(Don't Fear) TVvoodoo's Insanitarium

[TVvoodoo]

Is a hyperlink when say somebody clicks on a picture above, then straight to the boutique? that would be cool, but too easy for the buyer

[rrobbone]

Is a hyperlink when say somebody clicks on a picture above, then straight to the boutique? that would be cool, but too easy for the buyer

Yes, exactly. Removal of barriers is a very successful technique. The link should go right to the purple product page. I bet it sells within a day or two.

We regulars arent' the only ones who read these things.

[TVvoodoo]

For those "new" to AGF In my past I have completed a couple of guitar "builds" from parts, and also a number of guitar "renovations", or refinishes. The hobby of creating cool and unique looking instruments mashed my "gotta be me" buttons hard, and was a serious life distraction for me for a number of years. In fact it was what led to me beginning to craft my own custom straps to match these guitars - and was a large part of the previous AGF Insanitarium content. Haven't done up a guitar for a couple of years, dropping back for the going strap concern and because I felt I was doing quite a bit too much spraying with quite a bit too little protective equipment. I was starting to see a number of older fellows on the forums with serious health issues partly because of unsafe spraying practices.

But I saw a project that was going very well last night, and I couldn't stop thinking starting another of my own. No shortage of ideas floating around in my head for my next, just been a little to busy trying to keep the strap game on the rails. Then I got one of those creative idea bugs crawling around in my head, and laid awake for must have been an hour trying to figure out how to do it, and thankfully it will have a minimum of spraying chems involved. I believe I have mostly enough parts in the parts bin to complete it... probably should get some nice locking tuners for it maybe.



This morning I pulled out this sealed tele body been sitting patiently way behind a bunch of other stuff in my shop, and set to getting it ready for this project. It has a few strange green stains on it, so firmly a painter. Traded it for something years ago, it's been sitting wrapped in foam in a box. Also grabbed up this a beefy orange lacquered SX neck, fits this pocket like it was meant to be. Hand sanded the front of the body with 200 grit to give it some tooth.



The top is going to be the showpiece of this project, but it needs to get readyfied. I'll probably just use a tinted clear on the back, keep it mostly natural-looking. Pretty sure I have a hardtail bridge somewhere in the parts stash.


Outside, the leaves are coming down like crazy today, so it was quite the challenge. But we got the top sprayed safely, with two mist coats, three light coats, and one not so light coat. Went pretty smooth, maybe too smooth.





Sprayed it with something called "Krylon Crafters' Silver" - can which was probably about ten years old, sitting in my spray bomb cupboard.
Shook the hell out of it, laid it in some hot water for fifteen minutes, sprayed perfect. I fact where I'm going , some orange peel would have been preferable, but it is what it is.



Pleased as punch with myself, I'm jauntily carrying my freshly sprayed body down the stairs to my workshop, paint stick in one hand, camera in the other. Missed that last step kinda funny and dammit if I didn't fall down onto a desk, but still somehow managed to keep the guitar safe. But crap if I didn't turn my ankle real bad. Had to get the frozen corn out.

Such is life.



Anyway, limped the body over to hang it safe in my shop rafters. I need to order some art materials for it, so don't expect any updates until there is maybe snow on the ground up here. This project is going to maybe my most ambitious reno of all, something fresh and fun. Could be months in the making, but I think will bring nice variety to this straplab thread along the way.

In the meantime I have to make some templates as per the nutty ideas I had swimming all around in my head all last night.

[rrobbone]

Art materials?

Templates?

Corn?

What the heck are you cookin' up?

[dearlpitts]

Lol

[TVvoodoo]

might not remember your name. Maybe even forget that killer tone and great performance. But dang if they won't EVER forget that super cool dude with the Polka-dot strap.

[TVvoodoo]

Today in the StrapLab we are inspired by a martial arts legend



Been a long while since I made these, the time is right to bring back the next level of Sum Yung Long Hung Guy series. Will be available in a few days in black/gold/red, brown/orange/gold and blues & silver. When I see this material, I imagine Hugh Hefner circa 1975 lounging in his dressing gown, surveying his companions before the evening entertainments.

Silky Oriental wedding dress/special occasion fabric sporting plenty of fierce embroidered dragons, peonies and flaming lanterns.



