Guitar Of The Month – May, 2023

Written by: Kevin Strom On: Jun 12th, 2023

Congratulations goes out to Lyle Siemens for his guitar build, to earn him Guitar of the Month for May 2023.

Lyle used our PRK-1 kit as the basis to create his guitar.

“This was my 3rd Solo kit and have learned plenty from the other ones. The first being a V for my birthday from my wife, the 2nd was a 3/4 Strat for my wife. Both turned out great however this kit was going to be special as it was for my terminally ill wife.  She is my everything.

I’ve saw a Solo PRK with a flamed maple top in the B-stock section and had a vision of doing one last guitar for her using her favorite colors that we used for our wedding.  This time I was determined to use artist oil paints for everything. I bought some Japan drier and Minwax gloss wipe-on poly, sandpaper and some nice Wilkinson gold hardware upgrades from Solo. 

The kit arrived quickly and a quick inspection to be sure the neck fits and was at the correct angle. 

I decided to use 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to remove the poly sealant from the factory because it was easier to keep scratches off. There were very little tool marks to remove. Then I wiped the top down with mineral spirits to make sure all the poly was removed.

I wanted to use artist oils because of the nice layers and blending of colors but didn’t know how they would react to the flame maple veneer. I went nice and slow with multiple layers of thin oil coats sanding very lightly to even them out perfectly. With proper blending and color mixing, I had the Muti-color purple burst effect. 

The neck was double and triple checked before gluing it in with Titebond Hide Glue. A Tusq XL nut was essential for this build to keep it in tune perfectly. Very little fret leveling and polishing was needed. 

The back and sides were also sanded and grain filled ready for a mixture of black and purple. The neck got the same treatment. The headstock was also specially mixed purple. Once the desired tones were achieved, it was time for the wipe-on poly. For that, I used many specially folded cotton rags to prevent streaks and wet sanding with 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit every two layers. Since it was flamed maple, the top wasn’t 100% smooth because of the nature of the wood so I very carefully balanced between perfectly smooth and to achieve the best shine and color tone depth before hand polishing the top.

The gold hardware was stunning but I didn’t want to overwhelm the appearance so I used a black roller bridge as well as the black knobs. Once final adjustments were made, I let it sit for a couple days and rechecked the action and intonation and the results were incredible! Not one to brag but this turned-out overall way better than the last builds regarding the finish and final appearance. 

My wife was overwhelmed by the final outcome and says it’s the easiest to play by far. She plays it when she has ok days. I play it for her when she can’t. We cherish every moment together.

Thanks Solo! This guitar far exceeded our expectations. Every kit takes work if you want it to play and sound like the expensive counterpart.”

-Lyle Siemens