Woodrrob

Hello all! I am obviously new here, but was perusing the internet looking for inspiration for my next (attainable!) build. After coming across this site, I have definitely a ton of new inspiration and ideas for where to develop my skills. You guys and gals here are quite incredible woodworkers! My uncle passed away about a year ago, and he was a carpenter by trade. I miss him dearly, he was an incredible man. He gave me a bunch of tools to start off with before he passed, as I had expressed interest in woodworking and guitar-building and being a luthier. It was a fantastic start and I've learned a bunch with what was given to me! I know however (and have from the start!) that I am lacking some very essential tools to create a guitar from scratch. As a result, my first project was an old (circa '08-09) Jay Reynolds that I stripped and rebuilt with plenty of help from the staff at GFS - I'm honestly proud of that guitar! I don't think it's particularly insane like some of the builds I've seen (in this thread alone!), and it definitely isn't perfect, but I am in total love. New stain, neck, locking tuners, pickups, polycap, new pots, I even shielded the entire front cavity with 2" copper tape with conductive adhesive; I'm just almost afraid to post it for fear of past experiences from places such as Reddit, in that I don't want to get torn apart for merely trying hahaha. So anyhow, bored with the backstory yet? Alright on to my post then! I am just more happy I got something that worked with my submission; it was a personal brain-flex to try and use ONLY what I had around the house to build a "campfire guitar" - one that worked with maybe a tiny amp and some simple effects, but was loud enough on its' own and durable/cheap enough to withstand flying embers and spilled beers without me crying. My primary objective was "Working instrument for $0 (additional) cost. I took inspiration from cigar-box guitars as well as resonators (and even kalimbas!) to create what I deem 'The Most Harmonic Piece of Trash' that I personally have seen. I took all the 'usable' old parts from the old Jay Reynolds (only the body was kept for the previously mentioned rebuild!), such as the neck, tuners, and bridge, and two of the tremolo springs. For the body, I glued cedar planks (meant for grilling/flavoring salmon) from the kitchen to two sections of 2x4 found in the garage. I did basic cuts with a jigsaw, sometimes implementing the 'drill-a-bunch-of-holes-with 1/2"-bit-and-connect-the-dots' method (I know I'm lacking serious tools!). I did most of the sanding using a small palm sander, a few custom block sanders (like sandpaper wrapped around a pestle to sand the neck cutout), and a collection of files that I have. The neck sits sky-high to the body, I know. But I only had one size of old lag bolts, and if the neck was deeper, they would have ruptured the fret-board. Remember, this is a build with $0 additional cost being the goal haha. I drilled through the body to add the old bridge, despite having no intentions to make the tremolo aspect functional. I just liked the idea of having a rear compartment for picks, lighters, and cigs (I don't smoke, but my friends do), so I threw a cigar tin on the back as the rear cover. The resonator is made from an altoids tin. I'm most hyped on this part haha. I added a set of piezo-pickups I had extra from a previous kalimba build (the piezos came in a two-pack for $7). I mounted the whole thing to a square block of aluminum that I believe is off my '82 Goldwing (P.O. used it to mount tail light to, but its anodized aluminum so no rust); regardless, it was a useless chunk found in the garage. As some sort of 'buzz dampener', I merely added a bracket meant for installing can-lights to the top of the resonator. I attached those aforementioned tremolo springs to the resonator to give it a bit extra sustain. It makes it sound VERY banjo-esque. This was a fun build that cost me nothing, and honestly looks like a pile of trash. But it plays, and makes some VERY unique sounds when sent through a delay pedal and some minor overdrive. It's not the prettiest sounding; its actually very clangy. But I tend to listen to a lot of electronic-influenced rock (Nine Inch Nails being my favorite and probably most notable) so I could see where it could potentially get use in my own mixes. But you blistering soloists and heavy metal heads probably wouldnt find a use for it. She's clunky, trashy, and slightly cumbersome; but I absolutely love the shit out of it and so do my friends who play around with it! I didn't build the neck from scratch, but this is my first guitar built (mostly!) from the ground up! I highly doubt I will win any contests, I just really wanted to share because I don't do any social media or the like.