MuffinPunch

That might be cool. Kind of hard to mock that up without it looking cheesy though. I did through together this mockup to give a rough idea of what it might look like as clear acrylic. The HS would be painted white with a thin sheet of etched clear acrylic on top. The body was taken from an image of a JSY2K Crystal Planet clearboy, so the contours and electronics cavity would be slightly different on the real thing, but you get the idea. kinda neat looking. Yet another option would be to make the body blank out of a thin sheet of double sided mirror acrylic sandwiched in between two thicker sheets of clear acrylic, with a sheet of mirror acrylic on the HS. The body cavities would go right through the mirror so it might look kinda weird in those areas. I wont go as far as to mock that up, it probably wouldnt look right if I tried, but its a thought.

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Good call on the second hand body... I have looked into that a bit already. If I were doing a six string I would have tons of S bodies to chose from. Unfortunately sevens are few and far between, and the couple I came across have immaculate 'Prestige' figured tops that I would hate to paint over and cost as much as I could get a new one for. This project might warrant the use of the CNC again if I still have access to it. I agree it will take a lot of laser time whichever rout I take, but the results will be worth it I think. The mockups above had a little bit of noise added to them when I put them together but the originals were full scale and with the resizing, much of he intricate detail has been lost. another option I thought of is a solid clear acrylic body with smoked and/or frosted recesses. Ill have to throw a mockup together of that.

Okay, by now youre probably all tired of me posting designs and ideas without any building going on, so I promise after I get this one out ill cool it for a while! Like Ive mentioned in my other posts, my guitar projects have been hibernating for the past three months, but will wake up and stretch their limbs come May when I return to So Cal and back to school where I can access the shop and tools, etc. So for my final pipe dream, Ive been absolutley in LOVE with the Ibanez SHRGR1Z HR Giger model ever since I first layed eyes on it! I have no idea how it plays, but I assume its great just like any other S, only it looks AMAZING! I have been a Giger fan ever since I first saw Alien. The guy is seriously twisted and undoubtedly disturbed, but his artwork is incredible. So why am I trying to replicate this guitar instead of just buying it? 1. I could never afford to buy a Giger model... 2. They only made a few of them anyway... 3. It only comes as a six stringer... 4. Your limited to one color choice... After doing some research, I found that the chemical etched surfacing of the nickel plated guitar, could be easily replicated using my handy dandy school laser. Rather than going through the mad scientist process of chemical baths and what not, a similar effect could be done in a few different ways. I could laser etch the design directly onto the wood or laser cut a mask and sandblast the body. I could also laser etch the design onto a thinner piece of materiel and glue that to the surface of the wood. As I am planninig on building and S body with a carved top and bottom, it might be a little trick trying to get the laser to stay in focus while etching directly onto the wood, so that probably isnt a very viable option for me, but any of the other ones could work just fine. Specs: Poplar body 22 fret rosewood finger board bolt on maple neck 25.5" scale DiMarzio "The Breed" HB neck pup, bridge TBD 5 way selector switch w/ master volume, master tone knobs Ibanez ZR 7 trem w/ zero point system The neck inlay is still to be determined. It will probably end up as the spine from the original in maybe black, gold, or white pearloid. The top one is nice and simple, all white with black hardware. The second is pretty much an exact duplicate of the original in appearance but would be a mat paint rather than nickel plating. The bottom one shows the most potential IMO. White with gold undertones and gold hardware. Ive always wanted a guitar with white and gold, but they always look too classy for my taste. This one shows a little bit of class disguising its darker nature... Let me know what you guys think, and if you have any other suggestions ill be glad to hear them! Thanks!

I dont know about the "easy" part... But that sounds like a pretty realistic way for Ibanez to have done it. I dont know that I would want to go through all that on my own, but I may try the sand blast technique in the future and im sure I could get similar results just with wood or acrylic.

+1 to that! I had a really hard time picking one this month! All are very inspiring!

Ironically, I do have access to a laser at the moment. The sandblasting thing seems like it would probably work, especially considering the contours of the body. But the vinyl mask would be a pain to cut by hand, so I guess that could be cut by a laser too...

I was wondering if anyone out there has any idea how this finish was accomplished and how one would replicate it... Ibanez SHRG1Z HR Giger If I were to guess Id say it was a laser engraving, but this one has a metal coating and a carved top, so I dont know how the laser would have a consistant focus throughout the entire process. There is also this one, the RGHRG1 which definitely looks laser engraved: I think it would be rad to do something like either of these on a future build, but I wouldn't know where to begin!

Very helpful info. Thanks a lot. Sounds like vinyl is the way to go. We have a large format color inkjet printer at work and a couple rolls of coated canvas. I thought I could put it to use, but if its gonna cause me problems there's no point. Im sure we can print on vinyl as well, so Ill have to look into doing that instead. If I remember correctly, Ibanez had the same issue when they were developing the "chrome boy". I believe they ended up using nickel over copper as well or something similar. Are you gonna post pics? Id love to see the process you used!

