I Think I'm Going To Cry

[Julie Moriarty]

I had worked most of yesterday doing the final shaping on my son's guitar body. It was really shaping up. I've put a lot of hours into this and he seems pretty happy with it. I asked him what color dye he'd want and we went through a number of options. He liked blue. Then we talked pickguards, which take up a lot of the front on his guitar. He found one he really liked.

I haven't said a word about what I think but the colors on this will be so loud it makes me want to cry seeing the curly maple and all my hard word going into something that he might see later in life as representative of the phase he was in at that time in life. (He's a very young 21.) I just don't know if this color scheme is a mistake. I was kind of hoping he'd go with natural wood colors...

Last night I installed the neck and put in the pickguard to "test fit" the guitar. He wanted pics. This is the guitar, a photo of the color he wants (but on a Stratocaster) and an image of the pickguard material he wants. The neck will stay with the natural maple finish.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Telecaster%20Build/Testcolors_zps946220b8.jpg

Will this end up being a phase or do colors like this span time?

[ray hampton]

nice guitar
yes to both questions

[Stephen Cherry]

I LIKE IT! And if it is just a phase in his life, what better way to have a tangible reminder of that phase than a guitar made by MOM!

How do you do the color? Something like a base of clear shelac, then coats of the shelac with blue transtint dye, then a few more clear over top? This would be a finish that could be changed very easily, but I don't know if it's appropriate for a guitar.

[Sam Murdoch]

I don't think that the colors will obscure your fine work or your love. There are lots of curly maple products out there that have no meaning other than that the grain is nice. I think that a thin blue dye properly applied could make the grain really pop and so be that much more spectacular. I say enjoy the phase.

A story - my father and a colleague spent weeks building cabinetry for a woman who was decidedly indecisive. They made beautiful mahogany veneered cabinet faces with all the door faces book matched to their mates. Even in the days before everyone carried cameras everywhere they went my father made it a point to take WIP photos and pre finish photos - the cabinets were that nice. THEN :eek: - the client decided she wanted gray cabinets and would not relent - all the cabinets were painted a solid gun metal gray. Mt father taught me some new swear words when telling that story :( :D.

[Phil Thien]

Always have to satisfy the end user, LOL.

So far I think it looks great!

[Jerry Miner]

My dad was an amateur woodworker. His taste and mine were not the same, but everything he made is a treasure to me.

If your son becomes a professional musician and ends up with a hundred different guitars, this one will remain his favorite. It's the one his mom made for him. The colors will live on as a reminder of this moment in time. Priceless!

[Myk Rian]

A long as the grain shows through, I like his choices.

[Mark Bolton]

(He's a very young 21.)

I'm assuming there is no chance of him reading this post!! Hahah..

I would agree with the others.. Give him whatever he wants.. Later he can bring it back to you and have you re-do in a solid color ;-).

[Andrew Kertesz]

Show him this page and maybe he will change his mind. I've worked with this guy a little and he makes some killer guitars....

http://www.alvaradoguitars.com/index.html

[Yonak Hawkins]

Julie, I'm wondering if you have broached this with your SO, and if his parent would have some insight, an opinion, or some influence or tack if you both think persuasion is appropriate. Otherwise, a gift is a gift is a gift.

BTW, I thought you were going to make the body out of sapele. I like the look a lot .. especially of him holding it.

[Alan Lightstone]

That is a beautiful guitar, Julie. Very, very nice work.

Don't cry. And give him options (pictures always help), but if that's what he wants (my 20yo son would love that color too), make it in that color.

To quote from above, a gift is a gift is a gift...

[Alan Lightstone]

A story - my father and a colleague spent weeks building cabinetry for a woman who was decidedly indecisive. They made beautiful mahogany veneered cabinet faces with all the door faces book matched to their mates. Even in the days before everyone carried cameras everywhere they went my father made it a point to take WIP photos and pre finish photos - the cabinets were that nice. THEN :eek: - the client decided she wanted gray cabinets and would not relent - all the cabinets were painted a solid gun metal gray. Mt father taught me some new swear words when telling that story :( :D.

I don't think there are enough quality curse words to cover that situation.

[Mike Cutler]

Julie

Firstly.... Beautiful work!!!

Personally, I'd rather have it "Blonde", but I see where your son is coming from.
While the colors he's chosen are garish, they are distinctive, and you will probably never see another with those colors. There are thousands of blonde guitars out there, but this one will be his.
Against that blue I would have gone black with the pick guard. A sorta retro Jaguar look.
That body screams out for a pale teal top coat with and antiqued ivory pick guard. Very retro Tele. A chiffon yellow with white would be killer too.

[Julie Moriarty]

Thanks guys. Your comments put a smile on my face and made me realize what's really important. Thank you.


