JAK

It’s all nice, of course, but really love that back wood, especially now that it’s under glass. Stunning stuff, mate!

Done purposefully for stability or because of the wood stock available for this build?

I like how the black covers the bevel of the sides, not just the vertical (does give a bit of binding appearance). Combined with the poplar’s grain and colouration, it almost makes the flat top look like an acoustic top. It’s working well for this build. Some purfling/faux-purfling pinstripe demarcation between the two could look sharp and the top would pop even more. (A thought for a next time )

That burl is like wood pearloid! Burloid? But better because it’s wood Stunning stuff

Oh wow - a four-way tie! Do we need a second round of voting? Just a testament that there’s so much great stuff everyone builds here.

That burl got real nice and deep! Did not expect that much dimension

That plastic battery box inset - very nicely done! I usually don’t like how the plastic boxes look, but that little detail makes a huge difference! On a related note - I recently noticed a lot put the battery on the centreline (production manufacturers included). Some even put it below the bridge or between the pickup cavities (which seems like poor designs to me). LP having extra space on the lower bout you don’t have to be under the bridge/tailpiece at least. Did you have anything specific with your placement choice? Convenient near the control cavity and/or aesthetically balanced?

The colour made me think “surf shop”

Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you mean. With the texture of the top it’s a bit hard to tell the smoothness of the carve (looks like it’s getting pretty close in most places, but maybe there’s enough roughness adding to the “uneven” lines still?) I, too, generally like clean lines but oh man, let me tell you - the way the veneer blends so well with the spalting and then paired with the walnut looks superb. Especially in the bottom pic. It’s like a live edge - a tree that grew into a guitar (and the walnut then being the pseudo-bark binding). Looks like a happy accident to me!

Really love that purple! Interested in what your process (incl. which dyes/colours used) to get that result. Is there some visual tomfoolery going on? At some angles looks like it has a thin black burst border. Nice work mate

I second Bizman - looks like crystal, picturesque water. If I didn’t know any better, you could have taken a photo of water and cut it out / photoshopped to look like the colouring of the guitar Even the book match seam is nearly invisible. Beautiful start to the finish (pun incidental…)

Not sure why this is called an oddball build Sure, it’s not a standard body shape, but I think it looks quite elegant. P.s. 3rd picture down (the one after you talk about chiselling the blade switch slot) isn’t loading.

Grats on GOTM Also that purple heart version is looking delectable! Does the heat treatment help the colour stay rich longer / age slower?

Interesting; heard of acetone for cleanup & filling gaps but how do you install with it? Wouldn’t think it holds all that well or could deform it; are you melting the inner surface to the wood somehow?

“Art is never finished, it is merely abandoned.” - Da Vinci That is one of my favourite quotes. I can attest that as an artist (music, visual, written), getting a work to a place where it is “ready to be released to the world” is a difficult endeavour. It’s never truly ready, in the artist’s mind/eye. There’s a striving for impossible perfection and the artist has to be at a point where they let it go. I can almost guarantee that there is one or more things about the Mona Lisa that bothered Da Vinci that he felt he could never get “quite right” but reached a point where he was able to abandon it.