Drak Build: Angkor Wat

[Drak]

This is another Scarab build that's been sitting on the shelf for about 10 years I just picked back up.

Flamed Myrtle front and back, Mahogany core, but it's really a hollowbody.

The Mahogany really is just a 'frame' to hold the Myrtle in place. With an 'I-Beam' connecting rod between the three solid sections. The whole core/interior was made from a single piece of Mahogany, with everything that wasn't needed removed. There is a neckblock, a tailblock (just like an archtop) and a bridgeblock to anchor a T.O.M. assembly. With a very thin surrounding frame. The body weighs about a pound, total.

The Scarabs were all built a little bit differently from each other tho they all share the same basic shape. Some are the 'Jerrycaster-Dead' thing, highly carved edges with a flat top. Others are carved tops, and no two carves are exactly the same, they actually vary a lot between pieces in the carve approach. This is the most 'traditionally' carved top, tho just the top surface is carved, the bottom is flat.

Why did I name this Angkor Wat?

Because it looks both kind of 'Cool-Ass Ancient Buddhist' (temple shapes for the horns).

And the Myrtle, to me, has a very 'jungle' vibe/look/setting.

[Drak]

So why the holdup on this piece? (it's the one up-front with all the flame figure)

(1) I had routed the edges for binding, and in recent years, I don't care so much for binding anymore.

(2) My first/earlier attempts at this body style were kind of extreme and I have calmed the 'look' down now to something I really like.

The two different paths for the Scarabs were the 'Jerry dog-ears' with heave edge carves variety.

And a sort of 'Buddhist Temple' vibe. This one is one of the latter.

But the binding ledge I had cut had me 'locked in' to the original extreme shape I didn't care for.

So it sat until I could figure out a solution, which just recently 'came to me'. I very simply took a pattern cutting router bit and just routed the entire outer edge to completely remove the binding channel. This then allowed me to re-form the body shape to remove the 'extreme' look it had before. It was chancy as the edges of the body are pretty thin, and I built it so long ago I can't remember how thick the walls were. So routing off the binding edge made the walls that much thinner, with the possibility of going right through and ruining it. But, I took the chance and all is well and the build is more than 50% already completed now. It won't take long at all to finish it up and I am stoked about it.

The funny thing: If you look at the back, you can see I made a custom control cavity cover for it, like I usually do. But in all the years that have passed, its gone, can't find it anywhere. I'll figure something out...So, you see how tall and exxagerated the 'spires' are, with the binding? It looked childish and ridiculous, it needed a lot of 'calming down', which I've now done to it.

Once I get some finish on it, hold on to your seat, it's really an awesome piece of lumber.

That whole entire binding ledge and the Mahogany under it are all now gone, the sides are straight and the spires 'calmed down' more to my liking.

[Drak]

So those were all old pics from 2010-ish.

Binding channel is now gone, body a little bit smaller, and the spires calmed down a little, but still dramatic enough.

Here's where we're at today with it.

I decided Mini-Hums for it as I definitely didn't want SC's, and I thought HB's would be too obnoxiously big and ugly (here).

So that left P-90's or Minis, and Mini's it is. More delicate, clear, and nuanced to accentuate the hollowbody aspect.

If you look close at the wetted pic, you can see the 'I-Beam' (in the bridge pkp cavity) going from the neckblock to the bridgeblock.

Thank God I set it low enough to be lower than the pickup.

[Drak]

OK, so maybe left turn for the uninitiated here.

No worries, you're in very good hands, even tho you are in the deepest jungle, I understand.

Myrtle is a really weird beast, we have gone to the mat about 10 times over the decades and I have grabbed it by its heel many a time. I don't care how damn sexy you think it looks, water wetted or not, it looks 'weird' if you just shoot it w/ natural finish. Every single time, no exceptions, different strains from different suppliers, all the same result, natural finish = looks completely weird. It has some sort of natural color to it that just always looks 'off'. So you have to 'bend' it somehow, depending on what you want out of it.

So many moons ago, I just started experimenting like mad with all kinds of colors on it. And I found the strangest, weirdest thing: if you dye it with blue dye, it goes green. WAY green. Why, I don't know, can't explain it.

But now...you will understand why I named it Angkor Wat. I applied blue dye to the body, and it turned green exactly as I was expecting it to.

And we have the color of a very deep jungle canopy, as if you were walking through Angkor Wat yourself.

See the figure in the Myrtle that has now turned to forest foliage!

With the twin spires (the horns) representing as evidence that once upon a time, in humanity's deep past...

Humanity has 'been there', there is clear evidence of man-made structures in the deepest forest.

