AXN Model '83 Custom Order Watch The Process

Hello Johnny here.

So what are the steps involved in a custom order from AXN Guitars? This is a question I get all the time. If you want to see this order finished scroll to the bottom of the page…

In this post I will break the whole process down.

As of today I try to make a custom order as simple as possible. I don’t use a big giant order form full of things to fill out. I hate forms. I make it a fun experience.

I wont create more mountains to climb. Lets just agree to make it easy and comfortable. I interview each customer and get the information first hand. Most buyers are under the impression that its way more complicated than it needs to be.

To show that its easy we will follow a “live'‘custom order that is going through the shop in this post.

Some quick facts;

  • Firstly we will put any pickup you want in our AXNs.

  • Second, 9/10 customers want one of our two models.

  • Third, right now we have two types of bridges we offer. A Floyd Rose or our new AlienJEL Hardtail. Easy enough!

  • Fourth, we do a 15” fretboard radius on a flame maple neck with jumbo 6100 frets on nearly all our AXNs. Thats kinda what makes an AXN an AXN. So the choice here is neck and fretboard wood. That said, we are real luthiers, we manufacture our own guitars in our own shop. We can manufacture using any neck/fretboard wood with any frets and any fretboard radius you prefer anytime the way you want it.

  • Fifth, you can pick your neck shape and profile. We recommend out AXN Gen2 Neck Profile.

  • If you learn a little about our neck shapes you will have discovered the essence of why an AXN is something different… We are the only luthiers that know the exact neck shapes used by the famous artists that our customers are interested in. We are the only luthiers that execute a neck shape exactly at every fret and every inch of the neck. Every other boutique builder is just selling you basically a generic neck shape that they fudged a little and called it a medium or thin C.

  • Thats just about it. Generally i personally discuss these things with the customer and I provide advice.

  • Sixth, so ill make a long story short and make this the last quick-fact. We can do virtually any finish, paint color etc. If we are doing artwork or a graphic i will let you know what the extra cost or time frame is to fulfill your dream.

  • We work off of a base price for our AXNs. If you buy direct at AXNguitars.com you will save versus buying from Ebay or Reverb. Buy direct from us its much much more personal!!! Some reading on our available page will clue you into our standard/general build specifications.

  • Below The Raw Body and Neck Photos

SOME PHOTOS ALREADY TAKEN ALONG THE WAY. THESE WERE PROGRESS PHOTOS SENT TO THE CUSTOMER WITH MONTHLY UPDATES.

Step 2 - We manufactured the neck and body fresh from wood we hand picked at our wood supplier.

PART ONE - on to the current custom order! Lets have some fun!!!

Here is what the custom order Specs looked like :

  1. AXN ’83 Custom

  2. maple fretboard neck - Flamey

  3. maple body two piece center seam ( all AXNs are )

  4. Custom BareKnuckle Holydiver humbucker

  5. Black with Red Rising Sun Graphic using nitro paint

  6. Black hardware

  7. New floyd rose with AXN '84 sustain block, old style floyd rose arm

  8. EVH style hooks instead of the usual strap buttons

  9. Hard case

PART TWO OF THIS BLOG POST - Black Nitro paint and finish

Customer Udate ARTWORK

Artwork Applied

This whole guitar gets nitrocellulose. The customer understood that we accurately replicated this graphic from a 1982 Charvel and this is the Rising Sun Graphic color scheme that he chose for his custom order.

A couple of decades ago i used wax paper and pencil to copy this graphic directly from a 1982 Charvel. As some people know i spent decades recording technical specifications of vintage 1980s guitars. Over the decades, in the process of making notes and recording the specifications, i also copied the artwork from various guitars exactly off the 1980s originals.

Ok enough with my Sensei stuff. So i’m still personally hand creating the artwork for 9 out of 10 of my AXNs. When i dont create my own guitar art i work with someone who was well known in the industry in the 1980s.

Below are some photos of the custom order just after i removed the blue tape.

The graphic turned out awesome and “period correct”. I’m using nitro paint and no grain fillers. Sure to end up with the most tone-full AXNs everytime! As we all know paint fillers and clear coat cause shrill sounding distortion and alters the sound wave.

So there we have it. I enjoy this exercise in art creation. I also Believe in Rock-N-Roll and simplicity. As my single humbucker rock AXN guitars demonstrate. That said the most fulfilling part of this journey is yet to come… And that would be building up a 100% handmade AXN guitar and playing it through my Marshall Plexi. A guitar made from the best tonewoods, the best hardware, the best pickups as it was designed to be. ONLY….THE BEST OF THE BEST.

Next update Relic WORK

Age and Relic Work

This custom order was created by the customer himself. He looked at examples of several similar AXNs and choose a relic rising sun guitar. In this step we now ever so delicately and strategically remove finish.

Final Stages - Assembly, Form and Fit, Set-up

FINALe - completion - finis

Creating guitars that are new but look old is not so easy. When its an awesome AXN 80s style guitar its not that different from polishing an already perfect gem. It takes a fine eye and very much patience to replicate truly earned road wear.

The above completed custom order was a great success. The buyer was mystified by the very cool and precise AXN Model ‘83 neck shape. A big fan of EVH he fell in love with the mojo that this AXN has in great abundance.

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END… stay tuned for more “follow the process” AXN Blog Posts

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Written by AlienXnation On