Go For Two

Yeah, about that custom guitar... I think I want two. Yeah, two guitars. And since I'm daring like that, let's do them both at the same time. 

I blame The Bald Shredder (Richard James). Here, you'll see him singing the praises of the work done by this company, IYV (Inyen Vina, Vietnam); feel free to skip around:

Richard has other IYV customs, so be sure to poke around in his channel to learn more, if you're curious.

So, what prompted this? I think I mentioned, I was thinking of a .strandberg* Boden Essential. But it isn't my ideal guitar, and if I can get something that has a couple of the features I find most compelling in the Boden for under $1000, I think I have to try that, first. Richard says he paid just under $400 for that guitar in the video, above, shipping from Vietnam, included. And I'm leaning towards just getting the finished guitar bodies and neck(s), and building them out as I go with sick pickups, etc.

The guitar pictured to your left there is an Ibanez S Series of some stripe (not the Joe Satriani, "bulbous" S, but the regular Saber). IMO, this is the sexiest possible guitar shape, with its classic, Strat appearance looking face-on, as in an audience member seeing it played, on stage. But, that added convex contouring in the other two dimensions, that's super-sexed up. Imagine holding a Strat, and saying, "What if it had a carved top?" You might get something like the S Series.

I'd like both my customs to incorporate this convex super-sexiness. But I'm willing to go half on this, and only make that contour on the upper half of the body (where the forearm rest and upper horn of the body are). That may become obvious in a minute.

So my idea is to have the front of one of the guitars be partially swamp ash, stained with a super-dark, saturated blood red stain, and the flatter 2/3rds veneered with figured maple.  From the pickups to the controls-side of the guitar, the top can be flat, and veneered with fligured maple, also stained with the same stain, which should come out a slightly brighter color than what's on the ash. I really like natural woods, yo. Shoot the whole body in a satin clearcoat, and done.

One will be a hardtail with a headstock; the other, very similar, but headless, with floating vibrato tailpiece. One will be that intense, dark blood red; the other, as close to Hamer USA's Aztec Gold, which is a deep amber. I haven't decided which should be which, and I might order the hardtail's neck from some other vendor. I'd like it to have an Explorer-style headstock, or perhaps a reverse-Ibanez S. The hardtail will incorporate the .strandberg* "thigh cut," whereas the headless may lean more towards an Ibanez Q-style body. The thing cut is why the bottom half should be 1-1.25" thick, minimum. Don't need a small edge pressing in on the top of my thigh! I have other thoughts on this, but we'll see what the Inyen Vina folks come up with.

I'll have to send them some earnest money, 'cause I want these two to be MY lifetime guitars, so I want them done perfectly. I'll pay extra for that pre-build consultation, no problem. I'm taking ideas and dimensions off several guitars I've known and loved to put into these, but there are always unknowable unknowns. Wish me luck as this journey begins. I'll probably shoot video of the process from today forward, so... like & subscribe!