Those of you whom have followed Mike for any length of time have probably noticed that he is a big fan of Warbird paint jobs, particularly on guitars. It all started when Mike first picked up an airbrush, around the age of 10, because he wanted to paint his model airplanes. But the interest for the […]Read More
Tracy’s Custom OMJ Bandit
Custom Collaboration: Learn Guitars with Tracy Jenkins. A new model is born!!
Hellraiser Project: COMPLETE TUTORIAL
Anyone who knows Mike, knows that he is a HUGE horror fan and he has never had the opportunity to paint Pinhead, so this job thrilled him. We also thought it would be a great subject for tutorials.
Glow In The Dark FRANKIE
This is a project for NAMM. Mike always likes to push the boundaries a bit with these jobs because he is generally given full artistic reign. I thought you might like to follow the process of this piece, as it is challenging both technically and creatively. As most of you know, Mike generally prefers to work on […]Read More
SPOTLIGHT: P61 Black Widow Warbird
This Jackson King V project was commissioned from a repeat customer, Alex. Mike has done several great pieces for him, and this one was no different. The guitar originally had 2 pickups, so Mike did some modifications to fill the second pickup recess and the holes for the electronics. Alex left the design for the […]Read More
UNCIVIL DEFENSE – JACKSON SOLOIST PROJECT
For this project I really wanted to do something with the Statue of Liberty as a foundation but I was looking for something a little more thought provoking than a simple replication of an image. I started with a reference photo of Miss Liberty, imported it into CorelDRAW and then used the basic proportions and sense […]Read More
How To: Kong- A Lesson in Texture
This Tutorial is a study in Daggers and Dots: Mike goes into great detail as he explains the layering techniques he used to create complex textures like leathery skin and hair on his awesome beast, KONG. We are also including some still photos and color use references below: Mike created a very simple mask to […]Read More
HOW TO: Focke Wulf 190 WWII Warbird
When it comes to painting Warbirds, a good portion of great execution is understanding how to complete complex masking processes. These types of designs require numerous “layers” and masking them in the correct order is integral to the success of the final piece. For this particular tutorial, we will focus on “order of execution.” This […]Read More
SPOTLIGHT: OCTOPUS Les Paul Project
This project has garnered a lot of interest as its progression was documented on social media. Now that it is complete I thought I would put the entire process and the most relevant images and videos together one one place. The project came to us from a customer in China and there are several back […]Read More
Nuclear Explosion! Jackson King V
This Jackson King V is heading home to Bob! The guitar arrived with a broken neck, fortunately Mike is as skilled in luthiery as he is in art! The explosion theme came from Bob’s love of Megadeth music! Here is Mike talking a bit more about the this project:
SPOTLIGHT: Jackson D.O.C Guitar Series
Mike has often been given the freedom to create ideas for the Jackson Custom Shop “Short Runs”. This concept, Jackson Department of Corrections is an example. Mike came up with the idea of prison stripes and chains and even designed the chain link inlays to wrap the design from the body up through the fingerboard! […]Read More
SPOTLIGHT: Mike’s WarBird Art
Those of you whom have followed Mike for any length of time have probably noticed that he is a big fan of Warbird paint jobs, particularly on guitars. I, better than anyone I suppose, know how much he enjoys this particular type of art, so I decided to ask Mike exactly why he found warbird […]Read More