Welcome to Dr. Nitro workshop.
First of all, I am an artist and researcher. For over 20 years I have been working in the
field of monumental and Christian art. The main task in my profession is a deep exploring of historical works of art in order to recreate, restore or create their works using the technologies used by the masters. To understand how the old masters worked 100, 500 or 2,000 years ago, you need to carry out a deep analysis of the techniques of painting, materials, the influence of time, the chemistry of colors, historical events in that period, and much more. I do this all my life. In parallel with my main profession as an artist, I've always studied music. I play many musical instruments - wind, keyboard and string. For a long period of time I was engaged in electronic music and production. I performed with my Band on many European venues. My love of electric guitar and my experience in the historical research of art resulted in my workshop. This is what I love and what brings pleasure to me and my friends - the same fans of the classic sound of the Les Paul. I publish tutorials on the Art of Reliс on Patreon. There you can find out my secrets and all the technology of my work.
Dr. Nitro PAF Pickups clones
Since 2014, when together with Vashchenko we made the first prototype of the '59 Les Paul, I wanted to go further and start deep research on "Patent Applied For" pickups. In this case, as in the study of design and technology 59 Les Paul, I also used my artistic research experience and the principles of reverse engineering. This always works flawlessly. The most important task for me was to recreate the voice and timbre of the original PAF and its amazing dynamics. The vast majority of modern pickups do not have these characteristics and nuances. The first versions of my pickups, which I made for friends and as experiments, I made from those replicas of PAF parts that are publicly available on various specialized online stores. Cellulose acetate butyrate bobbins, historical backplates, lids and other metal parts. Everything is as it should be. I was pleased with the results, but only until the moment when the original vintage PAF fell into my hands. Thanks to the help of my friends from around the world, I had the opportunity to examine several vintage original PAF 58, 59, 61 pickups. It turned everything upside down. With my friends we did a lot of testing and research on alloys, wires, sizes and more. It turned out that most of the parts that are on the market do not match the original specifications. Over the next few years, I experimented and learned to understand and adjust the dependence of various parameters in production in order to achieve that very sweet PAF voice. To do this, I had to make my own parts that are responsible for the correct sound. Now I manufacture and order parts from the factory that exactly meet my requirements and recreate the right clean and warm PAF voice that we all hear on our favorite records.
My lineup of 8Bomb PAF clones consists of replicas of '58, '59, and '61 original "Patent Applied For" pickups that differ slightly in dynamics and sound nuances, but all have the same voice. Sometimes I manage to find vintage wire and then some models appear in this option. The W62 is made from vintage 1962 wire and these pickups have the widest frequency range.
Of course, I pay special attention to a realistic relic. This is what makes the whole guitar look especially delicious. I really like to pay great attention to detail to make it look as realistic as possible. Just as if time did it.
Guitars , Nitro and Relic
I absolutely love the classic look of the old Fifties Les Pauls. For me, this is the most interesting subject for research. In my art objects, I try to recreate not just the look of an old guitar, but also accurately recreate the very character of sound and feel. For the production of the "canvas" for the projects, we carefully preparing wood using our stabilization technology. This gives the wood structure the same properties as 90 years old wood. This is not a common "wood baking" in United States. Our process is a little more complicated and takes longer. Then the finished parts are carefully matched to each other at resonance intervals so that the entire future system resonates as seamlessly as possible. When the "canvas" is ready, I fine-tune the resonances. And then art begins.
I do not build guitars for order. I make Art. I adhere to strict principles that enable me to immerse myself as deeply as possible in each project. My information base is replenished every day thanks to our friends and fans of LPs around the world. Careful selection of premium wood for each art project.
The selection of each piece of the neck and body is carried out according to the principle of tonal intervals, therefore, each part of the guitar resonates with the other in the most balanced way. For each project, I independently choose the future design and the degree of aging. I spend as much time on each project as it takes and I am not dependent on deadlines.
My finished projects will be presented here. Uou can support my art on
Nitro
I started my research of the sound of guitars many years ago with guitar refinishing. I noticed that the lacquer coating of an electric guitar has a tremendous effect on its sound. Since for me, working with varnishes is very close to my profession, I began to refinish guitars and explore the effect of different varnishes on sound. I experimented with shellac and violin varnishes, cooked according to old technologies and recipes. Some of them work amazingly on acoustic musical instruments. For electric guitars, nitro varnish proved to be the most convenient and traditional coating. Its main advantage for guitar manufacturers has always been its low price compared to shellac and other varnishes. But nitro varnish is not very convenient in finishing. It gives a high shrinkage, with time it turns yellow and becomes brittle. It cracks. For manufacturers, this was a huge disadvantage and as soon as the opportunity appeared they all switched to polyurethane, acrylic or two-component varnishes, which are easier to work with. They do not crack and you can quickly make a perfectly smooth and durable coating. Just like in the furniture industry - easier, cheaper, faster. But why then do-connoisseurs of vintage guitars value nitro so much now? The coating has too many "minuses". Nitro dries all its life, gradually losing plasticizers (some evaporate, some harden), the nitrocellulose
oxidation process goes on continuously. There are microcracks. This makes it possible for the coating to vibrate with the wood, without constraining resonance and micro-vibrations. I am a skeptic by nature and I check any information on my own experience. I did tests of all brands of nitrocellulose lacquer that I came across. Most of them are only called “nitro”, but in essence they are polyurethane varnishes. Polyurethane resins and other additives are used as plasticizers. The only thing that unites them is their basis - nitrocellulose (colloxylin). Since I, in my artistic experience, have repeatedly encountered the preparation of varnishes, I began to make it myself. This gives me the opportunity to clearly control the quality, structure, aging process and the effect of varnish on the sound of the guitar. My nitro mix does not have plasticizers and after my aging process it gets the microstructure of old vintage nitro lacquer.
Relic
My idea of aging is to create maximum realism. This also applies to plastic and metal parts. I use many traditional methods of oxidation of metals from my research and reinvented by me. For each material I have a dozen ways to do it. I constantly experiment and invent new ways to recreate one or another effect. The aging of varnish in my concept is an important point in the formation of not only a realistic vintage look, but also in the formation of the sound of the entire guitar. My technology consists of many stages and takes about 1.5-2 months from applying a finishing coat of lacquer to the final result. All the guitars I work on have my decal label in the pickup cavity. You can see some technological moments in my videos. But this is far from complete technology and not all possible options. I prefer to keep some of my operations secret. But on my Patreon on Maker level I share many of my secrets and technologies with a detailed description of the process.