Greetings From Dismal

[orgmorg]

Howdy all,

My name is George Downing, and I am a cellulose addict. ( wood junkie )

For the past few years or so, I have been trying to get back to building guitars again. I started building when I was 14 or 15, and continued on and off until I was 21 and had to get a "real" job to support a rather unexpected wife and kid. After a bunch of moving around, different cabinet shop jobs, and ultimately another wife and kid, I am now 34 and running my own woodshop/contracting/sawmilling business. With keeping the business running enough to support all involved ( including my creditors ) time and energy run short for guitars. I'm hoping that hanging out here will help keep the fire lit under my bony posterior enough to keep me at it.

Thanks,

George

Edited February 2, 2005 by orgmorg

[bigdguitars]

:welcome!!!! got a good supplier of swamp ash?

[!!METAL MATT!!]

Hey man welcome to the forum , And it will keep that fire burning

Got any pic's of the guitars that you have built?

!!METAL MATT!!

[orgmorg]

I've got a few pics, poor quality, but they load quick I'll put them here, and when I get some better ones, I'll post them in the projects board.

BigD, I don't know for sure if "swamp" ash occurs around here, in Tennessee. I think it is only much further south. Our white and green ashes are a little softer than those further north, but not nearly like those that grow in the hot humid swamps.

Here's one I did a few years back:

The top is cut from a piece of oak siding off an old barn and left unfinished.

The back is beech from a 2x6 in the same barn. It's heavy as a beech, too.

pickguard is rusted roof tin

tunamatic bridge

Tailpiece is a rusted iron strap hinge.

Schaller humbucker, no name tele neck pu

Grover deluxe tuners

Neck is 5 piece laminate, maple and walnut, w/ angled wormy chestnut peghead. ( the holes go all the way thru. )

[orgmorg]

This one I did more recently, mostly to work out some production ideas and such. Kept it pretty simple. One piece mahogany body, one piece birdseye maple neck w/ mesquite fingerboard.

Edited February 2, 2005 by orgmorg

[Recursion]

Those look pretty good. A+

[marksound]

The top is cut from a piece of oak siding off an old barn and left unfinished.

The back is beech from a 2x6 in the same barn. It's heavy as a beech, too.

pickguard is rusted roof tin

tunamatic bridge

Tailpiece is a rusted iron strap hinge.

Schaller humbucker, no name tele neck pu

Grover deluxe tuners

Neck is 5 piece laminate, maple and walnut, w/ angled wormy chestnut peghead. ( the holes go all the way thru.   )

←

The Born in a Barn Special. Looks like GOTM material to me. Really. I like it.

Do you still have it? How does it sound? Have any clips?

[orgmorg]

Thanks for the replies! I guess that means the pictures linked correctly.

The barnwood guitar sounds much like a tele, which was the intent, with a bit of beef available from the humbucker when necessary. I used a 5 position, four pole switch to get a good range of sounds. I don't have the slightest clue how to make a sound clip, but I'm willing to learn What do I need? Or is there something posted here somewhere on that?

Anywho, here's a couple six string, neck thru body basses from a LONG time ago, when I was not too good about documenting my work

One for the pointy guitar lovers,

The top is a 16" wide piece of figured walnut, wish I had a better pic of it.

Made for a huge Geezer Butler fan, big bottom end.

This one is a fretless, cocobolo fingerboard w/maple fret lines. This guy was into Les Claypool.

These old prints that I am scanning look better than what I take with my cheapo digital, gotta do something about that.

[GregP]

Welcome to the board!

[skibum5545]

Man, the way you angled those neck laminates in that last bass is no less than brilliant!

Does that angling provide structural integrity as well as aesthetics, or is it just for looks? Also, do you have any pics of the back?

[Marzocchi705]

Nice guitarsand i really like that last bass, hope your still that good now, your probibly better. Looking forward to seeing your future projects

[orgmorg]

Here's a pic of the back:

Skibum, the idea was to make it more stable, but who knows for sure? I figured at least it would look cool. The dark strips are wenge, and in retrospect, I wish I had used it for the center strip as well, or at least a piece of walnut.

Here's another oldie featuring a killer piece of hardware.

and the headstock:

I gotta say, I'm really enjoying hanging out here, tons of good info, and a boatload of talent as well.

[!!METAL MATT!!]

One for the pointy guitar lovers

Hay That's me WOW man From your first two pics I was MEH there ok but then you show off the big gun's, my kinda guitars DEADLY stuff I realy love what you did at the botom of the head stock there very tight!! And I realy like your inlay's

very cool!

!!METAL MATT!!

[orgmorg]

Thanks, man! Yeah, I'm into a wide variety of stuff, style-wise.

This is a banjo I did. The body and resonator are all Stew-Mac parts, but I built the neck. I think its the most elaborate inlay I've done.

And the back:

The maple leaf is relief carved into the heel, w/ the field painted black.

[lovekraft]

...the way you angled those neck laminates in that last bass is no less than brilliant!

Yeah, that's very clever, and extremely well executed, too - I can already think of several ways to extend that idea with spectacular results! Now I just gotta figure out how to make the jigs to cut the laminates... can you say "bowl-back neck", boys and girls?

[orgmorg]

Cutting them was fairly easy, I just ripped the maple pieces at an angle, and sandwiched the wenge strips between the halves. Gluing it is the tough part, everything wants to slide in a different direction.

Are you a HP Lovecraft fan, Lovekraft? I grew up in Providence, RI, and my grandparents are buried a few plots over from him.

One more of the barnwood guitar, showing the back. I've been playing around with using old wood, trying to use the "defects" as part of the design.