Imágenes | el 04 de Marzo del 2009

Excelentes Guitarras con Info

James Burton's "TCB Tele"



James Burton, the "Telecaster Master", was playing for ElvisPresley when I met him in 1972. Mike Deasy introduced us. He asked meto carve this tele for him (it was one of his favorites) 'cause heliked what I did on the 3 I had carved for Mike. He said he wanted acrucifix on it, his initials, a "leo" sign and (especially) the letters"TCB" with a lightening bolt. The design was left to me. TCB stands for"take care of business". Elvis' band members had this symbol oneverything they owned.

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John Lennon Tribute




Evidently a Rickenbacker model #220. Came with clear shellac finish and solid black plastic pickguard.
I stripped it, carved in one of my favorite portraits of John (sans glasses)
Painted the body black and made a white pickguard to match the one John played in the early days.
John's signature and cartoon logo are engraved into the laminated white pickguard.

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"Nature Boy"




I carved this beautiful old Telecaster for Mike Deasy in about1969.he wanted something natural with owls, birds, a butterfly and agoat. The pickguard is engraved through the white into the blackbeneathit.Years later, it was admired by Kenny Rankin.
Mike made him a gift of it.
Kenny still owns and treasures it.

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JAMES GRIFFIN




Carved for James Griffin, of "Bread" in 1973.James came to my homein Hollywood with James Burton, when I was working on J.B's TCB Tele.He said, "I'm gonna have to have you carve one for me." Well, I wasused to hearing this and didn't think much of it. 2 days later, I got acall from Hollywood Music saying James had bought a stratocaster thatmorning and wanted it delivered to my home... COOL.James called melater and we discussed what he wanted on it. I suggested a griffinmotive, since his name was Griffin. He liked that and left the rest ofthe design up to me. I put a big old english "G" on it, a mermaid up inthe right corner, a merman in the lower left (they're sort of reachingto each other), a "Gordian Knot" next to the bridge and carried theGriffin deal into the pickguard. I discovered later that what I thoughtwas a griffin (i.e. a winged lion was something else - a griffin is alion's body with a bird's head & wings) James didn't seem to mind.And I thought it turned out pretty cool.
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Jerry Garcia & Roses
Custom carved for Ed Clark of Conway, Arkansas








This koa wood Carvin was carved for Ed Clark of Conway, ArkansasHewanted a Jerry Garcia commemorative guitar.Ed originally said he didn'twant it "as busy" as some of my work. He wanted a simple design ofJerry and roses with wolf ear horns. I started with a computer sketch(left) Then he wanted his intials (EJC) added... then the tiger... thenmore roses... roses in the hair and beard... around the intials... thenthe "Steal Your Face" logo... oh, my !
OK... So... it's a little busy. But we like it And I think Jerry would have, too.
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Sammy Ash Angel & Dragon













Commissioned by Sammy Ash of Sam Ash Music Inc.
Sammy emailed one day and inquired about having a guitar carved.One thing led to another. He hand picked this Strat from one of hisstores and sent it to me. He pretty much left the design to me. I wokeup one morning with this Angel & Dragon theme in my head. Sammysaid go for it... and here it is.
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Strat Neuveau













1998 Fender USA Stratocaster
ash body Body, pickguard & head stock carved inart nouveau style
Sold to Jacq Ball
Norman, Oklahoma
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PRS Dragon & Wizard
Custom carved for Rob Hill, Cincinatti, Ohio




This PRS was carved for Rob Hill of Cincinatti, Ohio. He wantedadragon and awizard on it. After a lot of e-mailing and re-disigning ,we finally came up with a design we both liked. The design is carvedinto the maple cap only .(about 1/2 inch of thickness) The main bodyseems to be poplar.The picture to the left is one Rob sent me after hegot it back to Cincinatti and added stains and a black background


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Golden Girl Telecaster




Was run over by a car. It broke the body into several pieces, andsevered it from the neck. I bought it as a basket case. Replace thebody with an ash body from the Warmath company. I don't know if theneck is an original Fender... there was no decal... but it looks likeone, so I carved the famous Fender Telecaster logo into it. I've neverseen this type of massive Tele bridge before... but it says "Fender" onit... and it does give remarkable sustain for a Tele. I had the bridgegold plated and replaced all the other hardware (including the neckpickup cover & neck mounting plate) with gold... hence the name"Golden Girl".
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Russ Guiguerre






The entire body is an eagle in flight. The pick guard is anAmerican flag, engraved into the plastic and painted red, white andblue.
On the back of this guitar is the statue of liberty. Behind her isthe Empire State Building... with King Kong on the top of it. A bannerat her base reads:"Truth ,Justice and the American way".
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Ron Terborg's "Bear Dance Strat"