How do you do the color? Something like a base of clear shelac, then coats of the shelac with blue transtint dye, then a few more clear over top? This would be a finish that could be changed very easily, but I don't know if it's appropriate for a guitar.
I've seen several videos on finishing figured maple guitars in a blue tone. Every one of them began by laying down a coat of black dye then sanding back, to pop the grain. Even one professional guitar finisher did this. Woodcraft was out of blue TransTint so I bought Transfast powder in blue and black (never worked with that). He still has to decide if he wants a trem on it, so we're stopped for now until he decides (and comes up with the $$$.) With the wood, dye, WB lacquer and primer and copper shielding, we're up to about $180 right now. Any more and no one else will have presents under the tree. :rolleyes:


BTW, I thought you were going to make the body out of sapele.
The sapele is pretty dark, even with a clear finish on it. When he said he wanted blue, I picked up some maple. But I will still be using the sapele. After this is done, I plan on building a Strat for me. :D And if that goes well, maybe a jazz bass for my SO. Then we'll start touring, Chico and the Old Fogies. http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/guitar_01_zpse5f59873.gifhttp://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/guitar_05_zps2ac5afbf.gifhttp://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/guitar_05_zps2ac5afbf.gif

[Peter Quinn]

Don't cry, that color is fantastic! I'd suggest you go for a real tiger finish however to bring out the stripes. Often they start with a black or charcoal wash, which goes into the stripes more deeply, then sand until it fades completely from the body but remains in the strips. Then a light seal coat, the. The blue dye, then the sealer and clears. Very hot look, really pops the curl. It's a rock and roll instrument, not a jazz box. Speaking of which one of my favorite guitars of all time is a Beneddetto curly maple from the " blue guitar" commissions, probably the coolest thing I've ever seen, was at the Met guitar show last year....wow, look at one up on google. One of the favorite guitars i should never have sold was a cobalt blue strat with just a hint of metal fleck, translucent so a bit of alder grain showed, white pick guard, maple neck. It looked and played fantastic, I traded it on a black tele while going through a "phase" and have been kicking my self in the posterior since....it's been almost 20years!

If anything I'd try to talk him down from that hideous rosy tortoise pick guard, that blue is screaming IMO for a bone white guard, or even light grey. Cool colors like,to hang out together, that warm brown rosy is not a great contrast to my eye. Luckily pick guards are easily changed should he tire of that.


Honestly, bravo to you for building your son a beautiful custom instrument he can enjoy for a life time. With any luck he likes it so much he plays it until the finish is nearly worn off and the point becomes mute. Regardless of what color he ends up with its an experience and a bond the two of you can share over a life time, and that's IMO the most important aspect of the project. Color is secondary.


As a player id ask how does the kneck feel? To me 90% of a guitar is the kneck feel....smooth frets, perfect spacing, good intonation, soft gliding finish. You could glue paper bags to the body, it won't change how it plays or sounds.

[Ken Krawford]

Is it just a coincidence that you cut his head off in the picture? :)

[Yonak Hawkins]

...Then we'll start touring, Chico and the Old Fogies. http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/guitar_01_zpse5f59873.gifhttp://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/guitar_05_zps2ac5afbf.gifhttp://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/guitar_05_zps2ac5afbf.gif

That made me laugh. I went to a Tom Paxton show a while back. He related the tale of an interview with a young local radio show host, earlier that day, on whose notes Tom spied at the top of the page : "Old folkie looking for a comeback ...." Tom said, "Wait a minute. That's not me." Someone in the crowd hollered out, "Just be glad it didn't say, 'Old fogy ....'"

[Jeff Duncan]

My first guitar…..well my first electric guitar, was a "Burgundy Mist" color that was out of style the week after I bought it:( Some 2-1/2 decades later I still have it just b/c it was my first guitar…..no desire to re-paint it either. So my vote is give him his color and don't sweat it at all;)

I also agree with Peter, the neck is more important to me than the body. Though as far as the body goes I will say maple is a nice dense wood so it should give a nice sustain. Fender used to make a 1 piece neck back in the late 60's early 70's that's one of the best I've played. I haven't looked at their newer stuff in many, many years, but the last Fenders I looked at all had the skinny 2 piece necks that just felt too flimsy to me. Yup, a good neck is key in having a good guitar. Now of course this thread reminds me of the baby blue 72' Strat I could have bought back in the day for next to nothing, if only I knew:o

good luck,
JeffD

[Steve Milito]

I had worked most of yesterday doing the final shaping on my son's guitar body. It was really shaping up. I've put a lot of hours into this and he seems pretty happy with it. I asked him what color dye he'd want and we went through a number of options. He liked blue. Then we talked pickguards, which take up a lot of the front on his guitar. He found one he really liked.