It was supposed to be a subliminal message, but I cant get anything past you guys!

Was totally joshing ya about the CNC thing - I'd do it if I could too. At least use templates unless you want it to look like my stuff... About the flipped image , get the best of both worlds - try to flip the whole image with the tombstone writing overlayed in the right direction....... Bobble-head Eddie approves. Yeah I knew you were kidding. Ill definately be using templates as well, not that I dont want tit to look like yours... I did a mockup with the image flipped and the gravestone lettering inversed a while back. It looks ok, but I still like the BNW one better.

Ha! Of course! Joking aside tho, no, this one will be done by hand. If you're going to hit them with the router, why bother with the laser cutter in the first place? If you aren't looking at it, I'm doing a mirored acrylic top on an Iceman. I'd say if you have access to a laser cutter than can do bevels and work at a lower heat, then that's the best way to go. Im not sure understand exactly what your saying here... I guess theres a way to do bevels on the laser while cutting and I could probably find out how, but I didnt think about doing it that way cuz I didnt realize that was an option. I figured I would cut it on the laser cuz I can do that in about 25 seconds and the perimiter will be perfect. I wanted a bevel so I thought Id do that afterwords on the router table... if there is a better way im totally up for it. thanks. I thought that would look better too, but the writing on the tombstone is backwords. It looks a little cheesy.

Thanks every one for your votes! The tally puts P at number one with G coming in at second and I in 3rd. I would have put them in that order myself to begin with, so its good to know that either: I have decent taste, or: we all have bad taste together! I was actually a bit surprised that L didnt get a single vote. It wasnt my favorite but the mockup turned out really cool looking IMO. Maybe a little on the 'bright blue' side, but still cool, and kind of encompassed more history of the band with the addition of future Eddie and Seventh Son Eddie as the statues. Somewhere Back in Time was an amazing tour! I still have my original artwork to put together, but time isnt permitting me much progress with that. I can litterally throw together these mockups in a matter of seconds once the first one is done, but creating an entire digital painting takes some time and some planning. If I dont get to that soon or if it turns out crap, I will likely chose to go with P, "Brave New World", and using a clear pick guard rather than a smoked one. Im still thinking of doing 2 guitars simultaniously, in which case I think the other will be a duplicate of the original alternative version of this guitar. The White one with a white pick guard and an ebony fretboard, and maybe slap John's Smiley Eddie sticker on the back somewhere. If I do that I will definately be front routing both of them, using the same templates obviously. How does acrylic do on a router? Ive never done it before, but I had planned to laser cut the pick guards then bevel the edges on the router table. Thats still a ways away so Ill worry about that when I get there. Its likely this thread will remain dormant for a couple of months after I conclude the planning. I need to focus my efforts on finishing my other projects. I have a few other designs for future builds I need to get out of my head so I can I sleep at night, but as far as building goes... time will tell if and when I actually get to any of them. Ill be sure to post my ideas up here though as I develop the plans so I can continue getting the expert advise and opinions of you talented folks.

This thing turned out amazing! I want to do a Satch at some point in the future, but I want to attempt a chrome finish... Not to hijack the thread, but I just started a thread for a guitar I will be doing a similar finish on. Ill be using an image as opposed to fabric, but I was wondering if it might not be a viable option to print my images on canvas, though it might effect the image quality slightly. Do you have any experience with something like that? Its a strat shape body with fairly large round overs over which I want the image to conform smoothly. There is probably a better material that can be printed on that works well for this kind of thing, but im kind of a rookie.

I also thought it might be cool to add some color variation to the Brave New World. I actually think the original blue looks best. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

Youre right, the pick guard does hide some detail that I wish was more prominent. I stated in an earlier post that the pick guard material would be lightly smoked acrylic. Thats what I was attempting to illustrate, but evidently it would look better with plain 'ol clear acrylic. I will likely end up with a front rout anyway, fixing that part of the image to the back of the pick guard. But its the element of having the pick guard in the original guitar that I want to stay true to, so even if I end up routing it from the back it will be there.

After some speculation and reviewing of all the mockups ive put together thus far, Ive kinda narrowed it down to Either the Live After Death cover, or Brave New World. I think both could use some scaleing and repositioning before they are going to be ready for printing, but I agree with the coments you guys have made. Thanks for your help guys. I am also going to try my hand at doing some original Maiden artwork featuring Eddie. My training is primarily in automotive surfacing and powersports design, but I think I can pull something decent off. Ill post it when Im done. LAD and BNW still might be better choices, so ill keep those on the filing cabinet for now. Wish me luck!

I know!!! Maybe at some point I will build them all. By the way, Id love to see the Destroyer you built. I forgot to clerify the Crimson King thing you asked about. Its actually a bass project I have planned out. You can follow the link on my sig.

