Sully Guitars thread

Thanks Jay!

 

Picking up where I left off:

I've got another class coming up on the 18th, so I need to get all of my '71 work done and off for finishing very quickly. So, here we go!

Quilt top over limba '71 had the neck glued in; here it is with the carved top:



GoPro attached (I'm filming the build process of 4-5 of them) and I initially start here to blend the heel and contour the cutaway



The heel/cutaway contouring process moves to the vise



Done and final sanded



Spanish cedar/koa '71:

Side dots drilled using the handy dandy Kauer side dot jig (So glad I hassled him to make those)



Neck shapery




Neck glued in.



Heel blending/cutaway contouring process



Final sanded



Oh...and I made a matching truss rod cover.



Myrtle top/chambered 1pc black limba body '71

Bois de Rose fretboard inlaid, board sanded, and time to clean out the slots. Jesus, this stuff is brittle. Pretty, but brittle.



Cleaned up



Fun with binding. I always wonder why I do this....



And then I remember "because it looks awesome when it's done!"




Stainless frets in



Neck glued in



Spanish cedar '71 w/quilt top and headplate

Not too far along on this one just yet, but it's currently unclaimed. It has to get a floyd, but it's available for purchase.

Top joined and screwed to blank



Get in the bag!



ooh, pretty!



Neck blank cut and it's a nice fit. Good times!



Spanish cedar 624T

This one is just about ready for paint; it'll get lime green flake on the face of the body, black back and sides. Good times.



Neck shapery.



Looks like we have some slight figure in the ebony. Sweet!



Finally for now, here's some sparkle:

Before:



After:



Sully

 

Thanks! I'm caught up on email, so if you haven't heard back from me, maybe shoot me a pm.

Sully

 

Michael Schenker/Randy Rhoads inspired paint job:


Elita #3/5 just about ready to go off to paint:


Red flake 624 body back from paint:


'71 back from paint. Love this one; it's got an angel step quilt top with a blue burst around the bottom 1/2 and a very slight horizontal (vertical?) fade. This is one of the first batches of guitars to have the new chrome logos, and I'm super excited with how they came out!





As of this moment, it's mostly assembled and wired up; I've just got a couple of tweaks and it's ready to ship.

Sully

 

Last weekend my friend Pat came up from Houston with his Ormsby Hypemachine and his Sully Elita to hang out a bit. It was great to see the Elita again, and I was really interested in checking out the Hypemachine. What a guitar! The multiscale took me a bit of getting used to, but if you don't look where you're playing, it seemed to help speed up the acclimation process.

I figured that it was a nice photo opportunity, as there aren't too many people that have an Ormsby and a Sully. Yet.





I had to mess with Perry a bit...



Sully

 

I need to make a spring cavity cover, but other than that, it's done. Here are some more shots:








Sully




Sully

 

Thanks! I've got a bunch more in the paint process including the first carved top model.

Sully

 

Brief update:

Carved top '71 #1






'71 Limited in dark orange trans





Neck thru Raven in trans blue; this thing took on a life of its own and it reminds me of an old shipwreck, or something that you'd find at the bottom of the ocean. In a good way. The tint really brings out the character of the black limba and spalted maple.









624 bass






Neck through Supernova





7 string 624.


Fist CNC'ed body is successful. Good times!



Let the contouring begin....




Tons more, but that's good for now.

Sully

 

Got this back from paint yesterday, just need to wire it. Really not a fan of this particular headstock with this model, but that's why you make prototypes. This was proto #3, and I've built a bunch more since this one, but it sat for ages and I finally decided to say ".... it" and send it for paint. The experiments on this guitar was finalizing the neck/heel blend, a different headstock, and moving the bridge pickup closer to the bridge.



Sully

 

Tales from the paint booth. This will get a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit more blue fogged in up at the top, but you get the idea.



Sully

 

I think I've posted earlier photos of this one, but if not, here you go. Spanish cedar body/neck, killer quilt top and headplate, recessed floyd, etc. I decided to go with black binding with a thinner white binding ply on the inside. The guitar will be trans black, and if I'm lucky, it will be with me at NAMM.


All binding done, and I wiped with naphtha really quick to highlight grain. What a top!



Close up shot with an inlay variant; instead of double slashes at the 12th, this one has two sets of triple slashes. I wasn't sure how I liked it, but others have ordered this pattern since, so that's a good thing!



Neck fretted, shaped, and glued in



Time to get rid of that heel:



Much better!



Sully

 

So, you're telling me that this pic probably isn't much help, then.