so i poked around on the internet and i found out that the best solution to my problems is to lie. the guitar lied to me about being made out of nice wood. so i lie to the world by replacing the veneer and saving the day. you have to buy these things in huge 4x5 sheets and they're like $60. i asked the guy for something smaller and he said that no one does that. he was really an ass. "who would buy a 2x2 sheet of this stuff?" he said, like a complete ass.

me, asshole, me. i would. the world would. now i got all this extra veneer, but whatever. guys at lumber yards are dicks because they know you've been to home depot and every other place in the city and they're your last resort. they've got you by the balls and they know it. so here it is. like paper. 

i got this thing home and cut it down then realized i didn't know how i was going to glue this thing on. the answer was contact cement after like 4 hours online. so i get the contact cement and begin. 

everything went smooth. the veneer is holding. i look like a hero.  

i applied the veneer to the back as well. threw some new binding back on, and stained in the classic dark walnut.  

it's not as pretty as the original veneer but it looks better then what i had to begin with. one battle at a time i guess. 

so next we have to take care of the neck. i can't wait to see how i screw that up. 

i've done all i can with this guitar and now we glue this monster back together. i only own a few clamps and a real guitar builder would not be proud at this sad display. 

just wanted to share pictures of working hard in the studio. here we have a bunch of knobs that make things sound better or worse. it's all up to you. or sometimes you just stare at this and do nothing for like 13 hours at a time waiting for an idea to hit you.


here is where i've been spending my time. you can't see it in the picture but we keep the room at a solid 98 degrees. it's like a sweat lodge. the heat makes us have these visions of spirit animals and then the spirit animals tell us what to do next. sometimes when i reaching over to a knob i swear to god that my arm looks like a huge wing. like an eagle's. then i know i'm on the right path.


this is a picture of carlos and i having what's known as a waking nightmare. we sit still but our minds are racing. we are in deep contemplation.


when the mix is just right i always seem to cry out of exhaustion and through the sheer beauty of what we have created. coming off this is always difficult. some say you should eat more meats during this part because it raises the dopamine that your brain naturally loses during mixing. others say orange juice. but for me it seems that you just have to go through it.



mixing is filled with pain and sadness and sometimes it takes years before you can listen to something you've mixed. it takes a long time to heal those wounds.

headstock binding, once reserved only for royalty, is now within my reach. here's a brief history on it.... in olden times god would choose a king, the king would appoint a woodworker to make a sweet guitar with headstock binding, the king would have sex with his own family to preserve the bloodline and the guitar would be passed through the ages. it's hard to believe but it's true. the headstock binding is a symbol of status and commands respect.

so here we have a few pieces of purfling, which is a fancy term for really small pieces of binding. here we have a classic black and cream going on.


these are really small and a pain in the ass to handle. here's the clamp and glue method. clamp that piece and crazy glue those guys together.


so here we are gluing this in. as you can see the headstock has a few steps to it. the smaller one is for the purfling and the larger one is for the binding.


and here it is with the binding installed. the classic cream/black/cream is going to wow them and the namm show this year.