New direction, finally finished!! More pics...

[metalchurch]

I didn't like the outcome of my first attempt, so after much thought about what I want to do, I think I finally have it.

I've always loved the Shredder's from the 80's and their guitars.
One guitar that I sometimes forget about is Steve Vai's JEM777, in Pink of course!
Those guitars were so bright, and they certainly were in style of the times.

Here's 2 of Steve Vai's guitars that inspired Round 2 of this project:

1987 Jem777


And Steve's personal 1986 Jackson Soloist:


I'm leaning more towards the Jackson, because the body I'm using has more common features, such as top routed humbuckers.

The paint will be a Bright Flureoscent Pink.
I'm going instead with a DiMarzio Breed in Blk/Creme.

After deciding on this paint, I think I may just keep it for myself.
I always wanted an 80's style guitar anyway.

No Jokes about the paint you hear me?!!!

[metalchurch]

Instead of the Lion's claw routing, I 45'd the trem recess the whole way around.
I forgot to add that I'm hard mounting the pickup, just to be somewhat different.

[bassist_25]

The Jem's were cool guitars. I always liked the one that came in the floral pattern with the vine inlay on the fretboard.

While I probably would have been a Fender player in the 80s - because even then, some of those guitar styles I'm sure I would have thought were cheesy when they were "cool" - one thing I love about the 80s guitars was the tendency to use unrounded bodies. I love the look of unrounded horns. It's just something that you don't see much of nowadays.

Oh, and I definitely vote to go for the Jackson Soloist. The Student model would be badarse.

[metalchurch]

I like the Jem, but if I were to do that guitar, I would start with an Ibanez body.
I will do that someday for sure.
The disappearing Pyramid inlays look like they would be a bastard, but I found a short cut to make them.

This guitar is going to be ridiculous looking that's for sure.
I have a suspicion that it will never leave the house! LOL
A closet classic. LOL

It will be a fun guitar, that's all.
I almost did that to my '87 Charvel, but it was white, and that's my fav. color for a guitar.

I don't know whether to make it a matching headstock or leave it black.
I might leave it black to break up some of the gayness of the pink.

[metalchurch]

I have the body pretty much ready to be sprayed, but of course the weather is not cooperating. I'm running out of nice days to paint also.
I found a picture of an old Charvel and reversed the image so you guys can see pretty much what this will look like.
Charvel:


And here's what I have done to mine so far:

[metalchurch]

I got a head start on the wind this morning and got a few layers of that pink stuff put on:

[bassist_25]

That's looking pretty sweet. One could definitely shred some Bullet Boys or Poison on that. Are you going to keep it with one pot?

[metalchurch]

Pot?
oh, yeah
I have all of my guitars set up with only 1 Volume and that's it.
That's all you need, and less to worry about.

I'll be rippin' into some old Crue, and some Poison for sure with this.
I just hope it has a nice tone to it.

Smooth up in Ya! lol that's a fucked up song!

[old Skool]

For pink I'm kinda diggin' it. Now that's an old school Charvel in the picture. The Kahler trem puts it prior to '86 or '87. That's when they switched to the JT-6 Floyd style trem. I really dig Vai's Jackson as well. That also had to be one of the firsts with a Floyd for that era. Also notice the two chrome saddles on the black Floyd of the Jackson. Back then you could only get replacement saddles in chrome. A buddy of mine had a USA Hamer with a black Floyd. When the saddles crapped out he could only get chrome replacements. I always thought it was a shame to have a $2000 guitar with mismatched hardware. Ah but some people thought it was cool too. Lookin' good Joe. Got to go dig out my Enuff-Z-Nuff tapes. Hey remember those flip flop Kramer finishes. Those were cool (well back in the day ha, ha).

[metalchurch]

Yeah the flip flop Kramers were the shit back in the day. Actually alot of the guitars and basses had awesome finishes on them.

You were sayin' about your Enuff-z-Nuff tape and I was digging around and found a motherload of my old cassettes. Kinds of puts things into perspective when you throw them in and think about stuff.

Anyway, back to pepto bismol here.
I got the body sprayed and I'm pretty much ready to go, just waiting for the DiMarzio to get here, and then I'll button it all up and I'll be Rokken to Dokken in no time. I can't wait to see what these scallops are all about.
I was going to put this neck on one of my V's to get a feel for it, but theyare only 22 fret. I'll just have to wait I guess.
This thing is so hard to photograph. It almost looks like a glowing orange sometimes. Believe me it is pink in person.