Commissioned by Ron Terborg of Larkspur,Colorado.
This was a fun piece and uniquely beautiful. Ron and I worked outthe elements of design together. He knew pretty much what he wanted. Hewanted an Indinan Brave, arm extended, sporting an eagle feather shawl.He wanted a ferocious bear to represent the bear dance. He wanted aspirit turtle (which ended up on the peghead). Then he said he liked my"ribbon work". Ron said add as much ribbon as I wanted. So there'sribbon and feathers all over this bad injun.Ron had special antler toneand volume knobs made by Jeff Two Hawks Weinstein (no... really) addinga nice further Native American touch. The lower horn pickguard was cutaway to allow for more ribbon carving. Golden Oak Stain, Nitro Lacquerfinish, completed 8/28/06 .
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The V-Rat Strat









Owned by Anthony Maddox of Gadsen, Alabama
Originally bought on eBay where it was advertised as a"Frankenstrat". It was looking pretty nasty. Scratched & gougedbody, broken pickguard, missing tuner, etc. I started carving it in thesummer of 2003. I had to put it away for a couple years when things gotbusy. I finally got around to finishing it in March of 2006. The name"V-Rat" is in homage to Harley's new scooter, the V-Rod.
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Buck's Bad Ass "Strat fink"







Commissioned by Floyd Buck of Murfreesboro, TN
Buck had this idea of building a hot rod guitar. Paying tribute tothe American Hot rod and The "Big Daddy" of hot rods, Ed Roth. So wefooled around with Kar-Toons and Rat Fink and some pinstriping and cameup with"THE STRAT FINK"The "Li'l Killer" hot rail pickups from GFS makeit even more of a hot rod. Black anodized hardware and hardwood knobsto match the Provincial Pine Stain under 3 coats of Nitro Lacquerfinish. Completed 6/24/07 .
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Wolf Strat



* Commissioned by *
Marvin Plank - Muscatine,Iowa
who also owns the RODEO STRAT
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Mike Botts' - "Love Child"



This is actually the first guitar I ever carved... but it wasn'tfor Mike.Brian Cole, of "The Association" commissioned it in 1969.Brian offered to buy me the tools I needed if I would carve his oldStratocaster. It didn't look like this when I finished. The bigbutterfly was there, the peace symbol, a flower and the word "LOVE" wasin the oval above the neck pick-up. The pickguard wasn't carved orre-shaped. The finish was natural oiled alder wood. Mike Botts was thedrummer on "Bread" at the time. He convinced Brian to sell him theguitar. A couple years later Mike saw some other axes I had done andasked me if I wouldn't re-vamp this one. I was delighted! I added abutterfly, more foliage, cut, re-shaped and engraved the pickguard,added a rose to bottom right (where I cut away the pickguard) and, inplace of the word, "LOVE", carved a miro-scene of a man and womanmaking love in the grass. Then I airbrushed tinted laquers over thewood carving. All in all... it was a nice improvement.
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The Wayne Spinner, "Bat Strat"









Commissioned by Beth Carney of Syracuse, New York Ms. Carneycommissioned me to build this Super Hero Stratocaster as a Surprisegift for her sweetheart, Wayne, who was graduating from college. Nowthat's true love. She decided to go with Batman, Superman &Spiderman as the theme.As a personal touch, she had me engrave hisfirst name, Wayne, into the custom peghead. And incorporate his lastname, Spinner, into the "Spiderman" logo on the pickguard. Body is hardrock maple supplied by Warmoth. Pickups are hot wound customs from GFS.Gold hardware and antique ivory pickup covers and knobs add a touch ofclass. Color is airbrushed lacquer under 3 coats of clear.
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Bone Strat



Custom Design for Bobby Ingals - "Aggravated Minds"-Indianapolis, Indiana
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Tele Davidson



This one started out as a Carvin DC150
(Their Less paul Jr. model)I've always liked the Carvin engineering. The playability and the no-nonscense aproach to building guitars. Thepickups are humbuckers run through a series of mini-switches to changeeach pickup to a single coil at will.This one had a solid maple bodywhich made it very heavy but just right for my needs.I carved a panheadchopper and a Harley-Davidson winged logo into the body ... along witha pair of wings to accentuate the double cutaway. Then I replaced the"Carvin" logo in the peghead with another harley logo engraved inmother of pearl.
It has a Danish oil finish so you can feel the actual wood... which is a lot lighter since it's tranformation.
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Tele Davidson