Love it, totally stoked so far. Just got the first few coats on it.

[Drak]

Figured I'd throw this one up, took it near the end of the day after the last lac coat.

Natural light, no glare or reflections getting in the way.

And yes, the figure (foilage) does 'dance' as you move it around.

[Bizman62]

There's obviously a lot of yellow in Myrtle, which is why the blue turns to green. I suppose you're using a shade of blue with a hint of yellow instead of a reddish blue as the latter might become brown.

What really struck me is that the dye alone looks mint green while the clearcoated version definitely is jungle camo!

[Andyjr1515]

I know exactly what you mean with that top photo @Drak.  I've used Myrtle veneer on a number of refinishes over the years and that Buddhist Temple shot above is spot on

Here's one of them:

[Drak]

6 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

There's obviously a lot of yellow in Myrtle, which is why the blue turns to green.

You would think so, and it must be true, I've obviously come to the same conclusion before. But...to pre-test that theory, I wiped the piece down with lacquer thinner after it was all cleaned up. You know when you wipe a rosewood (or any oily wood) with thinner before glue-up, it always comes up with heavy oils. Paduak comes up heavy orange-ish, Coco-Bolo reddish-brown...bla bla bla...And this came up nearly clean, and what I got out of it didn't really look yellow. But I understand the logic.

The color it does have, the color that always makes it look 'off', I can't even come up with a name for it. A strange pinkish-tan maybe. But I have worked it many times before, always with the same result. Beryl is Myrtle Burl, so is The Iommi Machine, and several others through the years. I've always tried a clearcoat first, it always looks weird, then I tint it or do something to it to get it to 'work'. The blue dye turning it green I found by sheer accident.

[Bizman62]

34 minutes ago, Drak said:

And this came up nearly clean, and what I got out of it didn't really look yellow.

I didn't even think of anything that would literally mix with the dye, just thought that the wood must have a yellow subhue underneath the brown.

[Drak]

Well, looks like I'm losing the weather around here pretty soon. That means the guns and all finishing get put away until the fall.

When the dewpoint falls to within 15 degrees of ambient temp (should be a 20 degree difference or more)...

That means the retarder comes out for the last sessions and the time to wrap it up is very soon right around the corner.

Once the humidity hits this area in summer, its game over for finishing.

And it dropped to 15 degrees difference yesterday and today, so I'm trying to wrap Angkor Wat up quickly before I lose the weather alltogether.

I had only got the top mostly done, so I prepped and shot the sides and back yesterday and am continuing today.

It's all good tho, I should have 4, maybe 5 new guitars to assemble and breath life into over the summer months.

I'm beginning the wet-sanding of a few of them now, but trying to squeeze Angkor Wat in too before its too late.

 

[Drak]

The bridge is obviously not the bridge going on it, just something gold I had within easy reach.

Edges blacked out, along with a very slight top and bottom edge-burst.

Very slight, couldn't have made them any thinner.

You can see through the control cavity opening the hollowness of it.

There's a neckblock, tailblock, and a bridgeblock, just big enough to hold a TOM and tailpiece.

Besides that, it's hollow except for the centerbeam connecting them which you can see through the bridge pickup cavity.

 

[Charlie H 72]

Drak this looks absolutely awesome. What a unique finish. Green is my favorite color, especially so dark green its almost black. Try some black hardware on it! 

[Drak]

Thank You Kind Sir for those nice words.

Funny you should bring up the hardware.

I had originally intended to do exactly that, black hardware.

But with the black sides now, I wasn't sure black hardware wouldn't be 'overcooking' the black look and going too dark.

So I had changed my mind to gold, that's why I stuck that gold bridge on it.

But I dig black hardware, I sure do.

I could change my mind, there's still time yet before that decision has to be locked in.

[Bizman62]

For obvious reasons this reminds me of "The King's Ankus", one of my favourite stories in the Jungle Book by Kipling. One reason for the story having made such a big influence on the young boy must have been the Finnish lyrics to the Snake Charmer song which unlike the original told about the old white King of Cobras in the Jungle. The Finnish version has been recorded several times by the leading artists from the mid-50's and is still very popular so I haven't been able to avoid hearing it!

So, speaking about Angkor Wat and the King's Ankus, the hardware sure has to be something invaluable - gold. jewels, ivory, pearls... or even enamel as ornamented with precious metals.

[Gogzs]

Damn, absolutely stunning. Love how it looks in the pic with no glare, makes me wonder how it would be if it was satin and not glossy. As for hardware, I'd go gold as well, should look awesome when it's done!

[Drak]

9 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

For obvious reasons this reminds me of "The King's Ankus", one of my favourite stories in the Jungle Book by Kipling

I never read the book, but the Disney movie is one of my all-time favorite childhood movies.

