Drak

Well that was a fair P.I.T.A. Water-based dyes didn't (really) work, they were too weak. I shot a green shader coat on, didn't like it (at all) so that got sanded back off. Then I tried alcohol-based dyes, wound up with the completely wrong color. Then, something struck me, a remark @Bizman62 made: And for some reason that comment just popped right into my mind, like I 'needed' to remember that for some reason. And then, I could clearly see in my mind's eye that exact 'mint green' color it was dry, before finish. So then I knew what to shoot for when mixing dyes. I wound up using far more blue than I would have 'thought' I needed. And now I hit it pretty close, close enough to move on to clearcoats, so thanks Mr. Biz!

I'm not a solid color paint guy so I am of no use. I did have a look at it tho. If you can't find help in any guitar forum, try a custom bike forum, that's where you'll see the same types of finishes as that has. And bike guys are always using solid colors, pearls, iridescent flakes and whatnot since they're not working with wood. That kind of solid color custom finish is what they specialize in. Most DIY noob guitar guys are struggling to figure out how to apply Tru-Oil finishes. That finish is somewhat of a giant leap in expertise from what they're typically doing.

I have completely fallen in love with it, it looks better in person than pics are showing. Its kind of weird to see that thing sitting on the shelf for 10 years and now BAM, its coming to life so fast. Its really gorgeous right in front of you. However, more to your point... I finished the veneer install, sanded it flat, and applied my grain enhancer treatment. Remembering this is Flamed Maple veneer, not Myrtle with its odd reaction to blue dye, and I have no Myrtle cutoffs it was made so long ago. I can get the flame where I want it (to match) close enough. But I can't get that deep forest emerald green with water-based dyes, its just not getting anywhere close to the body. So I'm going to have to shoot some forest green shader coats over some clearcoats to 'get it'. And its raining...so it will just have to wait awhile.

As long as you see a bird, you're in the 'hood. I might even try to make it smaller, I want that point really minimized.

The alternative method would be to 'flip the script' around by simply using a paint roller dipped in a bucket of glue and apply it by hand. Like you were actually painting on the glue with a roller. Once done, you just pour the glue back into its bottle and clean the brush with water.

Looks like a paint roller suspended in a bucket of glue. Can we not build this thing ourselves?

Alrighty, with all of that out of the way, lets get down to business. This is the neck, the design cutout, and the donor Mahogany wood. All this trouble for maybe a quarter ounce of Mahogany...sheesh! You don't need to see every grueling detail, but the piece was cut out and glued on with thin CA glue. Then, I sanded the whole thing, collecting the dust to fill in the gaps, then poured more CA glue to tighten everything up. Glue dried, and everything sanded level, a good start. Even got the grain lined up and matched pretty good. Now the design gets re-drawn back on to give me some parameters to work with. Various tools to help me carve the shape out and reel it in. I'm pretty happy with this, all the lines meet up, and I can see an Eaglehead in the shape, which is what I'm always looking for. Not 'Hellion Screaming For Vengeance', but straight-up American Bald Eagle outline. Time to pick a piece of veneer for it. Obligatory stupid clamp shot.

OKaaaaay... The body is nearly done and I'm still pushing myself to get this thing done before I lose the weather. So on to the neck, of which I have much to speak of. I tried out a few different necks on this, but I wanted to be careful not to make this thing overly metal-stupid. With the extreme points it already has, restraint was really needed now for the neck. Especially as its a hollowbody guitar, this may look pointy, but its really quite sublime when you hold it. And I have 4 Tele necks sitting on the shelf, ready to rawk. So, I decided I needed to make one of these very nice Tele necks 'work' here. They had promise, but weren't 'there', where I needed them to be. I needed a point, I mean, seriously, on this build, the neck has to have a point on it. But it could get very out of hand very quickly, overblowing the sublime nature of this guitar. So I drew up several different designs and, oddly enough, came back to my old Eaglehead. The Eaglehead 'point' was featured on one of my very very very first builds, sooo long ago, (I still have her) and I've always still admired it to this day. So I wanted basically, the smallest 'point' I could get away with to show the restraint I was talking about. Anything 'up and away' looked too-metal, so that kind of Ibanez point was out. The Eaglehead, pointing 'down' took up very little space and did the job. So I finalized the plan for it and away we go. So to get started, here is the 'Eaglehead' featured point I made ~25 years ago, and still love this guitar.

I never read the book, but the Disney movie is one of my all-time favorite childhood movies. I can sing along to every song, know them all by heart.

That's exactly how I already do it. You just can't see the holes at either end. You don't need to make any jigs to do it, waste of time. That's exactly how you line up the square perpendicular to the holes in the first place. By dropping the dremel bit into each hole (already drilled first) and adjusting the square incrementally until its matched. Then draw a line next to the square as a guide, then clamp it or tape it in place. As I said...already foolproof.

Wow, the closer I look, the more detail I see. Fascinating.

Thank You Kind Sir for those nice words. Funny you should bring up the hardware. I had originally intended to do exactly that, black hardware. But with the black sides now, I wasn't sure black hardware wouldn't be 'overcooking' the black look and going too dark. So I had changed my mind to gold, that's why I stuck that gold bridge on it. But I dig black hardware, I sure do. I could change my mind, there's still time yet before that decision has to be locked in.

