New name: The Copperhead Soloist Build Begins.

[War_in_D]

Picked up this Soloist body on Ebay.  The top had it fair share of dents, dings and had a chunk knocked out of the clear coat about the size of a dime near the hole that was drilled for the knob.  It was suggested to leave it as is, and go with that road worn look..  Definitely worth consideration but since red isn't really one of my favorite colors, I've decided to do a bit of a refin on it.  I sanded back the clear on the top only, leaving this "mottled" look with some of the red dye remaining.  Since the back is going to remain red. I think I'm going to stop sanding at this point and leave some of the red in the top as a base and introduce other colors into the mix..

Just need to decide what colors.  Top is shown wet below.  More to come as it progresses..

 

[War_in_D]

I was debating between going back over the top with clear, or just tung oil after the dye.  Decided on tung oil (for now).  Left the red from the previous finish, went back over it with black dye and sanded back.  In hindsight, I should have stopped there.  It had a really cool almost black/purple vibe to it, but decided to go over it with a "honey" colored dye and sand back to try to get the lighter areas to "pop" a little bit more but I think the result was a little more muted than I had originally hoped.  This is only the second dye job I've done, and it's definitely a learning process that's for sure. 

After two coats, with many more to go.

 

[ragamuffin]

Ooh, I like it!

 

[DangerousR6]

Nice find... :headbang:

 

[rgand]

That's off on a fine direction.  :icon_thumright:

 

[PhilHill]

Nice work... :headbang:

 

[War_in_D]

Thanks for kind words..  much appreciated.

 

[War_in_D]

Little update on this one..  The top is now finished, with 6-8 coats of Tung Oil (I quit counting after about 4.. lol).  Debated on adding a neck humbucker route, but decided against it.  I've got enough multiple pickup guitars, so this one is going to stay simple.

It also now has a name.. The Copperhead Soloist, since the top came out in what I would consider a darn close representation of what a Copperhead Snake looks like.

Plans are:

Neck:  Warmoth plain Maple/Rosewood, tung oil finish.
Pickup:  Dimarzio Super 3
Bridge:  Black Chrome Floyd Rose Special I had in the parts bin donated by an old ESP/LTD I had once upon a time
Tuners:  Same Black Chrome finish ESP/LTD tuners

 

[rgand]

You're right, it's a nice matchup. That's a suitable name for it.

 

[rauchman]

Gorgeous!

 

[War_in_D]

Update on this one.  Spent the last couple of days working on the neck for this one.  Plain maple/rosewood neck with standard/thin profile and 6150 frets.  In the past, I have just slapped the neck on and played and this is my first earnest attempt at fret end dressing and rolling the fretboard.  I bought a cheap ($70) Squire Strat at pawn shop and spent all last week practicing on it before I attempted to do this for real.  I feel pretty good about the outcome, but feel I could have spent a little more time getting the rolling of the fretboard a little more even.

I'm going to post another post in the "Tips and Tricks" section asking for advise regarding working on SS frets, since the neck for my other build has them.  If anyone that see's this is willing to give me some pointers for working with SS.  Thanks for checking out my build!!