Coyote's Build

[Coyote]

Might as well start a thread for this...

Alright, so here's what I ordered from Musikraft some three weeks ago:

Neck
Scale: 25-1/2" Standard Fender
Number of Frets: 22 With FB Extenion
Nut Width: 1-11/16"
Heel Width: Custom 2-1/4"
Neck Wood: Quarter Sawn Maple
Tuner Hole Size: Gotoh/Scaller/Sperzel 10 mm
Trussrod Option: Duel Acting Adjust at Heel
Finger Board Radius: Compound 12-16
Finger Board Inlay Top: Black Phenolic
Finger Board Inlay Side Markers: Black
12th Dot Spacing: Narrow Post 1964
Fret Size and Type: Jumbo Stainless
Nut Style: Floyd W/O Holes
Back Profile: Chunkey U .90 to .90
Finish: Tung Oil
Additional Options: Semi Rolled Finger Board Edges, 4 Neck Mouting Holes Drilled

Body
1 Pc Mahogany
Neck Pickup: Strat Single Coil
Mid Pickup: None
Bridge Pickup: Humbucker
Bridge Rout: Recessed Floyd
Control Route: Rear (Charvel Style)
Jack Style: Side (7/8")
neck pocket: 2-1/4"


On the same night, also ordered an OFR from Warmoth and a brass Big Block (along with some noiseless springs) from FloydUpgrades.

After getting the important bits, and a sixpack of "thought work", I found myself ordering the following from Thomann:
Graph Tech saddles for the Floyd, one Goldo Back Box (trem stabilizer), a Duncan Triple Shot, a Dimarzio True Velvet, a Dimarzio ClipLock strap and various other parts. (electronics, neckplate, etc.)

Unfortunately, they didn't have Custom Trembuckers (TB-5) in stock.
However... A visit to a local music store turned out to be fruitful.
I had 75€ left over from an order I had canceled, so I asked them to order up a TB-5 instead. (Which I'm picking up tomorrow.)

The Thomann package arrived today, here's to waiting for the other packages...



Now, as far as the paintjob... A little something like this

And I'll figure out how to do the scales without a "tapejob from hell" approach...


To Be Continued...

[kwame k]

I thought someone here had an easy way to do scales......was it cheese cloth or something like that?

Take tons of pics, dude! Can't wait to see the progress.

[Coyote]

I thought someone here had an easy way to do scales......was it cheese cloth or something like that?

No cheese allowed on this axe, dude...

But seriously, I think fishnet stockings might do the trick.

Take tons of pics, dude! Can't wait to see the progress.

'Course I will!

[jhale667]

No cheese allowed on this axe, dude...

But seriously, I think fishnet stockings might do the trick.

Actually, fishnet stockings may stick to the finish faster than you think it (plus it would probably gum up fast, too); you'd probably be better off (and this is how I've seen it done in paint tutorials online and from articles about Jackson guitars, etc.) using some sort of metal-mesh/fencing with holes in the latticework that would create the desired scale pattern, like one could probably find at a hardware store....

[Coyote]

Spit 'n' chickenwire, eh?

Which reminds me, I gotta find some copper/aluminum foil for the control cavity...

[kwame k]

I did say cheese.......sorry guys!

[Coyote]

Actually, fishnet stockings may stick to the finish faster than you think it (plus it would probably gum up fast, too); you'd probably be better off (and this is how I've seen it done in paint tutorials online and from articles about Jackson guitars, etc.) using some sort of metal-mesh/fencing with holes in the latticework that would create the desired scale pattern, like one could probably find at a hardware store....

Problem being how to get it to wrap around the body...
(Assuming it ain't flexible...)

[jhale667]

Problem being how to get it to wrap around the body...
(Assuming it ain't flexible...)

Don't think that's the way you'd do it, from what I've seen; think you use a smaller section (probably large enough to cover one side at a time,and a airbrush in the example I saw) and do it like a puzzle, essentially - making sure the "scales" line up as you paint each successive patch until you're done...the bitch would/will probably making the sides of the body match up with the front and back, but you'll finger it out...

Couldn't find the original one I saw, found two where the photobucket account the pics were linked to was "inactive". Thought I'd seen one on Frankenstraat.com but his site's down...again. Stayed up a whole month this time, thought he was back up and running...