I just noticed it was the whole guitar. I thought at first it was just a topper or a top cap compendium of pieces.

The bridge is obviously not the bridge going on it, just something gold I had within easy reach. Edges blacked out, along with a very slight top and bottom edge-burst. Very slight, couldn't have made them any thinner. You can see through the control cavity opening the hollowness of it. There's a neckblock, tailblock, and a bridgeblock, just big enough to hold a TOM and tailpiece. Besides that, it's hollow except for the centerbeam connecting them which you can see through the bridge pickup cavity.

Wow, the original is a sexy biyatch, I love the overall color tone it has. Looking forward to seeing how you interpret it for yours.

Is your switch slot going on a flat piece, or a carved piece? If flat, I do them all the time with total success, so I'd call my way foolproof.

Well, looks like I'm losing the weather around here pretty soon. That means the guns and all finishing get put away until the fall. When the dewpoint falls to within 15 degrees of ambient temp (should be a 20 degree difference or more)... That means the retarder comes out for the last sessions and the time to wrap it up is very soon right around the corner. Once the humidity hits this area in summer, its game over for finishing. And it dropped to 15 degrees difference yesterday and today, so I'm trying to wrap Angkor Wat up quickly before I lose the weather alltogether. I had only got the top mostly done, so I prepped and shot the sides and back yesterday and am continuing today. It's all good tho, I should have 4, maybe 5 new guitars to assemble and breath life into over the summer months. I'm beginning the wet-sanding of a few of them now, but trying to squeeze Angkor Wat in too before its too late.

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With your capabilities becoming seemingly well in-hand now... I can't wait to see you drop the typical body styles and really push the envelope hard with your own custom designs. Blow that shit up! Nicely done Mike, nicely done.

You would think so, and it must be true, I've obviously come to the same conclusion before. But...to pre-test that theory, I wiped the piece down with lacquer thinner after it was all cleaned up. You know when you wipe a rosewood (or any oily wood) with thinner before glue-up, it always comes up with heavy oils. Paduak comes up heavy orange-ish, Coco-Bolo reddish-brown...bla bla bla...And this came up nearly clean, and what I got out of it didn't really look yellow. But I understand the logic. The color it does have, the color that always makes it look 'off', I can't even come up with a name for it. A strange pinkish-tan maybe. But I have worked it many times before, always with the same result. Beryl is Myrtle Burl, so is The Iommi Machine, and several others through the years. I've always tried a clearcoat first, it always looks weird, then I tint it or do something to it to get it to 'work'. The blue dye turning it green I found by sheer accident.

Figured I'd throw this one up, took it near the end of the day after the last lac coat. Natural light, no glare or reflections getting in the way. And yes, the figure (foilage) does 'dance' as you move it around.

OK, so maybe left turn for the uninitiated here. No worries, you're in very good hands, even tho you are in the deepest jungle, I understand. Myrtle is a really weird beast, we have gone to the mat about 10 times over the decades and I have grabbed it by its heel many a time. I don't care how damn sexy you think it looks, water wetted or not, it looks 'weird' if you just shoot it w/ natural finish. Every single time, no exceptions, different strains from different suppliers, all the same result, natural finish = looks completely weird. It has some sort of natural color to it that just always looks 'off'. So you have to 'bend' it somehow, depending on what you want out of it. So many moons ago, I just started experimenting like mad with all kinds of colors on it. And I found the strangest, weirdest thing: if you dye it with blue dye, it goes green. WAY green. Why, I don't know, can't explain it. But now...you will understand why I named it Angkor Wat. I applied blue dye to the body, and it turned green exactly as I was expecting it to. And we have the color of a very deep jungle canopy, as if you were walking through Angkor Wat yourself. See the figure in the Myrtle that has now turned to forest foliage! With the twin spires (the horns) representing as evidence that once upon a time, in humanity's deep past... Humanity has 'been there', there is clear evidence of man-made structures in the deepest forest. Love it, totally stoked so far. Just got the first few coats on it.

I love old-school German guitar build characteristics. So I'm a fan of your big block inlays, looks like a very German 'thing' to me.

So those were all old pics from 2010-ish. Binding channel is now gone, body a little bit smaller, and the spires calmed down a little, but still dramatic enough. Here's where we're at today with it. I decided Mini-Hums for it as I definitely didn't want SC's, and I thought HB's would be too obnoxiously big and ugly (here). So that left P-90's or Minis, and Mini's it is. More delicate, clear, and nuanced to accentuate the hollowbody aspect. If you look close at the wetted pic, you can see the 'I-Beam' (in the bridge pkp cavity) going from the neckblock to the bridgeblock. Thank God I set it low enough to be lower than the pickup.

Love the black hardware with the Olive, looks great. I've been using a lot of black hardware in recent years, I really like it. And the Purpleheart as accent pieces too, really nice touch. I used to like Purpleheart, but now I don't care for it except, as you've done, as accent pieces. Using it like that, its excellent to accent something else, but I don't really care for it as a standalone centerpiece wood anymore.