Jim Bonnell's distressed electric

[Jim Bonnell]

I know, I know.... fake distressing of guitars is blasphemy. I just couldn't help myself and I had a lot of fun with it. The good thing is if you drop something on it while you're working all the better.
Alder body
African mahogany neck
IRW fingerboard
2 of my own pickups Thanks to Mark Wybierala for the pickup cover idea he posted on one of his build a while back.
I distressed the hardware that came mostly from Guitarfetish
I was happy with the way the pickups turned out. I wound the two coils in the humbucker about 5% off from each other and it gave it a pleasing slightly different sound.
Diamond plate pick guard and headstock overlay home made

[Jim Bonnell]

And the headstock.

[Eddie McRae]

I can't decide if that's retro-cool or metal-cool or emo-cool, so to be safe, I'll just say all 3! Nice! And btw....no complaints here on distressing. I love an aged vintage look...and while I don't do alot of "relicing", I DO an awful lot of aged and vintage finishes including acid-etch aging hardware. Again...nice job!

[Mark Swanson]

Good job Jim! You pulled that off really well.

[Jim Bonnell]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate that. I thought I was going to catch a lot of flak on the distressing.

[Jason Rodgers]

Dang, that is SO cool! The diamond plate is brilliantly executed, and the wear marks are believable. With the metal pick guard, the tele bridge isn't out of place. I have no beef with distressing or relic-ing: that's just plain art!

[Patrick Kirkham]

Nice one man. Kind of makes me think of Trussart. The body is one of my favorites. My baritone/synth has an Asian L.P. bod cut like that. Relicing and distressing are o.k. ( especially when you drop stuff on the build, whoops!)

[JC Whitney]

I'm torn... killer design and execution, and I'm particularly fond of the aged diamond plate. My only issue is with the incredibly realistic bridge grunge. It gives me the willies... like I need to run out and get a tetanus shot.

[Arnt Rian]

I like it a lot, and I want it! What's going on with the neck pickup, does it have something over it, or...?

[Jim Bonnell]

Thanks for the positive input. The neck pickup does have a cover. http://www.wdmusic.com/pickup_beauty_ring_chrome.html
with fine mesh stainless steel screen from McMaster Carr I think. Once again credit for that idea goes to Mark W. I loved the idea when I saw it on his guitar and thought it would fit well with the worn industrial look of this one.

[Steve Senseney]

I like it too!

I really expected something with sea water or ocean effects.

[Jim Bonnell]

It's not done yet Steve. I still have to install the rudder and prop. I've had enough ocean effects for one life time already!

[Dave Anderson]

I drove down to Jims for a visit yesterday and got to play this one and it is a fine guitar.The action is
just about perfect and the neck feels great.The pick ups that he wound himself sound great-love that humbucker growl!
And the relic job is very realistic feeling-just like its been played for many years.I didn't want to put it down! Really good job Jim.
I want it too,Maybe we can work out a trade <g>

[David Schwab]

I typically loathe distressed guitars, but this one looks really cool!

[Markku Nyytäjä]

I too have my doubts about distressing new instruments, but this one does looks acceptable. There's a Mad Max spirit to it. The diamond plate looks appropriately aggressive and the whole instrument looks battle worn. Cool.

[Randy Roberts]

Man Jim, it looks like you've kept the hardware on that thing in the bait well for a couple years. The longer I stare at the pictures the stronger the attraction is. She's like the girl you really wanted to date in high school because of her reputation, but were afraid you'd be seen with.
Nice work!

[Jim Bonnell]

Thanks Randy.....I think.

[Henrique Schneiter]

Most of my new finished instruments come out a little distressed... but that's not intentional. <g>

I don't really like "reliced" instruments, but the idea of having a workhorse guitar that you won't worry about spill, ding and scratch is attractive.

[Mike Dotson]

Pretty cool. I really like the Supro-ish shape, German carve edges and diamond plate.

[John Kingma]

Pretty cool. I really like the Supro-ish shape, German carve edges and diamond plate.

Yeah, what Mike said.

Very cool looking guitar.