eBay Find - Mahogany Soloist

[whitebison66]

Moved here from Just Out of the Box.

Have been layering the Tru Oil. It's slow, but I am really liking the way it's coming along. Been using 320 and/or 0000 steel wool for smoothing when necessary between coats.

 

[whitebison66]

More photos.

Even in the midst of moving, I am keeping my priorities straight.

 

[chrisg]

Looking good so far. Are you applying the Tru-oil with a cotton pad or with your fingers?  How many coats are you up to?

 

[rapfohl09]

More photos.

Even in the midst of moving, I am keeping my priorities straight.

Good man  :icon_thumright: It looks awesome, but has the tru-oil gotten sticky at all? That happened to me with one coat on a mahogany neck and I wasnt sure what I did haha.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Looking fantastic!  :icon_thumright:

TruOil & Mahogany is the woodfinish equivalent of chocolate & peanut butter.

 

[DangerousR6]

Looking fantastic!  :icon_thumright:

TruOil & Mahogany is the woodfinish equivalent of chocolate & peanut butter.

You got your mahogany in my tru oil.... :doh: :doh:


Looks frickin' bad ass man....good job.. :icon_thumright:

 

[whitebison66]

Sorry to be away for so long. I moved into a new place and we all know what that entails.

But recently, having discovered that the covers on SD 'Lil pickups (in this case 'Lil 59s) are removable (or fall off), I decided to try and make some matching mahogany pickup covers.

It worked!

I made some knobs too. If there wasn't a 4-image limit on posts, I'd show more of the process. If you want to see it, you can go here: http://sean.thewhatsgoodconspiracy.com/?p=790

They came out better than I expected (I didn't expect them to come out!) and I am really happy with the way they look.

I never liked gold hardware and own none of it. But this build seems to need it.

Opinions?

 

[JamesL]

I think black... Although I think gold could look nice too, The body is like a golden brown though sooooo..
And I'd lose the wooden covers. But that's just me.

 

[Alfang]

Yeh, not sure about the wood covers, the body looks good. with all the wood, it's starting to look like a wooden kids toy

 

[rapfohl09]

Is that wood oiled yet? (The covers and knobs)

I do like all of it, but I HATE when things don't match. So im not a big fan of the light mahogany covers and deep brown body etc.

I still love the hell out of this body and wish I could have picked it up :icon_thumright:

 

[Disco Scottie]

The knobs and covers are neat, but I would never use them. Every time I see a guitar outfitted like that, it looks like a way-too-fancy-over-the-top instrument that you don't see anyone play... I can visualize an ornately inlaid flower on the body below the bridge... that kind of thing. But if it makes you happy, then go for it. Obviously killer work to make them.

 

[whitebison66]

The covers and knobs are early in the oiling process, so I am sure they'll darken up.

And I promise, I'll play this guitar!

 

[JamesL]

It just looks like a kids toy to me rather than an instrument.

No offense!

 

[whitebison66]

None taken!

I may not use the knobs, but the pickup covers were too much work to abandon now!

 

[JaySwear]

i'm really kind of kicking myself now for not grabbing that thing so cheaply when it was on ebay! but i wouldn't have been able to do this much with it. who knew it had so much potential?! :icon_biggrin: this is a great project, and i REALLY like those wood covers. very cool

 

[whitebison66]

The covers and knobs are actually easy to do. I've already figured a better method to make the covers, in fact. So I haven't really done much of note. But thank you just the same!

What do you guys think about adding veneer to the covers in the same grain orientation as the body, i.e. parallel? I'm not sure if the oblique grain is doing it for me.

The veneer is darker too, so it would match better.

 

[whitebison66]

The Tru Oiling is finished. It must be; I'm out of Tru Oil!

I ordered parts for this from W yesterday. My first-ever gold hardware: Narrow strat bridge, ferrules, neck plate and Schaller mini locking tuners. Pictures or they don't exist, right?

Special truss rod cover I'll unveil later.

Probably gold knobs, but I'm holding off, waiting to see.

I want to use this guitar for doing fusion-type, solo-heavy stuff.
Instead of a 3-way switch, I'm going to try a blend pot, see if I like it.
I might even put in a Tone-X for trying to emulate Holdsworth/horn sounds.

 

[rapfohl09]

I can't wait to see this all finished, I was just looking at it the other day.

 

[MikeW]

I think the blender will work out well for you with this build. I really like it for clean and low-gain tones. It provides a great mix between sounds and if you've got p-ups that are voiced differently you can get some really interesting sounds out of it.

+1 to using the gold hardware (including the knobs and covers) too. Looks great so far.

 

[Cletus]

I think black... Although I think gold could look nice too, The body is like a golden brown though sooooo..
And I'd lose the wooden covers. But that's just me.

+ 1 to the black. I reckon that's exactly what it needs for the contrast.

Edit: Just saw you bought gold. Goose!