A tribute to my Father from mortarman120gang11c

Well I just had this old Series 10 Explorer copy hanging on my wall and I was playing it one day and remembering my Father who passed away so I decide I would make a tribute to him. He served in World War II in the South pacific in the US Navy. He was a radioman/gunner on a Consolidated PBY5A in a Black Cat Squadron.( planes painted all black and flew all night missions) so I figured the black guitar would do justice. I was able to get a logo made of his Black cat squadron patch and found some other vinyl shapes of the PBY plane he flew all his missions in. I was also able to find the other decals online as well and replaced the original tuners with a nice black set of Westone Tuners and aded the star insignia to the backs of them. It was a fun project and brought back some good memories of my dad so I just thought I would share it with my fellow guitar enthusiasts here. Thanks Arthur aka mortarman120gang11c

https://s975.photobucket.com/albums/ae233/mortarman120gang11c/Tribute%20Guitar%20Dad%20VPB%2044%20Black%20Cats%20WWII%20Pacific/

[img:de63]http://forum.westoneguitars.net/[/img]

[img:de63]http://forum.westoneguitars.net/[/img]

[img:de63]http://forum.westoneguitars.net/[/img]

Wow!!

A lot of thought has gone into that guitar and it is a fitting tribute to your dear departed father.

Good work Mortarman and it's a keeper for sure!

Hoax

Nice one Arthur.

Reminds me of my Dad. Similar war connection but in England, and a gunnery Sergeant.

(Love the headstock)

Thank you for your comments. It is my first attemp at any type of guitar art or improvement. Good thing is if I want to go back to stock model it will not do any damage to finishes etc with the exception of the upgraded tuners. Maybe I will drop a set of MMks in there to make certain it has plenty of spare power. The stock pups are ok but nothing like the MMKs. The maple neck is a big thick one but plays very nice once you get used to it. Thanks again for the comments

Arthur aka mortarman120gang11c

Nice job Arthur, even the body style seems to fit, looks like a plane almost. Utmost respect for those who've served.

Oddly enough, seems Arthur's father and mine were in the same theatre, and may have actually been on the same island!

Dad can remember the Black cats, which took off before his squadron did to be in position for returning aircraft which were in trouble and needed to ditch; very brave crews in the Catalinas which clunked through the sky at about 200 knots...

Thank You Sir. Yes they were on a small island along with the US Marines and the Austrailians and New Zealanders. They lived in primative camps with no running water etc and only had rainwater to drink and take a bath in. Malaria, disentary and the usual diseases were rampant there also but they did what had to be done to win. They were indeed a great generation and are missed greatly. Say hello to your father and also thank him for his service. Arthur