But I did find this one, maybe you've already seen it? If not, here it is again:

Snake Skin Paint

In their example they're doing it on a gun, but it'd be almost if not the same principle, right?









"Here is a how to on a very simple yet effective paint-job called snake skin. This is a great alternative to other camo patterns because you do not have to cut out stencils.

Stuff you might want:

Spray Paint (I used rustoleum camouflage series)

Colors I used: Khaki, forest green, earth brown, and black

Netting (this can be tough to find, I used the netting from a dump bag, which you can probably find in the camping aisle of Wal-Mart")

So....Is there an equivalent of Wal-Mart "across the pond" as they say?

[Diamondjimi]

Damn J, that paint job on the gun looks fuckin bad ass! The same on a guitar in a matt or low sheen finish would look sweet. If I were to do one, I'd probably go with a non traditional colour scheme.

[jhale667]

I've always wanted to build one and do it in real snakeskin, but it would be very un-PC these days, especially in LA ...mentioned it around a girl I know who's involved with animal rescue and the ASPCA & she told me she would kick my ass if I ever did...

I mean, I'm all for saving puppies and kittens and whatnot, but man-eating reptiles? Y'know, giant Anacondas (which is what I want, like Warren D's in the "Lay it Down" video), Pythons (which is what I'm pretty sure his favorite one is), and Boas, y'know -the only ones that get BIG enough to be able to cover a body and headstock from the same piece....? Uh, fuck them!

I'm sure everyone's seen the pic on Rotten.com of the snake they killed in Colombia, think it was, where a worker that was helping clear-cut some land wandered off a little too far on lunch, took a nap by a tree and became lunch himself for a giant boa (thing was like 18ft long or some shit -they'd cut it open to get the dude's body out, and there was still LOTS of uninterrupted snake body left)? Someone (me!..lol) coulda used the skin off that one....

There's also a YouTube floating around where someone stumbled on to one in mid-swallow of a baby HIPPO (pretty sure that's what it's eating)...they startle the thing, it pukes it up and bails? A baby hippo, fer cryin' out loud? One less of those, that's all I'm sayin'...!


Can't wait to see the progress on Coyote's build, though! I know you're gonna post mass pics, too...

[GAR]

Warren DeMartini's "Rattler" snakeskin job was done with the metal mesh called "k-lathe."

It's used to apply concrete and mortar to walls and surfaces in preparation for tilework.

[jhale667]

The Anaconda one's in a Hard Rock Cafe somewhere, last I heard, and he retired the Python one...would you be referring to this one?

[GAR]

Right, whichever one was made in the 80's.. maybe both who cares.

You can spray the base color black, brown, grey, or a mottled blotch of several dark colors.

Then with an airbrush or a touchup gun, you can sorta "fill in" a range of cells as you see fit with the lighter colors: gold, silver, white, yellow etc. as you like.

One gal at the factory had a xeroxed transparency of the main pattern, which she airbrushed the pattern of the diamond rows onto a white-painted K-Lathe sheet, kept as a "master template."

The transparency was the template, not the K-lathe. Although I suppose once you filled in the rows and were carefull, you could redo it over and over as a template. But the transparency shot onto the guitar body from an overhead projector makes any pattern easy.

The same method did the Jack Daniel's, Budwieser and Heineken beer labels.. b & w transparency shot onto taped-over guitar body and traced with pencil and the colored areas peeled off in layers or filled over with new tape in other layers.

[Coyote]

So....Is there an equivalent of Wal-Mart "across the pond" as they say?

Sort of a "Cheap-O-Mart"... I've yet to find a camping section, though...

And yeah, I remember seeing that paintball link.

[jhale667]

Sort of a "Cheap-O-Mart"... I've yet to find a camping section, though...

And yeah, I remember seeing that paintball link.

Figured so, but also figured couldn't hurt.
Camping industry not big over there, huh? Europeans don't do that shit anymore? Really?
"Y'all don't do a buncha huntin' and feeshin', do ya" I guess... Or maybe it's just your local "Cheap-O-Mart"...if they're anything like Wal-mart (or any other huge ass US chain store), ask 'em if they can pull the inventory from another location, y'know? lol

Well, on a positive note, say GAR's right (it could happen) about the product name, now you can at least see if you can find it locally...or at least someplace that will ship it to ya cheap...


