For anyone that was interested - my Mockingbird re-paint.

[FernandoDuarte]

Nice look! :D

[Nadz1lla]

Thanks guys! And that was in a dusty garage and a rushed job, so I think when I finally make my own axe and finish it with my new and improved facilities later on it'll be a real looker!

Love the combination of purple and gold!

Now if only the guitar would've had quilted maple top and the purple finish transparent... :P

Agreed, that would be amazing! Trans finish on this one though would be a bad idea, on the angled sections on the body you have some very prominent ply lines, lol.

I'm thinking for the one I'm making a mahogany body with quilted / birds-eye maple top, and possibly transparent dark red. Tasty!

I've also seen a guitar somewhere that had "tone channels" routed into the mahogany body before the top was put on, that might give it some killer sustain, but I guess I'll start asking the techie questions when I have actually started building it, hehe.

I was really worried about what you were doing to that guitar when I saw the first post

Yeah I had my doubts too, but I thought hell, if you don't take risks sometimes you'll never know if it would have worked or not...so I'm kinda glad I took that plunge hehe. :lol:

[WezV]

I've also seen a guitar somewhere that had "tone channels" routed into the mahogany body before the top was put on, that might give it some killer sustain, but I guess I'll start asking the techie questions when I have actually started building it, hehe.

It wont be sustain it increases, it will be weight it reduces.  if you have large chambers with an opening/sound hole then it will sound different acoustically, but thiose long thin chambers are more for weight relief.  I am not saying it doesnt affect tone, it c an make it sound more open, but if anything sustain will be reduced

On the sustain thing, just forget about it now - or buy an ebow/sustainer

As long as a guitar is put together well it will have enough sustain for all styles of modern music.  if you  want more sustain than that you need to buy one of the products i mentioned above.  Or spend some time in front of an amp or with a good compressor

Sustain is one of those terms overused in the marketing of guitars, not something i really approve of since its a pointless quest since so few of us need any more sustain than we have already from a squier strat thats been set up well

[Nadz1lla]

Well that clears it up, hehe, cheers. :lol: