Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

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hillerheilman
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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Fri Aug 14, 2020 4:25 pm

pad wrote:
Thu Aug 13, 2020 1:49 am
Why do you want to hide that super awesome woodwork?
Looks like you shall do some kind of natural finish?

Or Purple back with natural pinstripe?
Amon 7.L wrote:
Thu Aug 13, 2020 2:46 am

Exactly.
If any, just an ever so light amber to pop up the center and a touch of light tobacco burst on the edge for emphasis.
mbene085 wrote:
Thu Aug 13, 2020 11:09 am
+1. I'd keep it in the "natural wood tone" range. Anywhere from clear to amber to brown stain of whatever shade you like. There are so many strong natural wood tones going on that something like purple or red would look really jarring to me.

Of course, do whatever you like with your build, but there seems to be a clear aesthetic developing on its own, and I'd work with it rather than fighting it, personally.
Okay, so I’ve talked it over with my luthier, and he totally agrees with the sentiments you guys have expressed here.
So here’s the new plan.
We’re going with an amber tint on the back as originally planned. Then, as Amon 7 .L suggested, we’re going to try doing a lighter amber in the center of the top, with a darker, maybe purple ish color around the edges for emphasis. Hopefully then the purpleheart accents will pop a lot more, which will be cool.

In addition, we’re going to do something a little different with the headstock. We’re going to do a similar thing to our plan with the top, but with a little extra twist.
We’ll be using the same headstock logo seen here:
Image

Then we’re going to try to use purple tinted lacquer over the top of the logo, effectively making it purple instead of white. I’d thought about doing the same thing to the fretboard dots, but he says he doesn’t think that’ll work out well in this case, and I don’t wanna have him do all that extra work redoing the inlays for something like that.

I’ll keep you posted.

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Amon 7.L
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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by Amon 7.L » Sat Aug 15, 2020 5:20 am

Crude mock-up but it can help with visuals:

Amber top + Tobacco burst
Image

Clean top + Purple matching transparent burst
Image

Both solutions with see-thru on the back side to preserve the wood lamination.

I hope it helps :)

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hillerheilman
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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:49 am

Amon 7.L wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 5:20 am
Crude mock-up but it can help with visuals:

Amber top + Tobacco burst
Image

Clean top + Purple matching transparent burst
Image

Both solutions with see-thru on the back side to preserve the wood lamination.

I hope it helps :)
This is really helpful. Thanks very much! I think the purple actually works really well with the stripe up the center.

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hillerheilman
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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Sat Aug 15, 2020 11:49 am

More progress. This is just about the last of the routing.

Image
Image

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antisymmetric
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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by antisymmetric » Sat Aug 15, 2020 1:14 pm

Looking good! Nice to see the threaded inserts inside for the selector switch. Inconvenient to do but worth it, keeping the front of the guitar nice and uncluttered. Nice touch. 8)
Watching the corners turn corners

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hillerheilman
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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:55 pm

antisymmetric wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 1:14 pm
Looking good! Nice to see the threaded inserts inside for the selector switch. Inconvenient to do but worth it, keeping the front of the guitar nice and uncluttered. Nice touch. 8)
I’m also really stoked he was able to do that. It’s going to be the same kind of thing for the neck and middle pickups as well.

Honestly, I’m very appreciative of the positive attitude he’s maintained throughout the whole process.
I’ve felt somewhat bad at times for making things more difficult or elaborate than they really need to be, but even when I’ve made some more unorthodox requests such as that he’s always been very “can do “ about it as well as honest when something just won’t work.
I’m very thankful to have met him and had the privilege of working with him on the projects I have. I genuinely don’t think I could have found anyone better.

I’m going to ask him if when he gets to that point he can send me a picture with all the hardware in it before he throws any finish on. I’m hoping both of us seeing it with everything in it will help us come to a solid final decision on what we wanna do for a finish.

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:14 pm

Alright y’all, it’s just about time to finish this thing. Only things left are a bit more sanding and to do the back control cavity cover, which will probably be Purpleheart.

