"Off Menu": Black Korina Flying V with Zitricote Ken Lawrence Neck

[alexreinhold]

Time for a new build. I pretty much decided to build a very extravagant brother for my Metal Tele. Here are the specs:

V-K body:

• Black Korina
• 2 Humbuckers
• 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 1 Toggle Switch
• Gotoh 510 Trem

Ken Lawrence neck (off-menu):

• Roasted maple shaft
• Zitricote fretboard, modern medium nut, standard thin, 12-16 compound, stainless SS6115, moon glow side dots
• Walnut triangle on peghead
• Pearloid eclipsed block inlays

Plan:

• finish the body going full Birchwood Casey
  • sand down to 240 (3x), apply water to body in between to open grain, open pores even more by using a steel brush
  • apply one coat of sanding sealer (yes, BEFORE stain)
  • apply one coat of walnut stain
  • apply 4 coats of tru oil, then sand to with 400-800 grit to even surface (open grain is thirsty)
  • apply 15-20 additional coats of tru oil to make it shiny
  • buff and maybe apply wax. @stratamania what are the pros/cons of applying wax for a gloss finish?
  • more on the finish decision making process here: https://unofficialwarmoth.com/threads/darken-black-korina.36487/
• prep the neck
  • apply walnut stain to triangle on peg head
  • apply sanding sealer to entire headstock and then 5-10 coats of tru oil
  • fret leveling and crowning
• add electronics and parts:
  • Seymour Duncan Black Winter set (hell yeah!) - to be decided if I add a push/pull
  • Schaller locking tuners
  • Tremol No
  • Custom neck plate from TLC Guitar Goods
  • Electrosockets jack, truss rod cover, knobs etc.
• assemble

Here's where I stand:

Out of the box body:


Out of the box neck:


Told you it's the brother of my Tele which has a TRVE painting on it. Here's the respective KVLT one:


Will post photos of the finishing process a bit later.

PS: Can't wait to celebrate post 666 with you!!!

 

[alexreinhold]

Here some pics on how it's going:

After adding sanding sealer and walnut stain (1/2):


After adding sanding sealer and walnut stain (2/2):


After adding tru oil (1/2):


After adding tru oil (2/2):


After 4 coats of tru oil and sanding (it got a bit lighter):


After sanding and another coat of tru-oil with strong sunlight (1/2):


After sanding and another coat of tru-oil with strong sunlight (2/2):


Body vs neck after walnut application without sealer and oil:


Neck with sealer and oil + strong sunlight)

 

[Rick]

 

[Spud]

Looking good! Very pointy. ....................may I suggest some comfy house shoes?

 

[Eddie-Applegate]

WOWOOWW this is TRVELY rad

So the neck — is that ordered from Warmoth? Or from Ken Lawrence?


I would 100% rock on this under a freezing moon

 

[stratamania]

• buff and maybe apply wax. @stratamania what are the pros/cons of applying wax for a gloss finish?

Perhaps apply the wax and then buff. The real key is to wait until things are fully dry beforehand and use a light amount of the wax. And you probably know the next thing, if in doubt, test on scrap.

It's looking good so far.

What does KVLT mean?

 

[kevin_guitars]

That body looks amazing and I love the Ken Lawrence headstock design

 

[Rick]

Korina
V-Shape
Lawrence
TLC?
Cult in german? A video game? Why? Band name!

 

[BroccoliRob]

that's a sick build, dude

What does KVLT mean?

it's like metvl

basically the black metal way of writing things or something lmao

 

[stratamania]

it's like metvl

basically the black metal way of writing things or something lmao

I get that, but what does it mean?

 

[Eddie-Applegate]

I get that, but what does it mean?

not to speak for the OP, but as a black metaller myself i can comment from my perspective,

“TRVE KVLT” (‘true cult’) is black metal slang that means something like “legit,” “authentic,” “genuine,” “untainted by mainstream thought,” “adheres unerringly to the original ethos of black metal” etc

 

[Rick]

"adheres unerringly to the ethos of black metal!" That's hardcore. I've met ska, punk and irish music fans that are like that. I get it ... not for me, but I get it. Play a Ramone's song for them and you can do no wrong.

 

[oliviaadair]

That wood grain looks very beautiful. You did a marvelous job enhancing the natural hues of that wood.

 

[BroccoliRob]

the great thing about The Ethos of Black Metal is that i never heard the same definition from two BMers (black metallers). unfortunately it is one of those metal genres where each band must be scrutinized to ensure they aren't neo nazis, so i find it important to ask what trve kvlt means to them when i party


edit: just wanna add that like 98% of BMers i partied with were not nazis. hope I didn't imply the genre is filled with them, only that there are just enough to be a concern

 

[alexreinhold]

Big sorry for the late reply. Work has not been kind to me this week. But I just had a good laugh at all your comments + thanks to everyone who appreciates the build

WOWOOWW this is TRVELY rad

So the neck — is that ordered from Warmoth? Or from Ken Lawrence?


I would 100% rock on this under a freezing moon

The neck was ordered from Warmoth. You pay 200 USD extra to get that headstock. 100% worth it IMO.

