wood Drak... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 original 70's widerange humbucker in the neck Tell me more, sounds interesting. a guy on another forum was selling it off at a decent price. the re-issues are complete rubbish and these things seem to be sneaking up in price. its worn, but in quite a nice way and still has most of its lead. i couldnt resist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 I would have done it blue, but the natural coloring of the wood is pretty irreversible, so some sort of brown it will be. If you want, there are two repeat pics you can remove if you want to, photobucket glitches. Got it, It should look good anyway! And took the pics out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted April 26, 2009 Report Share Posted April 26, 2009 I think that guitar would look great with a tobacco burst and cream binding on the neck/headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 Well after giving it a lot of long thought and looking at a ton of pics, I believe I've decided on the color for Brown Sugar... ...and it ain't Brown no damn mo'. I bleached it this past weekend so I have it as close to white Maple (= blank canvas) as I can get it. Here are the two pics that come closest to what I'm going to shoot for with it. This pic came from Jeff Miller's Variax website. And I don't know where I got this one, but thanks to whomever posted it. It looks like what Wez has been building lately as far as the shape goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 (edited) 1) Miller is absolutely ENVIABLE in what he does to his Variax's. 2) Sad there isn't an original design idea anymore. But that's life. 3) your color is approved. How dark is it going to be, more the Fernandes or Miller's? ::EDIT:: Or Daniel's Strawberry Nova? Edited June 3, 2009 by Xanthus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 Drak...I made my exploder almost the same color as that ravelle...I did a few color coats of Cherry red,then followed with a couple of coats of lemon yellow,as strange as that sounds,then alot of clear,which deepened the red.. But it's important to note that I used bubinga,which is already reddish brown to begin with.....I was just thinking about this the other day,and I was wondering if I could duplicate the color of that on a birdseye maple top...and I came to the thought that I would need to add brown to the red coats to get it...or stain the maple "mahogany" beforehand...but I have not tested it yet on anything... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 2) Sad there isn't an original design idea anymore. But that's life. i am well aware that my vendetta shape has a lot of ravelle in it. before i even made a vendetta i made something that was closer, although still different to the ravelle for a relative who was a big fan of the ravelle shape but would never play something that said fernandes on it! I do consider my vendetta shape an original design - although its obviously ravelle inspired! - mine combines more elements of iceman and things like that I did get pointed to a post on another forum recently where somebody was suggesting i had nicked the idea for my vociferator shape. the builder of the other guitar had said 'so what, my stuffs all over the net and whilst i would prefer he asked i dont really want to do anything about it'. truth is i had never even seen this guys stuff and cant even remeber his name - i also saw very little resemblence in his work. I am always honest about where my inspiration comes from and try to do things my own way wherte possible. (the vociferator was inspired by a warmoth Z and SG but ended up having less SG and more offset strat). look through the builds here and tell me how many truly original guitar shapes there are? are there any? should that even be our primary goal? function should be our primary aim and that can lead us down well trodden paths! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 Thinking outside the box is hard enough on it's own. When someone does (Steinberger, Teuffel, Klein, etc.), their designs seem so radically different that they're almost rejected out of hand. It's almost like we want different, but it has to be so familiar it doesn't feel different. At this point, just about any design will be able to trace it's inspiration from an existing shape. If you've made it your own somehow, or if there was honestly no copying, that really should be good enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 From a builder's standpoint, what I have noticed is that everyone who gets into building guitars goes thru 'phases' of their experience. One of those phases is the phase to be original, at some point it is important to do that for almost everyone, I see it here on an almost daily basis, and I have come to see it as just a normal part of the builders experience/progression. Having said that, I think after some time has passed we all realize that being so original really isn't that important anymore, and building good quality guitars is. If you can blend the two, great. I built several original designs and thought myself quite slick at the time, and it is fun and intoxicating, but you see what I'm building now is just copies of time tested designs and I am incredibly happy with them. I have the option to build custom designs and have, but I choose to build Teles and LP Jr's for the moment, they work for me as a player. I have made my own little improvements to those designs to customize them more to what I want, but there's nothing wrong with hanging