Dystopian Guitar Design

03/22/2026

Sanded the Hamilton body smooth and then hit a scrap piece with Tung oil to see how the grain of the Bubinga is going to pop once the entire build is. Also did some more dry layup of the Mahogany piece I’ll be using for the face of the body which will be stained and accessorized accordingly. 🤘

03/21/2026

I’m on a kick of revisiting old guitar designs I kind of abandoned in previous years. The Hamilton guitar was one I had solid designs for back in 2020, but then after Wandavision sent me mad for the Scarlet Witch designs, I never really moved the ball forward.

Yesterday I got on a Hamilton soundtrack kick and made the executive decision to CNC out the body. This will be my first semi-hollow design - the body is made from African Bubinga, an exotic hardwood, and the body top will be made from mahogany.

The left half will resemble Hamilton’s coat with a dueling pistol F-hole cutout, the right half Eliza’s dress with ribbon / lace to match. I also plan to have the Hamilton logo CNC’d as a brass inlay below the bridge.

“I am the one thing in life I can control
I am inimitable, I am an original”

02/22/2026

One of the earliest themed guitar build ideas I wanted to pursue was a Tron Legacy guitar. An idea I played around with back in 2017 (when I started Dystopian) and then abandoned for other projects. The Demon body shape shown was NEVER the intent, it was honestly just the first CNC CAD model I had after building my personal Red Demon so I cut out a scrap body for proof of concept prototype.

I did an offset groove that followed the contoured body outline so that I could embed electroluminescent wire into and verify the bend ability and aesthetics when it was turned on. My intent was to then make a set of twins (like I usually build my guitars in); one orange / one blue. Or a design with interwebbing light cycle paths of both colors to mimic the “grid.”

9 years later here we are full circle to the original test piece. Though I proved out the concept, I never invested the time to design the true body shape; something more appropriate to the Tron aesthetic. Something with cyberpunk geometric body lines that mimic the vehicle designs in the movies, also incorporating the light discs somewhere in the guitar.

I waited so long to design these damn guitars that Tron Ares came out… so I watched it and took screenshots of body shape inspirations. I was specifically drawn to the design of the light jetpacks and the very triangular / geometric wings that I think would translate well into a guitar body shape of sorts.

More to come… at some point at least. 🧡🩵❤️🤘

02/11/2026

Happy National Guitar Day with a little reflection of my portfolio of designs and builds over the years, completed or not.

At the very least, I dare to break the mold…

…and then not finish most of the molds I broke. 🤣
Build. Cool. S**t. 🤘

01/29/2026

To celebrate International Puzzle Day, I look back at one of the earliest guitar designs that helped me launch Dystopian in 2017, a long term dream of mine to venture into guitar building.

Why did I start with Puzzle guitars? True story - I did not have the woodworking skills or knowledge of where to even purchase high quality wood the size of a guitar body, nor the tools to process the blanks, so I started purchasing red oak, walnut, and cherry scrap pieces from a local lumber yard just to cut puzzle pieces out of and assemble into a body blank.

I started with the most basic guitar shape possible to machine and finish too - a Flying V. Then, to pay homage to Gibson and achieve a more sculpted body, the SGs. Gibsons law team (during their warpath against NUMEROUS luthiers and companies) ended up kicking me off Etsy and Reverb for using their guitar shapes… 😑🖕

I’ve come a long way since those first 2 Puzzle-V’s followed by the 3 Puzzle SG’s and most recently the aquamarine Puzzle Strat (screw Gibson 🤣). Piece by piece I built my guitar design dream from the ground up. 🧩🤘🎸

11/09/2025

Not that I don’t already work on enough projects concurrently without finishing any of them; I still would like to incrementally progress the Zebrawood Archangel body prototype that’s been floating around the shop since 2017 by choosing a contrasting epoxy color to use on the angel wing inlays and make them pop against the wood grain.

It’s easier to see the winged pattern on the original maple body version… but I kinda screwed that very first prototype up so that body has been a glorified paper weight to me that I’ve used to weigh down glue ups with for the last 8 yrs 🤣

Since I have the luxury of no constraint on time frame for completing any of my guitar builds, every single day in the shop is just a question of “what cool creative s**t do I feel like tinkering with today?”

11/07/2025

The Puzzle Strat’s pickguard has been sitting unfinished without clear coating for too many years and the stain darkened / faded. Block sanded it back to natural wood tone glory of the cherry / walnut woods before deciding how I want to restain it again.

If you notice, I did cut the pickguard to precisely follow the Puzzle pattern on the body when installed. I wanted to create that little visual effect of the puzzle piece lines continuing back and forth between body & a lighter colored pickguard

Took the opportunity to do a dry layup of all the hardware. The k***s shown will not be the final version as this guitar build requires ones a little more… well… blue. 💙🧩🤘

11/04/2025

One of my earliest builds (finished back in March 2018 and 1 of 3 Puzzle SGs and 2 Puzzle V’s I built that year each in black, chrome, and gold hardware) but still questionably one of my prettiest builds to date. Featuring a cherry and walnut puzzle piece body, rosewood fretboard with red oak puzzle fret inlays on a figured maple neck, all in a satin finish.

Fun fact: Gibson’s corporate law team kicked my builds off Reverb in 2018 and sent me a cease and desist letter for trademark infringement because I intentionally built my puzzle guitars in their SG and V style. Lesson learned and never paying homage to Gibson again 🤣🖕

My skills as a self taught luthier have definitely improved in the last 7 yrs through trial, error, and education (as have my product photography skills) and this guitar (and her sisters) is nowhere near perfect in guitar quality standards as I was just starting out and learning… but man she really has maintained being one of my most proud & gorgeous builds… 🧩

Considering I play lefty… no one has ever played this guitar LOL

10/30/2025

I’ve never seen so many musicians post long sentimental write ups over the passing of a radio DJ until today but I’ve read them from Zach Myers (Shinedown), Offspring, Jon Bon Jovi, Blues Traveler, Sublime, Live, Billy Idol, Collective Soul, etc. and that is reflective to just how much of an influential impact Pierre Robert had not just in Philly, but in music nationwide.

The music world truly lost a great man yesterday. A voice of influence that exposed me to so many great artists and bands when I was first getting into guitar and helped drive my passion, music I’d hear on WMMR and then go learn to play. The music world lost such a positive legend. “Greetings citizens!” 🤘

We’re heartbroken to share the passing of our dear friend and legendary voice, Pierre Robert. You will be missed beyond words.

10/30/2025

Videos of the pistols, functionality, and custom heel holster sleeves… 🤘