“Bat Out Of Hell”
This build was inspired by James Ryman’s deviant art painting and sculpture “Play Dead”. It is an electric 25” scale 4 string tenor hollow body flying V cut-away with a bat-wing scalloped bottom and top and bat shaped headstock. It is constructed of solid maple with a through body neck and book matched/sequence matched flame maple veneer on the front, back and headstock. I made the box corners using sheet copper, a Veritas metal bender and a soldering iron. The finish is hand-rubbed artist oil paints and 14 coats of high gloss wiping varnish.
I purchased the majority of hardware from CB Gitty Crafter Supply as follows:
Skull tuners
Bone nut
Peruvian walnut fretboard
Skull shaped sound hole covers
Four pole rod piezo (routed into a bone bridge)
Skull volume knob (on a Cherub G6 G-Tone preamp)
The tailpiece is a cast iron hinge from Lee Valley.
Given the pre-amp, this monster is a real player capable of breaking glass.