Thanks for your comments so far. I agree about the pick guard graphics not showing much effort. In fact next to the full body graphic ones, I think they look rather lame. I do have a few other ideas bangin around that I didnt have time to post last night. Here they are: However much I love the Eddie smily face, I could just get a sticker and slap it on any guitar. That to my doesnt spell tribute too much. I definately think I want to go with the full body graphics now, I just need to decide on which one(s. I think I may make two guitars as well.)

Thirty days and counting before Im back in California with access to a shop and tools again. Ill finally be able to finish up TabarZin and start building Crimson King. I may be a bit on the optimistic side thinking I can actually add more guitar projects to my schedule, but Ive been kicking around the idea of an Iron Maiden tribute guitar for some time now. Maiden has almost exclusively used Strats for the last 10-15 years, so it only made sense to use one for a tribute guitar. Ive always been more of a Jackson guy personally so when I learned that Adrian Smith was getting a signature model of the San Dimas Dinky, it was a no brainer! Normally I wouldnt resort to building something I could buy in a store, but this one retails for $2,799! Not something I can see myself being able to afford in the near future. And Not something I be willing to add a custom finish to if I did get my hands in one. There are a few intricacies unique to this model which doesnt make modding and refinishing an old pawnshop Strat copy a feasible alternative either. Besides, I have yet to try my hand at making a bolt on with a trem, so this will be good experience if nothing else. Specs: Alder body Bolt on quarter sawn Maple neck and 22 fret fingerboard with compound radius black dot inlays 25.5" scale length OFR trem with locking nut Gotah tuners all black hardware and screws Fender single coil neck and middle pickups, DiMarzio Super Distortion hb bridge. 5-way selector switch with master vol and master tone knobs basically I want to stay true to the original as much as possible. After that it really more of a finishing exercise. I have collected a fair amount of IM artwork to chose from. I want to put to a vote more or less which of my ideas you all prefer. Ultimately I will end up choosing what I like best, but your input could direct me at least to narrow down my choices a bit. These first two are very subtle variations. A would feature the image underneath the finish. B would feature the image fixed underneath the pick guard. Both would be top routed. These next three variations on B only with different images. Now that I have them posted, Im really not a fan of any of them. These last three are much closer to what I had originally envisioned. The mockups shown above were more or less a feeble attempt at retaining the white finish with the dark pick guard of the original. I almost want to make one of each! These would be rear routed with a transparent pick guard (a la Ibanez Universe swirl finish) showing the detail underneath, possibly slightly smoked, or top routed with the image portion fixed under the pick guard as in the ones above. The image will be printed on canvas then glued on the body before clear. These all feature a light black burst on the edges and a black back. I had also thought about keeping the guitar nearly identical to the original and adding the tributary artwork to the back of the body, but I thought that would be too boring. Let me know what you think, and if you have any other ideas or advice on doing a finish like this, im all ears (eyes)!

Ill be honest Oursouls, I didnt care much for this guitar before, but the addition of chrome has sold me on it! True Metal guitars actually have metal on them! (or faux metal )

Quick update on this project.... I have officially finished the design of this project. I have also determined the hardware and electronics setup I will be using. Ive spent the last 3 months here in Minnesota interning as an industrial designer for Polaris Industries Inc. I havent had a lot of time to focus on this or any of my other personal projects until recently, but as I will be returning to CA in about a months time and I will be able to resume work on my guitar projects, I felt I should get the ball rolling again. Ive designed this bass around the theme of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, focusing on the ambiguous antagonist who caries the name "Crimson King". The body inlay also comes from that characters mark. I have refined the shape to a point where I am completely satisfied. In the end the shape became fairly traditional, but traditional proportions are beautiful and that was the first goal. The "dark" twist was always secondary. Here is the final design: I am also working on building a digital model to use for making my templates. I will post images when its complete. Shouldn't be too much longer. As far as the electronics and hardware go, I have decided on using 2 EMG-HZ passive bass pickups in combination with 2 volume, 2 tone knobs. And I will be using simple Gotah tuners. I will stick with the monorail bridges. The Inlay will most likely be pearloid or similar, as I will again be using the laser to cut both the recesses and the inlay pieces.

This is a sweet build man! My hat is off to you for originality! I might consider doing a bolt on simply because you could potentially save a bit more of the carving on the back by not having to carve out the transition from neck to body. Also, +1 for what Sam said about making the gazelles look like a cave painting. It might be tricky to pull something like that off, but it could look awesome. I was thinking of finger painting or dry-brushing white strokes over the top of the carvings before clear, but it would be difficult to "test" and even harder to make it not look like one of your kids painted it in kindergarten class. Cool idea tho... Maybe just stick with solid black... If you decide to use templates for routing... well I will applaud you! You may even use a template to sharpen up the body and headstock rout, (but thats asking a lot I know) even tho its pretty close already. Cant wait to see the progress on this one!

+1 I agree. What you have appears to be very high quality, professional looking work, but the hard edges around the sides of the volute make it seem a bit unfinished and maybe slightly less comfortable to play. But everyone has their preference I guess. Impressive work man!