ScottR

Ahem..... Those are really really.....really sweet. Excellent build thread with some cool techniques and beautiful guitars. Hat's off to you sir. SR

Thanks Levi. I hope you do find it useful. Are you going to be posting your upcoming project? SR

Or, he might let you borrow it for a long time if he can borrow oooooh - say about $3000.00 Wotcha rekon Scott ? Yup, I reckun that would just about do Paulie. SR

It won't be long now before you get a chance to test that feeling out.... .....if you get too uneasy I'll let you borrow it from time to time. And thanks. SR

I like that shape. It's better than the Jackson you referred to. SR

This seems to be a trend at least for these current builds. I seem to remember it happening occasionally in the past, but not on every build.....is my memory correct RAD? Is this going to be a permanent design factor to your brand? One has to be super accurate when choosing to do this. The line next to the dots will show the slightest varience in placement that may have gone unnoticed otherwise. SR

Two years back maybe? Did you try RestorationAD? SR

Thanks for the wows guys. Paulie, I used to think I could take a decent picture, but guitars do not co-operate too well for me. (of course I used to use an Olympic 35mm SLR, and even spent some time in the darkroom, too.) Oh well, the rest of the shots will just have to be outside.....which is where I prefer to be anyway. SR

It is indeed comfy Muzz...... I did get some work done this past weekend......but it was one of those sessions when each day you get up and notice something that needs to be fixed and you undo half of what you got done the day before. I thought I'd use a mini buffiing wheel on my dremel to polish out the insides of the recesses. it worked great too, right up until I burned through a couple of spots and left divits in the finish. so I got my brush and nitro and filled the divits and recoated the inside edges of the recesses, When I was done I noticed a couple of nice drops of lacquer on the front. It was an excellent example of how on coat burns into the next. I wiped the spots by reflex. Then I filled them and went in for the night. I spent the next morning re sanding and buffing out those boo-boos. I did get the rest of the polishing done after that....well, after I decided that the leveling job I'd done on the front wasn't quite right. I felt like I'd polished up a little orange peel nice and bright....so I fixed that too. You may just recognize the shape of my old Black and Decker mouse that I turned into a buffer- polisher during my last build. It is covered with the most wonderful, thick soft half of a pair of socks that I have ever put my hands on. Apparently, my wife added them to my rag bag. These were her 'my it's cold I'm going to sleep in socks tonight socks'. You know the ones--the ones that will take at least a new diamond to get off so you might as well roll over and go to sleep. I've never seen them this close before, let alone hold them in my hands. These are niiiiiiiiiice --for buffing. They polished up this new guitar like nobody's business. I don't like the way the color looks as much in these inside shots--flash or no. You may notice a nut blank in the next pic. I bought a tusq blank and measured it out found the spacing, and screwed up the measurements somehow. I spaced them too close together. I had a bone blank and did it correctly. Today I decded I could file down the grooves and re do the tusq, which I did. And I got some machine heads put in tonight. SR

yeah, its a waterslide - i got this style for some gibson style black headstock i was doing a few years ago, but they seem to work nicely on most things. there are always things that can be done better but my main issue at the moment is that everything is taking far too long!! i must admit i am preferring simpler guitars these days. i still appreciate a nice bit of lamination with fancy woods and highlights, and i still like mucking about with different techniques. but looking back over the last 10 years building guitars i can honestly say the best ones have been the simpler ones my top 5 from me would be: Where would you put that clean black LPRS thing you did a couple of years back? The Stratele is beautiful by the way. SR

A poor man's lathe with precision templates. Nice Chris. SR

Very nice job. The cedar looks great, and the wood burning art is quite good. Like DemonX said, the detail and proportions on the fence post and barbed wire are excellent. SR

Nice one Mike! (I'm still getting caught up). I do wish you'd use a template when you're going with direct mounted pups, but otherwise this is very sweet looking indeed. And....stellar photography. Have I been blind or have your shots always been this good? SR

Yah!!! Giant neck!!! Serious neck dive candidate! Puts it all into perspective doesn't it? Looking good Muzz. I'm looking forward to seeing this turn red. SR

Ha! Famous last words. SR

Take your pick. I usually wick a little CA into the bottom of the fret slot after fretting to seal it so that would be a perfect time.......if I could stand to wait. But I usually can't stand to wait once I've noticed a gap. I normally squirt a little puddle of CA into a dixie cup and use a real cheapo fine paint brush to fill those little gaps. The puddle in the cup stays fluid for much longer than you'd expect. The hairs of the brush do fuse pretty quickly, but it will still carry enough CA to wick in and you have a lot more control than trying to use the bottle with a tiny hole in the tip. SR

+1 Adding a black burst during the clear coating process would look killer on the NM too. SR

Running some water thin CA in might be easier than epoxy, and it will look black......trust me, I know...... SR

Thanks Mike. It's got a pair of Rad's humbuckers going in it, so it ought to sound outstanding! Pestvic, I still have 5 grades of micromesh to go before I buff with polishing compound. More shine to come! SR

Nice to see one of your builds again K. I see you are still putting out top notch work. I'm glad to hear you are going to be making one for yourself....I wasn't sure you'd ever do that again. I know you said these are the last for a while.....but I'd love to see more. SR

That's going to have to hold me till this weekend. Happy birthday America! SR

I'm not sure I like this Cardinal lacquer from LMI. It has left some bubbles in areas that I sprayed a little too thick and they are had to buff out. I have been melting them with a very thinned lacquer brushed on.....we'll see how it goes. SR

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So, it's been a day or two. While the lacquer was curing, I took a 10 day trip to Colorado (4 of them just driving back and forth from Houston) camping in the mountains with my son. We had a grand finale with a show at Red Rocks, and damn but that was the highlight of the trip...even before the first band came on stage. What a phenomenal place! Everyone that likes music should put it on their bucket list. Anyway, since I've been back I've started on the leveling and polishing process.the shiniest of the following shots are only half way through the process....but that's where I am. I did my best to capture the shade of red this thing has....which is very dificult....but you'll get the general idea. Hopefully I get it finished this weekend and can work on getting it set up...... SR