[Killjingle]

how many coats of pink and how many coats of clear on this guitar?

[metalchurch]

I have about 5 coats of paint, and I'm still in the process of the clearcoats.
I accidentally dinged it up and I had to touch up a spot on it.

[Killjingle]

are u just using spray cans?

[paul]

Dont forget for now on to mask the neck pocket. You never want to paint the neck pocket, you want wood to wood not wood to paint. After paint take a piece of sandpaper and hit the edge of the neck pocket and the tape will come off nice and clean and it will look like it was factory painted and not home made.
Paul
Ps let meknow if you need some help

[metalchurch]

The paint that I am using is laquer and it is spray cans. I hate painting them this way but right now, with my location, I really have no choice.

The neck pocket was masked off. I used white masking tape, so it covered very fast with the color coats.

That reminds me, I heard somewhere that Paul Gilbert used to glue his necks to the body, and screw them fast.

I wonder what benefit that would be? Probably none at all, because it is not a true neck through body, and the glue would soak up any resonance between the body and neck.

That's why I prefer bolt ons, because you always have the option to re neck the guitar at any time with minimal time and effort.
Everything has it's draw backs and benefits I guess.

Thanks for the offer Paul, I'll keep that in mind, thank you.

[metalchurch]

I literally just got this done about 10 minutes ago. I got some pictures taken also. It's getting really late, so I'm gonna wait until morning to dial it in, and see what the scallops are all about.
And this is me, the ominous metalchurch...

[DrumAndDestroy]

awesome

[Team Transylvania]

looks great man!! cant wait to have you do some work on my guitar!!! your work is always good!

[MeYatch]

Looks cool Joe. I think I liked the solid creme humbucker a little better than the black/creme though.

You should put a sticker of a flamingo on it.

[metalchurch]

Thanks guys, that was real cool!
Meyatch, the first pup that was in it was an Ibanez junker and it was white.
I wanted a Black/White DiMarzio Breed, but they were out of stock.
I think a White one would have looked good also.

It is all wired setup, and strung w/ GHS 8-38's tuned to Eb.
I have the action about the thickness of a Red Dunlop JazzII pick, so it's very very low. No fret buzz either, so that in itself is amazing.

The scallops actually feel very comfortable. I didn't notice a dramatic increase in speed. But I did notice that there was less resistance becasue of the fretboard being scalloped out.
I have frets 16-24 done, and I do notice it feels weird going from the 15th to the scalloped section.

I'm pleased w/ the tone that the Breed creates w/ this Basswood body.
I never cared for Basswood much, they seem like a dead tone to me, and I always has problems finding a pup to enhance it's character.

I had an older Ibanez RG and I had a hell of a time with it. I swear I must have tried about 12 different pups before I found one, and guess what, it was the DiMarzio Breed.

I'm glad that it worked out for me again this time. I didn't really want to go through that again.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed this. This one really went through some twists and turns, but I'm glad I went this route with it.

Thanks for all of the kind words as always. I'm only doing this for fun, I have alot to learn, but the encouragement that I get from you guys enforces my drive to keep at it.
Thanks alot guys!!

[MeYatch]

It came out really nice Joe. Do you think we'll ever see it on area stages? I know you said you don't really like strat styled guitars. Does it still have the skulls at the 12th fret? I think that's really funny, a pink guitar with skulls. I wonder if you could find a skull/hello kitty sticker for it or something? That would be hillarious.

[MeYatch]

P.S.
Regarding masking off the neck pocket. Why? The old Fenders (the only bolt on neck guitar of the day) all have painted neck pockets, except for a strip where the stick was screwed to the body to hold it.

like this


Am I missing something?

Now, when I painted my steinberger copy, I didn't mask off the neck pocket, and it ended up being such a tight fit that I cracked the body jamming the neck in there, and that is a legitimate reason, but most neck to body fits aren't nearly that tight.

[metalchurch]

Flamingo's? Hello Kitty stickers? That's funny!
I was trying to think of something for it, I was gonna put a Pyramid on the front in black and white, like the pyramid inlays on the JEM guitars. And it would also match the pickup somewhat.
I'm not sure if you'll ever see it out. Time will tell I guess. I like the shape, but it's uncomfortable as hell to play. I'm just so used to V's I guess.

Thanks Mitch.

[Banned]

Wow, fantastic job! It looks surprisingly classy for a hot pink shred guitar.

[old Skool]

Nice job Joe! You should find someone that could modify the "Hello Kitty" decal so it has rabies & a tattoo! That's how you make a pink guitar bad ass.