Cheap NAGD Saga

[vangoghsear]

I went to a little mom and pop music store in search of a very cheap acoustic. I wanted a guitar that I would not be afraid of ruining the look because I want to paint the top.

 

I am a visual artist and I like to do Trompe l'oeil (I believe the phrase is French for "Fool the Eye") artwork, so I wanted a guitar that I could paint to look like the top was removed and the bridge, Rosette, and pick-guard are being held up by wire and screw eyes mounted through the sides (I have a drawing of my plan I will post later).

 

What I found is a Saga (both a long tale and a Saga guitar). The guitar is a Flinthill FHG-100. The body wood looked super cheap, like cardboard type cheap, light color, no grain, pretty likely laminate of some sort. The top was so even and smooth I thought it was Formica (but it's wood not a photo). I took it down off the wall and tried to play a G cord and discovered it was missing strings. It was missing strings because it was missing a tuner and had two broken tuners. So I just strummed the three remaining rusty strings and this amazing resonant tone emerged! There was no price marked on it. The owner came out and asked me what I was looking for and I explained. He said he'd sell me that one for $99 including replacing the damaged and missing tuners. I told him if he replaced them all he had a deal. It was more than I wanted to spend, but the tone was really nice so I bought it.

 

Come to find out, Flinthill is a Saga brand and Saga may have bought the guitars from an employee of Recording King in some sort of illegal deal for rebranding. I am not sure that mine is one of these or not. The legality has been fixed in a court case and settlement, but the guitars supposedly had possible shortcomings like parts that were substandard (like the tuners on this one) and some other possible issues (not every one would have every problem). As for the rest of it, I found that the body is birch (no or very little grain and light in color), which is an excellent tone wood used in speaker housings and amp bodies and I have found mixed opinions on whether or not the top is solid, but it is some form of spruce. It looks solid looking down the edge of the sound hole.

 

I have my drawing prepared now I need to paint it on the top. I will post before, progress and after shots.

 

Any additional information on the Flinthill FHG-100 would be appreciated. Also, any hints on painting the guitar top; I plan to use acrylic paint. And feel free to post photos of art decorated guitars you own here for me to see, if you want.

 

Thanks all.

[vangoghsear]

Here is a before shot and my sketch:

 

 

[moparguy]

That would look awesome, post some pics when you are done

[vangoghsear]

Finished all but putting the strings back on. Here is a picture of the guitar with the drawing gridded on from my sketch and the finished painted guitar body:

 

 

 

[Debonnaire]

Finished all but putting the strings back on. Here is a picture of the guitar with the drawing gridded on from my sketch and the finished painted guitar body:

 

 

 

 

NICE WORK!!

[vangoghsear]

NICE WORK!!

Thanks Debonnaire. It was a fun little project.

[vangoghsear]

That would look awesome, post some pics when you are done

Thanks moparguy. I think it turned out okay. Not too happy with my decision to coat it with matte acrylic varnish, it left some brush strokes, but otherwise, I liked how it turned out.

[BobF_]

That is awesome!! I want one :)

[vangoghsear]

That is awesome!! I want one :)

Thanks! I enjoyed working on it so I may do others.

 

I put the strings back and heard it fully for the first time last night. I lucked out; the tone and resonance are great. Very pretty cross between rosewood and maple body tone, bright and complex. Really nice for a cheap guitar.

[krock]

That looks badass

[moparguy]

Very nice, me likey a lot. That was a very original idea that came out really good

[vangoghsear]

Thanks krock and moparguy, glad you two like it.

 

I put it in a local music store on consignment; he thinks he can get about 3-1/2x what I paid for the unpainted guitar. He took down a vintage collectable Tele from a green display shadow box he has on the wall and hung the painted guitar in the box in its place. Wow! The paint job jumps out at you in contrast to that green box and looks great.

 

I bought another acoustic from the guy to paint. This one is a Fender DG-8S. A real nice inexpensive solid top acoustic. I have a sketch almost ready for this one and an idea for the next one after that. I guess I have a new hobby. Hey, it keeps me off the streets and in the music store!

[Cougar]

 

Dude, that is awesome! Why does this look asymmetric?

[vangoghsear]

Dude, that is awesome! Why does this look asymmetric?

Thanks Cougar.

 

I think it looks asymmetric partly because I took the photo with my MS Surface and the camera is built in at an angle and isn't square to the body of the Surface. If you notice, the signature plate isn't centered in the sound hole.

[nick_s]

That my man is impressive, kudos to your skills.

[vangoghsear]

Thanks nick_s. I've been painting a long time; longer than I've been playing guitar by about 14 years.

 

I'm about midway through my next guitar painting project, the Fender. So far so good. I started off this one by removing the gloss with one of those synthetic steel wool pads. The Fender was a lot glossier than the first one I did.

[RaysEpiphone]

Indeed very cool looking but your market would be limited as most people wouldn't know what it is.... What its supposed to look like I mean, us guitar guy's/gal's get it and would like it but to the average spectator it looks odd. I still like it tho so don't be discouraged by my realistic view-point!

[vangoghsear]

Indeed very cool looking but your market would be limited as most people wouldn't know what it is.... What its supposed to look like I mean, us guitar guy's/gal's get it and would like it but to the average spectator it looks odd. I still like it tho so don't be discouraged by my realistic view-point!

First off, thanks, glad you get it and like it.

 

Secondly, I agree with you completely. The place where I have it on consignment says that the guitars they get in that are unique or different from most get snapped up pretty quick, so I am hopeful that it will eventually sell. I hear it has gathered lots of interest.

 

However, I feel that the first one is limited in who will "get it," so the one that I am working on right now is more of combination of fool the eye technique and what I think is just interesting design. It looks like a pattern has been carved into the top and parts of the pattern have been painted bright colors. So far I think it looks pretty cool. I will post a picture when it is done.