MIMF

Here comes a guitar I started building last December and finished just a couple days ago. It was a commissioned build, an order from a friend who runs a restaurant and wanted a "house guitar" for visiting bands and troubadours. He lives down the same street in Helsinki and his restaurant in Tammisaari 100 km west of here is also just a couple hundred metres from my workshop. Last November we went to see our old 80's metal favourites Saxon and Anvil and came back to my place for a drink. He got inspired by the instruments hanging on my wall and asked me to build him one. He's a drummer himself and doesn't play the guitar, but he wanted one with the colours and the logo of his restaurant Albatros (Yes, that's with one "s", that's what the place is called). The build had a lot of inlay work and required a lot of precision crafting. That was a challenge, but I seem to have pulled it off. I suggested myself that it should have MOP bird inlays in the fretboard and I'm glad I did. It turned out really nice.

So he wanted a blue Les Paul type solid body with a flame top, white binding and self-wound pickups. I handed the instrument over last night.

These are thye specs:

Body alder, flamed birch top, colour blue, white ABS plastic binding, clear acrylic lacquer finish

Set neck maple 24,75 "/ 629 mm scale, 2-way truss rod, rosewood fingerboard 22 medium jumbo frets, MOP bird inlays, white ABS plastic binding, bone nut, NYDE logo MOP headstock inlay, clear acrylic lacquer finish

Neck pickup NYDE AlNiCo5 Tradbucker chrome humbucker 8 kΩ, bridge pickup NYDE AlNiCo5 Tradbucker chrome humbucker 9 kΩ, 2 volume pots with treble bleed filters, 2 tone pots, 3-way switch, push-pull coil tap swtch on neck pickup tone pot, white bell knobs

Tune-o-matic bridge, stoptail string holder, Sperzel type rear disc locking tuners, 19:1 ratio

chrome hardware

The pickups also turned out quite nice. I wound them to a moderate resistance, 8 kΩ neck and 9 kΩ bridge. The neck pickup is creamy and mellow without being muddy, with a round solid low end and flute-like highs. The bridge pickup is bright but not harsh. Through the overdrive channel of my amp it's a true rock pickup with a long sustain an a lot of guts. When split the neck pickup sounds like a vintage strat neck pickup and the bridge pickup is quite tele-like. Too bad my sound clips became humongous in file size for some reason, so you can't hear them now. I'll record new sound clips later, inshallah.

This is it for now. I have a load of process pics too which I'll post later.

Sweet. I love the blue flame.

Love the color! I also like the directions that you made the flame-pattern V point, compared to how most other guitars are. It matches the theme of the inlays.

Thanks, Nick. Prior to starting the build I had a long discussion with the client about how the instrument should look and I kept sending him photos as the work advanced. The colours are the emblem colours of his restaurant. I made two different sets of bird-shaped fretboard inlays: one with the wing tips upwards and one with the wing tips downwards. He chose the former one and I think that was a good decision. Now, just like you said, the wood grain pattern and the inlays go together nicely. I still have some of that flamed birch left, at least for a few more instruments, and the local woodyard always has some in store in case I run out.

Great color! Nice job.

Nice!
Thats pretty tight flame for birch, where did you get that from?

Thanks, Terry & Tristan. The wood is from Fiskarsin laatupuu in Fiskars, Raasepori. I get most of my wood from there. The basic colour is Maston Clou water soluble powder stain (tint # 160 Blue) directly on the wood. I have also sprayed the sides with very thin clearcoat tinted with Stewmac's blue Color Tone stain. With 7 layers of clear and thorough buffing it did turn out nice.

Sharp looking!

Thanks, David. I hope it's in frequent use also, not just a display Item.

Nice job Markku. Love the top.