Drak

So why the holdup on this piece? (it's the one up-front with all the flame figure) (1) I had routed the edges for binding, and in recent years, I don't care so much for binding anymore. (2) My first/earlier attempts at this body style were kind of extreme and I have calmed the 'look' down now to something I really like. The two different paths for the Scarabs were the 'Jerry dog-ears' with heave edge carves variety. And a sort of 'Buddhist Temple' vibe. This one is one of the latter. But the binding ledge I had cut had me 'locked in' to the original extreme shape I didn't care for. So it sat until I could figure out a solution, which just recently 'came to me'. I very simply took a pattern cutting router bit and just routed the entire outer edge to completely remove the binding channel. This then allowed me to re-form the body shape to remove the 'extreme' look it had before. It was chancy as the edges of the body are pretty thin, and I built it so long ago I can't remember how thick the walls were. So routing off the binding edge made the walls that much thinner, with the possibility of going right through and ruining it. But, I took the chance and all is well and the build is more than 50% already completed now. It won't take long at all to finish it up and I am stoked about it. The funny thing: If you look at the back, you can see I made a custom control cavity cover for it, like I usually do. But in all the years that have passed, its gone, can't find it anywhere. I'll figure something out...So, you see how tall and exxagerated the 'spires' are, with the binding? It looked childish and ridiculous, it needed a lot of 'calming down', which I've now done to it. Once I get some finish on it, hold on to your seat, it's really an awesome piece of lumber. That whole entire binding ledge and the Mahogany under it are all now gone, the sides are straight and the spires 'calmed down' more to my liking.

This is another Scarab build that's been sitting on the shelf for about 10 years I just picked back up. Flamed Myrtle front and back, Mahogany core, but it's really a hollowbody. The Mahogany really is just a 'frame' to hold the Myrtle in place. With an 'I-Beam' connecting rod between the three solid sections. The whole core/interior was made from a single piece of Mahogany, with everything that wasn't needed removed. There is a neckblock, a tailblock (just like an archtop) and a bridgeblock to anchor a T.O.M. assembly. With a very thin surrounding frame. The body weighs about a pound, total. The Scarabs were all built a little bit differently from each other tho they all share the same basic shape. Some are the 'Jerrycaster-Dead' thing, highly carved edges with a flat top. Others are carved tops, and no two carves are exactly the same, they actually vary a lot between pieces in the carve approach. This is the most 'traditionally' carved top, tho just the top surface is carved, the bottom is flat. Why did I name this Angkor Wat? Because it looks both kind of 'Cool-Ass Ancient Buddhist' (temple shapes for the horns). And the Myrtle, to me, has a very 'jungle' vibe/look/setting.

Well, thank you for your interest! I just blew out the neck a few (4) short days ago. And...there IS an update, I just haven't posted it yet. I made three custom truss rod covers to match the three necks I've been working on lately. So this one now has a matching truss rod cover, a little miniature bursted 'mini-me' of the headstock. The other two went like buttered bread, this one I had to re-do 4 times over before I was happy with it. So...the build is now done, there are no more updates except the final finished shots when it gets put together. Probably a few weeks, knowing my lazy ass...

Covid is nowhere near as potentially dangerous or harmful as his headstocks. You could pillage and plunder whole nations of people with those things.

