komodo

Connect the cavities.

Elaborate on cutting blind slots please.

Then, I tried a few wipes of black on the edge to see if I could "fake" a sunburst using just dye. The other black piece is still wet in patches. After it dried it kind of looked like what I was going for with a warm charcoal black with amber hues. Buuuut, did you see that other one?! I need to sleep on this and it's homebrew Tripel time.

This is the all amber > sandback 50% > all black > sandback 50% > light amber coat. The difference between this one and the more traditional black > sandback > amber is quite striking.

Right now, it looks tiger eye. While that is probably one of my favorite finishes, that's not what we're going for. In that finish example link I posted, he dyed his color first, sanded back, then the black, sanded back, then the color again. I think he did color and black again. What I'm going to have to do, is dilute these dyes back quite a ways to be able to get a lighter wash on because the black is dead black with only one coat. I will say, if I ended up with this I certainly wouldn't cry.

Here is the build I found that has a very similar finish. His has a bit of reddish purple instead of the brownish amber, but it looks like a similar process. Scroll down for the finish process pics. Similar finish My ivoroid binding came and I'm not really thrilled with it, it just looks like cream binding with lines on it. Today I'm refining the carve and making a final decision on binding or no binding. If I go no binding, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't sand the sides in (to get rid of the binding ledge) and make it the guitar .5% smaller. I have considered cutting some quilt maple for natural binding. It wouldn't match the top quilt, BUT, since the top would be bursted dark at the edges, you may not even see that. If I go no binding and mostly opaque black sides, binding is no issue, and I could do the belly cut and pull that black into that. I'd also probably want to break the edges on top and bottom? Just thinking out loud here. So many things affect each other.

LMI analine black and amber. Tonight I'll sand back and apply the amber on black and black on amber. I found a build online that has a very similar finish where he did it dye on wood only and no tinted lacquer.

No worries, I will not rush this. I'm just feeling the pressure of the good weather slipping away. I had this project sitting on the shelf for a long time, so I'm moving forward at a good but measured clip. It's funny, because the Conklin is my least favorite but it did have that brownish in there that many of the black tops don't have. People seem to like the very black and white charcoal look. I specifically want that brownish tinge in there but not BROWN. What I'd really like is the color of the 2nd PRS, and almost opaque blacks on the very edges creeping in further in the waist cuts and inside horns. My intention is to do the back identical to the front. What I'm really wondering about at this point is the binding, and the ash sides. Also the back is completely flat. I could do a belly cut, but would dig into that wicked quilt, and that would also make back binding tricky. I'm starting to lean to belly cut, and then after the dye is done, do a 70% opaque black tinted lacquer spray of the edges like on a regular sunburst - but only creeping in slightly on the edges. I know this is an art form and have seen the trick using the templates to keep the edges even. As soon as I think this is it, I think about how cool the black quilted top and bottom would look against totally clean ash sides. An then the binding and belly cut thing come up again. lol

This one is closest. While I don't want to kill the 3D, and I feel a sense of responsibility with this piece of wood, this is my course. After Prosthetas writeup, my Erlewine finishing book, and watching 5 million videos, I think I'm ready. I've got scraps and cutoffs of the top wood, LMI alcohol dyes and my gun setup. I'm going to get a quart of lacquer and use my 2k on the flying V. Does this look like an acceptable rough finish schedule? -Medium/heavy coat of black or brown/black -sandback 50-70% -very thin wash of amber/brown -more dense black around the very edges fading in -sealing coat of shellac -3 coats lacquer and light sand w/400 -repeat 3x This doesn't include pretesting on scraps, what I may do for binding, and what I may do for the ash sides - depending on the tests. I did just read today a technique of laying on boiled linseed oil after the dye and before the seal coat. This could really enhance chatoyance.

Mind changed. Any help with the recipe would be most welcome, my goal is not just a washed black dye, but get that brownish black. I'm guessing a heavy black dye, sandback, then thinner wash layer of brown and black? I'm not sure yet if it should be a black burst, or keep it like the Conklin 9 string and use the black binding. There's also the matter of the ash, which would look pretty sweet with a black dye, also there is already a binding channel cut on the top. This should be sweet with the gold hardware.

I don't want to speak to any aspect of this guitar, but one, The technical competency is certainly there, the subtly of design is excellent, and I have to believe it sounds amazing. But wow, that sunburst is a bold, daring, and absolutely AMAZING stroke of creativity. It almost leaves me speechless.