I can sing along to every song, know them all by heart.

[Bizman62]

I was so glad that I could find that very story free to read online.

[Drak]

OKaaaaay...

The body is nearly done and I'm still pushing myself to get this thing done before I lose the weather. So on to the neck, of which I have much to speak of. I tried out a few different necks on this, but I wanted to be careful not to make this thing overly metal-stupid. With the extreme points it already has, restraint was really needed now for the neck. Especially as its a hollowbody guitar, this may look pointy, but its really quite sublime when you hold it. And I have 4 Tele necks sitting on the shelf, ready to rawk.

So, I decided I needed to make one of these very nice Tele necks 'work' here. They had promise, but weren't 'there', where I needed them to be.

I needed a point, I mean, seriously, on this build, the neck has to have a point on it. But it could get very out of hand very quickly, overblowing the sublime nature of this guitar. So I drew up several different designs and, oddly enough, came back to my old Eaglehead.

The Eaglehead 'point' was featured on one of my very very very first builds, sooo long ago, (I still have her) and I've always still admired it to this day.

So I wanted basically, the smallest 'point' I could get away with to show the restraint I was talking about. Anything 'up and away' looked too-metal, so that kind of Ibanez point was out. The Eaglehead, pointing 'down' took up very little space and did the job. So I finalized the plan for it and away we go.

So to get started, here is the 'Eaglehead' featured point I made ~25 years ago, and still love this guitar.

[Drak]

Alrighty, with all of that out of the way, lets get down to business.

This is the neck, the design cutout, and the donor Mahogany wood.

All this trouble for maybe a quarter ounce of Mahogany...sheesh!

You don't need to see every grueling detail, but the piece was cut out and glued on with thin CA glue.

Then, I sanded the whole thing, collecting the dust to fill in the gaps, then poured more CA glue to tighten everything up.

Glue dried, and everything sanded level, a good start. Even got the grain lined up and matched pretty good.

Now the design gets re-drawn back on to give me some parameters to work with.

Various tools to help me carve the shape out and reel it in.

I'm pretty happy with this, all the lines meet up, and I can see an Eaglehead in the shape, which is what I'm always looking for.

Not 'Hellion Screaming For Vengeance', but straight-up American Bald Eagle outline.

Time to pick a piece of veneer for it.

Obligatory stupid clamp shot.

[Bizman62]

Eaglehead? At this stage it looks more like a Pigeon...

[Drak]

As long as you see a bird, you're in the 'hood.

I might even try to make it smaller, I want that point really minimized.

 

[ScottR]

Absolutely love the color. I'm playing with something right now that reminds me of that.

SR

[Drak]

53 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Absolutely love the color. I'm playing with something right now that reminds me of that.

I have completely fallen in love with it, it looks better in person than pics are showing.

Its kind of weird to see that thing sitting on the shelf for 10 years and now BAM, its coming to life so fast.

Its really gorgeous right in front of you. However, more to your point...

I finished the veneer install, sanded it flat, and applied my grain enhancer treatment.

Remembering this is Flamed Maple veneer, not Myrtle with its odd reaction to blue dye, and I have no Myrtle cutoffs it was made so long ago.

I can get the flame where I want it (to match) close enough.

But I can't get that deep forest emerald green with water-based dyes, its just not getting anywhere close to the body.

So I'm going to have to shoot some forest green shader coats over some clearcoats to 'get it'.

And its raining...so it will just have to wait awhile.

[Drak]

Well that was a fair P.I.T.A.

Water-based dyes didn't (really) work, they were too weak.

I shot a green shader coat on, didn't like it (at all) so that got sanded back off.

Then I tried alcohol-based dyes, wound up with the completely wrong color.

Then, something struck me, a remark @Bizman62  made:

On 5/24/2021 at 2:53 AM, Bizman62 said:

What really struck me is that the dye alone looks mint green while the clearcoated version definitely is jungle camo!

And for some reason that comment just popped right into my mind, like I 'needed' to remember that for some reason.

And then, I could clearly see in my mind's eye that exact 'mint green' color it was dry, before finish.

So then I knew what to shoot for when mixing dyes. I wound up using far more blue than I would have 'thought' I needed.

And now I hit it pretty close, close enough to move on to clearcoats, so thanks Mr. Biz!

[Drak]

Four tries to get the match.

Colored, clearcoated, black-bursted front and back.

A few more clearcoats and this guitar is done with the finishing stage.

The neck came out such a good match, I'm not sure the eaglebeak point on the neck was even necessary now.

Might remove it, might not.