MR marinara sauce

I am looking into an endorsement with a guitar company and they quoted me on a custom shop guitar at $1400. $400 of this is the paint job. The paint job is just black with blood spatter. I believe they commision custom finishes out, and $400 seems a little steep for a spatter finish! So, I think i am going to order the uitar to be finished in black alone, and commision it out somewhere for a few buck less. and i am entirely un-expierenced with finishing guitars and dont want to expirament on a custom shop! Any sugestions? Thanks!

oh, this was all out of curiosity. Im not a huge fan of les pauls. I was just curious as to what all of you thought. I was talking to a guitarist in another band who buys epi's and upgrades the **** out of them. he sais they play better and sound as good as his les paul (and his paul is sick as hell, i think its a supreme) i do like the esp eclipses however. they are sick. i have actually passed the les paul by on my last two guitar purchases though. i opted for a washburn HM-20 re-release (only 50 made) and a schecter c-1. personally, i like les pauls, but i dont think it is the greatest thing out there. there is much better IMO. like i said, i was just curious as to what all of you thought/

What do you think about buying a top end Epiphone Les Paul and stripping the hardware; replacing everything (pickups with Duncans or EMG's, tuners with Gotoh or shcaller, pots, bridge, etc.)? How do you think that would compare to a Gibson Les Paul?

I was looking into a custom Schecter C-1 (exactly the same stats as the Hellraiser, but with custom paint and inlays) and my quote was over $4,000. I love the Hellraiser inlays, so I can deal with them, but I would love a different finish. I want a straight black C-1 with a blood spatter finish (and another in white with blood spatter. My band plays in two tunings). Would the best way to do it be to send it out and have it custom finished? Can some one refer me to a good place? I currently have one Hellraiser and I love it! I want to retire my Washburn M-20 from gigs before something bad happens to it (only 50 made)! And two more Hellraisers would be perfect!

this is kind of old school, but i would say go white with blood spatter. that or white with black pinstriping.

well the paint theme is a bloody handprint on a white body. thats my bands "logo". but i think the bloody fingerprint inlays would go REALLY well with it. im leaving for college in august, but im only 3.5 hours from home and will be comming back alot. that and im taking some time off of work this summer so ill have a while to work on it. so its looking like im going to need to etch it out huh. what if i etched it out, then took a fine red powder and mixed it in with a clear epoxy and filled the etching than sanded? would that work? and has any one tried to etch that kind of detail into ebony? how would i do that? with a smal dentist pick kind of thing?

since my last project was stolen, im going to start another! im thinking for the finish, snow white with a bloody hand print, but one of my friends mentioned bloody fingerprints as the inlays. is that even a sane thing to attempt? ive been brain storming on how to pull it off and i have no idea. any reasonable sugestions? keeping in mind this will be my first neck build.

Ive been working on my first project in my woodshop class since september, a '59 Les Paul copy. i even did the arch by hand sanding and everything. well, all i need to do is rout the neck pocket, glue, finish, and set up... well i went to do a bit more work on it and i found that it was stolen! why would some one do that. ive kind of lost my ONLY chance to build a guitar in the next few years. im going to college in the middle of a city in the fall and me being out of highschool in 1 month, im losing my access to wood working tools. any advice?

ive tried haha. its a washburn HM-20V and the ONLY place i have been able to come close to getting one is from belgium. i live in the US. the guy in belgium wanted me to wire money to his account and wouldnt hear of using paypal, so i wasnt about to do that. he was also asking too much... but that you guys for your input. brought up some good points i havtn thoguht about yet. im building a guitar right now, a '59 Les Paul copy and the body is turnign out well, but it is the neck i worried about. and the inlays. i very well may jump in and go for it sooner or later. i have access to the tools, but the time is an issue. ive been working on this les paul since september and im just now starting to "carve" the top... im sanding it instead of using anything else (sanding throguh THAT much maple is a dumb idea, but its working). i think eventually ill have enough practice to do it, but for a dream guitar, it is hard to be patient! haha. i apreciate the help and input guys... so what do you all think of the ideas/design/concept of the guitar its self? as for the links not working, i dont know why that is, if you just copy and paste it all, they will work