I haven't said a word about what I think but the colors on this will be so loud it makes me want to cry




It' a solid body electric guitar, it's supposed to be loud. ;)
I like the blue but agree that doing something to bring out the grain would look nice.

[Julie Moriarty]

As a player id ask how does the kneck feel? To me 90% of a guitar is the kneck feel....smooth frets, perfect spacing, good intonation, soft gliding finish. You could glue paper bags to the body, it won't change how it plays or sounds.
If you know who Ron Kirn is, he sent me his setup booklet and in it he goes through a very detailed process for getting the neck right. I gave it to my son and he's been following it and is just finishing filing and polishing the last few frets. He will be reassembling the old guitar together for now and whether or not he decides to take the Kirn setup through to finish is up to him. He has said many times he loves the feel of that neck.


Fender used to make a 1 piece neck back in the late 60's early 70's that's one of the best I've played. I haven't looked at their newer stuff in many, many years, but the last Fenders I looked at all had the skinny 2 piece necks that just felt too flimsy to me.
The neck on his Tele is the old style but made in Mexico. The Fenderites call that a MIM build. :cool: I think the guitar is about 6-7 years old but I also believe Fender still makes the one-piece neck with the truss rod routed in from the back with the squirrel stripe created by using a different color wood to fill in the rout. You have to rout in a bow cut for that type of neck with the center of the neck being the shallowest and the two ends being the deepest.

He doesn't know it and I know he never comes here, but I went ahead and ordered the trem and that wild blue-shell pickguard he loves. I'd like to be able to give it to him by Xmas, even if he can't be playing on it until after the finish cures. We can work out the money thing later. For the finish, I'll probably go with Target EM6000 in gloss. That seems to be what a lot of guitar finishers use when choosing a WB finish.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzOHq5WbQ8k

[Ron Kellison]

I don't think that the colors will obscure your fine work or your love. There are lots of curly maple products out there that have no meaning other than that the grain is nice. I think that a thin blue dye properly applied could make the grain really pop and so be that much more spectacular. I say enjoy the phase.

A story - my father and a colleague spent weeks building cabinetry for a woman who was decidedly indecisive. They made beautiful mahogany veneered cabinet faces with all the door faces book matched to their mates. Even in the days before everyone carried cameras everywhere they went my father made it a point to take WIP photos and pre finish photos - the cabinets were that nice. THEN :eek: - the client decided she wanted gray cabinets and would not relent - all the cabinets were painted a solid gun metal gray. Mt father taught me some new swear words when telling that story :( :D.

"Always have to satisfy the end user, LOL.

No... you don't. I've walked away from 3 different small projects (all in the neighborhood of $1K) when the specs were changed late in the game and I didn't (couldn't) accept the change because it completely f'd the design which would have had my name on it. In two of the three cases I returned the 25% deposit. For the third, we were so far along that I simply cut it up for scrap and said that I would be happy to take my written contract to me when we met in court.

I will concede the obvious point that these were small contracts. I will also state that I have never made my living by woodworking, nor do I anticipate that I will ever do so. It might be different for someone trying to get established who simply can't afford to take the loss but for me, in those situations, I was willing to eat the loss rather than have something out there with my name on it that was butt-ugly or simply didn't work. I would like to think that there are others out there who would do the same. Your mileage may vary...

Ron

[Tom Ewell]

The lad was given choices to make, he made them.
Just execute the selection made, make it shine with the same pride taken for the rest of it and let your son share with all the fact that it is uniquely his.

[Peter Quinn]

I just looked at the pics on the big screen, originally I though the pick guard in question was the thing on the blue strat…..but I'm guessing its the one all the way to the right? If so I'm all in on the icy almost pasley look, that out to pop against the curly maple in blue. And with Ron Kirn guiding the set up, this guitar can't turn out anything but sweet. Congrats again on your fine work and enjoy. Do you play too? Might be a good opportunity to make a second one, decorate that one just how you like it, see how they age?

Here's a link to an example of the three D two tone tiger finish I was thinking of, they show a bright blue in the intro as an example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DBKd2X7Dpw

[Frederick Skelly]

Thats really beautiful Julie. Wow!

[Julie Moriarty]

I just looked at the pics on the big screen, originally I though the pick guard in question was the thing on the blue strat…..but I'm guessing its the one all the way to the right? If so I'm all in on the icy almost pasley look, that out to pop against the curly maple in blue.

Yes, the pickguard he chose was the sample to the right of the blue Strat. It's called "Blue Shell". We found it on Warmoth. This is what it looks on a Strat:
http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/attachments/stratocaster-discussion-forum/32349d1326027345-what-do-midnight-blue-blue-shell-2.jpg


Do you play too? Might be a good opportunity to make a second one, decorate that one just how you like it, see how they age?
I used to play, a long time ago. I started playing in 8th grade in a basement band, before there were garage bands :rolleyes:, and played until I got married. Then kids took over my life. They are good like that, aren't they? ;) When my SO's son moved in with us a couple of months ago and brought his guitars with, my fingers started getting itchy again. LOTS of rust to remove here! But I'll be moving ahead on the woodworking end and I'll probably make a Strat for me.

