Drak Build: Angkor Wat

[Bizman62]

Continuing with the Jungle Book theme, there's the bird named Chil, most likely a kite by species.

[Drak]

'Angkor Wat is a miniature replica of the universe in stone and represents an earthly model of the cosmic world.

The central tower rises from the center of the monument symbolizing the mythical mountain, Meru, situated at the center of the universe.'

'As the greatest of all mountain-temples, Angkor Wat is the prime example of classical Khmer architecture and was designed for the Immortal Gods.

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument On the Planet.

Angkor Wat is spread across over 400 acres / 1.6 km², and is said to be the largest religious monument in the world.

 

Hmmm, The Cosmos seems to be a repeating theme in my builds lately...

 

 

[ScottR]

Nicely done! Tomorrow  I 'll  show you a completely different route I  took that ended up in a similar place

SR

 

 

[Drak]

2 hours ago, ScottR said:

Tomorrow  I 'll  show you a completely different route I  took 5hat ended up in a similar place

Can't wait to see it.

I shot the whole backside of the neck green before the end of the day.

I didn't sand it down from the brown, I shot right over it with 2 coats of green, then some clearcoats.

Cuz...you know I just had to do that...

[Drak]

So, the Green Flame is Killing It, I'm loving the way this is turning out.

BUT...we now need to play the accent card, and in the right way.

When I painted my house several years ago, I learned a ton about interior design and color-coordinating.

I actually spent a few months soaking in the knowledge of how to accent my wall colors with room decor to make everything 'pop'.

I'm no expert, but I learned a little, and it has helped me in many ways since then.

And so now we make the slurpy green lizard 'pop'.

For starters, the old standby, Salon Perfect 301, He's With Me (haha)

Red is the natural accent color for green, and we're just getting started, I have more (and different) accents up my sleeve.

[Bizman62]

There seems to be several #301's in various hymn books but I couldn't find anything with "He's with me"

[Drak]

That's because Ruby Red is the color of 'the other guy', so look in the 'other' hymnal...

Its the 'opposing force' to green.

Ruby Red (especially glittery) is the color of Sex, Lust, Lewdness, Lasciviousness, Craven desires, Envy, Want, Jealousy, Rage...

All the good stuff that makes up a typical Saturday Night out.

Green, OTOH, is Earth, Peace, Calm, Acceptance, Tranquility, it is the Soothing Balm of Life color.

As evidence, I proffer:

 

[Bizman62]

2 minutes ago, Drak said:

As evidence, I proffer:

I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore

[Drak]

OK, we take a side detour for a little bit.

Then we come back around to Ruby Red, then full circle back to Angkor Wat.

Trust me, it will all make sense and you'll enjoy the brief ride through guitar history.

So, many years ago, I bought a used Ovation Thunderhead, I've posted it here before after I was done with the Rehab.

This is a before and after, please pay attention to the neck pickup, which obviously is not stock.

But I got it at a total steal (which is my normal MO in these things, buy trashed, get for cheap) I think $400.00.

Look them up now, ka-ching!

[Drak]

So, about that weirdo neck pickup...

When I got it, I removed it as I disassembled the entire guitar for the rehab, and as it was a curiosity for me.

I was already familiar with the line and their history, having had 2 others already, but what was this weirdo substitute neck pickup?

Some cheap-azz Japanese Teisco? Probably...that's what the cover is anyway.

Wellsir, when I removed the cover and got a look under the hood, I was very surprised and had to do some research.

The closest I found was that it probably came out of a late 70's George Bensen Ibanez archtop of some sort.

AFAIK it is a rare bird indeed, since I cannot find anything about them online.

Ibanez Super 70's full sized humbuckers? Oh hell yeah, very popular among a certain crowd.

But whoever heard of or saw or researched a Super 70's Mini-bucker?

Apparently...No one, as I can find nothing on them.

I guess all the Ibanez George Bensen owners took very good care of their guitars and never swapped pickups out of them.

So, cool for me, I love mini-buckers anyway and this was just an awesome cool discovery.

[Drak]

I was going to use it in another build a few years ago and needed to make some sort of new housing (home) for it.

Something that would garner far more coolness and prestige for this cool-ass little mini-bucker from the 70's.

The design actually is some sort of hybrid, its like a cross between a Mini-bucker and a Firebird, more like a Firebird, actually.

But still a hybrid design, with a bar magnet inside the coil on one side (Firebird), and slugs in the other coil (Mini).

With a continuity plate on the bottom that transfers the magnetism from the magnet side to the slug side.

That kind of design would sound more focused like a SC than a humbucker, with the magnetic aperture 'window' more focused on the bar mag inside the coil.

These were famous for using A8 magnets btw, which no one else was using back then, and adds to the cool factor.

Eddie (VH) had Super 70's in his Destroyer (VH1), they were the stock pickups that came in them.

 

 

[Drak]

OK, so here is the new home I made by gutting one of the Artec Mini's.

I took a piece of shielding tape and put it over the black plastic piece.

Then I sprayed it with some red tinted lacquer in the airbrush.

Then put it all together.

[Drak]

So that's the story up to now.

Except I wasn't exactly digging the red color, it was slightly too orang-ish for me.

I wanted a dark glittery ruby red for Angkor Wat.

So I decided to take it apart and re-shoot that red cover with the (sparkly flake) Ruby Red 301.

