HighGain510
Contributor
I had an order in with Ron from last year that was paid in advance and after having such instant love for the DeLuxe Goldtop and Semi-Hollow guitars I've received already, I spoke with Ron to see what other goodies he already had lined up in the queue for on-spec DeLuxe models and inquired as to the possibility of putting said full deposit towards DeLuxe #3 instead of the previous order! SUPER glad I messaged him when I did, Ron had one that was actually pretty far along and the specs were rather tasty indeed, plus while it was not as far along as the other two were, the neck was already mostly done but the body hadn't even hit the CNC stage yet which was great. Since the body was nearing CNC phase and hadn't been run just yet, the options were still totally open for bridge and pickup routes which made it ideal for me as I already knew what I wanted for the third (and sadlly, likely final... can't really complain when you're blessed enough to have two others on top of this one though, right?!) DeLuxe.
The wood selection... well, the title says it all... this puppy will be known as "THE KOA SAMMICH" model!
Ron had not one but TWO killer slabs of flamed koa cut from the same billet that he sandwiched around a black limba core! Neck will be black limba and brazilian rosewood for the fretboard as usual. I am a HUGE fan of the GT90 Stapletop P90 pickups and the GT90-H (Stapletop Humbuckers) are quite easily my absolute favorite humbucker on the market. I have a pair in my Artisan and now I even have a pair in a PRS, both of which sound godly. I wanted to have a DeLuxe model that was built for metal so obviously I'm going Thorn Trem and GT90-H pickups, factory setup for Drop-C tuning! This thing is going to be a BEAST! In the looks department, it's very hard to beat flamed koa! 
In the tone department, it's very hard to beat the sexy midrange and growl of black limba. GT90's and GT90-H's paired with black limba/korina are a known killer combination so this won't be much of a surprise, it is going to sound amazing when it's all done!
I got the surprise call tonight from Ron saying the neck has been fretted and the body was going to hit CNC so he wanted to confirm the final specs on this beauty to be sure that we didn't miss or change anything! So here we are from the start a few weeks back to about 9pm this evening (I might update the OP tomorrow since I think I may get lucky and have a few more progress shots incoming!):
Previous progress shots:
Typical ridiculously awesome Thorn Koa stash goodness for the top:
Never to be outdone, Ron then selected a SECOND amazingly figured piece of koa for the posterior of this beauty. Potential new slogan? "Thorn Guitars... our rear woods are better than most builders 'highly figured' tops!"
Neck roughed out, fretboard has inlay and awaiting frets and laying on top of the slab of woods glued up:
DAT KOA SAMMICH!!!
"Christmas Came Early This Year" update - CNC night (12/18/12):
The Thorn elves hard at work after 5pm on a weeknight!
Early pass of the CNC starting the carved top:
Little more scraped away, starting to see some of that figure peeking through:
Glimpse of the koa rippling through the cascading carves:
Carving out the P90-shaped pickup routes:
Drilling for the Thorn Tremolo:
Taking a little break after finishing the first round:
What's that you say? You wanted purfling channels too?! OKAY!
DAT ASS!!!
Little peek of the figuring from the black limba core:
More black limba figuring from the treble side:
Aaaaaaand that's where we stand, folks! If I have some more progress pics arrive overnight, I'll toss them up for you guys tomorrow! I'm SO damn excited for this build, having already experienced two different DeLuxe models with VERY different specs, this one fills yet another spot in the tonal palette and it's going to be the most refined "metal" guitar Thorn has put out to date!
Can't wait, more updates will come as I receive them... gotta love the "On-Spec" Program! 
The wood selection... well, the title says it all... this puppy will be known as "THE KOA SAMMICH" model!
Ron had not one but TWO killer slabs of flamed koa cut from the same billet that he sandwiched around a black limba core! Neck will be black limba and brazilian rosewood for the fretboard as usual. I am a HUGE fan of the GT90 Stapletop P90 pickups and the GT90-H (Stapletop Humbuckers) are quite easily my absolute favorite humbucker on the market. I have a pair in my Artisan and now I even have a pair in a PRS, both of which sound godly. I wanted to have a DeLuxe model that was built for metal so obviously I'm going Thorn Trem and GT90-H pickups, factory setup for Drop-C tuning! This thing is going to be a BEAST! In the looks department, it's very hard to beat flamed koa! In the tone department, it's very hard to beat the sexy midrange and growl of black limba. GT90's and GT90-H's paired with black limba/korina are a known killer combination so this won't be much of a surprise, it is going to sound amazing when it's all done!I got the surprise call tonight from Ron saying the neck has been fretted and the body was going to hit CNC so he wanted to confirm the final specs on this beauty to be sure that we didn't miss or change anything! So here we are from the start a few weeks back to about 9pm this evening (I might update the OP tomorrow since I think I may get lucky and have a few more progress shots incoming!):
Previous progress shots:
Typical ridiculously awesome Thorn Koa stash goodness for the top:
Never to be outdone, Ron then selected a SECOND amazingly figured piece of koa for the posterior of this beauty. Potential new slogan? "Thorn Guitars... our rear woods are better than most builders 'highly figured' tops!"
Neck roughed out, fretboard has inlay and awaiting frets and laying on top of the slab of woods glued up:
DAT KOA SAMMICH!!!
"Christmas Came Early This Year" update - CNC night (12/18/12):
The Thorn elves hard at work after 5pm on a weeknight!
Early pass of the CNC starting the carved top:
Little more scraped away, starting to see some of that figure peeking through:
Glimpse of the koa rippling through the cascading carves:
Carving out the P90-shaped pickup routes:
Drilling for the Thorn Tremolo:
Taking a little break after finishing the first round:
What's that you say? You wanted purfling channels too?! OKAY!
DAT ASS!!!
Little peek of the figuring from the black limba core:
More black limba figuring from the treble side:
Aaaaaaand that's where we stand, folks! If I have some more progress pics arrive overnight, I'll toss them up for you guys tomorrow! I'm SO damn excited for this build, having already experienced two different DeLuxe models with VERY different specs, this one fills yet another spot in the tonal palette and it's going to be the most refined "metal" guitar Thorn has put out to date!
Can't wait, more updates will come as I receive them... gotta love the "On-Spec" Program! 
Thorn Gas....
