I'm very impressed with the appearance of the straps over at www.alligatorjakes.com. Not sure of
the exact color or style yet, but this one seems close to what I'm looking
for:
Being developed by Casper Guitar Technologies. A slightly modified Vai Jem body with mirror face plate, solid silver pegs and knobs, vine of life inlay work, and much more! Some photos below to show some of the parts:
And a silver pick to match, via Timber Tones (part of their Treasure Tones collection):
I'm very impressed with the appearance of the straps over at www.alligatorjakes.com. Not sure of
the exact color or style yet, but this one seems close to what I'm looking
for:
By the way, the amazing fretboard inlay is through www.luthiersupply.com . They have dozens of other styles and inlay options, and the prices are incredible considering the workmanship (all made by hand from seashells.
Interested in seeing how this one turns out! I've always been a fan of the JEM...
I'll be outfitting this guitar with Sublime Pickups. Most have not heard of this company out of Hungary... custom made pickups www.sublimepickups.com
The headstock's inlay:
I gotta say, these projects aren't to my specific tastes, but they are immensely impressive!
I'll be parking myself here with some popcorn to watch the progress of this one. If the Alien and Hendrix guitars are anything to go by, this should be quite the piece of art! I suspect you have the bespoke guitar bug biting REAL hard huh Brian
Final guitar... this one gives me tonal qualities and elements found between the original Casper guitar built for me (not the Alien one), and the Hendrix Tribute Strat.
Pics are listed above. More will be added when available.
This is the knob design... solid silver with diamond (gypsy style) inlay:
Here is the body outline (wood is mahogany)... a basic Jem shape (monkey
grip to be added) with a slight curve/change in the tail/butt end.
Another body shot with the details sketched out:
A color decision was made... just one solid color (a dark espresso or French
roast), metallic flake. However, under the pickguard (solid mirror-like with
laser cutouts of vines and leaves) will be a bronze metallic paint.
This decision was based on the pickguard covering much of the body, and so
adding a burst or a texture did not make sense. And there is much going on with
the pickguard, silver hardware, engraved pickup covers, etc. The luthier not
only agreed (also suggested it), but so too did the painter... an
award-winning custom car painting company... a paint finish not to be seen too
often on a guitar.
First pass of the body:
I always liked the looks of the Firewheel straplocks. Because the body will
be a very dark espresso, I went with the black straplocks so that they blend
into the body a bit:
A bit of extra 'curve' work around the butt end, with the pickguard setting in place (it's a mirror pickguard, but has a protective covering over it for the time being):
All the routing finished:
The neck blank with angled headstock clamped: