Help me decide on a finish (and other specs) for my prog metal guitar with this guitar with these specific SD pickups with red/black bobbins.

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

I plan on pulling the trigger on this very soon because @aarontunes informed me in another thread roasted alder (my top wood choice) is being discontinued.

My primary interest for this guitar is prog metal in the vein of bands like Opeth, BTBAM, Steven Wilson’s multiple projects, The Ocean, The Controtionist, The Faceless, stuff like that. It’s inspired by some Charvel and Ibanez (and maybe a bit of PRS flavor) models I was GASing over but didn’t have my exact specs of my dream guitar.

These are the specific pickups I already have and plan to use, the Seymour Duncan Pegasus Trembucker and Sentient in this Red/Black color scheme (and I’m pretty sure an SSL-6 in the middle).


I’m torn between either the Soloist (if I want to keep it normal) or the Dinkycaster (if I want to get unique with it). Rear routed, 24 fret neck, 720 mod. Warhead neck.

What finish I go with and whether it’s gloss of satin will determine my neck choice. If it’s Satin I’m probably gonna go with a roasted flame maple neck with roasted flame maple board. If it’s gloss I’m probably going to get a roasted maple neck (not flame) with rosewood or macassar ebony board.

I’m considering getting a flame maple cap, in which case I will probably get white binding. While this is really pushing my price range I am considering it. I imagine it will make the white bobbin for the SSL-6 look the least out of place. I’m not sure how the maple caps look with satin, so these will be gloss.

Red Dye
Black Cherry Burst Dye

With the metallic finishes, I like the Black Cherry, but only in the gloss. It looks like it’s somewhere between a metallic and a flake, and the satin version doesn’t look too good, in my opinion.

I’m also considering Red Flake in either gloss or satin. I associate the flake finishes more with quirky indie jazz-master player types, but I could always break the mold. I don’t mind.

My other choices, all in Satin:

Dakota Red
Bright Red
Candy Red
Charcoal Frost
Inca Silver
Aluminum
White Pearl

I considered a few greens, like Shamrock Green and Charger Green, but don’t want a "Christmas" guitar.

All feedback is appreciated.

 

[Scab Pickens]

Hmmm ... that's an interesting pickup color combo. I can't imagine anything other than "none more black". Gloss black body with blood splatter would be my choice!

 

[ragamuffin]

Cool pickups! One of my buddies has a Pegasus/Sentient set and they're great, tight sounding pickups for heavy tones.

Personally I'm not the biggest fan of the soloist aesthetic and I think something more unique like the Dinkycaster shape would be more... well... unique! Another cool body shape imo would be a Meadohawk (I hear it's an off-menu option now). I think it looks pretty great dressed for metal like this one:



As far as finishes I think any combination of the specs that you mentioned will look nice and it's pretty well a "buckle up and choose a favorite" situation.

I do think that having a white single coil between two murdered-out humuckers is going to stand out and I can't see it looking too great.

What hardware color are you thinking?

 

[Spud]

Pegasus=the sky horsie!

 

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

Cool pickups! One of my buddies has a Pegasus/Sentient set and they're great, tight sounding pickups for heavy tones.

Personally I'm not the biggest fan of the soloist aesthetic and I think something more unique like the Dinkycaster shape would be more... well... unique! Another cool body shape imo would be a Meadohawk (I hear it's an off-menu option now). I think it looks pretty great dressed for metal like this one:

View attachment 65016

As far as finishes I think any combination of the specs that you mentioned will look nice and it's pretty well a "buckle up and choose a favorite" situation.

I do think that having a white single coil between two murdered-out humuckers is going to stand out and I can't see it looking too great.

What hardware color are you thinking?

I planned on using chrome/nickel/silver/whatever for the bridge. I figured white binding and white Fender style knobs would help make the middle pickup look less silly.

I am actually leaning pretty hard towards black cherry burst dye on a flame maple cap with white binding, even though it’s going to make me declare bankruptcy. I might even go for satin over gloss, the example on the Warmoth Website looks kind of cool. I hope it’s accurate.

I’m also starting to lean more towards the Dinkycaster over the Soloist for the extra pot.

 

[aarontunes]

Cool pickups! One of my buddies has a Pegasus/Sentient set and they're great, tight sounding pickups for heavy tones.

Personally I'm not the biggest fan of the soloist aesthetic and I think something more unique like the Dinkycaster shape would be more... well... unique! Another cool body shape imo would be a Meadohawk (I hear it's an off-menu option now). I think it looks pretty great dressed for metal like this one:

View attachment 65016

As far as finishes I think any combination of the specs that you mentioned will look nice and it's pretty well a "buckle up and choose a favorite" situation.

I do think that having a white single coil between two murdered-out humuckers is going to stand out and I can't see it looking too great.

What hardware color are you thinking?

It's funny you should mention a Meadowhawk build with a Sentient and Pegasus pickups....

 

[Hodgo]

It's funny you should mention a Meadowhawk build with a Sentient and Pegasus pickups....

Is today the day!?

 

[aarontunes]

Is today the day!?

View attachment 65084

 

[supertruper1988]

hmmmm

https://warmoth.com/catalogsearch/result/?404=1&q=guitar+bodies+meadowhawk

@Hodgo

 

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

The impending Meadowhawk changes everything.

 

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

I’m too lazy to use PicsArt (and don’t feel like paying for the Pro subscription right now) so I plugged some images into ChatGPT to get it to spit out a rough image of what I was planning. This is what I got.

 

[anthonyfury]

I missed it - is this satin over Cinder Red? Or burgundy mist??? It looks awesome!!!

 

[Hodgo]

I think of all the options listed I really like Black Cherry metallic. Let those pickups really pop the color in against a shiny metal finish.

 

[supertruper1988]

I missed it - is this satin over Cinder Red? Or burgundy mist??? It looks awesome!!!

Its Satin Cinder Red. Burgundy mist is much more pink

 

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

So I placed my order today. Went with the Meadowhawk. Decided on the Black Cherry Burst Dye in satin, clear line with clear back.

Possibly going to be simultaneously one of the first Meadowhawks and one of the last roasted alder bodies. Possibly the only roasted alder Meadowhawk in existence if I’m lucky enough (lol).

Meadowhawk neck, Rosewood fretboard on roasted maple neck, Meadowhawk inlay in white pearloid.

The biggest change I made is the middle pickup. After doing more research I decided the STK-4m was a better option than the SSL-6 based on what I was going for. It also comes with a black bobbin so it will look more like it belongs.

Now I need to do research into Free Way’s toggle switches or other toggle switch or push/pull pot options. Before the Meadowhawk announcement, I was doing a more S-Style build so was only looking into the 5-way blades.

 

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

I’ll try to provide updates as they come in, probably in 16 weeks or so.