And that's where we sit at the moment, I'm done with the Ruby, just shooting a few clearcoats over it now.

[Drak]

Just finished it up and put it back together.

Nice sparkly Ruby Red, just like 'da slippaz.

Its hard to capture the sparkle on camera, its pretty sparkly in person.

So, now I present the 'other' color accent, which is the other (neck) pickup.

The Ibanez at 7.2K is going in the bridge.

My Vintage Vibe Charlie Christian Mini at 6.2K is going in the neck.

So over a sweet slurpy lizard green we have Ruby Red/black and White/Black.

Gold hardware, of course.

There is your little historical side detour, all finished up and back to Angkor Wat.

Put your hand down on the board and I'll shoot your nails for you!

[ScottR]

I'm not at all familiar with  those pickups, but they are going to look killer in the jungle green.

So where else are you going to add that Jessica Rabbit lipstick red to balance the red in the pickups?

SR

[Drak]

50 minutes ago, ScottR said:

So where else are you going to add that Jessica Rabbit lipstick red to balance the red in the pickups?

Nowhere else. Restraint is my new byline.

That one ruby red pickup is the single spark (of red) that ignites the gasoline and sets the jungle ablaze in glory.

The eye always wants to see symmetry, the brain always wishes for a 'matched set', a 'pair'.

So we hold off and only offer a partial respite to the craving for conclusion, leaving the brain wanting more 'of that'.

It's done this way on purpose.

[Bjorn.LaSanche]

Beautiful.  Just when I was about to make a comment that all you needed now was some sort of temple viper reference on the guitar you did that headstock mind blown!! Now with those Super 70's?  Please make a video of what she sounds like once done.  simply amazing.

[Bizman62]

11 hours ago, Drak said:

Except I wasn't exactly digging the red color, it was slightly too orang-ish for me.

I wanted a dark glittery ruby red for Angkor Wat.

Mowgli again! Angkor Wat looks just like the place where you could find the ancient king's treasure including an ankus made of rubies and other shiny gems among other precious materials.

[Drak]

10 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Angkor Wat looks just like the place where you could find the ancient king's treasure including an ankus made of rubies and other shiny gems among other precious materials.

You do know, that I had to look up the word ankus.

[Bizman62]

8 minutes ago, Drak said:

You do know, that I had to look up the word ankus

I had to do the same when I first read the story. As you know back in the late sixties we didn't have Wikipedia or Google but I managed to find out what it was. And yes, the Finnish translation used the word 'ankus' as well.

[Drak]

Wellsir, I called it done and lets get 'er moving along with the rest of the herd.

Which are all corralled in the finishing chute now, most have made it through 400 grit so far.

So Angkor Wat is now officially in the finishing chute along with the other three.

400 (1500 micromesh) done and completed, neck and body.

I'm tempted to move this one out ahead of the pack for some reason.

And just bear down on this alone until it's strung and singing a sweet slurpy jungle lizard tune.

Maybe I change the name from Angkor Wat to Slurpy Lizard, I seem to be warming up to that theme.

[Drak]

I finished finishing the finish and am putting things together now.

Just have to mount the neck, wire it, string and intonate it, but all hardware and pickups are in.

Consider yourself warned, it may not be appropriate for some to proceed any further than this point.

[Drak]

An interesting update to Angkor. It was completely done, finished, wired, working, and waiting on strings (which came today btw).

But...as I was making sure everything was GO and holding it up in the sun...I noticed I didn't get all the scratches out, I think between (micromesh) 1800 and 2400 something got lost. I could see these long horizontal scratches going across the entire width of the lower body (where all the glamour is). The normal person would probably never pick up on it, you had to be looking at it from <just> the right angle to see them...but I saw them and it began bugging the shit out of me. I was going to just let it go...it was all put together...but I couldn't, I just couldn't.

So I completely removed everything, all hardware, back down to a stripped body, and picked it back up at 2400 and re-progressed forward. Nailed the scratches, gone now, and I feel way better about things now, glad I decided to energize my lazy ass to do what really needed to be done. I am a tough taskmaster when it comes to these things.

When removing any installed hardware from a finished body, I always use a soldering iron to heat the part up so I don't rip out a big chunk of finish along with it. I do this for rear ferrules and TOM posts, anything that has been hammered in place, and so when heated properly they slide out easily, awesome.

I also had debated whether to make this one active or not, it was set up to not be, but I've changed my mind and am going to install the EMG active harness on it.

I have <just> enough room to drill and mount the additional pots and it still look totally normal as if I planned it all along.

So now we have a cleaner finish and an active guitar.

AND strings to finish it up.

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, Drak said:

I am a tough taskmaster when it comes to these things.

That you are.

1 hour ago, Drak said:

When removing any installed hardware from a finished body, I always use a soldering iron to heat the part up so I don't rip out a big chunk of finish along with it. I do this for rear ferrules and TOM posts, anything that has been hammered in place, and so when heated properly they slide out easily, awesome.

This is a good tip and not the first time you've mentioned it....albeit maybe the first time in half a decade or so. I've used it many times since you last mentioned it.

SR

[Bizman62]

Why settle on mediocre when you can do perfect? There's two things for me to learn!

Thanks for the heating tip, it totally makes sense. Hammering the posts in seems to squeeze out some sort of resin from the wood cells and after a while it hardens and glues the post in. Had I known the heating trick when I built the semi-hollow with the Ovangkol top...