So, the back. The back was really fun and interesting to do, it was a multi-layered dye 'sandwich'. The neck is Maple, the back of the body was Spruce. Maple and Spruce do not look alike at all. So where I sanded the finish off of the back of the body to get down to the Spruce for the 'barroom floor' look... That wouldn't work with Maple, they would look completely different, the Maple would sand back to white. Not good. So I did a really light dye job straight onto the wood itself to 'mimic' the color of Spruce. Then a few clearcoats to add layers of insurance that when I sanded the colored lacquer (coming), I wouldn't hit raw Maple. This is the kind of thing I love to do, it's challenging and a rack of fun. So, if you notice, the neck now looks similar in color to the sanded back areas on the body, the raw Spruce. So, we have a light dye straight onto Maple wood to mimic the color of Spruce, then clearcoats to protect that. Now, we shoot a single shader coat of the same color, with 2 drops of black for a tiny bit of opacity. NOW, it looks like the REST of the body, not the sanded back areas. Nailed it again and I'm totally loving this shoot. So now we come to the sandback part. I really thought this over before I touched it, because here is where the whole thing spins right down the toilet if I blow it. And this part can easily be blown, so I really thought about where I wanted to add some 'barroom floor' texture, and how much. I decided to really express restraint here and 'go mild'. So I concentrated on the back of the headstock and did some 'light smear' work on the neck itself. Here it is. Totally psyched with how it came out, couldn't be happier. I've already shot the final clearcoats and it's done.

This is the headstock plate job. This wasn't much of a challenge as I've done this so many times before. I found the back more interesting to do, to 'match' the barroom floor appearance of the body. Without overbaking it and making it look fake and stupid.

OK, catching up on several necks lately. The (now deleted) pics above of that Paduak neck, fuggedaboudit, that neck is now on Beryl. So the neck for Sean Costello...has a very colored history behind it. I've probably had this neck for over 20 years, it was on a guitar for, maybe 3-4 of those years. I started a project a few years ago named 'Hotel California' that morphed into a new name 'Skinwalker'. This neck 'was' destined for that project. Every once in awhile I'll have a Warmoth neck that the profile doesn't wholly agree with me. I've found that by giving it a slightly V shape, it always works out much nicer, and so that's where we start with this neck. This pic was taken in early 2018, for context. I don't think anyone needs to see multiple pics of a neck profile re-shaping, one should do. It came out great, the feel is WAY better for me now. Once I finished that up, it got it's white with black trim paint job for the Skinwalker project. The Aria Diamond logo came off of an old '60's hollowbody 335 thing, long since gone now. This was the Skinwalker project in different mockups. You'll notice the paint job evolving over time, the black 'grows'. OK, that's all for the history lesson of the Sean Costello neck. I loved the neck like that, I really did, it came out great, but the Skinwalker is a dead project now, and I sanded the neck completely back to raw wood. For what's coming. So now picture a raw Maple neck in your mind's eye for the transition that will begin.

Thanks for taking the pics on a tabletop like that. It very much helped my brain gain perspective on real size with something known to compare them to. The minute I saw those pics, my brain zeroed in on actual sizes.

Oh, I LOVE that. The green on the back of the neck kinda reminds me of this one I did in 2018. Beautiful burst, really dig the transitions and the colors. Also the color match on the back between the neck and the body are also very attractive.

Well, the Nutmeg is already there, on the darkened body edges. Nutmeg is one of my absolute go-to colors for many jobs. It's like the central character for most of the 'Cowboy Sunset' themes. I use it a lot for the primary 'sand-back' color to enhance figure. And with black pigment added for the darkened edgebursts a lot of times. But I didn't use it as a central player for this job as I was trying to steer away from the cowboy thing. It was a bit player for the darkened edgeburst on this one, that's about it. So putting blue over top of the darkened edges is basically just a reverse application. I'm game for it, I think I'm going to try it (with much caution and restraint, of course) It can't be obvious, it has to be like a 'did I see what I think I saw?...kind of effect.

The primary design architect at my firm can 'think' and 'see' in full 360 degree 3-D. So what he draws is just the 'outpouring', or 'result' of what he already envisions in his head beforehand. He is a pencil-sketch artist on the side, he does that for a hobby, usually portraits of famous people. I've watched him over the decades create dozens and dozens of full-blown 3-D plans for very large and intricate jobs. He can do that as easily as I make a grilled-cheese sandwich. I have never, ever had that ability, I can barely draw an egg safely. Tho I have my own set of artistic skills and abilities that he doesn't have. It's just interesting to see how different people access their various internal talents.

