December 2014 Guitar of the Month

[ponch]

Good luck peeps. Such a stellar month again.

[wokkaboy]

yes best of luck to all entrants I think any entry can win !
Also best of luck to the judges and Barge being guest judge, glad I'm not judging !

[stan]

I think they'll just have to draw one out of the hat this month - it's that close

[jarrod]

A stirling month of awesome guitars. Good luck all

[ponch]

It's about now when the nerves start setting in. Looking forward to the feedback!

[adam]

We've heard from 5 of the 6 judges, just waiting on the last one. Hopefully have the results up tonight.


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[adam]

And the results are in. Thanks to the judges for their scores and considered comments. Here are the eleven entries, in submission order, with comments from all the judges:

1. Rocmof’s LPA-1

Some serious upgrades make for an interesting looking guitar. You just want to have a play on this one if only to try out the switches. But the finish is very nice too. Bit busy in the pickup space but if you're a shredder, who cares!!??
Middle pup ring not square to the others, overall a very nice job.
I really love the "Golden Oak" stain, it brings out the grain beautifully and you've done a good job with the gloss. I wasn't really diggin' the 3 different pups though, and I felt along with the extra switches it all seemed a little too busy for my tastes.
Nice guitar pity we can’t really see it due to photography but that said it seems well finished good choice of colour.
Credible effort. Nice work with the extra pickup and electronics! Must be able to get all kindsa noise out of that one!
Simple and elegant, well made and superbly finished with some tasty upgrages. Nice work RocMof

2. Andrew Osborne’s LP-1M

Very clean looking guitar, nicely put together. Guitars asymmetrical so the offset headstock certainly differentiates this one. Would have been nice to see the headstock claimed by Andrew with a logo or similar.
Great job! Nice personalisation with the decals and headstock.
Great attention to detail with this build and a really nice colour choice and finish, lovin' that headstock too.
LP-1M Good colour choice (front and back) it really makes the grain stand out. Bonus point for the personalised headstock well put together.
Nice job. Well applied stain and a nice overall effect.

3. VH2580’s ES-1GT

Clearly survived the wiring long enough to get his entry into GOTM. Prefer to see some colour contrast at the neck. There's a lot to like about this guitar, from the colour choice, the headstock and truss rod cover. The PUP's are a great choice too. Definitely one to be played.
Nice, finish is fab it has depth mmm. Well made looks great.
Very nice job – nice clean lines and the flame has come through beautifully. Wonderful attention to detail with the gold bling throughout.
Yeah, this one is very special, it's a great colour choice because I don't recall seeing anything like it before. Those flames have really popped.
A really classy build and impeccable finish...stunning!!

4. GavinTuner’s TLA-1

Nicely done. Only issue I could pick up was that Volume AND tone look high? Interesting choice of bridge (not being string through the body. Headstock looks good too but exactly what we see delivered by Gav.
A build of this quality deserved a recessed jack to really do it justice.
An amazing finish on this one, the black works perfectly with that figure in contrast to the classic neck. Unfortunately I couldn't really get my head around that pickguard color:-(
Once again Gavin puts up a beauty fantastic finish.
Not normally a massive tortoise shell fan, but that one is a fantastic complement to the guitar. Again – beautifully finished by Gav with a bucket of character. Well done.
Nice work Gav, any Tele collector would love to have this in his collection.

5. Daveh_77’s LP-1M

An interesting colour combination the blue and white, silver pickups and bridge with gold knobs. I think I would have preferred to see the colour of the knobs changed. Would have liked to see some shaping on the headstock and something to claim the guitar.
Only thing missing is some shape to the headstock, otherwise you have built a nice Guitar.
An outstanding first attempt, that blue works so well with the mahogany, and then finished to a really pro standard. Shame you didn't do a bit of shaping to the headstock to make this thing really stand out.
What an amazing first build. Great colour, well constructed.
Blue really works for this one. Love the combination of cream and blue – ½ point off for the gold knobs (cream / silver may have been a better overall effect) and the lack of a logo – you’ve done a nice job – own it!
Another straightforward approch and good execution. You done a great job getting a nice gloss finish.

6. Ben Griffin’s FVB-4

The finish on this is great. Awesome contrasts and grabs the attention right away. My son is 14 and if he could produce this I could give up and let him take over. Excellent. Can't hardly wait to see what you do next Ben.
Well done young man!
From what I could see it looks like you've done a really nice job, you simply can't beat showing off the natural beauty of the timber, would have like some more pics though.
Only 2 photos they look good but hard to give a score but on what is there.
nicely done – colours are a nice fit and they look well executed. Needed a few more photos to make sure and reach the heights of GOTM.
Looks like a Rockin' bass, from what we can see. I think your photos let you down a bit, but I'm sure they'll imrove along with your building.