Originally purchased by - Bob and Shirley Vicars - Bonifay,Florida Currently owned by Wayne Thomley of Wicksburg, Alabama
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Yellow Submarine Bass



The Beatles
Yellow Submarine Bass
Built for Peter Kledaras - Wilmington, Delaware
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Resurection

Fender Broadcaster carved for Mike Deasy in 1969



The body is a scene of Christ's tomb. The stone has been rolledaway and christ is ascending to heaven surrounded by a dozen angels.Mary stands in front of the open tomb. The pick guard is black onblack... engraved in it is the text of "John 3:16". On the headstock,the original decal was copied in bas relief, preserving the word"Broadcaster"
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JEWELED JESUS







Fender Stratocaster carved for Mike Deasy in 1969
The body is a biblical scene with Jesus, staff in hand, laying ablessing hand on the bridge of the guitar. The real jewel encrustedpick guard (Jade, sapphire & star sapphire) displays a laughingface of Christ. One blue sapphire is set in Christ's eye.
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The Blues Girl SG

Custom carved for Dr. Doug Bess, Atlanta, Georgia





This 1974 Gibson SG was carved for Dr. Doug Bess of Atlanta,Georgia.He wanted a girl, dressed in blue, surrounded by kudzu vinesand holding a silver Dobro! The Highway 61 & 49 signs and thephrases, "Delta Blues" "Blues is Truth" and "Crossroads" were Dr.Doug's ideas. He also came up with bluing the pickguard engraving andlaminating in the sepia tone crossroads photo. That's the good doctorthere with his thumb out in the photo. I used a sort of "white wash"stain, intending to add a blue tinted lacquer over it. Doug thoughtjust a clear lacquer over the white would look cooler. Yeah! Thatworks! He wanted to lose the original "Gibson" plastic laminate on thepeghead. So I inlaid his name in mother of pearl and inlaid thehitchhiker image in various hardwood veneers.
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Pirate Strat

Custom carved for Dr. Doug Bess, Atlanta, Georgia





This ash body Stratocaster was carved for Dr. Doug Bess of Atlanta,Georgia. He wanted a pirate and a naked lady on it. Good stuff! Later,Doug thought he'd like to have the logo of the "New World Order"wrestling organization on it also. So we put a banner with the namebehind the lady and the logo behind the pirtate's head. Doug decided tohave me add the engraved pickguard and the airbrushed colors as well.The colors are acrylic along with the clear finish. I love the antiquelook of this piece.Dr. Bess also decided to have me carve his name onthe peghead. Just "BESS". Simple and elegant with 3 coats of lacquer.
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Dragon Den #5

Custom carved for Rosario Panzarella of Metuchen New jersey





It started out as #5 of 10 limited edition "Dragon Den Strat" stylebodies I designed.It's the first one of the series that received acolor airbrush finish. I also gave it a special custom engravedpickguard. The pickups are hot wound "Li'l Killers" from GFT. I lovethis axe! It plays and sounds as great as it looks.I decided to keepthis one. She was too sweet! Then Rosario saw it on my site and wantedto buy it. I offered to make another one for him but he wanted thisone. (sigh)He also asked me to replace the neck and put his name on thepeghead instead of "Dragon Den". Happy to oblige. Although I did hateto see her go.
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Fantastrat





This was the result of a MISTAKE.When I was carving the "WOLFSTRAT" for Marv Plank, I accidently made the head of the wolf too smallfor it's body. The pickguard and pickups are schecter. The rest is allFender.
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Rodeo Strat


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"Electric Lady Land"

Custom carved for Paul Hale of London, England, UK





This custom lovely was built for Paul Hale of London, England
Paul contacted me by email. He knew what he wanted. A Strat styleguitar with Jimi Hendrix playing and 2 naked ladies kissing. "ElectricLady Land". I like it! Can do!The ash body is from Stew-Mac. The neckwas ordered from Warmoth, maple on maple, Warmoth "pro" with a"Jackson" feel, CBS strat head stock and graphite nut. The pickups arethe "Little Killers" from GFS. (way bad) Tuners and fulcrum tremolo byWilkinson.Jimi and the ladies got a light lacquer tinting, thepickguard custom engraved and the peghead personalized. She's a sweetlady to play, too.
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Dragon Strat





Rich Olson of Wheaton Illinois Sent me this sketch of what he wanted carved on his guitar.
After discussing it some, he sent me his guitar.
A 1996 USA Fender Stratocaster Plus Deluxe with Crimson finish,active pickups and locking tuners made in the 50th anniversary year.Though the original body had an ash veneer, the bulk of the body turnedout to be alder (so Fender could save $23 ). I sanded off the topveneer and carved the design in the alder which was finished
(along with the neck and head stock) in a pine stain and 7 coats of lacquer. She plays and sounds as good as she looks.
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Freebird Strat