Here it is with the hardware in and the headstock logo finished:

Image

Image

Image

I think I’m gonna end up finding either a chrome or black tip for the selector switch, but I’m not positive which yet.

Our plan for finishing is to clear coat it first, and then do a purple/burgundy burst with tinted lacquer over that as opposed to staining the wood, then see how it looks. And do more clear over that if we like it.

What do you guys think?
Last edited by hillerheilman on Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by Flurko » Wed Aug 26, 2020 12:48 am

This is nice !
I was a bit concerned at the start of the project with the mish-mash of pickups, but the chrome on everything makes them blend together pretty well.
The tele bridge cover surprised me, but I find it less jarring on a custom luthier guitar like this than the really fender-looking exposed tele bridge + pickup. Will it stay on ?
Well done !

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:23 am

Flurko wrote:
Wed Aug 26, 2020 12:48 am
This is nice !
I was a bit concerned at the start of the project with the mish-mash of pickups, but the chrome on everything makes them blend together pretty well.
The tele bridge cover surprised me, but I find it less jarring on a custom luthier guitar like this than the really fender-looking exposed tele bridge + pickup. Will it stay on ?
Well done !
Thank you!
Yeah, I’m honestly not sure how the whole 3 pickup situation will turn out here. It was kind of a “screw it, it looks cool. Let’s find out what would happen” kind of decision. I’m hoping that the gamble will pay off and give me some interesting tones.

The use of the bridge cover was really just because I didn’t think I’d like the way it would look without it. I thought it’d look a bit too “fender-y” but also off because of the scale modifications and kind of clash with the rest of the guitar in a way I didn’t want. I usually play up on the neck anyway, so there’s no detriment that it could cause as I see it. So yeah, it’s most likely staying on. I may have one engraved with something cool for it though, just as a personal touch.

The neck and middle pickups are actually just regular nickel, so they’ll age a lot differently than the chrome parts I think. That was accidental on my part, but it’s all the more incentive to get a custom cover plate so it doesn’t look jarring when it does age.

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:31 pm

First coats of lacquer went on today.
Everything is looking really nice so far. To be honest I probably shouldn’t have gone with the figured mahogany for the wings. It looks rather odd, but I suppose that just makes it more unique.

Now I’m not sure whether it actually needs the purple lacquer or not though. What do you think, forum??
Image
Image
Image

I’m wondering if maybe considering the darker bits on the horn areas we should do a kind of downward fade with it instead of a burst. Have it natural towards the bottom half of the body and have it gradually get more purple/burgundy towards the top. Then do the same with the headstock

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:41 pm

Got the wiring figured out and mocked up. Going to let him get the clear coat flat and then we’ll decide whether I want to color tint it at all. Shouldn’t be long now. Maybe even by Halloween.
Image
Image

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by Scout » Wed Sep 09, 2020 5:07 pm

Looking fantastic! As far as color goes, that's totally a personal preference. For myself, I've come to realize that I prefer guitars to be colored with the grain showing, especially when it's a stunning Quilted Maple. That top doesn't need much help, personally I would do a subtle color in one tone, not a 'burst, but you should find an example that does it for you.

I took my daughter dress shopping for her prom once many years ago and after many shops and dresses she finally said " This one speaks to me"

Find the color that speaks to you in a subtle tinted top coat.

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by hillerheilman » Fri Sep 18, 2020 2:00 pm

So, we’re nearly there. Purple lacquer went on today. This is how that turned out.

Image
Image
Image

And with the first coat of clear:

Image
Image
Image

I think it’s turning out pretty nicely.
The final clear coats might deepen the purple a bit, but I think I’m fine with that.
Just those final clear coats left, and of course curing and buffing.

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by gishuk » Fri Sep 18, 2020 4:27 pm

I'd say that was the right choice for the purple lacquer for sure, that looks spectacular!

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Re: Something Offset 2: Electric Boogaloo

Post by pad » Sat Sep 19, 2020 4:49 am

gishuk wrote:
Fri Sep 18, 2020 4:27 pm
I'd say that was the right choice for the purple lacquer for sure, that looks spectacular!
thats totally right! :?

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