Wow! That is gonna be one beautiful guitar when it's done. I dig the level of craftsmanship, but would probably pass out over what this costs to build.
Pictures of Stephen Casper working on the inlay... and clamping the
inlay:
Wow! That is gonna be one beautiful guitar when it's done. I dig the level of craftsmanship, but would probably pass out over what this costs to build.
Routing and setting in of the truss rod:
The pickups (via SublimePickups.com) arrived from Hungary in only 3 days (to
Florida). They were attached to the pick guard and a photo sent to me. The
pick guard is a mirror... colorless... but it reflected something 'tan' in his
workshop.
The luthier had to custom make the truss rod cover from a sheet of steel, to
be chromed and polished before shipping to the engraver. A few more photos and
details are here:
http://caspersguitarshop.wordpress.c...ota-improvise/
A shot of the body... metallic paint... dark copper (appears lighter in the
picture):
And a shot of the body with the pick guard and neck.
It's gonna be gorgeous
Guitars:
1978 Fender Telecaster Thinline Custom USA, New Nash TL-72 Thinline Telecaster, 1965 Harmony Meteor, H71, 1986 Fender Telecaster Esquire MIJ, New Martin J-41 Special, 1933 National Duolian, 1941, New Eastwood Mandocaster 12 strings
Amps:
Tweed Vibrolux Custom Denis Manlay, 1976 Fender Deluxe Reverb Silverface
Thanks! There's still the headstock, the leaf tuner pegs, the leaf knobs, the truss rod cover (that's where I'm putting the Vai logo), and the trem plate cover (all hand engraved). The luthier told me that the picture is not picking up the true quality of this paint job... a metallic glow under the clear finish. Speaking of which, the middle pickup has the word Sublime on it (SublimePickups.com), and the word glows in the dark. As well, after 25 years of building guitars, my luthier was amazed at the weight and quality of construction of the pickups... and these hand made pickups cost the same as stock pickups from any other company. The luthier plans on contacting Sublime for future projects.
A shot of the leaf peg attached to the gears... along with a short video of
the product:
http://www.deepcutmetalart.com/clients/Leaf_peg.MOV
Below is the style of trem arm I want on this guitar. Such an arm does not
exist for the Schaller bridge being installed... and so the luthier is building
one from stratch.
The fretboard with stainless steel frets (undressed) in.
My luthier did a short blog update:
http://caspersguitarshop.wordpress.c...ject-progress/
Below is the neck a little more dressed and peg holes drilled. The truss rod
cover is shown with the Vai logo and a single pass of the engraving chisle (yet
to be fine-edged and chromed). Details on what has taken place found on the
luthier's blog:
http://wp.me/p2IaxD-1l
A picture of one of the guitar knobs lying on its side; hand engraved
(diamond to be set where you see the hole); character line work and shading,
followed by black oxidizing in the lines to follow. Argentariis does some
pretty incredible work!
Hoping to have my baby in the next 2-3 weeks... here is the finished knob
(there are two of them); hand engraved and detailed!
Really impressed with the level of detail Brian, and thoroughly enjoyed reading your entire thread as your project has come together!
Great job!
Cheers,
David
Gearlist:
Electric: Ibanez 'AS103', Fender Dlx Nash Pwr Tele, Fender Squier '62 JV Strat, Squier '51, Squier 60's Classic Vibe Strat, Epi Elite LP Studio, Hagstrom Swede Acoustic: Larrivee LV-03RE, A&L AMI, Yamaha FG340-T Bass: Yamaha BB 450 Amps: Roland JC-120, JC-50, Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Champ XD Pedals: Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Danelectro Cool Cat Drive, Transparent Overdrive, Digitech Digiverb, Bad Monkey, Ibanez TS-9, Boss AC-2, CE-5, CS-2, DD-3, DF-2, DS-1, FV-100, GE-7, OC-2, PSM-5, SD-1, TU-2, DVM~BYOC 'Lush Puppy' Chorus
This is incredible! Are you planning on playing this one? I'd be tempted to keep it in a secure display case
Wow! That's quite a beautiful project.
"No Tele For you." - The Tele Nazi
Ha! Tele-ish now inbound.