Custom carved for Cy Preece of Tamworth in Staffordshire, UK





This beautiful walnut rear control cavity Strat styled guitar bodywas built by Larry Davis of Gallery Hardwoods, Eugene, Oregon. He sentit to me and I carved it and shipped out to England for Cy toassembleCy was very precise about how he wanted his guitar. He chosethe wood, the design, the neck, pick-ups, bridge etc. And I must say hehas excellent taste.Cy is a big fan of Lynard Skynard. To honor them,he had me carve the word "Freebird" on the chest of this stylized eagle(left) on the back The hardware displayed here is not the real deal. Iphotoshopped it in. Perhaps I'll be able to post a pic of the actualfinished guitar when Cy gets it put together.
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The Steve Martin Banjo



Steve Martin and I have been friends since high school in 1960.
10 years later, In 1970, we were both living in Laurel Canyon,L.A.I was singing and carving and Steve was writing for the Smother'sBrothers TV show. Steve started talking to me about making him a solidbody (non-electric) banjo.I had some other projects in the works, so Ikind of put him off. Then I found a motorcycle I wanted to buy. TheHarley was $500.I called Steve and said, "I'll carve your banjo for$250... if you'll pay me in advance and loan me another $250." Heagreed, gave me the $500. I bought the Harley and the wood.About a weeklater, I was hired to play the lead role in the first national tour ofthe musical "HAIR". I told Steve the banjo was going to happen, but itwould take longer than I originally thought.He said, "O.K."
For the next couple of years, I worked on this banjo in my spare time in hotel rooms all over the United States and Canada.
The body is walnut. The back of the peghead is an eagle.The back ofthe neck is a history of American war (revolutionary, civil, indian,"Old Ironsides", W.W.I - bi-planes, W.W.II - Iwo Jima, & the atomicbomb) A mushroom cloud sweeps into the "Mountain Whiporwhill"scene withcornicopias, angels, a banjo & a fiddle on the body's back.The faceis covered with white suede. The front of the peghead is inlaid with atake off of the Martin guitar logo... "S.G.Martin- est. 1945" Thefingerboard is inlaid with a sort of boroque design
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The Dragon Slayer


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JIMI HENDRIX COMMEMORATIVE





I always wanted to carve a guitar for Hendrix when he was alive.For some reason, I thought roses muting into flames would be good forhim. I never got the chance.But 30 years later, I got this FenderCustom Voo Doo Child Strat ... a guitar Fender made for Jimi.. (thoughI doubt he ever played it)... it has a backwards peghead and upsidedown wired pickups... so a righty can play lefty... and I guess a leftycan play righty.
The first Jimi face I carved didn't look the way I wanted it tolook... so I chopped it out and inset a piece of hard rock maple so Icould get the detail
I wanted without fear of breakage. I experimented with lots ofpickguard designs... roses, lotus, peace symbols, etc... and finallycame up with ...
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Bad to the Bone



*Fender Jazz Special Bass *

* Carved May, 1999
* Alder wood, carved & airbrushed
* Original equipment with Badass bridge added
* finish is black & clear Varathane
Sold to Paul Caillouette of "JONAS" Boston, mass.
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Jordan Vos of "Robberts Music" Hilversum, The Netherlands



Jordan Vos contacted me by email from Holland in February of 2006.He had this idea for an anniversary present for his father. Since hisfather, Robbert Vos, is one of Holland's premier luthiers, Jordanthought a guitar with his dad's portrait might make a nice gift. Hesent me a photo plus a basic idea of the layout and we worked out thedetails (below).
His dad is a fan of the Gibson L-5, so he chose this as thestarting point. I had Warmoth create an L-5 body from choice maple withno control or pickup cavities. Only mounting holes for the gold platedwrap-around Wilkinson bridge. The neck is also maple with a rosewoodfingerboard and a Gibson style 3+3 peghead, where I inlaid the"Robberts Music Store" logo in mother of pearl.
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the Goth SG Chiller









Commissioned by David Ledogar of Massapequa, NY.
Started out as a white 1975 Gibson SG Standard - David wanted hisSG to represent the Goth style. He wanted Skulls, tombstones, crossesand a big scary tree. We sent designs back & forth by email untilwe came up with the "Chiller". Dave sent along the cool skull potknobs. Nice touch! The finish is a dark walnut oil stain.
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"Free Bird" - Peter Malick



