This week at Copacetic Customs...

[JM Convert]

Check and mate.

[copacetic]

Hows it hanging offset krewe?
Been a little while since my last update, but things have been going at 100MPH for me for a few months now and its hard to keep up with things like posting on this thread. But still i wanted to come give you guys a little dump of some cool stuff ive been working on, as there is quite a lot!

Apologies in advance for mobile users, this one will probably be a bitch to load

First up, i finished up this RAD collab with our own ThePearDream / Fax Guitars.. His Artemis #2 prototype (Full Pear) with 2 p90 wound mini hum sized SC pups. I couldnt reconcile any of my color choices with the black guard, so i painted it metallic gold and decided on burgundy mist nitro to give this thing the look it deserves. Reshaped the headstock to an arrow shape and reshaped the back of the neck a bit, sprayed a sweet iced tea gradient finish, threw some new creme keystone tuners on and shes a stunner!










Finished up this rad 1960 Jazzmaster restoration for forum member Eric S! Primer grey nitro with intentionally uneven amber tint on top to simulate age, matching headstock, gradient neck finish, assembly and setup. I admit i was a little skeptical about this color choice, but it turned out insanely cool and fits right in with other classic fender finishes imo.










Sherwood Green JM-style build for Tyler S. Alder body, Mastery bridge, Kinman Thickmaster pickups, AVRI trem, CTS pots, nitro finish. Damn fine sounding and playing jazzy, the Kinman pickups are mind blowing!!







This '78 Musicmaster bass came thru for a refin/restore after having a very 70's hackjob done to its original finish and pickguard. Competition burgundy minus the competition.. Managed to clean and save the rusted-to-hell original tuners, and they funtion great now. Unfortunately i forgot to do a "real" photoshoot with this one, so youll have to deal with the stringless shots i took fresh from assembly







Not anything new here, but my apprentice sent me some rad shots of his copacetic refin/custom build jag-stangs all together. Looking like a 90s band promo shoot!!



Rad strat refin for Adam S, another forum member. Unfortunately the neck i painted a matching headstock on ended up having a truss rod issue we didnt catch before painting, so we're having to match a different neck to this paint, but you can still get the general idea.. Dark firemist/shoreline gold nitro (depending who you ask-- i say firemist, adam calls it shoreline lol)




That does it for completed stuff i have to show off for now, but i have literally TONS of cool stuff on the way, including the first batch of my original body designs that have rolled in from our own Boris Kusic aka The Wizard known as Kifla
Keep your eyes peeled for some very cool stuff in the coming weeks!!!

[javier-san]

Everything is looking great, but the Sherwood Green JM with the mint guard is just *chef's kiss*

Also, that Fax guitar is wonderful. Burgundy Mist with gold is such a rad combo.

[N0_Camping4U]

I really like that Shoreline Gold...

[ThePearDream]

Too much good stuff here to mention it all. Lots of my favorite colors - blues, greens, and violets

Obviously, I like the Artemis and the Yamaha, being mine. I really like the Primer grey Jazzmaster though. I used a similar Rock Grey color for my Performer copy. That flamey maple neck really shines against the subtle grey. Those industrial colors can be super cool.

[copacetic]

Whew! Its been a busy few weeks to say the least. I've been hard at work on several killer projects that are finally finished or nearing the finish line. So of course that means tons of eye candy for youse guys

Starting off with the ones I predict to be the most drool-inducing... These two bad mama-jammas are the product of a collaboration between the genius Boris Kusic (our own Kifla!) and myself! When I learned Boris had done the lords work of figuring out how to make these pickups and fleshing out templates for the body, plates etc, I knew it was finally time for my (and hopefully a lot of other people's) Type 1 dreams to come true!!


These two Dreamweavers share the original switching, "stealth" pickup design and even color schemes of the unreleased prototype Marauders that appeared in the 1965 product catalogs. Boris really went all-out in capturing the uniqueness and mojo of this design, though I must say, I anticipate that these guitars sound a million times better than the originals did. The custom 16-pole Neodymium pickups simply sound amazing! I would like to add a note that in my nerdy coffee-fueled forum digging on everything Marauder I related, I realized that we owe a great bit of thanks to a luthier I admire very much, Paul Rhoney (Sterordinary here on OSG) for his original drawings and spearheading the marauder I kick on this forum and in the guitar community. His work on his own marauder project helped Boris to make his first Marauder I's and thus pave the way for our partnership on these. Now, more people than ever will be able to have one of these rare beauties, even if they arent a luthier with impressive reverse-design chops themselves, so a HUGE thanks to Paul for his indispensable efforts here.
Anyways, The first one is sprayed in a new code I tried out for Ice Blue Metallic, which turned out maybe a touch darker/bluer than the originals seemed in the faded catalog photos (maybe they sprayed firemist silver rather than IBM?). Still, I'm pretty damn happy with how it turned out!











