Lagarto-finished!
 

So here it is, the product of more than a year. It is finally (pretty much) done. There's a lot that went wrong, but I'm definitely still really pleased with the outcome. It still needs its own nut, I borrowed one from a strat, and it doesn't quite fit. It needs a fret levelling, there is some buzz, and it needs to be intonated. I need to put on the headstock logo decal that I designed, but headstock will probably be refinished first. Its likelythat I will invest in new tuners, these ones suck, and they look ugly. I need to figure out how to get the bridge pup higher (see below), and I need to put in string retainers of some sort, because as of right now, all of the strings are coming off the nut at pretty sharp angles. It actually sounds great and everything is working, which totally surprised me, given the amount of patching up that had to be done. It has 1vol 1tone, a distortion preamp, a 3 way switch, and a coil split. I can't wait to really set it all up, and see how nice it feels. I can't wait to start my second build now, but I also can't decide what I want to do. I was thinking hollow body, solid body, or acoustic. I will also be starting a bass build with a friend soon. Check the link in my sig for the whole build thread.



With only 2 strings on it, the first notes!













The springs on the bridge pup are bottomed out, should I cut them to raise the pup? how can I get it high enough so that it has a decent amount of output? as of right now, its really weak.

clear didn't like the sharpie :(



string angles at the nut:






SNOW DAY!!!

also, check out the full album for more shots

Well, the guitar looks unique... And that's a very lovely weather you've got there!

Thanks? and yes, it is.

Wow!! I really like that. The sharpie is awesome. I love the laminate under the fretboard. Did you build the body and neck yourself?

ahah thats pretty wickeeed.

next time use a paint pen. lacquer will go over those fine.

how did you do that awesome painting / who did you aresome painting (especially talking about the pattern)?

That smudge almost looks kind of 3D, or at least shadowed in the picture you took. Other than that, I still love the shape.

For the bridge pickup, maybe lowering your bridge would help, it looks like it's up fairly high.

Thanks guys. I got the bridge pup situation figured out, I just cut the springs in half. I was planning on using paint pens, but couldn't find any, and I didn't want to have to order them. I will probably refinish this once I get bored of it anyways. I built both the neck and body myself, and the designs I just did with sharpie, but as jason said, you should use paint pens instead, if you're thinking about trying it out. I am also considering having a second try at this same shape for my next guitar, just do it quickly, but it would be a nice cobalt blue color instead. If it was a lot better, I would salvage the hardware from this guitar and use it on the new one.

only thing i would change next time is make the body a bit thinner. looks kinda chunky.

Thinner as in overall depth of the wood used, or the wideness of the guitar left to right?

not a huge fan of the shape of the horn, but it definately has potential

Love the color combos with the maple, classy as hell

I could never build a guitar that had that much string angle off the nut, thats just one of my big turn offs with guitars though

paint job is amazing, I thought it was a swirl for the first few pictures, but after seeing it close, truly amazing.

overall: not my cup of tea, I wouldn't be using it. I still think its really really cool though.

this is really cool love the finish

thinner as in depth of wood.

so instead of like 2 inches thick or w.e

go down to 1.5 idealy, or 1.75

Thanks guys. I actually had to take it around all day today, because I had some stuff to do at lunch with my piano player, and it is HEAVY (its entirely maple). next time the wood will be thinner, like you said jason. But, the sustain is rediculous. 30 seconds on the open low E before it starts to get quiet, and I am loving the tone. I might change the JB in the bridge out for something else, but the jazz will be staying in the neck position.

yeah.. my first guitar was over 13 pounds.

solid paduak. sustain yes.. but it wasn't worth the shoulder pain.

So i've been scratching my arm on the TOM bridge post. should i strum differently, suck it up, or file the post a little? and i wonder how much this thing actually weighs. I'll try to test it sometime, but it seems pretty close to 12 or 13 pounds.

I would try to find a plastic cap to put over it.

Gj dude. Crazy awesome graphics. You're far more patient than I.

I say cut the post down and file.