# My Sully Guitars Build



## patsanger (Nov 16, 2014)

Many of you may know Sully from his YouTube channel and his guitars. (Sully Guitars).

I have been a fan for awhile and I got to go to his guitar body building course (I wrote it up here). I had been wanting to get a custom from him and was planning it when he put up an offer I couldn't refuse - he was going to make an explorer body style inspired by Lita Ford's old black Hamer standard but with his twist.

I am a huge fan of Lita, love her black Hamer and I love explorers and a Sully explorer was too hard to resist. He has named this style the Elita and if you want to get one, you better contact him soon as he normally doesn't make this style.

Specifications:
Body and neck woods - Black Limba
Fretboard - Ebony with block surround inlays
Color - Black
Binding - Ivory - all over - front and back body as well
Pickups - Habenero pickups from GJ2

The start - Giant 1 piece black limba that I asked Sully if he could make the body fit - He literally had just picked this up earlier that day and it still needed to be cleaned up.








Sully then sent a quick update - 










Sully sent me a pick of the fretboard - 





And then Sully had some fun with it!





Update from yesterday - 
Mine's on the right with an ebony headplate and Black Limba all the way (Elita1). The one on the left is all Spanish Cedar. (Elita2).





Close up of the headstock before binding scraping - 





Prepping for neck route





Neck Routing...





Dry fitting the neck - the fb is not glued on yet





I'll keep updating as this goes. This is going to be amazing.


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## patsanger (Nov 16, 2014)

Forgot the video of the body getting thickness sanded

<edited> working on getting the vid here...


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## Purelojik (Nov 16, 2014)

sully does some amazing work. i've followed his work for a while now and hes gives great advice over at Luthier Talk. Plus he likes tacos


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## patsanger (Nov 16, 2014)

He knows tacos - we had them during the build course


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## immortalx (Nov 16, 2014)

Of course we know Sully! That crazy motherf&cker builds some awesome guitars and best of all, he's a great guy


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## esp_eraser (Nov 16, 2014)

Looking great Pat
Black on black with reverse headstock. Metal as!


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## Garfish (Nov 16, 2014)

Looking great!


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## VSK Guitars (Nov 17, 2014)

Awesome man I love Sully's builds, really dig that headstock shape!


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## ElysianGuitars (Nov 17, 2014)

Damn Sully for taking all the black limba from Wood World


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## SullyGuitars (Nov 17, 2014)

ElysianGuitars said:


> Damn Sully for taking all the black limba from Wood World



Oh, did I ever! They kept it in the back for me.


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## Renkenstein (Nov 17, 2014)

I've learned a lot from Sully videos, threads, comments, and advice. Solid dude and super clean builder. Stoked to see this one.


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## metallidude3 (Nov 17, 2014)

I like it a lot. I'm not a huge explorer guy but those headstocks are really cool! Keep it up!


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## Sicarius (Nov 18, 2014)

So you're the one that got the Black Limba. 

I really want the other one, but alas, broke.


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## patsanger (Nov 18, 2014)

Which other one? The other explorer? I think that's another client's already...

Sully is cool about payment plans - that's how I am doing it.


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## awesomeaustin (Nov 18, 2014)

F*cking win.


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## Sicarius (Nov 18, 2014)

patsanger said:


> Which other one? The other explorer? I think that's another client's already...
> 
> Sully is cool about payment plans - that's how I am doing it.



When he showed them on fb yesterday, it seemed like neither had owners at the time.


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## patsanger (Nov 18, 2014)

Oh - no, mine was contracted way back when he first had the idea. I don't know about the other one, but I believe someone else has that. He had quite a few builds ahead of me so now that the others are at various stages he's starting mine and the other one.

I think his point was that if you wanted a Sully Elita you need to order soon.


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## Sicarius (Nov 18, 2014)

Can you PM me his payment plan methods? I'm just curious right now, if it's reasonable enough I may jump in.


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## SullyGuitars (Nov 18, 2014)

Sicarius said:


> Can you PM me his payment plan methods? I'm just curious right now, if it's reasonable enough I may jump in.



(best to get in touch with me through my site)


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## ASoC (Nov 18, 2014)

These explorers look might interesting, and I'm really tempted to jump on board

Guess I'd better get to the contact page on his site


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## Killemall1983 (Nov 19, 2014)

How thick is that body going to be?
It will be interesting to see this one finished. Black limba is one of the few woods i havnt used that i really want to. 
Adding more explorer competition though sully, we must fight to the death.


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## Renkenstein (Nov 19, 2014)

Killemall1983 said:


> How thick is that body going to be?
> It will be interesting to see this one finished. Black limba is one of the few woods i havnt used that i really want to.
> Adding more explorer competition though sully, we must fight to the death.


 
My money's on you...you've got the pointy death sticks.


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## patsanger (Nov 19, 2014)

Sicarius said:


> Can you PM me his payment plan methods? I'm just curious right now, if it's reasonable enough I may jump in.