These guitars have all the mojo of a jazz or jag and then some, with the added bonus of no pickups to get in the way when you're strumming, which is a cooler feature than one might imagine. Really frees up your hand for a variety of picking styles without having to accommodate for where the pickups are. Also I must guiltily admit that these guitars remind me how much i LOVE a nice well set up strat trem. The hand placement is just perfect for me, and reminds me why I was a strat guy long before ever falling in love with offsets. So of course I HAD to have one for myself, I just couldnt resist. Mine is sprayed in CAR after I recently fell in love with the color on a $7k '67 jaguar i played at Austin Vintage Guitars. I went all out and commissioned the good folks over at Musikraft to make me the perfect "vintage spec" neck. They certainly delivered just that: the perfect neck. 7.25" radius, vintage small frets, a LOVELY rosy cut of rosewood even though i didnt pay any upcharge for premium wood. The only "non vintage" request i made was for a thin c shaped neck to help me not feel so odd transitioning between this and my short scales. Pearloid block inlays (No first fret block to be precisely vintage correct) and white binding. I sprayed it in a vintage tint nitro meticulously matched to my 66 Mustang's neck tint, and of course gave it the obligatory matching headstock and period correct F tuners. Even threw on a vintage 60s string tree i had lying around! Needless to say its perfect in every way, no fret work required, no surprises with the truss rod. Hats off to MK and of course Boris and Paul!!! I think this is my most favorite guitar EVER.








In other exciting news, I finished up the first prototype for my "original" design Swingster. This one is 25.5" scale but we have decided on 24" scale moving forward to keep with the Swinger influence. This one has been sold already to Graham AKA QuicklyQuickly! Check out his music, some really cool shit indeed and he's an old peer of mine from the late 2010's Soundcloud lofi hip hop scene (yes, little known fact, Charlie Rain is my music alias and I started off producing lofi hip hop/r&b before switching genres. Not too many guitar builders who have a background in hip hop production id wager lol) Shell Pink nitro, espresso burst finish on the neck, matching arrow headstock








Finished up this rad jazz T build for John A, who i believe is possibly a forum member? SD JB Humbucker in the bridge, handwound JM pup in the neck, offset vibrato, and Olympic white nitro. Whats not to love?




Beautiful 72 Musicmaster refin/duo sonic conversion! Sherwood Green nitro with willow green comp stripes, always a winning combo






Strangely enough, there was yet ANOTHER vintage musicmaster sent my way for a comp stripe refin and duo sonic conversion at the same exact time from a seperate customer! Great minds think alike i suppose This time around we have a '64 we sprayed in Audi District Green (metallic olive green) nitro with gold comp stripes. An aged pearloid guard and handwound mustang pickups completed the duo conversion, and i cleaned up the internal plates and wiring as well as sanded/buffed a nasty run out of the headstock where it had been resprayed in the past. This one turned out to be an absolute stunner, and i found a new winning competition color combo to boot!!






JM body sprayed in Kiwi Green nitro-- looks pretty much like aged firemist silver or IBM, but with no tinting required! lovely checking on this one if i say so myself!






This was a fun one for me, a Novo-inspired body sent to me by Josh, a repeat customer He wanted aged firemist silver with some heavy relicing going on. This was a Pine body and he requested me to skip the grain filling to let the natural grain of the pine show through. Very cool look that took some tiral and error on my part. Im very happy with the result though!!








Got these beautiful shots in from Lane who commissioned us for a refin on his MIJ Bass VI. Sherwood green nitro with a matching headstock, you cant go wrong with that!






Finished up this Ferrington Stang for THE Nirvana guitar guru, Jacob JQ! Hopefully I did the original some justice here! Custom Cadillac Sonic Blue nitro finish, clear nitro finished neck, lovely result. Shoutout to my pal Jeff Porrento AKA Lomic Guitars for making this body and neck, lovely work for someone who "doesnt make bodies or necks"




Rounding off the completed stuff I have to show off, this SG-3 inspired body made by ThePearDream is sprayed in Plum Crazy nitro This one is apparently for his wife, who also plays and apparently also has amazing taste in guitars/colors. Bravo Doug, seems like you got yourself a great one




Now, heres the part where i post some pics teasing whats coming in the next few weeks! Lots of very cool stuff indeed, including my very first resin tort pour!! (Big thanks to my buddy Tyson aka TryToBeCool Customs for the tools and guidance!)










Ok, that was probably my longest post since starting this thread. Sorry for the mobile users!! But hope you guys enjoyed a little peek into the copacetic workshop. Stay tuned for even more rad shit in coming weeks

[Shadoweclipse13]

That plum crazy is HOT!!! SO many good ones, as always

[Deed_Poll]

That Duo-Sonic headstock looks massive! Is it JM shaped on a Mustang -scale neck?

Amazing job on these as always dude!

[ThePearDream]

That Audi District Green with gold comp stripes is soo good .
Not that it matters, but the purple Yamaha body isn't for my wife. I was making her a short scale St. Vincent (that you were going to do in an electric blue), but I messed up the body. We were discussing the finishes around the same time though.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Lots of awesome stuff here!
My favorites are the XIIs and the JMeteora and oh wow! That Resin Tort looks killer! Congrats!

