Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

[rjohnstone]

I just bought this body and neck and I'm looking for ideas.
Leave it natural finish and stain it or paint it?
Leave it a V-trem or Floyd the sucker?

[4koa]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

i'd send it to Bighead guitars for a cool paint job
(maybe a flame job or flip-flop paint job..
maybe a combination of the the 2 )
and a v-trem..floyd's are cool but a pain in the butt sometimes..

[83SanDimas]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

what is your budget for this?

Everything works, from solid single color to cool camo

Transparent red would look good but may be a little simple

[Subvamp]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

That looks pretty nice! Where are the parts from?

[VitaminG]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

put a piezo trad trem on it, and string it up. Otherwise, leave it just as it is! People will marvel at how you're getting a sound out of it. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[zeegler]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

[ QUOTE ]
put a piezo trad trem on it, and string it up. Otherwise, leave it just as it is! People will marvel at how you're getting a sound out of it. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

He would need some tuners and strings too.

[rjohnstone]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

I haven't decided on a budget yet.
I bought the parts off of ebay.
Body is basswood, so I think a paint job or at least a very hard clear will be needed. Basswood is pretty soft and dents easy.
I already have the following parts:
SD Custom Custom
CTS 1M Vol pot
(No tone knob on this one, although I do have another if I change my mind.)
Switchcraft jack
Chrome Gotoh SG38 tuners with Magnum lock feature (like Sperzels)
Now I need to decide on the trem and nut.
It is routed for a v-trem already, so a Wilkinson with an LSR roller would fit nicely, but that would prohibit a clean Floyd upgrade later.
Post spacing is different.
Or I could just expand the route a touch drop an non recessed OFR in it and shim the neck 2 degrees.

I even thought of making it into a S-Head version of a Greenie. [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]
Paint job is simple enough.
I would have to ditch the chrome hardware for black though.
Decisions, decisions.

[rjohnstone]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

OK... I did a bit of Photoshop'n to come up with a finish for this body.
Tell me what ya think.
Original body:


Finish idea, kinda of a semi-trans greenie. I want some of the wood grain to just peek through the finish.
I figure it will take a few coats of clear that is tinted with Green Apple to bring out the color while giving it some depth.

Here is my idea for a finished guitar... very much like the greenie limited run but with a strathead. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[jgcable]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

Staining it is out. Basswood looks like ass stained. It also dents really easy because its soft.
Camo seems to be in fashion now. Why don't you do it with the graphic showing the mouth from a P51 Mustang.

[rjohnstone]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

Yea... My Ibanez is basswood and if it weren't for the hard finish, it would be trashed already.
I wasn't thinking of staining it green, more like doing a candy type finish.
However instead of laying down the silver or gold base coat, my thought is to just use the green apple tinted clear coat over the wood.
Since Basswood has a gold/yellow tone too it, it should turn out looking similar to a gold base candy finish.
I'm looking for some basswood scraps right now to test it out. But if my theory works out, it should look very unique.
I'm pretty set on making a greenie of some sort, but trying to give it a unique twist.

[ApeDosMil]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

Corvette Yellow would be awesome.

[rjohnstone]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

Hmmm... now there's a possibiity.
If the green turns out horrible, I can always go yellow.

[tmmsjm]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

+1 on the staining...there's just not much happening with the grain anyway. Paint it a solid color, put a floyd on it, and with that custom custom it should be perfect!

[mogar]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

Thats asking for hot rod flames w/ matching headstock.

[rjohnstone]

Re: Looking for suggestions... new guitar build.

OK... I finaly decided on a base color.
Ditched the green idea all together.
Since this is based on the early Charvel guitars, let's go with some serious metal flake.

Tell me what ya think.
I know the pics don't do this justice and I haven't clear coated or buffed it out yet.



I still need to clean up the edges... found a spot where the masking tap must have popped up a bit somewhere between priming and final paint.
I'll post pics of the body when it's dry.