Work in progress

[Digitised]

Ok last few months when ive had a bit of time ive been over at my mums house using her workshop to do some work on 2 guitars.
Ive got an '89 charvel 750xl and a USA jackson soloist (which was electric blue), ive been cutting in the underside and scalloping the lower horn and reverse. Basically give me ridiculous access where normal strats and soloists block your wrist from wide stretches.


This is for the jackson, ill post the charvel in the other forum at a later date when i can get pics.

Originally -


The neck was already stripped an oiled, by the previous owner but i didnt like the profile, it felt very thick even though it was identical to my custom shop. (maybe why he sold it?)
So i intially sanded even more off the neck to bring it to a DK1 thickness like my bengal, which is incredibly playable.
I think the stripped/oiled feels fatter than painted in a funny kind of illusion way, but its now one smooth beast and feels much nicer to hold.

So i invested in a rotary sander, and a dremel and prepared to take off all the paint (which took much longer than i expected!!)





I left the sides on, because the sander is awkward to get a smooth finish on those angles. But ill get another smaller sander soon to do it right.
The top also seemed to have a 1mm veneer which in this photo gives a scalloped look to the top along the edges, but it is smooth and flat apart from the arm rest.


Then i got on with the dremel, it was my first time using one but its so easy to get great results. I scalloped the back and shortened/thinned the lower horn by eye.


I took nearly an inch off the length, opened up the inside curve more and removed about half of the 'girth' of what was once a highly obstructive and useless peice of wood.
Also i brought out more neck, and peeled back the wood into a nice flat curve.
Its all been sanded smooth (but still looks a bit beat up) however i will sand it and use a grain filler before respraying it.









Im looking forward to summer when i can invest in an airbrush kit and paint this up with some of my own have a go artwork. Ive never used one before but ill just be patient and ask mike learn for tips maybe...

[markD]

uh.....cool? you had a hard time playing it before?

[CharvelRocker]

Why did you strip a finish that there was nothing wrong with? And you choose a helluva guitar to do your first refin job on... be ready for flak.

[Mat]

ugly finish before, cant blame ya for doing this

[guitarsjb]

uh.....cool? you had a hard time playing it before?

The only guitars I've had EXCELLENT access to the upper frets (that I've owned) are my J/C's..I'm with Mark..you had a hard time before?? Wow. I'm anxious to see how this turns out.

[markD]

hahahaha, yeah, really...

[Digitised]

I bought it 2nd hand (50% retail price) and the neck was already stripped with an ugly seam.
This wasnt a nice playing guitar, the neck did not feel good, and the floyd felt super tight. Also the high E buzzed when open picked (something to do with the locking nut groove i felt)

But i did not like the finish, and planned from the start to strip this down and make it the most playable guitar ever. Im into my wide stretches and having medium to small hands means to play diminished and augmented arpeggios as well as wide pentatonics and other patterns i really like (because of the intervals), means i have to bring my wrist forward. I have a soloist and dinky already, and i struggle to play wide stretches because the lower horn is forvever holding me back and last year started to give me tendon problems where my fingers were forced to stretch due to not being able to position my hand sufficiently.

Im good at woodwork after having 4 years experience from education in design tech, plus im an artist of sorts, which gives me the confidence to have a really good go with an airbrush or simply go for a simple but effective graphic.
I also am doing this with the umbrella of knowing a jackson loving guitar technician (the same guy i bought this guitar from) who can do all the wiring and set up for me when ive finished the body.

I appreciate you probably think im mad, but its coming out really good so far, i really just need to strip of the side paint and get something to fill grain and minor surface scratches.

Then i shall research paints and airbrushing thoroughly.

Im not rushing through this, and as i said i have an old charvel which im doing first.
The charvel incidently was bought as a stripped down, sanded stained wreck so im bringing it back to life and doing the same basic things as i am on this jackson.

Just to show you im not crazy or deluded ill post some of my own artwork here (portraits) to show you, that you dont need to be worried.

[Digitised]

ok not guitars!! (sorry)
but just recent artwork drawn in photoshop (with a wacom graphics tablet).






sorry about size ^^^
Thats even after i shrunk it down a bit.

[straycat]

Body contours are screwed now. You never hear of chemical paint strippers?
Why why why did you do that to a perfectly good guitar?A little tweaking and I'll bet it would have played just fine.Sorry man its your guitar do what you want.
Maybe adjust your playing tecnique would have helped.I have small hands and my soloist plays like a raped ape.

[straycat]

Dude thats computer aided stuff lets see it drawn freehand or on canvas.Computer art has its place but way different from the real deal.
I see this thread getting violent.

[Digitised]

Well im one of these practical and hands on people, i would have built my own guitar but the investment in machines and materials would have completel outweighed a half priced used soloist.
The contours are fine i havent messed anything up, if i cant get it with an orbital ill wait until i get a smaller sander and get it done proper.
I tried to show it in the pics, its extremely clean but the surface has random lines and scratches in the wood which you cannot feel. Theres no bumps or unevenes.
I dremeled it first, then used a small head extension on my sander (too weak to strip the sides) but it just smoothed out everything perfectly. Then i hand sanded from coarse to light.


My artwork was drawn freehand, yes i used tools like undo but its single layer. Im completely new to photoshop in terms of its depths, i just prefer it now to drawing on paper because the finish is much cleaner.
If you have never seen or used a graphics tablet then you may not understand but it is essentially just like using a pencil, some people do cheat using grids (which artists have used without photoshop going back hundreds of years) and i would certainly use if laying down graphics on a guitar and could not risk freehand errors in terms of messing up proportions.
If you go on youtube and search 'speedpainting' you can watch videos where many people have timelapse artwork, hopefully this will give you some faith that digital artwork isnt some big cheats game or unrepresentative of an artists ability.

[straycat]

If you didn't block sand it I'll bet you it looks like ocean waves.

[Digitised]

I used a random orbital sander with 5''(approx) discs.
I did do my homework, nearly every guitar painting forum/site recommends them, block sanders can be very expensive large and wont work on my charvels arch top.

[zeegler]

Sorry man, but you have royally fucked up a perfectly good guitar. What a waste.

[Digitised]

Ok guys before this turns into a bandwagon assault on me, i want to point out that so far (which is 95% of the modifying bodywork) nothing has even gone slightly wrong. Infact it has gone far better than my own goal was.

Sure this isnt what probably most people want from a guitar, but i really need that scallop on the horn and so far there is nothing i have done which has damaged or 'ruined' this guitar. I could respray it completely white from here and it would look like a factory job, because the work i have done is clean and even.

Please check tho photos, that is neat work.
If you are going to just criticise at least wait for me to mess something up, not just throw your own opinion about what im doing.

Nothing is ruined, the neck is better, the access is much better everything else is can be put back in place, this is a second hand guitar, im doing all this work 1st on a 2nd hand charvel then repeating on this slightly more expensive jackson.
I really dont get what is so untouchable about this instrument, you guys never played it before i stripped it, it was nowhere near my other jacksons and i never touched it because of that.