Used to make these in a hootenanny configuration, this round I am going to use good leather on the front and back in the ladder style to change it up a bit, because more leather is better IMO.

[BrianSkeezer]

Today in the StrapLab we are inspired by a martial arts legend



Been a long while since I made these, the time is right to bring back the next level of Sum Yung Long Hung Guy series. Will be available in a few days in black/gold/red, brown/orange/gold and blues & silver. When I see this material, I imagine Hugh Hefner circa 1975 lounging in his dressing gown, surveying his companions before the evening entertainments.

Silky Oriental wedding dress/special occasion fabric sporting plenty of fierce embroidered dragons, peonies and flaming lanterns.



Used to make these in a hootenanny configuration, this round I am going to use good leather on the front and back in the ladder style to change it up a bit, because more leather is better IMO.

You may have sold one of the blues and silver straps, Brad! Keep me in the loop!

[nomadh]

Today in the StrapLab we are inspired by a martial arts legend



Been a long while since I made these, the time is right to bring back the next level of Sum Yung Long Hung Guy series. Will be available in a few days in black/gold/red, brown/orange/gold and blues & silver. When I see this material, I imagine Hugh Hefner circa 1975 lounging in his dressing gown, surveying his companions before the evening entertainments.

Silky Oriental wedding dress/special occasion fabric sporting plenty of fierce embroidered dragons, peonies and flaming lanterns.



Used to make these in a hootenanny configuration, this round I am going to use good leather on the front and back in the ladder style to change it up a bit, because more leather is better IMO.

I have the black and silver ver of this strap I won as a prize awhile ago. It probably would not have been one I would pick and I'm not a fan of silverburst but I got to say Its a fav now and the look is stunning. That material you use is amazing. I say show us some more pix of these. Maybe a video as this material shows similar to a nice flametop as you move..

[TVvoodoo]

[mention]nomadh[/mention] that is a great idea - will do - I have just completed four of the brown/orange and four of the blue and silver. Plan for tomorrow is make four of the black/red and gold, take pics of them all for listings, and see If I can't get a little video of them too. Then I will have twelve ready to go. The brown and gold ones get brown leather, the others all have black leather.

you are so right how photos can't really do this material justice. You have a black and sliverone, or black and gold?
just the two colours... when you add the third colour like on these I'm working on, it's even a bit more spectacular, which is
why I made the choice of these three from my previous experiences.

The metallic embroidery adds a sort of 3D effect, and then the flip flop of the background colour silk (I don't believe it's actual silk, some kind of rayon more likely), really makes this stuff come alive, particularly the brown and blue ones. The fabrics on these are a bit nicer than previous versions I made, seems a tad heavier in weight, more like upholstery weight. Some previous versions of this fabric I have had felt more like the sort of light material you would use for say, mens' ties or something lighter. Anyway, I love working with it - but the edges are really prone to fraying like crazy if you aren't careful. Stuff is also kind of pricey but worth every penny, gotta be careful in cutting without wasting too much.. I also try to cut it so that there is an apparent dragon on the front of every strap, not quite as easy as it sounds, there is inevitably some waste.

[nomadh]

@nomadh that is a great idea - will do - I have just completed four of the brown/orange and four of the blue and silver. Plan for tomorrow is make four of the black/red and gold, take pics of them all for listings, and see If I can't get a little video of them too. Then I will have twelve ready to go. The brown and gold ones get brown leather, the others all have black leather.

you are so right how photos can't really do this material justice. You have a black and sliverone, or black and gold?
just the two colours... when you add the third colour like on these I'm working on, it's even a bit more spectacular, which is
why I made the choice of these three from my previous experiences.

The metallic embroidery adds a sort of 3D effect, and then the flip flop of the background colour silk (I don't believe it's actual silk, some kind of rayon more likely), really makes this stuff come alive, particularly the brown and blue ones. The fabrics on these are a bit nicer than previous versions I made, seems a tad heavier in weight, more like upholstery weight. Some previous versions of this fabric I have had felt more like the sort of light material you would use for say, mens' ties or something lighter. Anyway, I love working with it - but the edges are really prone to fraying like crazy if you aren't careful. Stuff is also kind of pricey but worth every penny, gotta be careful in cutting without wasting too much.. I also try to cut it so that there is an apparent dragon on the front of every strap, not quite as easy as it sounds, there is inevitably some waste.

