Since I was 13 when i discovered Marilyn, i thought she was the most beautiful woman i had ever seen. There was something about her that was just perfect. The way she moved, the way she talked, perfection. In the 7 Year Itch, her first scene when the guy lets her in the front door of their apt building and is smitten with her, i was as well. This is the first picture i ever saw of Marilyn.
I remember asking my dad "who's that?" "That's Marilyn Monroe." Whoah...
It's been almost a 30 year love affair and i have a fairly respectable Marilyn collection. This would be the crown jewel of that collection as well as a perfect guitar to enjoy until i can't play anymore. This is the photo i sent to Mike for what i wanted. It is from the same shoot as the pic above. Kind of fitting i think.
The project started with a body. I scored an old NOS Chandler body from the 80s. I figured if i was going to have an 80s inspired guitar i wanted to start with some good wood. It was never used and still had the original primer and a few "snots" as Mike so prolifically put it. Nothing had been drilled other than the 2 holes for volume/tone, the neck holes, trem cavity and pickup cavity. I obviously wanted to only have a 1 hum guitar for maximum graphic space. Now i needed a painter.
After deciding on what i wanted for graphic which had been decided already, i needed an artist. I contacted a few people, one of them being Mike, i decided on him. He seemed the most talented and approachable if you will. Everyone else felt cold but Mike just got it. He understood what it was about. I dunno, it's hard to explain. He was extremely busy and said he wouldn't be able to do it for a few months being so busy with Charvel/Jackson and traveling for shows and workshops. I totally understood and had decided that he was going to be the one to eventually do it. Especially after seeing his work displayed here and other places.
Fast forward about 8 months and out of the blue Mike emails me and asks if i am still interested in having him paint for me. I obviously did and we spoke on the phone a couple of times talking about the picture i wanted as well as paint color etc. I wanted it basically black and grey if you will with a white background. He suggested a white pearl color which i thought sounded real classy and would fit in real well with the motif of the guitar. we then talked about the pickup and ring and whether that would be painted or not. I was on the fence about it and really wanted a perfect blend but also know that it could take away from the overall aesthetic i was looking for. Just not totally into the whole painted pup deal. Mike then came up with a great idea to leave it as is, get a white pup and direct mount it, thereby not having to drill 4 holes for a ring and have that in the way of the graphic too...genius. So we went with that deal. He gave me the price and it was done. VERY reasonable by the way. I shipped the body to him and he did all the prep work as well. When he was ready to paint it, he emailed me and said it would be done live on his webcam via his board so i signed up and actually got to see it painted. Very cool...
he said it would take a week or two to cure and do the clear and final buff and get it back to me so i went to work getting all the parts.
I needed electronics, pickup, tuners, trem, cavity covers, knobs, strap pins and neckplate. First i decided on the neck since i figured that was the most important part and decided on a Strathead Mighty Mite neck. 22 frets, compound radius, ebony fretboard and abalone dots. I decided on the ebony since i have always loved the way they look and feel and it went well with the black and white theme.
Pickup was hard to decide on and the great thing is if i didn't totally love it, i could swap it out. I decided on a Dimarzio Vintage PAF. I didn't really want a screaming pickup as the vibe was class so i went with a warmer bluesier pickup as that is probably the majority of what will be played on it.
Tremolo is a black Wilkinson vintage style trem. Tuners i went with Sperzel mini locking tuners also in black. Electronics were from Stew Mac. I decided on a custom made neckplate with the pinup style details to tie in with everything else. Nice touch i think. Strap pins are Schaller locking and is attached to a nice Levys black leather strap. Knobs were scored on Ebay and i went with the abalone tops to tie in with the fret markers. Another nice touch i think. Finally i needed cavity covers. I originally bought some 1 ply pickguard material and thought i could make some since i knew I’d never find original covers for a 20+ year old Chandler body. Well late one night on ebay i start seeing the production USA Charvels being parted out and i saw the covers from one. It looked like the electronics cavity was the same as the Chandler since i had a few pics of it. i really wasn't worried about the trem cavity cover as that was non recessed but the electronics one was so i was a bit worried, A. i couldn't make one right or B. the one from the production series really wouldn't fit but figured screw it, if it doesn't I’ll resell it.
I got the body back from Mike and holy shit, it was perfection. There she was, on my guitar. She looked beautiful and almost seemed to be saying "Hey Brian, how's it going?" LOL Funny side story... When i told him about the idea he was really into it. He does a lot of different type of stuff but the majority of the things he does has shall we say a bit darker vibe to it than what i was looking for. I told him, "just don't make her look dead." He laughed out loud and said "well you know she is." i said "yeah, but not in the pic." Her eyes are what really do it. They really seem to have life in them. Just like the photo. He couldn't hold back from throwing just a bit o Learn in there in her earrings. I didn't notice it at first then when i was polishing it, i noticed them. Once again, perfection.
I hired my best friend Jeff for the build since he had done a few warmoth projects and builds amps so i knew he was my best road to success wanting to do it all "myself". Some time went before both of our schedules allowed, (5 months i think). I wasn't really stressing about the lack of time to do it. I wanted it to be right and knew that in the end it would be worth it and i REALLY wanted to do this and not hire someone. We finally got together and did everything except the wiring. It was very close but we ran out of time so that was it.
During the next few weeks i added the straplocks which was interesting since the hole in the upper bout had not been drilled so i had to really be careful it wasn't too high or low but it came out in the end. The electronics cavity cover fit perfectly btw. I decided on not putting the trem cavity cover on since i would have had to drill 4 more holes in the body and i really like how clean it looks. I may do it someday but for now it's not a priority.
I was laid off from my job in May of 2008, shortly after Mike contacted me to have the paint done. That also contributed to me not getting it totally done and had to put some things on the back burner. I also have been building a new home for the last year+ and really never had the time to finsh it up once and for all but could play it unplugged and it was nearly there so it was ok...sort of...
Well last weekend Jeff invited me over to watch UFC100 which i obviously accepted and said, "hey, wanna wire up Marilyn while I’m there?" He agreed and it was on. I was so excited to finally have her done once and for all. With it being a 1 hum guitar i wanted a bit more versatility and the fact that the body had 2 holes instead of just a volume i decided on a coil tap so i could get a few more sounds out of it. So i have the volume as set up as a coil tap and tone for the second. We wired it up and she worked flawlessly on the first try. Sounds amazing and just a pleasure to play.
Sorry for being so friggin long winded. As you can see it has been a labor of love and i now am in possession of my own personal grail. This will be passed down in my family and hopefully become a family heirloom. Not for a while though, i'm gonna play her for the next 40 years ;)
Pictures of the build are here...
http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p84/Superfly68/Marilyn%20Project
Enjoy the money shots...Peace
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