If you saw my thread in the electronics section, you might recognize this: Notice the curious factory holes. A regular strat top jack, a side jack, AND a rectangular hole the EXACT size of a Graph Tech MIDI 13 pin jack plate. Curious indeed. $40 on Ebay, but that's another story for another day.

I was doing the top when this came.

I've got three sets of knobs to choose from. You guys pick.

Rough volute, rough heel, and my favorite way to carve a top. Drak showed me that one.

Progress: Today I purchased Tyvek suit, head sock, cheesecloth, denatured alcohol, etc., unglamorous critical for the job. To my delight, I already had organic vapor cartridges, alcohol dyes, and an HVLP jamb gun that I've never used, as well as three cans of SprayMax 2K. My finishes to this point have been a lot of Truoil, some off the shelf rattle can lacquers, etc. I've not done any dying, and I haven't done a 2k or nitro or used the gun. I understand the concepts, and have the gear but am a little unsure how to proceed. People who have used the SprayMax 2k seem to love it and I have seen spectacular finishes with it. I don't have anything to run through the gun except some good LMI water based lacquer I got for this purpose but have been using it brushed on for lots of other projects. It's nice, but have had blushing on some things. I'm thinking alcohol dyes straight on the wood, sand back and the base coat of yellow/amber if I do full sunburst. Seal with shellac, fill the ash pores with West epoxy I have, then the Spray Max. If I do a full sunburst, I'm not sure where to do that, After the shellac, and layers of shellac between each coat? Spray the dye with the gun? As mentioned before, I also have another project I'm doing at the same time, the first guitar I ever built. It's really getting tweaks of how I think it should have been when I built it. Also, refinishing it to straight black. I'm not as concerned with making this one perfect, just bringing it up to speed. I could save the SprayMax for that one, or spray the rest of my water based lacquer on that one. I'm torn. I'm sure this is making some of you nauseous, but I have to start somewhere. LOL Today, I will try to get the pot holes drilled, top shaped, back binding channel routed, and solid first pass at sanding/scraping. The other guitar just needs some shaping around the neck pocket and sanding (the pic is older before I cut the neck pocket). I should start another build thread on that one just so you can see it, cause it's a trip. My junior year in high school, I traced a Gibson korina V on a big sheet of paper (on the floor in the music store), made plans in architect class, used that to build a perfect African mahogany V body in shop class, and was ready to cut the pup holes when I flipped out and redrew the shape on the plan. I made a bunch of insane cuts to the body - waist cuts like a violin, bevels on every edge, etc. It turned into a pointy monster! It was a crappy white spray can finish with black vinyl zebra stripes (yep) for a long time. It has custom cut tailpiece and back plate that I had chromed, so needs to be solid black. It also sported some junky squarish jazz bridge, and has been rectified to a Schaller ToM. Lastly, it was 25.5" based on a replacement Charvel strat neck I bought and cut the headstock all pointy. It now has a black 24.75" Washburn V neck and recut neck pocket for the right angle. I'd like the keep most of this ones warts since it was #1. Before you say "omg, those bevels are jacked up", know that I was a 16yo noob, probably high, and did it HANDHELD with a jigsaw!

This was a trick. Or I should say tricky. The wood was only the 1/8", enough for a cover and to be a flat veneer. I marked the cover on the raw plank, carefully slit through it in one spot with an Xacto blade, then fed my finest pearl cutting blade through it and cut by hand. This may be why I have that glitchy area at the bottom, it was done quite some time ago when it was mothballed. I've attacked several projects recently to revive them and carry them to completion. The bad thing is I waited too long and am now racing the weather to get these ready to spray before it starts getting colder. Everyday here is just perfect for spraying outside but it won't last long.

Cavity cut. That glitch on the cavity edge might just be ignored, or I could route and bind that inside edge. Also spent some time researching pickups. What I have now is Tonerider Rocksongs, which I'll try out first. If those are deemed unworthy, then Suhr SSH (bridge) + Aldrich (neck) are on the menu. Still leaning to amber sandback and clear front and back. As much as I'd like a tobacco burst, with top and bottom binding, I think the even finish and wicked quilt may be enough. The neck might receive nothing but clear in the front of the headstock and a light coat or two sanded back or nothing but oil.

It very well could have been that long. I know I had something in the inly area from this inlay, and probably discussions in the finish area on this? I dunno, don't spend any time on it!

