tgorman
Newbie
- Messages
- 13
This is my first attempt at making a guitar. I'm not a musician and have no plans to become one, but I am a hobbiest woodworker. A family member (who is a musician and not a woodworker) asked me to parallel build a guitar with him. So, with his knowledge of sourcing parts and my knowledge and inventory of woodworking tools, we set off. I was planning to just build a basic guitar since I have no plans to actually play although I did in high school and college. But once I got looking into parts and finishes, I thought, "...for not much more money I could have a very nice guitar." Which led me to Warmoth because I did not want to build a neck. I think that is a bit of a stretch for my skill set. So I am currently awaiting arrival of my custom Warmoth neck. But we ordered body blanks and some templates and got to work.
Now to why I think most will not like this build. When I was choosing a color, at first I picked a Fender Factory color. But thought, why go through all of this work to build a custom guitar and have it look like every other guitar off the shelf. I love rust. I love patina. Especially when under that rust and patina is high quality modern tech. Think rusty old farm truck with an LSx power plant, power steering, etc. I was introduced to actual iron and copper paint with patina years ago and fell in love and thought this would be perfect for me. So the finish you see, is actual iron rust and copper patina. The down side is, you can't sand it. So the finish is rough. I did smooth it out a lot with the clear coat (spraymax 2k) and after this build I think I can get it glass smooth with some different techniques. The clear also darkened the rust quite a bit, but don't think there is anything I can do about that. That said, while not glass flat, it is very silky smooth and soft to the touch. I personally love it and think it is fitting for the finish. The inside of the pockets I finished with the 6 layers of the copper paint to help act as a faraday cage. On to the pics....
Now to why I think most will not like this build. When I was choosing a color, at first I picked a Fender Factory color. But thought, why go through all of this work to build a custom guitar and have it look like every other guitar off the shelf. I love rust. I love patina. Especially when under that rust and patina is high quality modern tech. Think rusty old farm truck with an LSx power plant, power steering, etc. I was introduced to actual iron and copper paint with patina years ago and fell in love and thought this would be perfect for me. So the finish you see, is actual iron rust and copper patina. The down side is, you can't sand it. So the finish is rough. I did smooth it out a lot with the clear coat (spraymax 2k) and after this build I think I can get it glass smooth with some different techniques. The clear also darkened the rust quite a bit, but don't think there is anything I can do about that. That said, while not glass flat, it is very silky smooth and soft to the touch. I personally love it and think it is fitting for the finish. The inside of the pockets I finished with the 6 layers of the copper paint to help act as a faraday cage. On to the pics....
). And like you've probably experienced in your woodworking efforts, you learn from everyone, even if someone else has a radically different style than your own.
