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Recently I bought out a guy getting out of the electric business and along with the tools and stuff got an alder Jagstang sort of body and a Strat neck to fit it. After a little reshaping of both and some budget Tele parts from azguitarparts.com I came up with this for my daughter.





She helped design the pickguard and I dusted off some veeery dusty leather skilz to tool it up.
The finish is an automotive type catalyzed poly. The sunburst is a little rough as my jamb gun chose to act up but I really like the clear. Her skin eats nitro for breakfast so she needed a tougher finish. This stuff is pretty easy to use, goes on well and cures in a day or so instead of weeks. Quite a bit more work to buff out though, I'll have to get some coarser grades of Menzerna.

Hey, that's sweet! Congratulations on a job done well!
Merry Christmas!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Hi Mike,

I saw this on the Tele forum but did not have time to post. Beautiful work and I love the leather work. I too use the automotive clear and for solid body guitars, I don't think there is anything better. I will say though, that you may think the finish is cured in a couple of days, but it too takes time to fully cure. I made the mistake of not filling the grain on a crotch walnut top on the first guitar I built, and the finish was spectular if I do say so my self.... , but after a couple of months, I noticed the finish was shrinking into the filled grain leaving a little texture.

How did you get the scroll work for the leather?

Mike

Thanks for the tip on the finish. I know it doesn't fully cure right away because even a week later when I sanded it I could smell the solvent. I have a flamed maple neck I sprayed at the same time and before doing the final level and buff I'm letting it sit for a few weeks while I finish the other body.

The designs and lettering in the leather was done with a swivel knife and various stamps. I used to do holsters and belts so I have a pretty complete tool set. Just haven't used them in years.

PS, is everybody here named Mike?

LOL! Everybody in this thread, at least. Mike is pretty much the most common male name around. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've spent most of my life answering to my last name instead of my first, because there's always a couple of other Mikes around. It was the only way to differentiate between us.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

My folks picked Mike because they didn't know anyone that had used the name, and it turned out to be the most popular name of 1966. I grew up as 'Mike D' in school and there were usually 2 to 3 others in any particular class.
My long time buddy and bandmate is named Mike and at one time we had a drummer named Mike too. Crazy.

Pure class! Great job Mike.

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Ken

i really dig that guitar, i like the whole package, the body shape, the tooled leather, the contours and horns... its all good. love it.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/