7. Twins4Me’s ST-1

Looks a little rough in place and has not been intonated so cannot be in tune. the inlay work looks very nice and certainly makes for an interesting guitar. I'm pleased to see a fully utilised headstock too which scores points in my book!
Beatuful job. Origional headstock and decal wins extra points every time.
I absolutely love where you're heading with the design here, it shows some interesting and original ideas, I just felt things felt a little rough round the edges and unfinished. Having said that, bearing in mind this was a firt attempt, if you keep up this sort of design work and think about your masking work and headstock contours you'll be in the winners circle for sure.
Lots of personal touches in this build from the type of finish to the mahogany edge. It looks well put together and nicely finished I like this Skelocaster.
nice colour combo and I like how the colour has been used sparingly to provide a point of interest for the guitar. Inlay has been well done for a first attempt and has given the guitar an interesting effect. Overall very credible first attempt.
If this is your first attempt you must be pretty happy. Nice straightforward approach but very well executed.

8. Scott J’s ST-1

The finish looks extremely rough but that seems to be the charm of this one including the branding!
That is just so rock and roll!
I never really get that excited about the Strat builds unless they're something a bit different, but I'm actually really loving what you've done here. Excellent colour choice, a pro finish and some nice custom detail work. Awesome!
Looks like a workman like , well constructed, quiet industrial good colour choice. Nice little personal touches.
great overall effect – love the hazard tape on the back of the guitar. May be a scrapper and industrial, but I like the simplicity of it – looks like a great workhorse!
Good job on this one Scott that finish really brought out the best of the basswood.

9. Wokka’s EXA-1

With the amount of time Wokka spends in the NR pouring beer its amazing he gets time to finish an entry each month. A very polished finish once again from the Overlord.
Minus 1/2 point for using prohibited finishes Woks but i hear a roumor that Hetfeild has sent his heavies to aquire this one Woks....
A really classy build and impeccable finish...stunning!!
I would own this guitar in a heartbeat, the way the black highlights the ash figure to a tea and the professional standard of this build just oozes class, Unfortunately I thought the headstock shape could have done with a bit more refinement and prevented this from being a 10/10 build.
Nice job Wokka great finish good choice of colour, nice mirror. Well constructed as usual.
better than average Wokka Shred Machine! Wokka has pulled out the stops here – the headstock veneer suits the body and look and there is an overarching simplicity to the whole thing. Beautifully finished and all.
Wokka your builds just get better and better, hard to fault this at all. I know a lot of metal heads who would drool over this.

10 Denis’s IB-5

Not sure about what happened here, but the suggestion was that the plans changed halfway through. That seems entirely plausible. Some creativity used and the glossy finish seems good.
Love the origional approach wih the paint work. A really well built Bass.
If I could find more pics of this bass I probably would have scored higher because it looks just so freakin'well done. If the rest of the guitar looks as unbelievable as this we could have been talking a perfect 10.
Great first build really well put together, great airbrush work.
This one caught me by surprise... pleasant surprise. I really dig this look. Not everyone's cuppa, I imagine, but definitely mine. Good job Nigel.

11. Andrew Walkers STA-1

Popping the grain has worked beautifully. Awesome colour choice and deep rich finish to boot. Justice has been done to the fine ash grain on this guitar. Only critique would be that it hasn't been intonated as yet, but this looks to be another fine example of a PBG kit with a quality finish.
GASP! That is all.......
The headstock shape wasn't doing it for me and I thought the back body cuts could have flowed a bit better though. The way you've captured the natural beauty of the grain with that flame technique has been executed so well, the finish is absolutely beautiful, it really looks just like a bought one.
Andrew you have done it again fantastic finish, well constructed, nice personalising on the headstock. The grain jumps out at you.
Another straightforward approach and the execution looks flawless. Hard to fault at all.

And third place goes to:


Wokka's EXA-1

In second place we have:


Andrew Walker's STA-1

And the Winner is...


VH2580's ES-1GT

Congrats Tony!

[WeirdBits]

Congrats Tony, a great looking ES. Well done Andrew and Wokka, both are excellent builds.

[ponch]

Yeah! Nice one Tony. A very well deserved win for you mate. And a big congrats Wokka. You know I'm a sucker for anything black and pointy.
Thanks as well to the judges for the feedback, should have intonated her, I knew that was gonna hurt me! Next time I'll have all my bits on hand before entering, waiting on a dB nut I only just ordered, was gonna do the set up then . Thanks again guys!

[vh2580]

Thanks for that guys.
Congrats to everyone else,particularly Andrew and Wokka. There are some beautiful guitars continuously entered every month and to participate and learn as you go is rewarding enough.
Gonna have to have a beer now.