Mermaid requested guitar

[Kuro Uma]

Hey guys, I haven't posted for a bit. But I have been a bit busy and I thought I'd share this monstrosity with you all.

Let me start by saying that this guitar was not my idea. I was asked to build this by our singers wife, or for her sister actually. Who plays guitar. She requested just about everything under the sun be dyed into this guitar. I did my best to accomplish this for her. Ok now with the disclaimer out of the way:

I started with a Regal with a quilted top

here it is wet

She originally asked for a mermaid dyed into it and have turquoise be the main color. I thought I could do a fine job and make it tasteful. But then she called me back and asked if we could also incorporate these things:

a panther
a hummingbird
a galaxy
a wolf
wildflowers
an Aries constellation
the Harry Potter Lightning bolt
a phoenix rising out of the Sun
flames up the back of the neck with the word "Resilience"
he mermaid to look like her and be reaching for the moon.
the mermaid to have purple and teal dreads

Oh and she would also like it to have a Bigsby.

So as you can tell this became quiet and artistic challenge. :toothy12: I'm seriously not kidding.

I started the mermaid:

The panther, RAWR!!

The moon and background:

merging these two somehow:

The hummingbird drinking from the galaxy:

after I got them all on there:  :dontknow:

Yeah I know...

The phoenix:

And the Sun:

I failed to snap any pics of the neck before I started working on it. I started with a 3A flamed maple angled paddle head. So you'll just have to imagine that.  :icon_jokercolor:

I did take a few after I roughed out the headstock and test fit the tuners:

You can tell it's an excellent piece, great figure!

So I began to ruin it:

mermaids as fret markers:

blue dyes to mimic water:

wildflowers on the headstock and her name:

Front:

and Back:

Overall, a very busy guitar.

But it got clear coated:

Wet sanded, polished, strung up and setup:

I did my very best to merge all these ideas. I can say it plays great and sounds amazing.

I have hung out with my buddy at his tattoo shop and I see people come in all the time and him talk them out of ideas that are just too much. I believe this is kind of the same thing. But at the end of the day she loves it. She swears it's her dream guitar. So as long as she's happy then I am too.

 

[stratamania]

It is a little busy, but absolutely stunning work. Very impressed.

I hope she doesn't want matching tattoos though.

Once again terrific job.

 

[Great Ape]

Hell, I think she oughta be made to sit through having a matching tattoo after that request! Unbelievable that you not only took that on, but succeeded so gloriously--only you, man, only you... 

 

[MikeW]

Knocked it out of the park man. What a beauty.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Man, well done!

 

[BigSteve22]

Busy? That's the understatement of the decade! But I gotta say, you certainly pulled it off with aplomb. Really nice work. :cool01:

 

[nullref]

Wow...  Nicely done.

 

[bagman67]

I gotta tell you, that's the most amazing accommodation of a completely inartistic request you could possibly have come up with.  Any individual component of that paintjob would be sufficient on its own to do the job, and when taken together, it's a little overwhelming.  But damn it, man, you made that gallimaufry WORK.  Great job.

 

[Kublai]

Wow! Incredible art work.

 

[Cagey]

Wow! I don't know what else to say... just...wow!

 

[anorakDan]

Nicely done! Your talent shines on every goofy, disjointed motif on that project.

 

[Logrinn]

I'm with everybody else: WOW!

 

[Vallhagen]

I think I have to add another wow: WOW!

 

[Tonar8352]

That is exceptional. You did such a great job of blending the colors and the art. What did you use for your clear coat?

WOW!

 

[Tonar8352]

This is a first; but I have to speak again for emphasis.  That baby is of the charts and I vote we just make it the July Guitar of the Month because I don't see anything competing with that!!!!!!

 

[mayfly]

what does the customer look like???

 

[fdesalvo]

GOOD GRIEF!  I also move for automatic GotY lol.

 

[Kuro Uma]

That is exceptional. You did such a great job of blending the colors and the art. What did you use for your clear coat?

WOW!

Thank you, I used Spraymax 2k automotive Clearcoat for durability.

 

[Kuro Uma]

what does the customer look like???

She's a good looking lady, I'll admit  :icon_thumright:

 

[dmraco]

All I have to say is wow. 

Your artwork is AMAZING and the burst of the fretboard is incredible. 

I think you gave the customer EXACTLY what they wanted.  We have all done pieces we did not agree with artistically.  I would have stopped with just a clear on the top of the awesome top.

Takes be back to this redo of a black Ibanez for a 17 year old kid.  Exactly what he wanted....at least it was patriotic.