And thanks to everyone here! All this encouragement makes me feel like a kid again. I've never enjoyed woodworking this much before.

[John Goodin]

The guitar looks great. As a person who likes most woods in their natural color I really like the blue a lot too. In a way you are lucky; my daughter would request a black and purple zebra print.

[Bill Neely]

I like it, you've done a great job and I'll bet it turns out superb.

[Don Morris]

Remember: "Beauty, is in the heart (eyes) of the beholder". Some people like modern art, some people don't. We have modern art displayed over our mantle place yet at the bottom is a frieze from the Ming dynasty. The work you did was stunning. Mom made it and that's soooo much more important than politically correct color combination.

[Brandon Hanley]

if the guitars for him and he likes the color i wouldn't hesitate. i love it personally, the photo you used for an example of the color is a MIM fender deluxe players stratocaster and i've wanted to add one to my collection for a while. i do think the pick guard he chose is ugly as can be but thats just me.

as a guitarist liking the look of your guitar means alot, for some unknown reason you just play better on the guitar you like most. look at it this way, if you convince him to do a different look that he doesn't quite like as much but does it anyway to please you, he'll never play that guitar as much or as well as he would have with the color he wanted. its a mental thing. is it really worth making him enjoy it less over years to come to make you think it looks better?

i have several guitars ranging from $300-$2000 and i play better on 2 of my $300 guitars with a finish that i love than i do on my fender american standard strat or gibson les paul standard in finishes that i think are just ok. with the cheaper guitars (fender MIM strat and Agile les paul copy) not only do i seem to play better but i feel more inspired and most times when i come up with something new it was on one of those 2 guitars even though 95% of people in the know would say that those 2 guitars are trash compared to my much more expensive guitars with common paint jobs.

another thing to consider is if he would prefer nitro or poly. some prefer poly because it looks newer longer and is practically indestructible while others prefer nitro because it will wear faster and some swear it sounds better. sounds stupid to most but most guitarists have a preference. i prefer poly on my guitars with transparent finishes and nitro on solid colors and bursts

[Larry Fox]

I like it and if you get lucky it won't matter after time and best case is the guitar ends up looking like the one in the first few pics on this page from being played so much. Very impressive job there, very impressive indeed.

http://www.guitarlessons.com/pictures/stevie-ray-vaughan-pictures/

[Jim Becker]

I'm also a fan of natural coloration, but musical instruments are somewhat personal things...and many folks do like "different". The quality of your work will still shine through! And you've done an outstanding looking job on this project, too!

[John Coloccia]

Julie, if you follow a standard finish schedule for grain filling (if necessary...I forget what the main body wood is), popping the grain with dye, etc etc, I think the blue color is going to look very nice. I'm not crazy about the pick guard, but it still won't look out of place. Personally, I would choose something other than blue for the pick guard because the blues won't match, and being off by a little bit looks goofy. IMHO, choosing a different color altogether would look better, and you really can't ever go wrong with black.

[peter Joseph]

I asked him what color dye he'd want

There is your first problem lol Were you expecting he'd say "clear"

I'm jk. I find the blue to be perhaps the "least offensive" of the color wheel?

[Ronald Blue]

First of all I would like to say that what you have done so far looks fabulous. You definitely have no shortage of ability and talent. Whatever color scheme you and your son decide on I am sure will look wonderful. Second I am envious of you for having the opportunity to make something for your son. Cherish this time because life is sometimes short and definitely unfair. I look forward to seeing the photos of the finished results.

[Julie Moriarty]

I did a sample piece with both a black dye sanded back and topped with blue and just the blue. The black dyed side looked much better. He liked it too. Yesterday we went to Sam Ash to buy some strings and while there looked at different finishes. There wasn't anything close to the direction we are going. Nostalgia takes me back to the sunburst Strat because I always wanted one (I had a cheapo guitar when in the band). But looking at the guitars lining the walls all I could think of was, "There's nothing original." So little by little I'm letting go of my traditional tendencies and letting youth prevail. Once the trem gets here, I'll rout that in and start with the finishing.

Thank you all so much for the words of wisdom and encouragement. I really was feeling conflicted going ahead with the blue/blue shell idea but I think I'm on board with it now. And if we find that blue shell pickguard is causing insanity or blindness ;) it can easily be changed.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Julie, I find it's not the pick guard that causes insanity but when I pick up a guitar that does it for me.

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie, I find it's not the pick guard that causes insanity but when I pick up a guitar that does it for me.

I get that. http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/guitar_01_zpse5f59873.gif