April GOTM

[Adam Barnes]

i love the colour, its so unique and unusual, great job Adam, you can see the time spent on this one.

Thanks nitro but ithink your sg has got this one hands down.

[Brendan]

Last bids for this month's comp, the bar's closing .

[nitroburner1000]

Thanks nitro but ithink your sg has got this one hands down.

never say never until the fat lady sing.

[Adam Barnes]

never say never until the fat lady sing.

I can hear the fat lady singing nitro

[Brendan]

Ok - entries have closed - any more and I'll be opening the May comp shortly.

[Adam Barnes]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynqv9mp55l...12-11.wav?dl=0
Rough demo

[Brendan]

Before I get to the comments,

Just a note to the participants - Only 4 guitars this month, but I must say all were great builds, hard to separate them, you should all be proud - well done.

So to the feedback - in submission order...

Nitroburner's SG-2:
"I do love this guitar, but it can't seem to work out if its a shred machine, or a piece of antique furniture."
Truly a unique SG, very old-world hand-crafted furniture feel to it with the walnut veneer and bevelling. The finish looks excellent. Custom plastics work nicely with the build, but the pickguard is a little too wild for my taste. Excellent mods and tweaks to realise your vision for the build. A gold jack plate would better complement the other hardware.
Mods are off the chart. So much to like here. Kudos to Nitro! Keep blowing our minds, dude.
Excellent custom mods and you got over several issues during the build. Awesome looking and sounding axe well done Nitro.
Nitro, this is a great build with a heap of work and mods, there's hardly any of the kit left.
A lot of work in the top, the rewire and all your custom touches. Everything beautifully executed and to a great standard. A ripper of an SG, well done.
Highly customised labour of love with it's share of challenges that cropped up throughout the build. Nice base colour that contrasts well with the walnut coloured veneer and speckled scratch plate plus gold hardware adds some additional bling. Good to see a sound demo video that demonstrated the various sounds available from the pickups and wiring configuration

Hodgepodge's JK-1:
Making the JK your own. Angular, vibrant and a distinctive design - both with colour and body mods. The headstock shape suits the body well and echoes the cutaway for the upper frets. Very nice result.
Very nice turquoise blue with black contrasting bits. Additional cutaway mod to provide more fret access doesn't look out of place and is complimented by the blunt angular headstock shape. A build diary would have been good to see this axe to life.
Hodepodge, this is a great first build, with a great mod with the fret access cut, and cool self designed pickguard. A budget finish that looks pretty cool, you've truly made it your own. A players axe you can be proud of, nice job
"I love the colour on this guitar.
I like the colour but think the white pickups are too much of a contrast. Black pups would have suited better IMO. Like the custom stripes and mod to the shape.
Oh man, what a killer! Very well put together, great style and vision. Those chevrons really compliment the design of the guitar.

Chuck's ST-1M:
Surftastic. The theme, the paintjob, the modifications, the headstock curls, all combine to create a stunning build. Great effort to achieve the matching paint design mirroring the board, the only downside being that the trem cover looks a little stark in contrast. Good choice with the Freeway switch to give you all the sounds the two pickups can offer. Next step - finding someone who can 3D print you a multi-colour trem cover to match the paint design.
What a cool themed guitar - i bet it plays great surf music. Some great mods and some mad scientist wiring, and body shaping. A lot of work here , with a great finish that is eye catching. All the details are there , and it looks amazing, great work.
Love the surf theme and the paint job that matches the surfboard. Only negative I don't like how the trem cover covers up the pattern on the back
Pure, unadulterated class. The reshaping is subtle and effective, more of a Duo Sonic than a strat now. Great attention to detail..... except the stringing, man, go easy on the winds there, Chuck!
"Everything from the re-shaped body to the wave cut in the headstock serves a unique and well executed vision."

Adam Barnes' ES1-TL:
Subtle, smooth and elegant. The back of the body and neck makes me think beach and the front makes me think beach house. There's a restraint with this build that makes it all the more desirable, a tasteful vintage feel. It's definitely something that I want to pick up and play. Fantastic effort to achieve such clean and crisp striping using stain, and it really works with that colour. The only detraction for me is the headstock shape. I understand the decision, but it needed some shaping to go with the great convergent stripes.
"A guitar this well finished deserves a shaped headstock. It just feels incomplete without one."
Build looks good but would have liked more depth in the blue stain
Really dig the stain job. Way more restrained than I could manage and it has paid off well. Would have liked to see some shaping on the headstock, but otherwise very, very nice.
Well done getting this one up Adam. The finish reminds me of faded jeans, and it has lots of appeal. Mega time and effort on your finish, I think it turned out nicely. The stripes work well. The pickup swap will make it a beast, very cool. Interesting choice to not shape the headstock, but you have blended it in well with the body theme, and it gives a straight string pull - nice. Good work, these are a tricky beast to build.

[Brendan]

And the winner - Congratulations to Chuck with his swell Surfcaster! (sorry it had to be said).



The Judges loved the themed guitar and how it turned out. Well done Chuck!

[JB RETRO]

Well done Chuck concept to completion. Just another GOTM to your collection . Well done everyone else

[nitroburner1000]

Congrats Chuck, well deserved.