Sorry - actually it's best to contact Sully directly - don't worry - he's not one of those email lost in the wilderness people. Anytime I want to talk to him I hear from him back really quickly. He keeps up with contacts.

Go for it!


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## patsanger (Nov 19, 2014)

Killemall1983 said:


> How thick is that body going to be?


I believe it was planed to 1 3/4".


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## SullyGuitars (Nov 24, 2014)

patsanger said:


> I believe it was planed to 1 3/4".



Yep! It's a little thicker than Gibson standard.


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## patsanger (Nov 25, 2014)

Updates 
Doing some work on the neck and fretboard






just a few clamps


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## patsanger (Nov 25, 2014)

And some binding


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## Renkenstein (Nov 25, 2014)

If that fretboard glue joint fails, you can blame me. I recomended those clamps to Sully in a thread over at LuthierTalk. Looks like he bought a bunch! 

...it won't fail, btw. Those clamps are flippin righteous for the money.


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## Killemall1983 (Nov 25, 2014)

Renkenstein said:


> If that fretboard glue joint fails, you can blame me. I recomended those clamps to Sully in a thread over at LuthierTalk. Looks like he bought a bunch!
> 
> ...it won't fail, btw. Those clamps are flippin righteous for the money.


Linky?


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## patsanger (Nov 25, 2014)

Are they the Harbour Freight ones? Those things are awesome and cheap...


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## SullyGuitars (Nov 25, 2014)

They are.


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## patsanger (Nov 25, 2014)

I love going in with a coupon and emptying the rack.


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## capoeiraesp (Nov 26, 2014)

That's a sick headstock!


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## patsanger (Nov 26, 2014)

Scraping binding


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## immortalx (Nov 26, 2014)

I just love the contrast on this neck and how the headstock shape is clearly defined by the binding


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## KnightroExpress (Nov 26, 2014)

Awesome all around. I really dig the inlays.


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## skeels (Nov 29, 2014)

Sullytastic!


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## patsanger (Dec 7, 2014)

Sully's doing a kickstarter and I backed it. I've also done the guitar body build with him and it would be cool to have him upgrade a lot of stuff to expand what he is doing.

http://kck.st/12rZ6Bn


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## patsanger (Dec 8, 2014)

Fretting! Steel!














So happy!


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## Purelojik (Dec 8, 2014)

man i really want that craftsman table... looks so sick. mines flimsy as hell


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## Renkenstein (Dec 8, 2014)

I've never owned one, but I can immediately imagine several different scenarios where one would be useful...esp since the vise and dogs on my bench don't work well at all.


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## patsanger (Dec 8, 2014)

I have the cheap black and decker one and it is quite sturdy... 
I think that one is bigger than mine.


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## Blue1970Cutlass (Dec 9, 2014)

Block outline inlays are cool 

Nice to see a few more explorer builds as of late


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## patsanger (Dec 10, 2014)

Carving Time!






















About 75% profiled.... wheee!!!!!!

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Support Sully's Kickstarter - I did - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/968033833/sully-guitars-workshop-upgrade


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## Renkenstein (Dec 10, 2014)

Unusual lighting for Sully's Garage. Normally the garage door is wide open. Neck carve is looking great, but I expect nothing less from Sully.


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## patsanger (Dec 11, 2014)

It was really cold yesterday - so maybe that's why....


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## patsanger (Dec 13, 2014)

Updates:
Body - 




Carving the back

















Test fit some random hardware - it will end up nickel - 









neck not glued yet - still some work on the body then glue and off for paint!





So excited!


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## Killemall1983 (Dec 13, 2014)

Finally some tune o matic action!


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## shikamaru (Dec 14, 2014)

Explorer with reverse headstock = pure win ! this is turning out great !


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## patsanger (Dec 15, 2014)

Update! Neck Glued in! Binding and final sanding then off for paint!





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Support Sully's Kickstarter - I did - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...rkshop-upgrade


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## Killemall1983 (Dec 15, 2014)

interesting, he glues the neck in with the tenon full size?


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## SullyGuitars (Dec 15, 2014)

Nope; I trim it but save the offcut to assist with clamping.


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## Killemall1983 (Dec 16, 2014)

That was my second guess.


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## patsanger (Jan 11, 2015)

Looking so awesome! From Instagram...


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## patsanger (Jan 16, 2015)

Elita 1 & 2 getting worked on. 2 is not mine and is Spanish cedar and light. Sully says he will only build 5 total of these.


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## patsanger (Feb 6, 2015)

Update: no pics - sorry! It's been shipped off to get painted. Now it's just some more waiting


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## Renkenstein (Feb 6, 2015)

Paint means clearcoat, right?!?


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## patsanger (Feb 6, 2015)

Renkenstein said:


> Paint means clearcoat, right?!?



Nope - none more black. The vision on this one was to be a tip of the hat to Pepper, Lita Ford's black Hamer standard from the Runaways. 