Did you get your block from from FloydUpgrades yet? What the hell time is it over there vs. PST, your mail run yet? Waitin' for a shipment from him as well, but holidays...regular US mail's already hammered...just got something (and I mean like a regular letter, not a parcel) postmarked Nov 30th yesterday....

[Coyote]

Figured so, but also figured couldn't hurt.
Camping industry not big over there, huh? Europeans don't do that shit anymore? Really?
"Y'all don't do a buncha huntin' and feeshin', do ya" I guess... Or maybe it's just your local "Cheap-O-Mart"...if they're anything like Wal-mart (or any other huge ass US chain store), ask 'em if they can pull the inventory from another location, y'know? lol

They might have it in local stock, I just never pay attention to their stock...

Well, on a positive note, say GAR's right (it could happen) about the product name, now you can at least see if you can find it locally...or at least someplace that will ship it to ya cheap...

True dat. Although, I could ask a couple of local hot rod painters for an opinion on this.

Did you get your block from from FloydUpgrades yet? What the hell time is it over there vs. PST, your mail run yet? Waitin' for a shipment from him as well, but holidays...regular US mail's already hammered...just got something (and I mean like a regular letter, not a parcel) postmarked Nov 30th yesterday....

As I'm typing, it's 4:53PM on December 12th, but I'm not sure what year it is... Damn daylight saving time...

Mail runs only on the weekdays, IIRC. I wager it'll arrive (along with the Floyd) some time next week...

[jhale667]

Mail runs only on the weekdays, IIRC. I wager it'll arrive (along with the Floyd) some time next week...

Yeah.
Well, an international trade-off for ya there; ours runs on Saturdays, but sometimes something (like that letter) that should usually get across the country in 3 or 4 days takes an extra....week? I'm flippin' through my mail and like "sent when?"

...Unless you get stuff like that and no Saturday delivery, I'd call it even...lol

So for the Floyd did you go....or.....?

[Hardrock69]

Right on man. This oughta be interesting. Aside from pics, once you get done, post a sample of how it sounds.

[ZahZoo]

Another alternative to a wire mesh would be that plastic mesh stuff they use to wrap turkeys or hams in. It's more flexible and can be easily wrapped around the guitar's contours.

[GAR]

Mesh Lath | Anping ShunXing Metal Wire Mesh Co., Ltd.

Quicksearch of K-lathe seems to show it's actually a trade name/product. Kinda like you ask for a Band-Aid someone might hand you a Curad bandage.

Anyways check a local hardware store for this shit if you're having an artist do it. It's used for plaster, mortar in prep for pasting tile on the walls or counters..



When I watched the girl at the factory do this, the edges were folded over all four corners of the body beforehand. It's expanded metal and it'll cut your hand and definately scratch a painted body.

You'd have to form the wire around the edges with a towel over the body first, trimmed a few inches for overhang.

You sketch out your design beforehand on paper as a visual guide, but the gal did this freestyle from several pics on the wall she pinned up at the bench. I think there were old TimeLife hardback-book centerfold on the wall as a guide.. or was it from National Geographic, or Life Magazine? Can't remember.

It had a good rattlesnake pattern going. Or was it an anaconda.. they look similar, I think the major differences are color.

Whatever, you got the K-Lathe edges bent.. doing the airbrush filling-ins of the diamond patterns on the BACKSIDE first. With the bent edges straight up, avoiding overspray off the sides.

The factory used regular lacquers and you didn't need much, just a thimble amount of color into two-thumbs of thinner cup, sloshed around and the girl was ready to go screwing it into the airbrush.. did her gold-bronze first, then the silver then the black last so it was a process but it went quick.

Flipped the body over (mounted in a jig, screwed onto the neck pocket) and she could follow the pattern up from below by holding the mesh on the top and continuing around up the sides, then the top last.

Airbrushing the sides, you could angle the color shots and it would still hit the rounded edges even if the diamond mesh went straight. So it doesnt' have to be totally molded to the body.