Perhaps apply the wax and then buff. The real key is to wait until things are fully dry beforehand and use a light amount of the wax. And you probably know the next thing, if in doubt, test on scrap.

It's looking good so far.

What does KVLT mean?

re KVLT: @Eddie-Applegate's explanations were spot on. Nothing to add here. Will definitely try the wax this time. Will try on scrap first. Will update soon.

Korina
V-Shape
Lawrence
TLC?
Cult in german? A video game? Why? Band name!

lol!

the great thing about The Ethos of Black Metal is that i never heard the same definition from two BMers (black metallers). unfortunately it is one of those metal genres where each band must be scrutinized to ensure they aren't neo nazis, so i find it important to ask what trve kvlt means to them when i party

Unfortunately BroccoliRob is right. The Black Metal community is as bipolar as it gets. It can be anything from full neo-nazi to communist left-wing with everything imaginable in between. Hence, I've been trying to listen to Black Metal by fully detaching myself from any political implications, albeit always making sure there's no nazi shit going on.

For instance, one of the dilemmas a lot of Black Metal fans have is Burzum who created a total of 3 epic songs that are impossible to not like but written by Varg, a horrendous idiot who spent half of his life in jail for murdering his former bandmate Euronymous.

For those interested to learn more about Black Metal culture, a good starting point is probably the movie Lords of Chaos about the band Mayhem and the murder of Euronymous. After that, it's up to you if you drown in the rabbit hole.

 

[PFDarkside]

This is amazing.

 

[Rick]

Yeah ... black metal's not a rabbit hole I'll be going down soon.

 

[Eddie-Applegate]

Big sorry for the late reply. Work has not been kind to me this week. But I just had a good laugh at all your comments + thanks to everyone who appreciates the build


The neck was ordered from Warmoth. You pay 200 USD extra to get that headstock. 100% worth it IMO.


re KVLT: @Eddie-Applegate's explanations were spot on. Nothing to add here. Will definitely try the wax this time. Will try on scrap first. Will update soon.


lol!


Unfortunately BroccoliRob is right. The Black Metal community is as bipolar as it gets. It can be anything from full neo-nazi to communist left-wing with everything imaginable in between. Hence, I've been trying to listen to Black Metal by fully detaching myself from any political implications, albeit always making sure there's no nazi shit going on.

For instance, one of the dilemmas a lot of Black Metal fans have is Burzum who created a total of 3 epic songs that are impossible to not like but written by Varg, a horrendous idiot who spent half of his life in jail for murdering his former bandmate Euronymous.

For those interested to learn more about Black Metal culture, a good starting point is probably the movie Lords of Chaos about the band Mayhem and the murder of Euronymous. After that, it's up to you if you drown in the rabbit hole.

Re: Black metal: there is a great multipart documentary (Norwegian with English subtitles) called “Helvete” that i think is a superb introduction to the subculture (at least, the Norwegian part which is a major aspect of the movement) — it’s fairly balanced and neither shies away from the notorious aspects, nor lionizes them

There are several other important black metal scenes (including US black metal, which has several aspects including early stuff like VON, depressive acts like LEVIATHAN, and the whole Cascadian black metal thing which had a moment of mainstream popularity about 12 years ago, and more classical-leaning modern styles like KRALLICE), but none are as well-documented as the Norwegian scene. Every scene has some great bands well worth seeking out tho, especially the US and Swedish scenes

There are also many great bands that are not exactly black metal in the stylistic sense, but show heavy black metal influence— for example, Deafheaven and Watain.

I take the same approach as Alex, just check up on a given band to make sure they’re not N*zis before listening (like hardcore punk / oi!, the black metal scene has more than its share of misguided bands)

Black metal has a very absorbing quality about it and some really creative music — if it “clicks” with a person, that person often gets WAY into it

 

[aarontunes]

This build is *chef's kiss*. Can't wait to see the finished axe!

I'll also add that it's refreshing to see someone actually put their money where their mouth is. So often I get asked "can you do XYZ, but with ABC added, and then 123 on side?" After I research it and say yes they say "OK, thanks for checking." But you, Alex....you actually did it!

Fortune favors the brave!

 

[alexreinhold]

Black metal has a very absorbing quality about it and some really creative music — if it “clicks” with a person, that person often gets WAY into it

couldn't agree more with this. I used to hate it and hate it and hate it until I suddenly loved it. Super strange...

This build is *chef's kiss*. Can't wait to see the finished axe!

I'll also add that it's refreshing to see someone actually put their money where their mouth is. So often I get asked "can you do XYZ, but with ABC added, and then 123 on side?" After I research it and say yes they say "OK, thanks for checking." But you, Alex....you actually did it!

Fortune favors the brave!

Thanks Aaron!!! At one point, I actually thought Spike hated me lol

But in all seriousness... I bought the Schecter Evil Twin Flying V first. I waited 6 weeks for delivery, kept it for 3 days and then had to return it. It's an awesome guitar but there were just so many details I didn't like. When deciding to go for a build, I had to make sure to get all the details as right as possible. And only Warmoth allows you to do that. I'm really excited to start playing it and building a second patchwork version of it which I will donate, more infos HERE.