Sully just happened to get in a whale of a single piece of black limba (which was the wood of choice for the guitar anyway) and I joked that he could angle the body and cut an explorer shape from it. He did it. It's a lovely piece of marbled black limba, but we are sticking to our guns. She will be black.


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## Renkenstein (Feb 6, 2015)

*GROAAAAN*

That's ok. Your build, your rules. 

Did you see that CNC he posted on FB? Big boy toys.


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## patsanger (Feb 6, 2015)

Yup. That's at a group collective that he belongs to so he can use it without incurring ownership costs. 

Don't worry. Elita 1 will still be beautiful.


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## Renkenstein (Feb 7, 2015)

Ahhh...I thought that was a kickstarter purchase.


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## patsanger (Feb 7, 2015)

At that size - that would probably be most of the kickstarter


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## KnightroExpress (Feb 7, 2015)

If not all of it!


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## SullyGuitars (Feb 8, 2015)

Yeah, it'll be black.  I get why some are bummed about that, but I think it'll look awesome when it's all finished. 

Renk, that CNC is massive; there's no way the kickstarter fund would have covered the cost of that behemoth! 

Sully


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## patsanger (Mar 24, 2015)

Paint update


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## patsanger (Jun 16, 2015)

More pics!
Picking it up on the 29th!






Comparing possible knobs...










It's so beautiful!!!!


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## Renkenstein (Jun 17, 2015)

Ok...I'm good with the black paint. 100%

Gorgeous!


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## Millul (Jun 17, 2015)

You know what would've been - IMHO, od course - even more epic? "Non more black" top as you went for (gorgeous) and natural back and sides.


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## patsanger (Jun 17, 2015)

We talked about the natural back and sides, but we decided that the black limba would have looked off as the dark parts would touch the black and keep it from being a clean line.

Also, this was going to be black - that was the plan from the beginning and we stuck with it and it's awesome. <Props to Sully for talking me out of some changes that would have made it less awesome>


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## patsanger (Jun 17, 2015)

Sully selfie


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## patsanger (Jul 2, 2015)

Elita 1 and 2 hanging around - almost done...





And Elita 1 almost ready to hand over... I should have it next week. This is probably going to be the last pics before an NGD...






Sully has been amazing to work with and his attention to detail has been great.


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## patsanger (Jul 2, 2015)

Oops - forgot a cool feature - Sully had a carved bone toggle cover...


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## AndruwX (Jul 2, 2015)

That one is so cute.


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## pondman (Jul 2, 2015)

What a result  That thing is beautiful.


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## patsanger (Jul 3, 2015)

I know - the mirror effect on the black is amazing... can't wait!


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## electriceye (Jul 6, 2015)

Sully, is the clear coat you used on this that spray can stuff you like to use? You said it's awesome stuff, but do you still have to buff it out? This axe is sick. And that pup selector??? Da teets.


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## SullyGuitars (Jul 7, 2015)

Hey there! 

No, it's not the spraymax 2k urethane that you saw in the headstock video I posted last year. I'm not setup for paint work of any kind anymore, really; this (and its orange metalflake sibling) was painted by Stike at Rowyco Kustoms in North Carolina. He and Mike Learn do my paint work. 

That said, if you want to try the Spraymax 2k cans, they're great, but yes, you'll absolutely need to wetsand and buff it out, just like any other clear coat. Also, please make sure that you've got proper ventilation and protective gear before trying it. 

Sully


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## geoffstgermaine (Jul 7, 2015)

Looks like you've got a killer guitar there! Sully, the two guitars are awesome! I'm a bit partial to the metal flake finish though.


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## patsanger (Jul 7, 2015)

2 days till delivery... here's Elita 1 (Black) and Elita 2 (Orange Sparkle)






Can't wait to get Elita 1!!!!


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## electriceye (Jul 8, 2015)

SullyGuitars said:


> Hey there!
> 
> No, it's not the spraymax 2k urethane that you saw in the headstock video I posted last year. I'm not setup for paint work of any kind anymore, really; this (and its orange metalflake sibling) was painted by Stike at Rowyco Kustoms in North Carolina. He and Mike Learn do my paint work.
> 
> ...



Thanks, Sully! Stike has made quite a rep for himself with some sick finishes. I've seen them on other boards (mostly Hamer). 

Do those guys offer builder discounts? Meaning, if you send him 10 guitars in a year, you get a break?


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## SullyGuitars (Jul 8, 2015)

Potentially; I'd recommend getting in touch with him. He's on vaca this week, though.

Sully


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## electriceye (Jul 9, 2015)

SullyGuitars said:


> Potentially; I'd recommend getting in touch with him. He's on vaca this week, though.
> 
> Sully



Oh, no rush. Believe me. LOL My wood stash has been (hiding) in my basement for the past year and I have no time to start building yet. Need 48 hours in a day right now.


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## patsanger (Jul 10, 2015)

It's here! NGD over here!

Now go buy your own Sully!


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