AFIII Axe-Fx III Friedman HBE 2018 + DIY guitar!

ML SOUND LAB

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I just tracked this song with my DIY guitar using the Friedman HBE 2018. Default settings with "The Best IR In The World" that you can get for free here: http://bit.ly/MLSoundLab

My band's guitarist (not me) has been building guitars for some time now. Well he's an awesome dude and offered to build me one with my specs. I wanted a guitar that's fully natural. I want to see the wood and have something unusual in there so this was the original spec:



And here are some teaser pics.







I'm editing a video for the song as well but it'll take some time so this will do for now. Full guitar reveal in the video when it's out! :)

More about the spec:
-ash body, walnut neck, birdseye maple fretboard
-luminlays
-Seymour Duncan Hotrodded set
-3-way and a volume knob with a pull for coil splitting
-PRS style hard tail

Essentially it's like a Music Man Petrucci, a Blackmachine and a PRS mashup.
 
ML SOUND LAB said:


I just tracked this song with my DIY guitar using the Friedman HBE 2018. Default settings with "The Best IR In The World" that you can get for free here: http://bit.ly/MLSoundLab

My band's guitarist (not me) has been building guitars for some time now. Well he's an awesome dude and offered to build me one with my specs. I wanted a guitar that's fully natural. I want to see the wood and have something unusual in there so this was the original spec:



And here are some teaser pics.







I'm editing a video for the song as well but it'll take some time so this will do for now. Full guitar reveal in the video when it's out! :)

More about the spec:
-ash body, walnut neck, birdseye maple fretboard
-luminlays
-Seymour Duncan Hotrodded set
-3-way and a volume knob with a pull for coil splitting
-PRS style hard tail

Essentially it's like a Music Man Petrucci, a Blackmachine and a PRS mashup.
Click to expand...



Dude sounds badass!!!!!
 
Okay guys!!! Click the photos to see them in full size.

Looks simple but actually there are lots of small details that I really wanted perfect for the design. First of all I wanted a reverse neck - dark from the back and birdseye maple fretboard. :) My first guitar teacher had a "wooden" natural finished guitar and I always wanted one myself as well so this is a long time coming. It also helps for the Blackmachine GAS that I got from playing "that" Misha's one of a kind Blackmachine. :)



The bridge is the same one that PRS uses in f.ex. the Holcomb signature. Pickups are your regular JB/Jazz combo (SH-4 and SH-2n).



Locking tuners ala Music Man in black just like all the hardware on the guitar.



Bolt on that's just as comfortable as a neck-through. I just love how these two woods look side by side.



Luminlays! In English - the inlays glow in the dark. This is a must have feature when playing live. It's really a life saver.



Secure and hidden input jack. The contours make the guitar feel really comfortable no matter where you grab it.



Oh and by the way this 4-string guitar was also self made that I used in my previous playthrough:

 
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Love it...the Swamp Ash against the Birdseye Maple looks very nice....everyone will say different but I would hit the body ever so slightly with a torch along the grain and then rub some Tung oil in to darken just a bit and make the Birdseye on the Maple fret board really pop-She's awesome!!
 
LancerS said:
Love it...the Swamp Ash against the Birdseye Maple looks very nice....everyone will say different but I would hit the body ever so slightly with a torch along the grain and then rub some Tung oil in to darken just a bit and make the Birdseye on the Maple fret board really pop-She's awesome!!
Click to expand...
Oh definitely. Making a guitar this way takes some time so I've been second guessing about the finish etc. At one point I had decided that the top will be "Surf Green". That's how far my extremes were. :D We also thought about tinting the guitar slightly browner just like you said but eventually I wanted to hold on to the original idea that I want it to look like wood. No gimmicks but just raw wood, something that you will not find in a shop. :)

EDIT: And right now I'm thinking we should've put a walnut top on this so it matches the headstock. :D
 
I have a 79 Stratocaster Swamp Ash body (with a Telecaster Deluxe neck) that I painted black a long time ago and I've often thought about stripping the black and just going back to the Ash with a light stain. Swamp Ash is a really heavy tight grained wood, the Strat I mentioned is 10.5 lbs but it sounds incredible.

I would get a piece of the Ash that your friend used to build and play with a couple of different tints / stains-you might be surprised especially with the Tung Oil-you would still retain the wood look you are going for with just a bit of contrast like the Walnut does with the fret board. I've used Tung Oil with American Mahagony (which is much lighter in color with very little red) and it just really made the grain stand out more with just a little tinting. Good luck...love to see any pictures if you decide to play with the finish.
 
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