nakedzen

My feeble attempt of making some old school Sepultura: https://soundcloud.com/nakedzen/lumiaalto-003/s-1CwjUGo08KY

Here's my third build "Otava" (Big Dipper in finnish). Had so much trouble with this one, but it was to challenge myself as a builder. Half made in my shop, half in our backyard since it's summer. First times: binding, flame maple top, gloss nitro finish, fretboard inlays, custom pickguard, my own headstock shape, wood control cavity cover, made the nut myself for the first time. All in all, some "handmade" still shows in the details, but the guitar looks good and plays and sounds great. Tone is the clearest so far, probably because of the maple top gives is some "clang". Top was hand dyed with alcohol based dyes, green, blue, purple. Build thread: https://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/53946-third-build-hybrid-t-style 25.5" scale, ash body, flame maple top, ebony board, maple neck. Schaller locking tuners, Graphtech Tusq nut, luminlay dot inlays, EMG81, PA2 booster, Gotoh 510UB wraparound bridge.

Thanks! It's wonderful what you can hide with creative lighting and photo angles.

Done! Sounds and plays great! The finish could be a lot better, but lesson's learned... So many mistakes, can't even remember them all. Murphy's law really hit it home with this build.

Starting to get weird now...

Frets installed in the same go.

Inlays installed, cleaned well enough for fret install!

I noticed I haven't posted any pics of the neck yet. Didn't go with the ebony inlay in the end, although I like the idea for some other build. Testing how my Big Dipper idea works.

Thanks! I was thinking about that brand too. Anything specific that's been good?

Didn't like the nitro I had previously from a new supplier, gave me tons of spatter. Had to sand back some of it, went back to Boston rattle cans. Worked perfectly. 10 coats later. Now to wait two weeks before wet sanding. Can anyone recommend good buff&polish compounds for nitro? I'm guessing any car compounds work just as well?

Yup, reminded me of some vines or somesuch.

Made the pickguard, neck ferrule holes and ebony control cavity cover, held in place with magnets.

Great ideas for the finish. Love the "foliage".

Another pickguard idea, I think I like this one more. More oil on the back, lightly sanded with 360 grit between coats.

Better pic, the purple isn't that pronounced in reality.

My binding job looked like garbage, scrathced all over the top so I redid everything. Oil on the back too now. Made doubly sure I won't slip with the razor this time while cleaning the binding. Argh. But on the positive I like the color wayy more than before now.

Binding done. Managed to drop some glue on the top, hopefully it'll come off with some light wet sanding, there's two thick layers of nitro on the top so I'm hoping I won't go through.

New router table day! Total budget $60. Living room cabinet, free from local ads, router Bosch Colt clone from amazon $40, router insert and bits, $20 from aliexpress. Worked flawlessly, even though I was very suspicious of my hodgebodge engineering. Soaked the top with IPA to check how it'll look.

Thanks! I'll have to check, it's only 2mm deep so I don't think so.

Some new progress, added some slight amount of pure blue to the edges for a burst look, sealed the back and sides with shellac and sprayed 4 very light sealer coats of nitro to the top. Cheeky test of how it'll look with the binding.

Thanks! I continued with the back and sides a bit, washed the back more with orange, and sanded the sides back. Looks like the CA that I used to fix a gap on the top has leached into the wood and only the black dye sticks to it. Oh well, it's only on the inside of the horn, so black it'll be.

Thanks! I can see what you mean, the sides are a bit blotchy, possibly I'll just sand it all off and do it again. Back is only red and orange dye, didn't really need any sandback for that. Did a bellycut and recess for the neck plate.

Yeah I guess it's obvious a tele is my favorite guitar shape. Also very simple guitar to practise my skills on.

Progress so far: Body routed, dyed black, sanded back, dyed green/blue mix. Neck rough routed, headstock rough outline shaped.

I guess it could be a superstrat/tele. Flame maple top, dyed greenish blue, single EMG and volume, white pickguard, reverse headstock (own design, not the one in the render), redish brown back and sides, white binding.