Custom Guitars

[AndyLivingston]

A few years ago, I got bored and decided to pick up a new hobby. I'd seen TV shows about guys who paint cars, and worklogs of modders painting their computers, and such. I decided I'd have a go at customizing my guitars. The first one was actually my first guitar ever, a used Epiphone Les Paul 100.

I started off by sanding all the original finish off (it was super scratched) and priming and painting it flat black. Then I masked off the front, and cut out Abbey Road through a picture into the masking with my X-Acto knife (which has served me well ever since). I then replaced the stock pickups with Seymour Duncans, a Duncan Distortion in the bridge position, and Jazz by the neck, along with all the electrical bits inside. Then I replaced the knobs, because 2 of my new potentiometers didn't fit inside the stock knobs.

http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0253.jpg
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0254.jpg
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0255.jpg
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0256.jpg
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0257.jpg

Then I decided that I wanted to paint a glow-in-the-dark dragon on something, so I saved up my money (A whole $100 wow!) to buy a cheapy bass since I'd sold my old one to pay rent. That one I just masked off, then drew a dragon freehand, cut out, and painted, since the finish was already a flat near-black. I painted it with a white base, then glow-in-the-dark spray, then a pink pearl finish. Everything is clearcoated with a matte finish.

http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0040.jpg
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0049.jpg
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0048.jpg
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0051.jpg

This is it under a blacklight, to make the glow flouresce.
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0056.jpg
http://www.bigprojects.net/andy/guitar/PICT0061.jpg

And the most recent guitar, which also has the worst picture of it (cameraphone, yuck) is my acoustic, which I did just before the 4th of July, to bring to a party.
http://bigprojects.net/andy/images/acoustic/SSPX0512.jpg

What do you guys think?

[Collinstheclown]

Most badass! My brother customizes his guitairs. He's tring to build one from scratch as well.

I lend a hand when I can, so I know the work that goes into these things.. Sanding the finish off and all that takes a good chunk of time!

+Rep




-CollinstheClown

[nevermind1534]

Nice

[Zephik]

I love custom guitars, they're so cool. I've even seen people take it one step farther and make the body out of carbon fiber or even plexiglass. Pretty cool stuff!

[Oneslowz28]

very nice man. My uncle gave me my first axe. It was a Ibanez grx40 he had paited bright orange and then covered in shattered mirror pieces. I played that guitar every day for months and never got the hang of it. Got a few cut knuckles from the glass but it looked bad ass.

[Luke122]

Looks great! That glow in the dark dragon turned out really amazing.. I bet you get lots of compliments playing it at shows! :D

[msmrx57]

Nice. I love the Abbey Road scene, came out great in black and white. +rep

[AndyLivingston]

Nice. I love the Abbey Road scene, came out great in black and white. +rep

Thanks a lot! That was my first masking/cutting job. I think I got pretty lucky with that. My favorite part I think is John's face, as it's just a tiny little blob, since he's got so much hair in the picture.

[nevermind1534]

I like that one too.

[AndyLivingston]

Looks great! That glow in the dark dragon turned out really amazing.. I bet you get lots of compliments playing it at shows! :D

I've never actually taken that one out to a show. It's too new, so I haven't had a chance to show it off yet. :D

[Omega]

I've been meaning for a while now to paint two of my basses (i have three), but I've just never got around to it =/