And don't nobody go googling how-tos on this and saying "oh youre a liar, you do the black last" or "the black first" who gives a shit. Generally, this is my recollection how they did this 25 years ago and it is easy to do if you own an airbrush.

Just experiment with cardboard cutouts first to get the hang of the order of colors if you're doing this yourself Coyote.

[GAR]

Another alternative to a wire mesh would be that plastic mesh stuff they use to wrap turkeys or hams in. It's more flexible and can be easily wrapped around the guitar's contours.

It's not thick enough to stop the blast of the airbrush, nor is it stiff enough that it wouldn't move when sprayed over.

With K-lathe, it's stiff enough you could have the mesh an inch from the body and the pattern will still transfer, even over rounded edges 90 degrees opposite. It's a cool technique.

[jhale667]

I dig watching people work with airbrushes, but haven't used one myself. Have friend (real, not in the Internet sense of the word)who is a reeeally good airbrush artist...does some really cool shit:



(even with a paintbrush, see below) but never saw him do snakeskin. So, Gar, when you watched was it background colors first (like, say a Kamikaze)then the mesh with black and white?

I wanna see that! OK, Coyote...now you gotta call a buddy, set up a webcam, whatever...lol
Talk about Must.See.Video !



Oh, this pic counts as my Christmas card to everyone, too...Happy Freakin' Holidays...

[GAR]

So, Gar, when you watched was it background colors first (like, say a Kamikaze)then the mesh with black and white?

The Kamizaze Bomber guy was obviously white background, they'd lay tape then trace and cut out the tape-shaped areas you'd see black, red, etc.

They'd do 3 or 4 at a time, I don't recall which stage of the process they were in but they had out silver, gold, brown and black colors to mix.

Lacquer is thick out of the can, it's thinned or "reduced" 175% meaning, only a quarter of the mix is actual color.

Oh and then throw in the clear base they'd add, forget it. I doubt an original redo could be done even by the same person, one week apart.

Every guitar finish was unique that way. Unlike what you got today with ESP and Dean using inkjetted paper plotter-printed finishes. All they gotta do is lay clear over glued-down paper!

That shit ain't art. The Charvels were art.

[jhale667]

Every guitar finish was unique that way. Unlike what you got today with ESP and Dean using inkjetted paper plotter-printed finishes. All they gotta do is lay clear over glued-down paper!

That shit ain't art. The Charvels were art.

The limited run or one-of-a kind "art" part of the new Charvels at least is farmed out to people like Mike Learn. That dude still does art! People like him and Jeff from RCA guitars...

But Coyote's will be one-of-a kind because he's doing it...

[GAR]

WRONG more like "one of a similar" or "in the style of.." type thing.

You got it wrong.

Maybe he could do a more colorful anaconda like a gold, yellow, green something like that? Then it would constitute "of one kind."

And I'm not talking about Charvel Art Series.. to me, Charvels haven't been made since 1989, unless GMW was doing em.

GMW does Charvel art finishes better than anyone.

[jhale667]

GMW does Charvel art finishes better than anyone.

I'd agree with you on that, except not anymore, since they stopped doing replicas a few years ago...and I'm not talking about the standard Charvel "Art" series either, talking Custom Shop jobs...
Present-day Charvel also still uses Dan Lawrence, who painted original Charvels, did he not?


You got it wrong.

[GAR]

Yeah he did, also did BC Rich. But most of the custom, hairband endorsement intricate stuff.

"How about a GI Joe guitar theme.." How about a this, a that.. you could add all these details, he'd say okay and do it. He had a fat photo archive of his completed things but not a very fat wallet.

I think now about all the hairband custom finishes that have maybe 100 hours into some of 'em, and how the guys trashed 'em like they could just pick up the phone and have another ready in 6weeks.. just so much incredible waste back in the day and I think Dan suffered alot from that.

Not that there goes another custom job, ruined, but more like "I'm never gonna do another ______ again (WW2, Militaria, cartoon chars., movie posters etc.)

[Coyote]

So for the Floyd did you go....or.....?

Chrome. Gotta have something to blind the audiences with, right?

[Coyote]

And, for the record, I haven't entertained the idea of painting the damn thing myself...
(Not yet, anyway.)

