Hi! You have worked this with considerable rendering skill, good job on that. However as pixel art it's lacking in some prime respects.
The biggest issue is your lack of control with your colors. Right now it's 46 colors. I speculate you can get the exact same result in terms of information with as many as 16 colors... let me attempt this a second..
It's a really twisted sort of hobby I - and some other board members have - to pull palettes back to cohesion, heh.
Here the guitar is made from 16 colors. Can you spot valuable information or detail loss?
Have you however mulled over the idea of adding more contrast, not because it would be more realistic but just to increase visual interest?
Also, how about ramps that aren't directly straight? Even if it's not realist as such? Here's a fast edit to show both points in action:
Also on the pixel level, you have problems with banding. Also you need to watch where your dithered clusters touch your opaque pixel clusters. I have written extensively on these concepts
in this thread. Please give it a good read.
Look at the squared section of the guitar for some pixel level work on that knob and surrounding area to see how much power you can harness more from your pixels.
I'd love to write more but I'm kinda on a tight schedule with drawing comics lately, I hope I've helped.
Also, cool axe.
