My 100% Handbuilt Dragonburst LP (featuring BKPs!)

[customaxe87]

Hey fellas,

New convert to the Bareknuckle fold. Love these pickups!! I wanted to share a guitar I designed and had 100% handbuilt by a luthier buddy of mine. It's my version of the perfect LP - 25.5 scale, neck thru (done in a fairly unusual way) and 24 frets. The fretboard is ebony with abalone inlays framed in mother of pearl, body and neck are mahogany and it's topped with a beautiful bubble quilt. The pickups are Bareknuckle Mule / Warpig (both coil tapped), and I use locking sperzels. The pictures don't show it but its an incredibly slim body, and weighs very little despite having all that chunky raunchy les paul tone.

This is by far the best guitar I have ever experienced in my decade of playing. Please enjoy the photos:

[dave_mc]

wow, very nice :D

So bubble quilt is what you call that quilt that looks sort of like water? I always wondered that, I just assumed it was higher quality (5A or whatever).

[customaxe87]

wow, very nice :D

So bubble quilt is what you call that quilt that looks sort of like water? I always wondered that, I just assumed it was higher quality (5A or whatever).

Thank you! It's what "I" call it, but really it is just an exceptional grade of quilted maple. Took me almost 6 months to hunt down this particular piece because thick solid quilt of this quality is tough to find. The quilted maple veneer on the headstock (trying to find a picture right now) came from the same piece too.

Edit: found it, here it is:

[Telerocker]

Looks great! And something different to the Les Paul-theme.

[customaxe87]

Looks great! And something different to the Les Paul-theme.

Thank you. There's a lota stuff I don't like about regular Les Pauls...its part of the reason for my designing of this guitar. It captures all that great Les Paul tone but with a full 2 octaves, a 25.5 inch scale, a much more comfy slim body with great contours, and a lighter weight.

[WezV]

looks very nice, inlays are really good and the top wood is great - but didnt need 6 months to hunt down - you just need to know the right people ;)

i kinda wish it was all the turquoise colour in the burst (2nd colour in from the edge) - it just seems to be the colour that does the most for the quilt

i would describe the figure in the neck wood as bubble quilt, to me the top is a nice example of a tubular quilt

one thing us guitar builders debate from time to time.  what does '100% handbuilt' mean? some people would actually claim its not unless you have used no power tools in the process - which is a bit daft if you ask me... but i would still be wary of calling it 100% handbuilt unless the hardware is also handbuilt (the pickups are i suppose.)

[WezV]

oh - i am also curious what is unusual about the neck-through construction?

[customaxe87]

looks very nice, inlays are really good and the top wood is great - but didnt need 6 months to hunt down - you just need to know the right people ;)

i kinda wish it was all the turquoise colour in the burst (2nd colour in from the edge) - it just seems to be the colour that does the most for the quilt

i would describe the figure in the neck wood as bubble quilt, to me the top is a nice example of a tubular quilt

one thing us guitar builders debate from time to time.  what does '100% handbuilt' mean? some people would actually claim its not unless you have used no power tools in the process - which is a bit daft if you ask me... but i would still be wary of calling it 100% handbuilt unless the hardware is also handbuilt (the pickups are i suppose.)

Thanks! It wasn't that finding this QUALITY of wood was the hard part...but if you're a builder you know that when you've got that gleam in your eye for a very specific piece, you can know whoever you want but until you find "it", you're still on the hunt.

As for the second part of things...my luthier is a one-man operation in his studio. Nothing more advanced than a dremel was used in making anything on this guitar, and all sanding was done entirely by hand. I suppose to a lot of people 'handbuilt' simply means no CNC, and I agree with that, but in this case we took it a step further. You're right in that the hardware wasn't built from scratch (locking sperzels, tonepros bridge etc) but generally speaking I consider the guitar handbuilt because of the insane amount of man hours put into turning it from a block of wood into what you see on your screen.

And for the final question, it's kinda tough to explain but here's a diagram kind of detailing it...

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n216/salsawords/necklam-1.jpg

And here's a photo of it on the bench which kind of shows what I'm talking about too:

[WezV]

yeah, i agree with the CNC comment - thats 'hand assembled' at most!  I asked because i am also build by hand with little more than a few powertools like routers (just a bigger version of a dremel -which is seriously underpowered to repeatedly do most guitar building tasks)

i get my current stash of maple like this from a guy called andy fellows - it sometimes takes a few emails to get the exact style i want - but he usually has it in billet form ready to saw to whatever thickness is needed.  he has a lot which is why it can take a few emails to narrow it down

the neck construction is interesting - i generally dont like quilted wood in necks because quilt is less stable than the equivalent straight grained wood - but pairing it with the mahogany as the main neck wood should solve that

[Philly Q]

Nice, I especially like the coloured stripes down the back.

The matching headstock and big block inlays remind me of Carvin - were they an influence?

[customaxe87]

yeah, i agree with the CNC comment - thats 'hand assembled' at most!  I asked because i am also build by hand with little more than a few powertools like routers (just a bigger version of a dremel -which is seriously underpowered to repeatedly do most guitar building tasks)

i get my current stash of maple like this from a guy called andy fellows - it sometimes takes a few emails to get the exact style i want - but he usually has it in billet form ready to saw to whatever thickness is needed.  he has a lot which is why it can take a few emails to narrow it down

the neck construction is interesting - i generally dont like quilted wood in necks because quilt is less stable than the equivalent straight grained wood - but pairing it with the mahogany as the main neck wood should solve that

Yep, that was my exact thinking.

Nice, I especially like the coloured stripes down the back.

The matching headstock and big block inlays remind me of Carvin - were they an influence?

The headstock yes, the inlays no. :)

And btw, the "stripes" are actual solid quilted maple. Just wanted to reiterate that its not painted on, nor is it a veneer. It's inset into the mahogany.

[GuiTony]

I do wish that more people would pay that sort of attention to the cavity covers.

 8)

[customaxe87]

I do wish that more people would pay that sort of attention to the cavity covers.

 8)

You mean the whole continuous grain thing? Thanks :). Something I definitely needed to have with this kinda nice mahogany. Plastic cavity covers? Pshh, no thanks.

[JacksonRR]

That's really nice looking, man.  :D

[customaxe87]

That's really nice looking, man.  :D

Thank you! Judging by your username (Rhoads is the primary reason I play guitar, actually) you might enjoy checking out my Carvin Ultra V. Vintage white and all :)