So, all is not completely lost. The simple man-made camera cannot pick up the same level of cosmic perception as the human eye receptors can. So, it has become just like chatoyance in a high-caliber 3-D piece of figured Maple. As you turn a figured wood to and fro, from side to side, the figure jumps out and becomes almost alive. The reflections catch the light in a thousand different little variations and refract it outward in all directions. And that is what's happening with this piece now, which the camera can't capture. As you turn it and move it, you can clearly see the blue pop out 'from underneath'. Like I said, I only did one straight pass around the houses with an airbrush, no more, and wasn't trying to obliterate the blue. Its actually really cool and makes me like it even more now. It adds to the 'What The Hell' flavor if you saw it in person. Hell, maybe I should do a light blue pass around the outer body edge shooting for the same effect?

Sorry, that topic is waaay too old to even consider anymore. A much better (and recent) vitriol-inspiring question would be about roasting your own necks. That's the new relic question of the guitar fashionistas out there these days. Get up with the times yo, its all about the roast-your-own now!

Well, consider me guilty of a Coverup! I decided to 'blend' those colors a little, and the blue apparently has nearly vanished. I added a few drops of Nutmeg to the mix I already had and just shot straight over the blue edges. One pass all the way around, that was it. I wasn't trying to totally cover up the blue, else I would have sanded it back and started over. But it's pretty hard to see any obvious blue now. It does match better with the body, which was the intended purpose. But, I swear, you wouldn't even think there was blue there, and we're talking one pass with an airbrush. Really quite strange, but it still has that 'cosmic' look to it, which is WAY better than that boring-ass flame maple veneer job. Suits the overall 'theme' of the build perfectly.

A few pestering questions... What's the percentage of pre-planning vs. shoot-from-the-hip that occurs during the project? I'm sure there must be a certain percentage of each involved as nothing ever goes exactly as planned. Yet, without a good plan up front to adhere to along the way, I'm guessing things could go very south. Are there 'sections' to it, and in the end all the 'sections' kind of meet up harmoniously? Do you have a list of the sections beforehand, like boots, hair, eyes, legs, clothing, cheeks, swagger-hips-to-the-left-and-shoulders-to-the-right? So the figure is an amalgam of the 'parts list' that 'the plan' lays out beforehand? Are you a free-hand pencil sketch artist also? I would imagine you would be, as I would believe the skills to do one are very similar to the skills to do the other.

So here's how I wrapped it up. I used about 6 drops of both Cherry Red and 6 drops of Nutmeg. And this is what I wound up with. I totally dig it. The red doesn't even seem to have a straightline. It seems to kind of waft in and out and come and go in places, which I totally love. And there are even some small areas where the original Buckeye color is still presenting and showing through, which I also love. I mean, the whole guitar kind of begs the reaction 'What The Hell'? So the neck now just adds to the 'what the hell' aspect of it, but not in a clashy, unorthodox way. I will find a way to bring some kind of blue to the body probably, maybe blue knobs, maybe spray the pickup poles blue...who knows? But the hardware is going to be black, so I knew that when I was shooting this headstock, that it would have black tuners on it. I think it'll look great.

Part Two. A vision came to me and I saw it edged in blue, which I would have Never thought of doing. Like, taking the 'GalaxyQuest' space-theme and pushing it out further. Space is Blue, Purple, Black, not brown, so I decided to 'roll' with this idea. But I also had to find a way to tie it in to the existing body so it somehow matched up. The game was on. When bursting, I almost always work from the inside to the outside edges. But I needed to lay this blue down First and then assess how it looked to Then figure out what color to tie things in with. This is the first clearcoat, just for reference. And here is the edgebursted blue. I dig it, and yes, it looks kinda 'cosmic', but Now What?