Peter was the guitarist/conductor of the National Touring Co. of"HAIR" when I toured with that company from 1970-1973. Later, in L.A.,we shared a home together with our wives and daughters. It was thenPeter asked me to carve his old faithful Strat which he still playssome 25 plus years later. His daughter, Mercy's name is worked into thedesign of the feathers under the wing.
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the Phoenix Phlame









Commissioned by David George of Toms River, NJ.
This is the second guitar I carved for Dave. He wanted a Phoenixrising from the ashes... no... flames... and breathing fire! YEAH!!!!THe finish is airbrushed tinted clear lacquers.
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the St.George Dragon









Commissioned by David George of Toms River, NJ.
A Firebrand Gibson 335 S - Dave wanted a damsel threatened by adragon. Since His last name is George, I started calling it the "St.George". This inspired Dave to add the sword & sheild with amonogram of his father's initials, WLG, in a garland of art nouveau.Clear lacquer over Danish oil.
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MALLORY - STRAT

Fender Stratocaster - carved for Lee Mallory



This is the second guitar I carved. I did it for my roomate, Lee,in 1969. The first was for Brian Cole and was later bought by MikeBotts, who had me re-do it. So this really the earliest one... still asit was when I did it.The body is decorated with many symbols (having todo with astrology, astronomy and alchemy) acsentuated by massivebaroque scroll work. The pick guard is black on white, carrying the"Mallory coat of arms".
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Dragon Caster



Commissioned by Keith Lebo of Fairfeild, Ct.
Alder Strat body by Warmoth - gold hardware - Airbrushed color - Clear acrylic lacquer finish
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PRS Dragon







Rob Hill of Cincinatti, Ohio, also owns the Paul Reed Smith Dragon & Wizard guitar.
Rob is a big fan of dragons and the PRS axe. He asked me if I couldcopy the the famous inlaid dragon design in another PRS body.I said I'dgive it a shot... and this is what we came up with. The design had tobe altered somewhat to accomidate the different bridge and allow fordepth in carving the wood. The left wing was swept over to the areabetween the pickups.
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Dragon Den #6

Custom built for Cyril Preece of Tamworth in Staffordshire, UK





It started out as #6 of 10 limited edition "Dragons Den" Stratstyle bodies I designed.It's the first one of the series that receiveda red airbrush treatment. Many hours of yellow, orange, red, blue,black and white tinted lacqers. I also gave it a special customengraved "tortoise shell" pickguard. The pickups are hot wound "Li'lKillers" from GFT. The tuners are special, too. Gearless Steinbergers.Idreamed about this one. A fire red, tortoise shell Dragons Den. Thevery next day, Cy emailed me from England and practically ordered itright out of my dream. Really.Cy also asked me to cut an access notchfor the neck truss adjuster under the pickguard, by the heel, so hecould adjust the neck without removing it. I went one better. There's aremovable section of pickguard over the notch... so he doesn't evenhave to remove the pickguard and strings. I like that.

I'll doubtless do it again.
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Cort Dragon






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SGT. ED YOUNG'S "Dragon Guitar"





Ed commissioned this piece to display with his exquisite show bike "The Red Dragon".
The guitar started out as a mahogany body Epiphone G-400.
Paint by George ... Accent by Jim & Tina
Custom Guitar Stand by Steve Spence
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Sam Bone





* Body Custom Designed for
  Sam Deo - Pequannock,N.J.
* Ash Stratocaster style body from Warmoth
* Completed July 4th, 2002
* Inspired by George Lynch's Scull guitar

He wanted a copy of the George Lynch scull guitar. I said I didn'tcopy other artists work... plus I thought Lynch's axe looked likesomething you'd get free with a whopper at Burger King....but I'd behappy to make a more realistic version of it, if he'd like. Sam thoughtthat was a good idea... so we came up with the design you see. Samthought up the broken bone and the rib cage and I added the internalorgans.
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The Wangcaster



This started out as a Cort Stratocaster copy.
I bought it on-line. But when I took it apart it turned out thebody was plywood. So I decided to have some fun. I made a new body outof Cherry wood,
added some maple for a new headstock, made a new pickguard and... voila!
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1974 Gibson SG Standard



Honduras Mahogany

Bought at eBay on-line auction. Broken Bigsby tailpiece, scratched pickguard & bent tuners.
I replaced the missing Bigsby parts (spring & arm), added newgrove tuners & made a new custom pickguard, incorproating theclassic "The Gibson" logo.
Then I did my old favorite SG "violin" treatment along with a deeply carved