narad
Progressive metal and politics
So continuing on with my hobby of getting ESP to bring old guitars back to life, the latest one has arrived! See the previous mods here:
- 1. Quilt Maple Lynch Strat
- 2. Liquid Metal Pink Concorde HSS Horizon
- 3. Black Cherry Quilt-top Custom M-II
It started life as a hum-drum 1987 black ESP horizon. I upgraded the bridge pickup to a BKP alnico Black Hawk, and took the neck pickup out entirely, wondering if it would make any perceivable difference in sustain or playability (it probably didn't). But that guitar became one of my most played, and so when my last resto mod finished up, I brought this one in with the hopes of turning it into my #1.
The main thing I wanted to do was to give it a bit of a Daemoness vibe and go with a slime green or what I ultimately wound up on, was Kawasaki green metallic. That's this color:
The first problem is that ESP does colors by matching a printout. No digital stuff (though I'm going to start arguing more with them about that), so we had to find images and take them to printer services. The local ones, none of them looked right. The green just doesn't print accurately. We then hired a more professional one, and still the green was not right. I prefer to use my mockups because I'll actually photoshop a horizon to look exactly how I want it, but ultimately here, we just wound up buying an old Kawasaki catalog and giving it to them. They still make you circle an area on the image to use as a reference, which I found pretty difficult, and I don't remember where I circled.
The other thing I wanted to do was fix the dented frets. I decided to go super jumbo stainless, which I think is Jescar 58118. I also asked that the serial number be written on the headstock after the refinish so that it's more official and can be dated as an 87. That's basically it.
I don't remember how long ago that was... but I want to say maybe 18 months? I was quoted 8 months IIRC
Never trust the quotes. But it arrived at the shop this week and I just got back from picking it up, and taking photos in the new light.
My first thought upon seeing it was, that's not Kawasaki green metallic. It was darker. It looked a lot like my absinthe green Jackson warrior, but with a lot more depth to the finish. It's a very eye catching color... very sophisticated green... but not as lime as the bikes I've seen. I was wondering why... it's true that when I see a Kawasaki, it's outside. But I still felt that the color was a little off. There were also a couple small black specks I could see in a couple spots, and a little ripple under the clear on the back. I basically can't photograph any of this stuff, it's too small.
So I went to take NGD photos and when I look through the camera, it's pretty close to the target color. Go figure. The camera lens seems to be making it a little more saturated and bright, especially during the bright lights. Anyway, here it is:
Daytime:
Here's more what I'd prefer it always look like:
The frets are killer as always from ESP, but they didn't ball-end them to the level they usually do. I'm not sure why, if it was a different guy, or if stainless is an issue here. Going to followup on my next visit.
Anyway, one more down. I'm a bit tempted to bring in another and try to get it in a brighter slimier green, because I'm nitpicky like that. There is also another one that went in the same time as this that is done and I've seen, and looks killer, but needs hardware, so maybe next month resto-mod #5 will be done too.
- 1. Quilt Maple Lynch Strat
- 2. Liquid Metal Pink Concorde HSS Horizon
- 3. Black Cherry Quilt-top Custom M-II
It started life as a hum-drum 1987 black ESP horizon. I upgraded the bridge pickup to a BKP alnico Black Hawk, and took the neck pickup out entirely, wondering if it would make any perceivable difference in sustain or playability (it probably didn't). But that guitar became one of my most played, and so when my last resto mod finished up, I brought this one in with the hopes of turning it into my #1.
The main thing I wanted to do was to give it a bit of a Daemoness vibe and go with a slime green or what I ultimately wound up on, was Kawasaki green metallic. That's this color:
The first problem is that ESP does colors by matching a printout. No digital stuff (though I'm going to start arguing more with them about that), so we had to find images and take them to printer services. The local ones, none of them looked right. The green just doesn't print accurately. We then hired a more professional one, and still the green was not right. I prefer to use my mockups because I'll actually photoshop a horizon to look exactly how I want it, but ultimately here, we just wound up buying an old Kawasaki catalog and giving it to them. They still make you circle an area on the image to use as a reference, which I found pretty difficult, and I don't remember where I circled.
The other thing I wanted to do was fix the dented frets. I decided to go super jumbo stainless, which I think is Jescar 58118. I also asked that the serial number be written on the headstock after the refinish so that it's more official and can be dated as an 87. That's basically it.
I don't remember how long ago that was... but I want to say maybe 18 months? I was quoted 8 months IIRC
Never trust the quotes. But it arrived at the shop this week and I just got back from picking it up, and taking photos in the new light.My first thought upon seeing it was, that's not Kawasaki green metallic. It was darker. It looked a lot like my absinthe green Jackson warrior, but with a lot more depth to the finish. It's a very eye catching color... very sophisticated green... but not as lime as the bikes I've seen. I was wondering why... it's true that when I see a Kawasaki, it's outside. But I still felt that the color was a little off. There were also a couple small black specks I could see in a couple spots, and a little ripple under the clear on the back. I basically can't photograph any of this stuff, it's too small.
So I went to take NGD photos and when I look through the camera, it's pretty close to the target color. Go figure. The camera lens seems to be making it a little more saturated and bright, especially during the bright lights. Anyway, here it is:
Daytime:
Here's more what I'd prefer it always look like:
The frets are killer as always from ESP, but they didn't ball-end them to the level they usually do. I'm not sure why, if it was a different guy, or if stainless is an issue here. Going to followup on my next visit.
Anyway, one more down. I'm a bit tempted to bring in another and try to get it in a brighter slimier green, because I'm nitpicky like that. There is also another one that went in the same time as this that is done and I've seen, and looks killer, but needs hardware, so maybe next month resto-mod #5 will be done too.