And my I ask: are these all Coronado II necks from eBay? How do you like them quality wise? Did you have to do much to them? I have one waiting… and what size are the tuner holes? Somehow I have a set of ferrules that is too small and another one that is too big but none that fits…

[Daitong II]

Truly impressive stuff. Major GAS.

I shot you an email but I did notice the instagram post about your move.

[GilmourD]

I wish I had the funds right now to ship a couple bodies to Copacetic for paint... Cuz, as much as I want to learn how to paint myself, the amount of drooling I do when I see his paintjobs is absolutely worth it.

I've belonged to many a guitar forum over the past 29 years. None of them have had as many brilliant artisans as OSG. And I'm even including the fact that MJT was once just a guy named Mark Jenny at the Telecaster Discussion Page learning how to paint...

[andy_tchp]

I've belonged to many a guitar forum over the past 29 years. None of them have had as many brilliant artisans as OSG. And I'm even including the fact that MJT was once just a guy named Mark Jenny at the Telecaster Discussion Page learning how to paint...

Hopefully he gets the hang of it soon!

[andare]

All this awesomeness is overwhelming, especially that swirly guard. ooh mama

[copacetic]

Well hi there gang!

Long time no post, i know, i know. To say that life has been crazy lately would be a huge understatement! Long, boring life update incoming. Or feel free to just scroll down to the guitar pron

Those of you that saw my post last month in "misc discussions" about my struggle to find a place to rent will be pleased to know that I somehow landed myself in a very nice duplex in Austin that exceeded all my expectations!
I finally have a dedicated room just for working on and building guitars, in addition to a bedroom and recording studio/demo room. No more working in my kitchen/dining room and slinging paint dust everywhere, and constantly having to clean up and hide all my tools away to make it look like a regular kitchen when im not working. No more cramming all of my studio stuff and guitars into a tiny bedroom barely big enough for my bed! I am living all alone now which is also a welcome change of pace-- no friction from roommates on how/when/where i want to work or paint.

So things are certainly looking up from here! The only downside to all of this is that I basically moved by myself (with some help from my trusty buddy Tyson!!) and I vastly underestimated how much work it would be getting everything set up all alone, as well as cleaning out the old paint shop which I was admittedly terrible about keeping clean for the past 3 years (god, what a unique nightmare that was )
So as a result, I've fallen a bit behind on my work. Only in the past week or so have I been actually able to work, and ive been working thru a backlog of stuff that was nearing completion and just needing sanding+polishing. Almost done with those, then I have a huge stack of in-progress stuff primed and ready for paint. Trying to work my way thru it as efficiently as possible, but I can only do so much in a day.

I am taking a little more time to myself lately. This seems admittedly selfish given how behind I currently am, but the moving process really highlighted to me that I was fighting heavy burnout with my work. I have realized its simply not sustainable to work 12+ hour days almost every day of every week, no matter how much i enjoy and love the work i do. I owe it to myself to take adequate time to sleep, recharge my brain, partake in other hobbies and activities i love, and most importantly, spend time with and be there for people in my life who love me. People have been telling me this for some time now, but i felt like i was superman or something and could handle such an insane workload forever. But it got to such a point of exhaustion that I had no choice but to pump the brakes a little, and I'm glad I did! Dont worry, I will still be churning out rad offsets with just as much vigor as before, but I'm just going to try to make sure I'm not burning myself out so that I stay inspired and can continue doing this for many many years.

TL;DR I havent posted in like a month because I moved house/shop and have been fighting burnout. But we back baby!

Get your scrolling fingers ready, this will be a long update!

Finished up the first two examples of my original design, Space Cadet. These beauties are 24" single coil equipped rockers with a "starburst" inspired body shape that started as a pencil sketch in my notepad and was brought to life by the talented Boris Kusic. Designed to be dead simple shoegaze friendly guitars, theyre equipped with an on/off switch for each pickup and come stock with single coil alnico v pickups, but can be customized with any pickup style of the customers choice! This guitar will feel familiar enough to Fender Jaguar or Mustang fans, but looks different enough to instantly set you apart from the pack. The first is sprayed in Shell Pink nitro with a mocha burst neck finish and features two handwound mustang style alnico v pickups. The second is a custom order commissioned by a kind fella named Scott and features a "Duskburst" finish with matching bursted headstock, 2 Fender CuNiFe Strat pickups, and Mastery hardware. So insanely cool to see these brought to life after dreaming about them for so long!













Also finished up this rad XII build in Root Beer Metallic nitro with the custom poured/swirled resin tort guard made by Tyson (TryToBeCool Customs) and myself! Warmoth neck with D&B, rosewood, 9" radius, vintage frets, alnico V split coil pickups with parchment covers, NOS 1960's Rotary knob with vintage 4-way XII wiring.










Some fresh shots of completed stuff from my last posts!







And some teaser pics of things in progress!!













Believe it or not, theres even more stuff in progress that i forgot to take pics of, so dont fret if you dont see your project here. I almost never post EVERYTHING im working on here on this thread, this is more like the "highlight reel"
if you dont see yours yet it most likely means im waiting to post it when its finished and looks its best, or perhaps that i just forgot!

Thanks for looking! :-)
Keep on rocking in the free world
-Alex