ScottR

I love your timber choices at least from a pure asthetic point of view. It's beautiful, I hope it sounds as nice as it looks. SR

I remember not so long ago you were lamenting the lack of a drum sander......I expect you're loving having one now! SR

+1 This should be fun. SR

Wow! SR

Dammit! So I've discovered over the last two builds that I'm becoming OCD at this stage. I've spent the last two weeks fiulling leveling recoating sanding tinting sanding leveling filling sanding leveling tinting sanding and on and on and on. I was sure I'd be spraying before the day was over, but I keep finding things I want to do first. I'm done filling. I'm nearly done leveling. I'm going to sand through at least one more grade on the body. I've got work to do on the neck to body transition. The woodworking part is fine even really good if I don't say so myself, but I've got to work on the burst and blend of color. During this process I've learned that you can tint Z-Poxy with alcohol based dye, even if it is cured. I'm going to re-airbrush the black burst onth the edges and barely into the top and back and neck join and touch up the blend on the neck to body join as needed....then spray nitro. It should only be a day or so away....I'll post the re-burst before srpaying. These shots will give you a pretty good idea of what this would look like in a satin finish. SR

Exactly. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new stuff when it's ready to be unveiled. Surely you do plan to share.......since you spileed the beans.... .......dude, that would be evil. SR

It's beautiful Andy. You said you were going to compare the sound of this chambered guitar to the solid PRSish one. How did that come out? SR

Good stories are soooo much more fun than the truth. SR

I'm gonna hazard a guess. I bet he's picked a surface of his neck blank that he wants to face up--and this offset is put in before any scarfing, carving routing and so on is done so he doesn't for get what side he chose. Fess up RAD, inquiring minds want to know. SR

That was inattention on my part. When I saw the close up I thought-cool, he's going to do a couple more of those wavy half and half headstocks. It didn't even click that that was two parts aleady put together instead of one part getting ready to be cut into two. The grain matches are close enough to not draw attention. The next few times it showed up, it didn't register as anything other the wavy grain cocobolo has sometimes. If you were going for subtle....hit hit it. If not, you may have outdone yourself with your joinery skills. SR

That headstock with the lams showing through on the sides is cool. Are you going to let that stand as is? SR

Are you getting tired of orange yet? SR

How did you use/apply the Z-Poxy when you used it? I've been using it kind of like tru-oil and it looks very similar. I's a little more involved to use and it doesn't flow out as well but it does act like an oil in terms of the depth and richness it adds. It has a bit of an oily feel and the amber color may have something to do with that I imagine. That's more what I was thinking. SR Yes. Do that. Looking gorgeous. I can't wait to work with something quilted someday. Figured maple is awesome. I like being a little different so I was a little torn about using it....everyone uses it to the point of being overdone. But it is so cool, that everyone ought to use it at least once. Why miss out on the fun? SR

You know, it took me a long time to figure out why some custom basses went so far up the neck on the bas side....it did eventually figure it out. This turned out beautiful Matt. I love the woods, love the finish, and especially love the neck and headstock. Excellent job. SR

Since I've filled the claw marks with Z-Poxy, a polyester resin, I'm using it to grain fill and level the surface of the entire body of the guitar. I want to have a uniform material to spray lacquer onto, and I need to level out some minor waves in the surface. Apparently the water based dye swelled the open grain more than the closed grain and I got a slightly rolling surface in my top. It also turns out my grain darkening fill on the back didn't get all the pores, so this is basically a pore filling process as well. So I wipe on Z-Poxy, let it dry and sand it level mostly and repeat. This is tricky as I don't want to cut into the dyed wood. I cut the tops off the ridges with 400 grit and then level further with 1500 micro mesh. 400 cut too fast and wants to get down to the dyed wood. 600 is better but clogs to fast. I end up up using 400 that I sanded against another sheet of 400. What I get is the cutting speed of 600 without the clogs. Those two are lightly hit with the modified 400, and the one below is after hitting with 1500. I'm getting closer to level.Then a re- with Z-Poxy and we'll do it again. It is very tempting to rushi this part....but I suppose I better take what time it takes and get it right. I did cut though a couple of times and learned I can re-dye the exposed wood and tint the Z-Poxy with alcohol based dye. You have to clean it with water pretty well afterwards so the Z-poxy doesn't try to fisheye but it tints pretty well. My top has gotten a bit redder. SR

Dude, those look sweet, in particular the back shown. Digest your food and throw up some more pics. (No pun intended) SR

There's a button for that here too, now. SR

You need something that would just wipe off the deeper grain. Maybe if you thined some laquer way down and used it instead of alcohol. Then water based over that? And yeah it would be hard to stay out of Christmas even if you could pull it off. I've seen the colors in gemstones and it is very striking. This one is still getting epoxy rubbed in. There are still some minor voids in the claw marks to get leveled before clear coating. SR

I've been contemplating an idea whilst applying epoxy to this body. I doubt I'll ever get to try it, but I want to float it out there. What if one had a vacuum bag system......and used it to speed up pore filling. I'm thinking that one could apply a layer of epoxy and cover that with a layer of plastic film like shrink wrap or Saran wrap. Maybe put the whole thing in another plastic bag to catch any squeeze out and then put it all in the vacuum bag and draw it down for a bit. Would not that pressure applied evenly insure the epoxy got down into all the pores the first time? SR

Dude, you are letting your artistic genes breathe a bit. Nice. SR

Did you cut the curves in that plate and put maple veneer between the pieces and glue it back together? Very cool! I like the font on the plate and on the name decal on the headstock. I'm not convinced you should go with both on the same guitar. I'm not really disturbed by it...but I'm not convinced either. I can't see them both at the same time here, but one will be able to do so when holding the guitar. SR

I was thinking deep ruby red in the deep part of the figure and glowing green in shimmery highlight parts. I just don't know how to pull that off. Those colors would go muddy brown if they mixed. That's more what I was thinking. SR

Almost missed this one. The marks don't jump out at you anymore, but they are not as invisible as these pics make it seem. And that new one showed up out of nowhere! I was minding my own business cleaning up the epoxy fill, and this guy shows up at the last second. What nerve! SR

Any commentary on the stainless? SR

You think I got them right? I like them a lot....but I find myself hunting for more red.... I'm going to have to get a look at it though a deep clear gloss, then decide whether to back off or not. Speaking of colors, Paulie; I heard this song a few times whilst building this weekend. It made me think of you....you should do a build that evokes this title. When you get out from under that order for 40 that is. I have no idea of how to do it, but what a great quilt color blood of emeralds would be. SR