Hello! first, im not sure if this is in the right place, if it isnt im sorry! second, i was wondering if it would be possible to commision some one to build a guitar for me. i have the know-how, and am working on my first guitar, but dont have enough faith in my skills to jump straight into what i want. here is what im thinking. Neck through 25 1/2" scale 24 frets Maple neck Mahogony body ebony fretboard jumbo frets ANGER for the inlays (fets 3,4,5,6,7) with somethign on the 12th fret. EMG 81/85 string through body snow white finish full black binding I want it to basically be a copy of the Washburn HM-20V... here are some pictures. http://www.blast7.com/gear/Washburn HM-20V back.JPG http://www.blast7.com/gear/Washburn HM-20V body.JPG http://www.blast7.com/gear/Washburn HM-20V headstock.JPG http://www.blast7.com/gear/Washburn HM-20V.JPG like i said before, i dont have the confidence in my skills to build my dream guitar. i am open to ideas and suggestions, such as what to do for an inlay at the 12th fret, woods, pickups, bridge style. i figure if ANY one knows its you guys. if some one could give me an idea of if they could build this for me please let me know and how much you would charge for such a job... i apreciate it! thanks for your time guys and i look foward to your thoughts and suggestions !

im looking into converting a bolt on Jackson Kelly into a set neck. im sanding off the finish, and filling the bolt holes. shaping the heel to flow smoother with the neck and setting the neck in. my only concern is the strenght of the joint. is there something i can do to make this stronger? im thinking maybe a short dowl into the neck and in the pocket glued to somewhat hold it. is this even a good idea to begin with?

ive been reading ALOT on building guitars and i'm actually in the middle of building a '59 Les Paul copy in my woodshop class but its my senior year and i cant use the shop when i graduate. that means i have no where to keep building and stuff... im looking for a luthier class in the New Hampshire Vermont area. i cant find anything. ive found a few but they are all violens or acoustic guitars but im looking more in the way of solid bodys/... any pne know of anything? or any suggestions? i live in an apparment so buying my own tools is out...

im working on my first build and things are going ok, im nervouse but ok.. well i ran into an issue! i boguht plans for a'59 Les Paul off of stew mac and i noticed that the scale length is 24.586" UNCOMPENSATED or somthing like that. im building the guitar in woodshop and my teacher wants me to order a neck because we dont have the tools to build one... i was going to order one from warmoth but they only offer 24 3/4" scale (aside from the 25" of course) well my question is, what does the oncompensated part mean, and will the warmoth 24 3/4" work? i'd assume so since i BELIEVE the '59 was a 24 3/4" but im not positive... any help would be hot and thanks guys!

ok.. ran into an issue already! the plans have measurments for fret distances and they say for a 24.568" (somthing like that) UNCOMPENSATED scale. the ONLY neck scales i can order are 24 3/4" and 25.5". whats with uncompensated? and im saying its safe to assume that im screwed on that since my wood tech teacher doesnt want me to build the neck due to lack of correct tools.

ok, so ive been trying to build a guitar for over a year now, but no access to tools or anything. i used to buy junk guitars and fix them up than re-sell them for pretty cheap to my friends just enoguh to cover cost of parts. but never been able to live my dream and build my own and ive finally got the chance! i talked my woodshop teacher into letting me build guitars hroguh out my senior year so far im planning on a Les Paul and a Jackson Rhodes V. for the les paul here are my plans... 24 3/4" Mahogany body Flamed maple top (depending on what i decide for a finish) Mahogony neck rose wood finger board 21 frets EMG 81/85 black hardware (depending on the finish) either trapezoid or cross inlays with a skull and cross bone at 12th fret. i have to order the neck from warmoth because my wood tech teacher sais we dont have the tools to do it and he doesnt want to spring for them because im the only kid whos tried to build a guitar. for the jackson V im thinking.... 25 1/2" Mahogany body maple neck (from warmoth aswell) ebony finger board celtic cross inlays 24 frets duncan SH-13 invader/'59 black chrome hardware (if i can find it any where! i havnt checked stewmac yet) going to get expensive, but who cares, its worth it! only issue im running into asside from funds are going to be running LOW when im done is finishing. aside from stain, ive got nothing to finish with. i dont want to use standard furniture stain on these... if im going to do it, im going to make my dream guiatrs as perfect as possible. i want a trans finish (Id LOVE a tobacco burst on the LP) on both, or a solid spray on one of them, probably the V. is there some where i can send the out too? i checked warmoth but they will only paint stuff that you buy from them, at the time you buy it... any suggestions, tips, or places to send my guitars to get finished would be more than welcome.. ill update here! thanks guys!