your hat on a time tested winner, and my ego doesn't care much anymore whether I came up with the design or not. My ego these days is more concerned with the overall quality of the guitar when it's done, not that I came up with the shape. Years ago, it was a big deal, not so much anymore. So in the end, I think it's perfectly normal to do the custom design thing, and just as normal as time goes on to not worry about it so much anymore. PS, I didn't mean to bring anything up about Wez' designs, I honestly am not very aware of what's out there these days so much, didn't mean to stir up any controversy, and I apologize if I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 its not a controversy for me... but i was interested by xanthus's comments about it being sad that nothing is original which seemed directed my way considering the posts before. I am influenced by what has been done before and i never try and deny it. infact i quite often state exactly where my ideas developed from...although within nearly 40 guitars now its worth noting that only two have been accurate copies of something that existed already. the rest have been distinctly different in many ways and even those two had notable differences from the guitars they were copied from. (4 or 5 vendettas but not one is actually contructed or looks just like a ravelle) Just to make it clear... i am not trying to reinvent the guitar and i have no inclination to be the next ned steinberger. i just want to build good guitars my own way! I dont think its sad that my vendetta shape gets compared to a ravelle or an iceman, because i happen to like those guitars a lot!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 Just to make it clear... i am not trying to reinvent the guitar and i have no inclination to be the next ned steinberger. i just want to build good guitars my own way! I dont think its sad that my vendetta shape gets compared to a ravelle or an iceman, because i happen to like those guitars a lot!! Amen, brutha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 In all aspects of life we are influenced by what we see and what we like and use those influences to create our own ideas. Just because a gutiar has feature of another, it is not a copy. Just because a song has a similar sound to another does not mean it is a copy. If you are inspired by a design and take your favorite aspect of those and make them your own, I still see it as orignal. Yes, there are hints to other peoples work, but you still changed it to your liking, it is similar but not the same. Just because a band has a Led Zepplin tone does note mean they are trying to be Led Zepplin. I will fully admit where my influences on shapes comes from if I borrow something. If I come up with a deisgn and it looks like someone elses, yeah well. Even if it is an exact look alike of another guitar, if I never saw that one before and drew mine up myself, I still consider it original. Back on topic, I like the look of the darker red a little bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 No harm meant at all, Wez. Didn't mean to bash your work (which I admire greatly!), maybe it came out wrong. Anyway, on to the building! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 Those two colors are only one shader coat apart from one another really. If I got the Miller color down and wanted it like the Fernandes, I would just load up some Cherry dye with one or two drops of black, spray it on, and it would be the Fernandes in less than 5 minutes. Actually I was considering doing the Miller for the center and doing a fade to black edges with the Fernandes color as an intermediate coat. Black, Fernandes, Miller, outer to inner... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 It is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Bleaching Process: Sand the piece Blow the work off Prepare the Bleach in equal parts Bleach applied to work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Bleach Dried. Work table bleach spots (so you can see how much effect bleaching has). Two guitars bleached, which basically equals a nice blank canvas to work with for dying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 The dying process begins... One Part Blood Red Solar Lux Onr Squirt Black Solar Lux A Few Drops Cherry Transtint A Baby Food jar A Pipette And One Old Sock... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 ...and here you go. I think I nailed the difference between those two right down the middle... Millers is a little more pure cherry red, Fernandes is a little more darker wine red. I'm happy with it for the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Someday I'll be where you are with it. Someday..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Buttman Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko_slash Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Very cool! Can you explain why did you do the bleach thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Yes. If you look back at the pics, you'll see that the natural wood had a lot of brown in it. If you dye over the brown, you get brown + whatever color you dye it. I wanted a true red, not a brownish red. Bleaching it takes it to as white as you can get it so your color is not enhanced by the natural color of the wood. People typically pay additional for pure white Maple, this is my way of getting pure white (as close as I can get it) Maple for no additional cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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