NotYou

That's a saw horse. You can cut that with a Dremel for sure. I've done much worse things with mine. Just be patient with it. Diamond bits work well for this sort of thing. They can be needle thin and still cut. They don't cut fast, but they'll cut through ebony (or even metal) without a problem. Edit: I have a set of these (the long skinny ones on the left). If you go slow, they'll cut through anything: http://www.garrettwade.com/diamond-burr-sets/p/19T05.01/ By "slow" I mean you move slow. Keep the Dremel at high speeds.

It's an acid blocking acrylic then water based poly. The acid blocker needs blotted on softly and the poly is diluted then wiped on. At least that's the best method I came up with. I'm still running around right now, so I can't go into too much detail. The chemical that untimely makes the rust is copper sulphate (the result of mixing sulfuric acid with cooper oxide) on iron. It's potent stuff, so you also need an acid blocking primer (and wear gloves ) How you get it really looking like rust is the tricky part.

The process for rusting is very similar to the process for that bronze finish, just with different materials. I'm pressed for time right now, but I might be able to explain it a little later.

I also file the bottom down. I forgot to add that. It's looks almost factory, except the bottom is completely flat.

I had to do this recently on a build I did for a customer. He complained that the screws were rubbing his hand. They were nickel, which isn't very hard, so I used my fret nippers. I just had to make sure to hold the end I was keeping in a pair of pliers so it didn't shoot away. It worked great.

I don't like double-posting, but I thought this was worth it: boutiqueguitarresource.com/

Thanks. They're actually some kind of mesh that found around an old decrepit car here in the mountains. I'm not even sure what part of the car it was, but I got a bunch of it. It's solid metal and it's pretty stiff (and really f***ing hard to work with ) , even though it looks like some kind of screen.

Love the work. Could you let me know your reasons behind not growing the rust on the front of this one... I really felt looking at the pictures that the top should match the rest of the guitar. If not it is ok.. I respect the art side of the builds. (not like I listen to anyone... ha ha ha) No reason in particular. It does wrap around to the front, but you can't see it from the other photos too well:

One more is done. I have big plans for the other three (and a big announcement ... later) All of the photos (tons of them) are here. I'll update my website when I get a chance.

I actually don't like Boulder that much. I find it to be a very pretentious city. All of the artists there are the "I smoke pot and I'm weird, so I must be an artist" type. Most of the real artists are in Denver. We have a couple art districts here and the city is really beginning to boom. It's growing so fast it's amazing.

Factories do weird thing like that sometimes. I have a Korean made Hamer from around 1999 that has the relief carved into the fretboard and the neck is straight. Makes sense, I guess, if you have the means.

As some of you know, me and all of the artists I work with were kicked out of our factory building (the owner wants more parking for his gay bar across the street and he wants to grow medicinal MJ in there ). Our new place is great and we're in the process of unpacking right now. Most of the same artists came with us. The guy with the most equipment (that we all use) has a unit like 50' from ours. I'm really loving this place. I'll post more photos when we're all setup. Here's what it looks like when artists move:

I think the Hotrods are great. Just make sure they're in tight or they can rattle.

I recently took a commission I didn't like because I needed the money. Bad move. It took forever to finish because I was never satisfied with it and I'm still not. It was just all around unpleasant. And I totally agree with you again, Perry (you are Perry, right?). I'm about to start selling pickups and I had the same issues as you about it. I find myself needing to put aside my wants sometimes and just doing what needs done. I might be a trained artist, but I still need to run this business like a business. I'd love to someday just make what I want and nothing else, but I'm definitely not there yet. That could just be a pipe dream too, but that's not going to keep me from working towards a goal like that. BTW, after I got into this business I got noticeable tattoos on my arms just to burn my bridges in case I wanted to go the easy route and get a office type job. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. This way, they won't have anything to do with me... and the feeling is mutual. A hand tat is coming next. Shirt sleeves are holding me back

