From time to time Livid is asked to build controllers and systems for touring bands and productions. This month we had the opportunity to build an Ohm controller for the upcoming Poison Tour. Mark “Fifi” Miller, Poison’s lighting and video designer approached us with an order for a Poison green Ohm controller that would be used to control the tour’s video performance. Fifi hoped we would be able to match the green color from the Poison logo. Although we do have a very nice dark green as a standard color, I decided that a Poison theme controller was just too good to pass up.

As the production manager and Hardware developer, I have built our production line and developed the Ohm controller to be produced in full production runs and yet have the ability to add customization when needed. The Livid concept of production is to have as much of the fabrication equipment and processes in-house as possible. This allows us to have a high level of quality control, very rapid development , and a wide range of variability when needed.

Back to the Poison Controller.

For inspiration I just had to look at the Poison logo. I call it toxic green with highlights. As with all other Ohm controllers, the body starts out as a solid block of mahogany and is milled to shape with our CNC machine. After being rough sanded and fine sanded, the body is ready for color. Mahogany is a dark wood and does not lend itself very well to bright colors. Fortunately, mahogany is also a very open grained wood. This makes the wood very acceptable to holding dye and color. Our finishing has developed several techniques to get bright colors out of mahogany. The first step involves whitewashing the controller. This puts white pigment down into the large open grain of the wood. The whitewash provides a nice light underlying surface for the true color of the dye to really show. We allow the whitewash to dry for about an hour. If the color is put on too soon it will be a very milky looking finish as the dye mixes with the whitewash. To get the most vibrant green color, the color needs to sit on top of the whitewash. The open grain properties of mahogany allow the grain to show through even though the color is sitting on top of the wood.

This technique allows for a very toxic green. The Poison controller was just about the color of the Poison logo. To take the project the next step we decided to add the lime green highlights. This is achieved by a process we call color spraying. Color spraying is a technique of adding dye to clear lacquer. We basically airbrush tinted clear coat where it is needed.

I had just one more touch to complete the Poison Ohm controller. Just had to get that great logo in there. We applied the black vinyl cut logo to the curved scoop in the front of the Ohm.
After getting the color just right and applying the logo, the body is sprayed with 4 coats of clear lacquer. The lacquer is allowed to dry overnight and wet sanded. We wet sand at 400 grit to get the finish super smooth. This is repeated with another 4 coats of lacquer, wet sanded, and a final 4 more coats of lacquer. As a final finish process, we wet sand with 400, 800, and 1600 grit. The entire surface is then polished with rubbing compound and then polishing compound with a high speed buffer. This leaves a super smooth, instrument grade, deep clear finish.

If it sounds like alot of work, it is. Our customers appreciate their custom controllers as much as a guitarist appreciates a custom guitar so we put every bit of care into them.