I thought I had a thread on this build, but I've visited here only sporadically and took a very long break, and don't see my earlier posts. Anyhoo, I call it The Uber because I;m building it for myself as my "just for me" indulgence guitar. Nothing insane, just everything right. -25" scale -swamp ash with INSANE quilt top and bottom - top is 1/2-5/8" and bottom is more of a 1/8" veneer -black binding top and maybe bottom -neck is I believe Madagascar rosewood, gold wire, an ebony cap, and my first inlay -two gold PAF(like) pups. I think I bought Rocksong, when I had no money. I'll use them and upgrade as desired -gold bridge, can't remember the brand. one of those nicer wraparound kind -locking Schallers I believe -probably just 1 vol, 1 tone You can see my Illustrator mockup printed out by it to see the finish. Likely an amber/brown sandback and clear coat. I was going to do just clear, but that quilt needs to pop as much as possible. I'm open to any suggestions.

I know exactly what you mean! l've got a very nice sound system in my truck, and find I listen to stuff that's well recored rather than what I actually want to listen to. You can hear all of the seams in everything. My wife was just this evening talking about seeing a 4k tv that she didn't love because it was too sharp. I made sure to quickly let her know it was probably just an over sharpened setting to make sure there was one in our future. Ha. No idea on the wood, but my guess is poplar, alder, basswood. I've looked at a lot of sunburst strat bodies recently, and there is a distinct difference in the cheap sunbursts vs the Fender. This one actually looks like a Fender burst. Besides the three piece glueup with the darker one on the top, and some knicks, etc it's pretty decent. WHAT the square hole and bottom hole is IDK. The bottom is 5/8 which very well may be a MIDI, and the square some kind of battery box. But who was manufacturing that? I've searched and can't find anything like it. I may be asking for help with the electronics, as I think my wiring is going to get complicated. lol My recording is pretty simple. I use a Steinberg UR22 into my laptop using Reaper. All I have is the interface, a cheap dynamic mic, a small MIDI keyboard and a decent preamp. I built a bass to use, and a ribbon mic which turned out REALLY nice. I've got a great amp I could mic, but so far the soft amps (LePau) and cab simulators have been amazing.

Yeah, I'm reading and rereading the Ghost system manuals to wrap my head around it. I love the idea of MIDI capability and of a good piezo acoustic almost equally. I'd love to keep this complex system as simple as possible, so I will likely not install all of the extra switches and volumes. I'm not sure I would need a buffer in this, the acoustic system is active, and the Hexpander takes power from the MIDI. I'm just not versed well enough in electronics! I'm also wondering if you could completely bypass either system for the cleanest passive system? I think this might be doable with my body . . . I've got a Strat body from Ebay that has a regular 1/4" jack, a 5/8" hole on the side under that regular jack, just like how a Les Paul has. It also has a large rectangular area on the end that the body was shaped around that looks like a MIDI port or some kind of battery box opening. Also, the under pickguard route is a boat which I usually don't like, but here I have mega-options. Check it out.

So after looking at a million things, and my main goals are recording, something useful and fun - I think I'm going to do a Graph Tech Hexpander MIDI and/or the acousti-phonic systems. Then I can get a decent acoustic and do weird stuff with MIDI. It'll take me 15 years to do it, since I need to finish two three other builds, save money and find time. While I was looking for demos on YouTube I discovered Jack Thammarat. Check him out if you get a chance. Wow.

The new ones? I was looking at all of the botique winders, and realized there are plenty doing the same thing without the hype and price. After searching carefully I picked a guy on Ebay whi had a good track record. I'm doing a sort of Gilmour like set with Alnico 5. Neck around 6.2k mid around 6.5k and the bridge up at 11k, similar to the SSL5. All north poles, and a kind of semi stagger, not flat, but not full vintage. Those strat staggers were made for wound G strings. The higher values on tbe pups should give me a slightly darker, less brittle tone. And I've heard A/B of middle pup RWRP vs all the same, and the latter was noticable nicer IMO. Just no humbuck option in 2 and 4 now. But, with three minis I can do neck + bridge, all off, all on, or even kill switch. Oh, neck and mid are 42awg and bridge is 43awg scatterwound.

Totally. He's in my top three and I've studied that guitar. I almost bought some original Adesons for another build. Really I'm thinking out loud here and it may need nothing really. Just thought I could fo something that may help the tone or recording somehow. im thinking active buffer or something insane like this: Insane!