Thanks! Go for it mate. The guitars that people STILL talk about are the WOMD, Shark, and the white Mulitscale. You just have to have a guitar that speaks to people, and they will remember your name for a long time. Im lucky that Ive had a few guitars that people seem to be "fanatical" about, or at least very very fond of. I try and push every client's order in that direction, but it's hard. Most of the time the most popular guitars Ive built are the ones where I have no client "holding me back"... But, it's going to be sooo much harder these days to achieve that. What with cnc inlays etc, the art of a handmade guitar is being lost. When I say that, I mean its much easier to design and execute an impressive "wow" type guitar on a computer, than it is to spend the man hours making it by hand. With ease comes more quantity. Wow factor is lost when you are competing against hundreds of other makers who can now build because of an automatic tool. I agree %100. This industry of boutique guitars is only recently starting to really grow and it's growing fast. If you want to stand out, you need to do much more than just make good guitars. As customers' options multiply, they have less and less reason to buy from you unless you're doing something they desperately want and can't get elsewhere.

Here's some with the poly (satin) added. The front needs another coat still. I plan to make the whole back look almost matte, like there's no coating on it at all. I roughed up the back so it looks worn. I thought it was too contrasted with only the black and the rust. I think this is much better.

I actually managed to fix it without getting too crazy with it. I rubbed off the sealer with steel wool and fixed it from there. I then sprayed the sealer on with a little pump sprayer (I tried to use one of those $6 Preval sprayers, but I got a broken one) and I blotted it lightly. I did that for three coats until I was satisfied it was coated. The rust looks great now and it's ready for the poly. It seems the sealer dissolves the rust a little bit, so brushing it on rubbed it off. Spraying kept it near perfect. I'll post pictures this evening. Edit: BTW, keep acidic copper sulfate off of your skin. Holy sh*t

The first commission I got was $1500 and he supplied the pickups. They're now generally around $2500 and the most expensive yet was $4000 (I just got that order too). I just took an order for $1500 with the customer supplying the pickups again, though. It all depends on the guitar. I've been doing it full time for a few months. I'm thinking of getting a CNC and making a cheaper, non-custom, line for well under $2000. I'll keep those separate from the handmade ones. It'll have to wait until I get time to set things up, though.

Do you guys think I should leave it as-is and just put the poly on, or should I redo the rust to get it to look like it did? I really want some honest opinions, as I just can't decide. My wife hates that yellow border, but it's growing on me. I jut don't know at he moment.

I f***ed it up The sealer is an acid blocking acrylic to protect the poly that it's getting finished with. I put it on and the rust started turning yellow, black, and green. It actually looks cool, but there's a yellowish line surrounding the rust, which I don't like. The customer put me totally in charge of the aesthetics ( ) and I'm not wanting to send this out until I'm satisfied. Luckily, the headstock is okay, which means the logo won't need redone. It's actually looks a little better. I think if I spray it on instead of brushing, it might work. I'm going to do a test first. If it doesn't work, I'm going to not clear coat the rust at all. It'll keep oxidizing over time, so it'll be like an evolving finish. That could be pretty amazing, actually.

I could probably do that. I don't have a lot of the mesh left, but I'm not planning on using it unless someone requests it. I don't really like doing the same thing twice. I'm just using it in this batch of guitars because of a request. For anyone that doesn't know what we're talking about, it's these humbucker covers:

If I ever figure out how to explain it, I might share. It's not exactly a straight forward process, especially finding the material to make them.

I guess that's enough interest right there. I'll be finishing this up soon (my clear coats cures fast) and I'll write it up then. My name's not Paul, BTW

alright, I spent the whole day rusting the crap out of this thing I'm very pleased so far. The dark borders around the rust will be cleaned up. It's just part of the process. I still have some work to do, but you can get a good idea of what it'll look like now. The rust wraps around to the front a little too. I might post a tutorial on how to do this if people are actually interested. And here's a few more: http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-sn...22_143197_n.jpg http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-sn...3_2773876_n.jpg and one showing the front: http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-as...4_3245665_n.jpg

I VOTE FOR GREEN