Maricopa's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[telemaster1953]

i think maple on the headstock would look very cool.

[nblades]

Agreed

[Mojotron]

+1 on the maple headstock - this is great work.

[volowv]

looking good, maricopa. flame up the headstock.

[Maricopa]

It's decided then!
Thanks for the comments.

[Davecam48]

We'll let you do the maple!

[Barncaster]

Yes maple on the headstock and a tropical burst on it as well. It's all the rage now!

Barncaster

[Maricopa]

It's all the rage now!

I'm nothing if not unconventional, tobacco burst it is.

[axedaddy]

Looking Gooooooooddddd!! You'll be done in no time.

[Maricopa]

Did some sanding and messing a bit with dyes on the top. This is after wiping on tobacco and amber dye, wiping that off with a cloth soaked in alcohol and then sanding back with 400.

[R. Stratenstein]

Nizzzze. That'll look good on the headstock, too.

[Muzikp]

This guitar is going to make me drool on my keyboard isn't it

[Maricopa]

Did my grain filling and stained the neck and body. The full back picture is pretty close to the actual color. A dark, reddish brown. The sapele should pop pretty good under the finish.

[emoney]

Very sexy......

[RogerC]

how cool would it be to have a store where one could buy all of these cool, beautiful, one-off creations! Mike, your's would definitely sell quickly

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by Maricopa

Did my grain filling and stained the neck and body. The full back picture is pretty close to the actual color. A dark, reddish brown. The sapele should pop pretty good under the finish.

Superb Mike! Agreed on on the headstock veneer. You need a little more maple to break up all that dark backround. One thing I've always liked about your builds, you don't overload one way or the other


Sweet build!

[Maricopa]

Well who the hell decided doing a veneer was a good idea?

I've done a few of these and every time I seem to forget what a PITA they are. Ahh well, it's done now and I'm sure I'll forget next time too. Here's a rundown:

Start with the bandsaw and slice ya off a nice, thin piece. Double-stick it to the original piece and thin it down on the belt sander.

Then break out the small heat blanket and clamp a large socket into the vise. Let it heat up and start your bend. No water with flamed maple, just a little spit right at the 'hot part' (Gross, I know). Wetting flamed maple makes it come apart and this piece already wanted to split. I did get two small cracks but they glued up invisibly.

After it's close clamp the end to the headstock and use another clamp and the blanket to bend it right up onto the curve.

Afterward glue up the curved part first and when that it's tight, add more glue and clamp up the flat part (no photos of this, sorry).

Here's the results after some dye and sanding back. All that's left now is to re-stain the edges of the headstock where I sanded the overlay down to size.

[Maricopa]

One more pic. I'm liking it and can't wait to do the 'burst.
I'm seriously thinking of going with a Tru-Oil finish on this one (I can hear Mike Simpson screaming from here) and (get ready) not doing it as a string-thru but running it as a top-loader (sacre' bleu!). Why? I dunno, just because I've never done neither and I'm curious.

[Maricopa]

One more just to say, "This is my one-thousand-and-oneth post, where's my free Tweed Deluxe?"

[emoney]

As to the veneer, this is exactly the reason I 'prefer' a tilt back headstock....no curves
on the top plate, lol.

This thing is so beautiful, you could finish it in Krylon primer and it would look sharp. As
to your "Tweed Deluxe", you don't actually WIN one, you win the opportunity to BUILD one
and, of course, share the thread when you do so. Congrats.