Our August Guitar of The Month winner is Tim Martinez! Let's dig into how he made this unique double neck.

"I've always wanted a double neck. I decided I should treat myself for my 50th birthday to the most ideal and beautiful one. This is it. 

With lots of research on the variety of tones I wanted, I chose my preferred 25 1/2" scale length and wider than normal fingerboards to mimic my nylon string guitbox. The book matched cocobolo fingerboards are inlaid with my full name forward and backwards. A stunt I began doing at 8 years old. 

The necks and body are made of 1/4rd wenge. The necks are on different planes, the 6 string is back a little further for playability. I sighted the angle difference so the fingerboard side markers are completely visible and playing both necks have no interference with each other 

The body is capped with a 1/4" thick tight grained piece of redwood, bound with abalone veneer and a single piece of amboyna burl veneer covers the redwood cap. The body is hollowed out for weight loss and resonance.

There are no pickup rings. The pickups are mounted from the top and the mounting screws come through the back. I like to inlay my strap lock buttons flush into the bodies of my solid bodies. The pickups have a very low placement into the body. I modified most of the mounting tabs, and used foam instead of height springs. I also used height adjustment screws from the back of the instrument.

I wanted as much natural beauty to be seen as possible. 

I chose Lace Alumitones for the neck and bridge positions on the 12 string. Same positions for the 6 string, I used the same DiMarzio's Joe Satriani uses currently.

Gotoh no longer makes this electric 12 string bridge with 12 individual bridge saddles. It's a snake wood knobs from Luthier's Mercantile.

Telling a family member about my guitar I was planning, I told him I wanted Gretsch pickups in the middle position of each neck. He told me Jimmy gave him these pickups. He got them from Jimmy Messina from his days with Buffalo Springfield. Their sound is extremely classic. 

I sprayed the whole instrument with Behlen Stringed Instrument Lacquer. Former neighbor and luthier Ric McCurdy taught me about Behlen Stringed Instrument Lacquer. I've been making instruments for about 40 years, and learned using lacquer about 25 years ago with Mohawk specifically. Hands down, the absolute best lacquer on the market for stringed instruments.

I used Behlen's Vinyl Sealer in spray can form, and then built up a gorgeous coat of Mohawk Instrument Lacquer. I wet sanded it to level it. The amboyna burl top and wenge body and necks required a considerable amount to fill the grain. Then I shot more until I was happy with the coverage.

After about a week of letting the coating cure sufficiently, I wet sanded where necessary to 1500 grit paper then used McGuire's automotive polish and glaze to bring up a lovely, wet looking gloss. 

My double neck has a HUGE variety of tones and plays very similarly to my nylon string. It's a great source for great sounds!"

Thanks for sharing this with us Tim! If you have any questions about the guitar, our products, or anything touch up related, feel free to reach out. You can share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!

Stay tuned for the next blog post - there's something new every Friday!