Rough and ready for duty.
QC003 - Camocaster
I’ve always wanted to work with camo fabric. It’s design is total ‘form and function’. It’s colors, durability and pattern is focused on blending into it’s surroundings.
The fabric
The Camocaster is made of Vietnam era Army surplus uniform material. I hand stitched the quilt pattern around each camo blob, which took a very, very long time. Each blob has it’s own thread color to act as a subtle contrast. There were several times when I thought, ‘is this worth it?’ But persistence paid off as it came out excellent.
The hardware, body and neck
For the hardware on this guitar I wanted to use black. The goal was to match a few of the black camo blobs to keep the guitar as stealthily as I could. The pickups are both hum-buckers from Seymour Duncan. The neck pickup are P90’s and the bridge pickup is a combo hum-bucker in a tele size to fit the bridge plate. This guitar has a very large ‘pick-pocket’ in the back which is a repurposed military pant pocket with a flap that buttons.
I used a telecaster guitar body with a rosewood fretboard neck to match the earth tones on the camo. The fretboard has a light satin finish so it will show wear over time.
The result
This Quiltcaster is one of my favorites to play and look at. It’s very iconic and feel extremely comfortable next to you. I love the way the quilting around the camo blobs created subtle shadows and highlights. The quilting gives this design a 3-D look as if it was still being warm. Since the fabric is well broken-in and durable military grade this guitar is ready for duty and will stand up to any abuse a rock guitarist can toss at it. And hell, if it rips, just sew it up like you’re in the field. It’ll just add more character!
The photos
Again, Tegan Keller Studios was my go-to photog for the Camocaster. Like the OGcaster (001) and Glamcaster (QC 002) I wanted her creative eye to pull out some of the unique details in these guitars. She writes about the Camocaster in her blog and also shows you many more photos as well as behind the scenes to the shoot. (link: Camocaster Shoot). This guitar felt comfortable outside in the forests and dunes of Colorado.
QC 004 Camocaster completed 2015.
