Burley 335: Finally Complete

Well, the Burled Maple 335 is finally complete and I couldn't be happier with it. The finish, being a combination of Tru-Oil to both pop the grain and provide a subtle amber colouring and Acrylic gloss for a deep shine works really, really well. That burled veneer from DIY Guitars is so freaking amazing! Obviously the secret for combining these two finishes is not to go too far with the Tru-Oil; making sure that you leave enough tooth in the surface for the Acrylic to bind to.

Tru-Oil + Acrylic Gloss - a god damn winner for beautiful wood.

IMO the chrome hardware works really well with the natural colouring, much better than gold would have done, and the chrome humbuckers with chrome surrounds are a great replacement for the original cream dogear P90s.

Chrome GFS parts really complete the perfect picture.

Speaking of the humbuckers, all the GFS hardware here works extremely well and really looks the part. The full chrome Dream 180 pickups sound awesome - from a crystal clean tone to a punchy growl when needed.  The roller bridge combined with the XTrem tremolo system provides a great tremolo solution, keeps the guitar is tune (even with heavy tremolo usage) and really looks the part.

Glamour shots in the daylight

But with all that said, it is as a playing instrument that this guitar really comes into its own. It is light, has great tone, and the resonance that this thing produces is be felt to be believed. Even unplugged the guitar generates a beautiful acoustic tone that is a feast fro the ears. Either plugged or unplugged, you can really feel the chambers vibrating as you strum a note. And all this with the stock plastic nut! Interestingly I haven't had to adjust a thing at the nut end of the fretboard. The string height at the 1st fret was perfect with the supplied plastic nut (unheard of) and so I haven't had the courage to change it out yet.

With this project completed, I am now officially in love with 335 guitars again. I can't find the words to describe how amazing this thing is to play. I have another 335 kit in the stack and now I'm itching to get it started!

Burley 335: New Hardware & Clear Coats

Was finally able to get back into a little building today. With travel for work followed by a couple of weeks holiday OS, there 's been precious little time for building of late. It's great to be back in the man cave, even if it is just finishing up some long overdue projects.

On the table today is my 335 kit with Ash Burl veneer that has been bumming around the man cave for about 12 months. In between bouts of coding the last few months, I've been able to get some White Knight acrylic clear coats on her, and my OS trip gave the coats plenty of time to cure. Today I rolled up my sleeves and with some 1500 grit, 2000 grit and Meguiars Ultimate Compound, polished the crap out of it. Pretty happy with the results - that White Knight sure is the easiest way to clear coat a build, and the results can't be argued with. Yes, it's a bit cheaper using you own spray equipment, but with no mixing and no cleanup I'm happy to spend a few extra bucks on the cans.

Acrylic clear coats. Very happy with the results.

I immediately followed up with the hardware. This time around I'm rocking a GFS xTrem similar to the one I used on the Thinline Cabronita build. To this I added a roller bridge and a set of GFS Mean 180s. I was very happy with their sound on the Les Paul Florentine build, so thought I'd use them again here for a little extra chrome, and a little extra punch. I gotta say, I'm very happy with how she's looking!

GFS hardware installed. Now for the electrics.

Just the electronics to go now. That's no simple task (at least the insertion) but hopefully I'm an old hand at it by this point. She's going to look really sweet hanging with my other 335s! I think I'll get back to Jeremy's Les Paul first though - that's a build that's long overdue (sorry Jeremy!) and the thought of getting the fish tank tubing out again is giving me the willies.