So I'm now working on three different necks to get things caught up a bit. The Beryl build, the Sean Costello build, and the Sonic Crayon build. So...I hit a weird crossroads with this one, either shit out some cool cosmic soup or get off the pot. I did the headstock overlay out of a piece of flamed maple veneer and it came out exactly how I wanted it to. But...I found it really boring and way too traditional, so I figured I needed to up my game and take some chances. So I ripped off the maple veneer and looked through my bin of castaway wood pieces. I pulled out about a dozen different pieces that were interesting, and finally decided on a piece of Buckeye Burl. Now we have a chance to blow this build up a little and add some excitement to an already weird and cool build. So here is Part 1.

You have successfully exorcised the spirit of that poor Indian tree carving from my memory. Now I have these pics of this outstanding piece of wood carving to take their place. Amazing work, especially how the grain of the wood seems to naturally work with you to compliment each curve and feature. As if you had planned for all that grain to cooperate like it did in advance. The way the grain compliments and seems to roll with each distinct and separate piece of the figure is nearly otherworldly. Possibly extraterrestrial!

I was going to post a reply but the news wasn't very upbeat. Since we live in this new strange world where everyone gets a new car and deserves a gold star, I just usually don't reply anymore. What I 'was' going to say, in my experience, is that once a burst is blown, there's very little chance of saving it, usually. I have had to face my own music many times over that, I'm used to it now, it doesn't phase me anymore. But some people really get bogged down and stuck over trying to save a shat cake, they just can't let it go and move on forward. But you found your way forward, and that is what I would have recommended had I posted about it. Rip it off, learn whatever there was to be learned, ingest the lesson, and start over again, which you did. Looks better now, a new beginning, a new chance for a different successful outcome.

Both Olive and Purpleheart are arrogantly stubborn and difficult woods to work with. Better you than me, I've been down those roads and have no thoughts of a repeat journey.

If you want help with electronics, it would certainly help if you posted pics of the electronics. Especially the back of the toggle switch, the connections there, I want to see that. The cavity too.

I don't forsee any issues, I say do it. Although I agree with shellac sticking to everything and being a good interlocutor...I also see it as an additional 3rd finish with its own separate characteristics and concerns. And adding products always adds some sort of associated risk and complexity, so I avoid that whenever possible. In finishing, I do not believe in the saying 'the more the merrier' as far as products go. I like keeping things simple, real simple, products-wise. So unless the shellac was a necessity, I wouldn't use it. I would instead probably make a very clean and tight taped break at the bottom of the binding and just use the two products you had in mind. Just be damn sure you can keep the different targets 100% separated while applying each finish, no room for error. Which a very clean and tight tape line should give you. And if it were me, I'd be doing the lacquer first, to completion, then take up the wiping varnish after the entire lacquer bit was nailed down solid, dried and done. That is another form of a 'barrier' between different finishes. Not actually involving yourself in both at the same time but doing one completely, and only then, the other, completely. So, to recap: If you don't think you have the chops and inner discipline to completely separate those two different finish jobs, as if they were on two separate guitars...use the shellac. It will act as insurance, sort of. Its a tradeoff, its a safety net of sorts, and in my view an unnecessary one. As long as you understand the importance of completely separating those two finish jobs and not intermingling them in any way, you should be A-OK w/o shellac. Its like a discipline/confidence thing. If you have the discipline and confidence, you don't need a safety net to save you.

Yes, all you extrapolated on there are varying shades of brown. It's nice to give the 'Cowboy Sunset' palette of reds/yellows/browns a break now and then.

OK, so I did a mockup. Except for the two black knobs, this is all the actual hardware that will be used. I only had 3 gold knobs in the knob drawer to work with for the mockup. I included one of the older pics so you can see the difference between the clearcoat Spruce and the Pecan Burst it has now. Shooting that light Pecan burst really paid off, so thanks @komodo. Also I tried a 3x3 as well as the angled Koa headstock. This thing is turning into a far more 'Jam-Band' guitar than I ever imagined it would be when I did the initial build back in 2011. Like, WAY more. I have actually surprised myself, which isn't easy to do, really, as I am always my own harshest critic. The decision to grab that Koa piece for the headstock turned into a real game-changer for this project, what a difference!