My Kiesel HH2 build - Am I wrong to be a little bit disappointed?

[LexMentis]

Okay, those last pics were just practice!

Here's the real final product:











Soooooo glad I listened to my gut and redid this. I got the blue mixed exactly how I envisioned it. Couldn't be more stoked. So, there's the happy ending to this story.

 

[Slide187]

Well, I went ahead and refinished it myself. I'm pretty happy with it: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18174520729219919/


More pics:





I sanded a little too much on a few spots, but it's not too bad. I didn't really want to go for a "denim" finish this time around. At least it actually looks blue now!

Still needs to harden a while before I sand smooth and give it the final polish before reassembly. I used a gloss clear, but might scuff it to a satin finish if I end up not liking the gloss.

Yowza dude!! It does look a lot better but to home custom customize your expensive custom guitar is… it’s the same feeling I get at the top of a tall building with no railings I guess Hahha.

Takes some nutz, but you did well.

I was just looking at their guitar builder on their site yesterday. Some really sexy woods but that’s the gamble, right? Esp if you don’t go with a solid color. That roasted flame maple too they have on the site is frikkin GAWWWJISSS, but you KNOW they show the best possible cut. It’s like that with my Ibanez S1520 Prestige with a Figured bubinga top. I got lucky cuz I saw the one I was buying, but wood like that is a crap shoot with or without a stain I think.

 

[CanserDYI]

You fuckin madlad. Good on you.

 

[mbardu]

I really love the new blue you got there.
Must have been harrowing, but it sounds like you're happy with the result as well.

Definitely doesn't look like "denim" blue IMO (which usually means satin/washed out/grey-ish)- here instead being a deeper blue not sanded back as much, which anyway is a much better fit for quilt in general.

 

[LexMentis]

Yowza dude!! It does look a lot better but to home custom customize your expensive custom guitar is… it’s the same feeling I get at the top of a tall building with no railings I guess Hahha.

Takes some nutz, but you did well.

Thanks, man! I don't know if you noticed, but I actually postedsome updated pictures. Those pics are actually from the first attempt, and I just now redid it again, haha!

I was just looking at their guitar builder on their site yesterday. Some really sexy woods but that’s the gamble, right?

Yeah, it can be, but Kiesel does allow you to photo match a top for an additional price, from what I understand. That way they can pick out a top that is as close as possible to what you are looking for.

 

[LexMentis]

Definitely doesn't look like "denim" blue IMO (which usually means satin/washed out/grey-ish)- here instead being a deeper blue not sanded back as much, which anyway is a much better fit for quilt in general.

Exactly. I didn't want to go quite denim this time around. I did sand it back, but only a little bit to get some highlights. #0000 steel wool also really helped bring out some highlights in the quilt.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Yowza dude!! It does look a lot better but to home custom customize your expensive custom guitar is… it’s the same feeling I get at the top of a tall building with no railings I guess Hahha.

Takes some nutz, but you did well.

I was just looking at their guitar builder on their site yesterday. Some really sexy woods but that’s the gamble, right? Esp if you don’t go with a solid color. That roasted flame maple too they have on the site is frikkin GAWWWJISSS, but you KNOW they show the best possible cut. It’s like that with my Ibanez S1520 Prestige with a Figured bubinga top. I got lucky cuz I saw the one I was buying, but wood like that is a crap shoot with or without a stain I think.

Yes, figured tops vary a lot and the manufacturers will always show images of the best (nicest, not most representative) example they can.

I absolutely love the tops on my S2170SE (swirled ebony) and RG8520 (flamed maple), but I new exactly what I was buying. I've seen numerous examples of the same models that I would have been pretty disappointed with.
The flamed maple top on my RGA321F is underwhelming (figuring doesn't "pop") and that seems to be pretty standard for that model with the blue finish, despite there being photos of some beautiful examples online. My guess is that staining steps were skipped to keep the production cost down, as Prestige RGAs were always very competitively priced. I knew what I was buying before I ordered it (used) and paid a fair price, so can have no complaints - especially as the playability and tone are great.

 

[Slide187]

Thanks, man! I don't know if you noticed, but I actually postedsome updated pictures. Those pics are actually from the first attempt, and I just now redid it again, haha!

Yeah i saw them... looks MUCH better. Glad you've made something like this better for your peace of mind. Nothing like some buyer's remorse to bring out the ingenuity of a guitar player hahaha!

