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