And, yes, the paint job will be "in the style of".

If I wanted an exact duplicate of, say, DeMartini's Anaconda, I'd have figured out where to get the actual snakeskin. "Politically Correct", my ass!

[Coyote]

And, of course, YouTube delivers...

[GAR]

This guy is more meticulous about it than is necessary.

He's using a tiny Paasche gun, but then again his example work area is one-tenth the size of a guitar.

You could use a small touch-up gun for the same shading effects, I don't know that you want so much of the diamondback pattern defined because to me and in my experience the more crisp the details are on something like this the less real it actually looks.

Animals in the wild, you never see them out flat in full detail. That's why I suggest going around corners and not having the mesh to directly flat on the surface when shading is so critical as this guy emphasizes in clip 1, 4:30.

The edges aren't completely important to invoke the image of a real animal.

[jhale667]

Cool video series find, Coyote. Wanna post the rest of the 4-part series? I'm bookmarking them to watch the rest, anyway!
I think it's fascinating to watch artists do crap like this, and actually see how their brains work in action. Interesting he's using the hardware store mesh too. Scale size would end up different, looks like. Might turn out cooler with the K Lathe, looks like they'd be bigger when done? Bigger scales visually suggesting it came off a bigger, meaner snake? Ah, possibilities...

Those Paasche guns are the ones I used to watch my friend work with a lot. And the opening shot made me miss my old Chevy Nova SS...(paintjob was nowhere near that cool, though)..

Can't wait to see progress photos of the build...

[GAR]

At the end of the embedded clip, there are icons in the screen that a mouse-over will reveal their titles such as "part 2 part 3 etc"

Also if you doubleclick the Youtube video area, in Firefox it will open another window with Youtube and all the hidden page info such as the Other Videos under the guys' channel list.

Also, with K-lathe one thing you can do is stretch it out to make the diamond shape wider or thinner, or vary or even twist a little just like a snakes' body.

You can hold down on a table in the middle and pull on the sides, leaving the middle with skinny diamonds, but fatter going out to the sides just like real snake hide.

So there's about the last trick I recall you can do, the stretch-thing of the K-lathe.

And about the Paasche guns, this guy is really into detail but in doing snake stuff he's got an idea of how to do it, but obviously he wasn't there in the day to see how the guitars were really done: the colors were done very quickly with a wide tip for detail and a touchup gun for broad long strokes, so like I mention -- holding down of the material isn't really critical if you're shading just a few passes.

Actually I kinda laughed at how focused the guy was on forming his material down with super thick tape and keeping that material totally flat, because if he had been using wider tips with higher than the 40psi he says he's using, he could hold a higher distance above the work and be more effective about it.

[Diamondjimi]

And, of course, YouTube delivers...

Cool vid. Get this thing goin and get some photos up!

[Coyote]

As soon as the rest of the parts arrive!

Shoulda taken UPS instead...

[GAR]

Did you order the body with a clear sealer coating or some solid color as a base?

[Coyote]

Did you order the body with a clear sealer coating or some solid color as a base?

There wasn't an option for either one... Unbelievable, but true.

I assume it's clear-sealed.

In other news, the Floyd's in the Funland customs office, waiting for a copy of the purchase confirmation...

I knew I should've had it UPS'd...

[jhale667]

There wasn't an option for either one... Unbelievable, but true.

I assume it's clear-sealed.

In other news, the Floyd's in the Funland customs office, waiting for a copy of the purchase confirmation...

I knew I should've had it UPS'd...

Think you have to click a separate link for their paint shop, and it's an upcharge for sealer or primer (same with Warmoth)...the body I ordered from Musikraft showed up bare wood, but that was the plan anyway in that case...

[jhale667]

I still think this is the coolest real snakeskin guitar ever made. I've read interviews where Warren said this was a primered body they covered, and it sounded like muffled ass, so they did the python one over bare wood, and it sounded great.




Good news is, Coyote - if the body shows up bare(and likely will) clear sanding sealer's cheap from StewMac.com....

ColorTone Aerosol Guitar Lacquer at Stewart-MacDonald

[Coyote]

Nice...

Too bad about the shipping restrictions...