You've also motivated me to get back to finishing the Schecter Reaper7 Multiscale i just bought and gutted because i HATED the pups. I had Pete from Vintage Vibe make me some new ones and he matched the sizes and even the look of them almost exactly... Pretty awesome, but i got busy with work and haven't had the time to finish it.

I used it right out of the box to record some of the new material i have forthcoming, and after running that guitar thru my setup i had to completely re-track all of the rhythms with my UV7BK. That made me mad enuff to overhaul a brandy new $1k guitar, and yes even tho it's just the electronics, i got that same 'top of the building' feeling when i started.

But good luck with it, enjoy! and may your Custom Kiesel produce many custom Kegels for you! hey-oooohhhhhh!!

 

[dspellman]

I've got seven Carvins at this point (all pre-Jeff) and I'm pleased with all of them. The last one I ordered custom, and it's spectacular, but there was a small glitch.

I've learned, with custom orders, to do the very best that you can articulating exactly what you want. Communicate that vision. And then sit back, relax, and be prepared for something else to appear. I have an Agile Custom that was ordered and specified via a lot of checkboxes and a phone call. I mistakenly checked BOTH a "neck-through construction" AND a single piece back on an LP style build. The phone call asked me if I wanted a solid figured maple top, and I requested "tight flame."

The builders did a great job with the tight flame, but got creative with the neck-through construction (which usually requires a pair of "body sides" rather than a single piece back). They cut a channel all the way through that single piece back and laid the neck into it. The "single piece back" was a stupid choice on my part any way, because the guitar came with a Floyd, which chewed right through the back and neck. Ack.

Back to Carvin. All of them play amazingly well. On the last one I ordered a mini switch to add the bridge pickup to the five-way pickup selector switch. The model ordinarily has a phase switch and that's how it arrived. It took about fifteen minutes to rewire the switch and done. Since then it's been an amazing guitar.

 

[LexMentis]

Reassembled in all her glory:

 

[Yames_Kenric]

LexMantis, that's a very "validating" story. You weren't happy with something and challenged yourself to improve it and Sh*t Yeah!, you Nailed It. The guitar is gorgeous. I've read that the purpose of anger is to motivate action. You acted and clearly prevailed. Reading this, I thought you had a good chance of succeeding because of your work on the bike tank. I'd wreck that thing every time I looked down.

 

[Omzig]

Rad killin it dude, now just take some over filttered HDR pic's with it in your hands and post them on FB great job.

 

[LexMentis]

LexMantis, that's a very "validating" story. You weren't happy with something and challenged yourself to improve it and Sh*t Yeah!, you Nailed It. The guitar is gorgeous. I've read that the purpose of anger is to motivate action. You acted and clearly prevailed. Reading this, I thought you had a good chance of succeeding because of your work on the bike tank. I'd wreck that thing every time I looked down.

Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it. Hopefully this will even show others that it's not impossible if anyone else ever wanted to try their hand at it. It takes some efffort and some studying (so much information for free online), but it's not impossible.

 

[LexMentis]

Reading this, I thought you had a good chance of succeeding because of your work on the bike tank. I'd wreck that thing every time I looked down.

Thanks a lot for saying this! By the way, I have since redid that gas tank. Turned out much better than the first go around. Here it is if you're interested:



I was pretty proud of it. Here's another one that's in progress:



That's just the base layer. Going to be doing something over top of that. Just figured I'd share.

 

[Slide187]

Reassembled in all her glory:

now that guitar is dead sexy. great jobby-job!!!

 

[SeventyFour]

You've done an absolutely incredible job refinishing that!

 

[LexMentis]

now that guitar is dead sexy. great jobby-job!!!

Thank you!

 

[LexMentis]

You've done an absolutely incredible job refinishing that!

Thanks so much! I'm so glad I went ahead with it.

 

[LexMentis]

Here's one last photo of the finished product. It's even got the logo back on now. The previous shot had a stupid filter on it, so it's not a good representation of the color.

 

[Hollowway]

Holyshit! That’s crazy! You could open a shop for refinishing Kiesels. Forget a “hand finished by Jeff,” cuz I want a “hand finished by Lex” lol.

It really does look great, and I can’t believe you have the cojones big enough to do this, but it’s awesome that you do.