BUILDING A SAGA LP-STYLE

From Chris Perz

A SAGA LP Style

Guitar Attack,

This was my first attempt at building a guitar. It was a learning experience and a lot of fun. I wanted to have something very unique and at the same time a very playable guitar.

First things first, I wanted it to have the look of an old muscle car, something like a 1970 Dodge Challenger. Conveniently, I happened to have a quart of "Plum Crazy" that I bought a long time ago for use on a plastic model kit that I never got around to building. At first I thought I would try a sunburst, but I felt that the whole sunburst color scheme has been way overplayed. So I decided to go with a two tone of Plum Crazy and Black Metallic.

The next step was to decide on how I wanted to carve the headstock. I was looking at some of my other guitars and really liked the shape of my Dean acoustic guitars headstock. I decided to use that shape and go to the extreme with the cut.

After the headstock was carved and the body all ready to go, I proceeded to get everything primed. I used a urethane based primer that is used on cars. This stuff sticks great and does not have shrinkage problems that are associated with lacquer based primers. After the first prime was cured, I proceeded to block that down with a 400 grit sandpaper so that the majority of the flaws would disappear. Then, everything was primed again, left to cure, and blocked down again with 600 grit and then over that with 1000 grit to get it as smooth as a baby's bottom.

Next came the pick-guard. I really was never too impressed with the plain old Les Paul pick-guard. I decided to use a piece of clear lexan I had laying around to make a new one. Question was, what should I do? I decided make the pick-guard a gradient from black to clear with a custom made logo. That was done by using some ink-jet water-slide decal paper I had purchased years ago.

Finally, it was time for paint. First, I sprayed the "Plum Crazy" color. Then I masked off the stripes, including the logo for the headstock, which was cut out using a digital plotter on removable vinyl material. I then proceeded to spray the black metallic. After that set up, I removed the tape and proceeded to clear coat. I used a urethane based clear coat, spraying about four good coats over everything.

After about 2 weeks, I wet sanded everything with 2000 grit sandpaper, polished everything out, and proceeded to assemble the guitar. everything went together great. I also decided to use a set of Seymour Duncan pups I had lying around. They sounded great in the last guitar I had, so I figured, why not?

After everything was together and ready to go, it was time to plug her in. Holy cow! What a great guitar. Nothing makes you feel better than working on something and having it exceed your expectations.

Now that I have completed this project, I am tempted to get another one and see what I can do with it.

Chris Perz
Boca Raton, Florida
 

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