[media]https://y.yarn.co/f693d97c-c485-476c-b5 ... 1506536299
[/media]
https://y.yarn.co/f693d97c-c485-476c-b5 ... 1506536299

[BrianSkeezer]

I have a black and gold and it's perfect! I have it on my Bad Cat black beauty copy.

image.png (276.08 KiB) Viewed 2095 times

I'm still in for a blues & silver!

[TVvoodoo]

Ok, phew, that was a busy couple of days! Four of each ready to go!








oh, and this. Boy is it kind of ugly. But I can't help but keep wanting to figure out HOW to do it proper. Silk screen? Stencils?
I want sparkly paisley some way, somehow. And I'm gonna get it if my name ain't... uh... you know the thing.

Maybe that's the ticket. Cardboard stencil, spray and sprinkle, repeat. Hmmmmm.

[TVvoodoo]

Now working on another dragon-themed strap, custom order. We've been waiting for a special dragon scale tool i ordered direct from Middle Earth, took about a month. Lots more pics on the Well-Hung f-book if you dig this sort of thing.

[LancerTheGreat]

Ok, phew, that was a busy couple of days! Four of each ready to go!








oh, and this. Boy is it kind of ugly. But I can't help but keep wanting to figure out HOW to do it proper. Silk screen? Stencils?
I want sparkly paisley some way, somehow. And I'm gonna get it if my name ain't... uh... you know the thing.

bright sparkle glue.jpg

Maybe that's the ticket. Cardboard stencil, spray and sprinkle, repeat. Hmmmmm.

Do you still have any of them dragons?

[BrianSkeezer]

Ok, phew, that was a busy couple of days! Four of each ready to go!








oh, and this. Boy is it kind of ugly. But I can't help but keep wanting to figure out HOW to do it proper. Silk screen? Stencils?
I want sparkly paisley some way, somehow. And I'm gonna get it if my name ain't... uh... you know the thing.

bright sparkle glue.jpg

Maybe that's the ticket. Cardboard stencil, spray and sprinkle, repeat. Hmmmmm.

Do you still have any of them dragons?

He sure does!

https://reverb.com/ca/shop/well-hung-guitar-accessories

[TVvoodoo]

Bunch of steps missed here, go see them on F-book if you want. Strap is fully red now. It's kind of a PITA to post here the way I have to go back and do each pic separately, unlike other sites where I can C/P... so... this is an abridged version



Glittered the strap a bit last night, very subtle red twinkle. clearcoated over it.
This morning... some antiquing. after that dries, later today more black dye. Carefully!



This afternoon, antiqueing dry enough to move forward. I break out the black dye and CAREFULLY do the edges again... moving inwards slowly and brushing over the red leather to make it slightly black. Once it's kinda black, rub like crazy to try to get some of that red back. Bad news: the red glitz was completely obliterated. Good news, I have more.



In customer descriptions to me, without saying in so many words, we're going for what I'd call a "Black Cherry" sort of finish. A strap that pretty much looks black but only when you look closer you see it's not exactly black - red undertones. This one, is now is definitely that, a black strap from like 8 feet away in most light. Under powerful light, it has a bit of a warmer glow even from a distance.





Did I nail it? Maybe? Interesting finish. As usual pics never do these things justice. Extreme closeups kind of look like shat.
This is with a teeny bit of red and gold micro flake added and the first of three clearcoats. Sparkle is there, but not there IYGMD. Had a bit of a heart-stopping moment with the clearcoat turned the whole strap like purple for about ten minutes... but after I realized it was just the finish hazing over before drying clear, I relaxed. But for a few seconds there I thought I was a total goner.

Now we want to protect the finish further, keep the dye from rubbing off onto dudes' favourite shirt. Have also done a preliminary burnishing of the edges here also. Some mink oil on the backside, then one more finish coat tonight. I will sew the backing and padding on tomorrow morning, poke some holes, final edge finish, one last light clearcoat, let it dry, take a few final pics, then point it towards it's new master and tell it to fly home.

[Chocol8]

I really love the effort and artistry you put into your custom straps! If I didn’t have kids to put through college, I would buy more guitars so I could buy more straps!!!!

[TVvoodoo]

I really love the effort and artistry you put into your custom straps! If I didn’t have kids to put through college, I would buy more guitars so I could buy more straps!!!!

Thank you Choco! Yes, and you can also help put my kids through college by purchasing more straps LOL! I understand not everybody is willing to go upwards of $200 for a special custom-tooled strap. But, I am finding there are some out there who want something special that scratches those gear stable itches yet-another Harley Benton, Firefly or Squier can't. You know yourself how a few nice straps can elevate a whole gear collection - it took me years to convince you

I try to keep most of my straps in a reasonable range. I myself, like most of my fellow AGFers am also famously budget-minded, but boy would I love to find a way to wean everyone off those $18 starter pack straps. I look at a rack of them in a store and can't fathom using one again. I also get the sense they are steadily getting even more and more cheaply made, like most everything else from factories these days, and have to wonder where it will end.

All you GOT fans will know Drogon is sort of badass. WARNING - graphically violent scene



The Well-Hung Guitar Strap named Drogon tries hard to live up to that fiercely handsome + dangerous reputation





Strap is now being fed a steady diet of sheep, goats, pigs and other sacrificial offerings I dare not mention, getting ready to wing his way to it's new owner. Plenty more pics and fun commentary over on the Well-Hung F-book if you dig this sort of thing.

I think this could work well in blue, green, orange, purple or gray with black as well.

[Chocol8]

If I order a dragon strap, how much extra would it cost if I want it to be fed nothing but attractive young virgins?

And to be clear, your straps are worth what you charge and then some. It’s the guitars that get pricey when you start with a decent quality base and then mod them like I am prone to do. And for what? I find 99% of the time I only play two of them. Ugh. No one tell my wife please!

[zisme]

this strap kills Lannisters

one of your coolest ever Brad. well done!

[TVvoodoo]

this strap kills Lannisters one of your coolest ever Brad. well done!

Thank you Zach, appreciate your appreciation!

I kept fighting the urge to add 'tribal' curves to the edge of the strap, or tabs, a chrome ring and some studs to it to dress it more. It seems kind of plain to me though the finish is really interesting, and the scale stamping was an arduous process - Still the fellow got it for a very good price for the time I put into it... I have to look at a portion of the cost/time spent learning how to travel new territory as "tuition" for myself, the next one I do will take about 2/3rds the time, and there will be another down the road, I'm sure.

[TVvoodoo]

Glad I got it out of my system. Felt I had to do it for some reason.



But honest? I feel kind of weird about it, you know? Saw some Chinese outfit trying to sell Frankystyle water bottles and other mass-produced EVH themed :poo: on F-book even the day after he passed. The comments were brutal... but I agreed with all of them. "No respect" "Cashing in" etc. So I don't even know if I'll put this strap up for sale or ever make another. It's something I have actually thought about making for years, just never got off my ass to move on it. This week it felt like the time was right, maybe I'm wrong. I guess it could be called a tribute of sorts. Played old VH the whole time while it was coming together. There's nearly a hundred bits on this thing. The red and black are all leather, I didn't have any white leather, so those bits are a tough vinyl. Probably outlast the leather bits anyway LOL!

For the time I ended up putting into it, probably best I just keep it out of the store, I don't think I could wear it. Maybe I'll put it in my year-end customer appreciation "Endorserment" draw or something - it is sort of special.

Can't say I am the biggest VH fan ever, never could play one full VH song, terrible bad eruption, a little bit of Panama... the fourth record I bought with my own money was Diver Down when it came out. I did eventually own the whole pre-sammy catalog on vinyl - never bought one Sam Halen. Been more a fan of Diamond Dave than I ever of Ed, but there's no getting around his massive impact on modern rock, and electric guitar in general. So, a Franky strap.

[Chocol8]

That’s awesome. Totally get the sentiment of not wanting to cash in. Maybe this was the right time to make the strap, but not the right time to sell it? Consider holding on to it for a while, maybe sell it as a tribute in a year?

[rrobbone]

I like it. I must admit that I'm once again tempted to build a Frankenstrat for myself this week.

Don't sell if it doesn't feel right.