Build : CCG - The 'Hephaestus' Series

[CC1]

To follow on from 'The Yeti' Series, I have begun work on the second line : 'Hephaestus' (Greek Blacksmith God/God of Fire)

 

I will begin with 1 Telecaster and 1 Jazzmaster in this mode.

 

Obviously, it looks better than this in my head, but as a general idea:

 

 

I'm still exploring which pickups to use. In my playing I am almost always on the humbucker (I play with a moderate amount of distortion - the lighter end of 'Heavy Rock'), so part of me wants to put in two humbuckers. The other part of me says "you have a strat and a gretsch for that, give yourself some variance - build it like an actual tele with two single coils and wire multiple tone and mix knobs".

 

That being said, I actually have 4 on the go now. The first, is a second 'Yeti' Guitar (first was a 4string P-bass), that's in the same Ash (with some lovely spalting on it). I am then making 3 Haephestus : 1 Tele in Ash, 1 Tele in Sequoia, and 1 Jazzmaster in Sequoia. The Ash Tele may yet be something else.

 

Will see how we go.

 

[Bizman62]

That looks interesting!

Re pickups, have you considered the fatter single coils like P90?

[CC1]

Yeah, P90's were a strong consideration. Quite expensive but probably worth it

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

That looks interesting!

Re pickups, have you considered the fatter single coils like P90?

 

[CC1]

So this was the logo on the neck plate of the Yeti: 

 

So keeping with the same style, this will be the neck plate for Hephaestus (which from now on, I'm just going to call "Hefty")

 

It will be on Normal Steel/Aluminium rather than black anodized this time (better suits the aesthetic I'm going for this time - silver/chrome coloured parts)

 

[Bizman62]

Have you drawn the graphics by yourself? Pretty immersive!

[CC1]

Grazi - Somewhat. I take inspiration through google search, and then sketch out the style in Powerpoint.

 

So... not really

2 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Have you drawn the graphics by yourself? Pretty immersive!

 

[Bizman62]

On 1/4/2021 at 6:17 PM, CC1 said:

P90's were a strong consideration. Quite expensive but probably worth it

Not necessarily too expensive. I've seen good reviews about Warman pickups and I even have a triplet of them on my Strat. Having heard them our Master Veijo Rautia just couldn't stop wondering if he should stop making pickups when you can get all three sounding that good for half the price of a single one. His pickups aren't too expensive for boutique wounds if you want something really special.

[CC1]

Time for an update.

 

The weather hasn't been too kind recently, but I did soldier through a 1-C-degree afternoon to plane down the 2.5" thick slabs of sequoia, and cut out the basic shapes with the Jigsaw. There was a LOT of pink snow from this. A lot

 

 

It's funny, the slabs were so heavy, but once cut down to shape and thickness (standard 1-3/4"/45mm), they are so light! I suppose they are a softwood pine, after all.

 

Having offcuts allowed me to test how sequoia would hold up to the charring

...pretty well. And it was easier than I thought to deliberately gradient the burn at the edges.

 

So I now have 4 bodies ready to go.

(Clockwise from Topleft: Sequoia Jaguar, English Ash Yeti (Guitar version of the Bass model I did first), Ash Tele, Sequoia Tele)

 

So next clear day and I'll tidy up the edges and the neck scoops to get it ready for cutting, burning and epoxy casting.

 

I also played around in Powerpoint and came up with a Signature for the headstocks. I decided the only thing 'original' (original to me, others have/may have done it)  about my Yeti series, is the double-scoop cut horns. Thus, I incorporated it into my own headstock design.

I see and appreciate the craftsmanship in some of the wackier headstocks and bodies out there - but I do believe that 90 years of guitar making - people have tried a lot of different shapes and styles - and the ones that look best, stuck. So, I wasn't going to try "reinventing the wheel" (and when I tried, they came out looking like garbage 80's synth keytars...). It occurred to me that 80% of my guitars bought have been Ibanez - so the left side takes some inspiration from there. I then set about playing with scoops and sharp edges/reticulating splines in different areas - and this just 'clicked' in front of me while fiddling, and I love it.

 

As per @Bizman62, I had started to investigate cheaper options of pickups. My sound/my band's sound is somewhere on the spectrum from bitey mild distortion (Muse's Absolution style) through to the myriad of heavy rock blues bands that have come out in the last 20 years. So, tonally, I just need something with good mids that doesn't lose too much clarity.

 

Exhaustive research led me to [Irongear pickups](https://www.axetec.co.uk/guitar_parts_uk_074.htm) . I haven't had a chance to play with them yet, but picked these up for £30 each (neck and bridge position). A marked improvement on cost from the £90 spent on the Fender Original P-Bass and a lot less than the DiMarzios et al of this world wanting £120-£200 per pickup. I had started entertaining buying a machine and spinning my own, as I was reading that hand wound ones have an interesting characterful tone that's one of a kind, and are dirt cheap to make. The issue is, a winding machine is £500-£1000. So yeah-nah.

I also picked up some generic machine heads that looks reasonable. I appreciate the Gotoh GB707s I got for the Yeti, but they're expensive for what they do. These will do fine.

 

I had also sourced some metal rebar from Amazon, just 2 rods ~40cm in length.

 

.. the idea being that I would cut them in half, to make the 'exposed wire frames' for two of the guitars.

 

However, what was in my head, was something more like this:

...which stylistically I feel like I've been influenced by the Vex in Destiny 2, mixed with a little Sci-Fi Starship Antennae feel to it.

Randomly in a chat wall, one of my best mates reminded us that his brother had taken up metallurgy/welding for art as a sellable hobby, and had started to get quite good.

 

Now, my rebar was £8 for the pair + £7 delivery, and would make two. But out of interest, I enquired. He very quickly (like, 30 minutes) knocked up a demo version, based on some refined measurements I sent

 

I love the rough weld style. Now, it's not rebar, but, I can scuff it up, and leave it out in the rain, and it should go a lovely dark grey+rusty look, which should be outstanding.

He also said he'd do those for £13 a pop + postage. Win! Much better than a couple stick of rebar.  Not only that, but he has a plasma cutter and can do really clean cuts - so he's checking how much brushed nickel sheets are for me, and would be able to start making me brushed nickel scratch plates! Score.

I am starting now to nail down suppliers I'll use should people want to commission one of these from me. (The chinese built Canadian Maple necks are fine for now - I'm building a workshop in the Spring when I can start making my own necks/doing neck-throughs. Boltons for now it is though!

 

Also, regarding the first image I styled out in my head, I've gone off the idea of Red/Yellow sunburst. I am now thinking a purple dye on the Sequoia bodies, really make them pop (and the purple should go nicely with the black and the steel. Add to this, that I'm going to get some large bismuth crystals and incorporate them into the 'exposed' wire frame parts. Really make it look like Nessus.

 

What do you guys think for the body colours? As for the Ash bodies, I think I'll leave them because the grain is beautiful and I like how the Yeti turned out.

 

Thoughts?

 

[mistermikev]

round here... we got rebar at home depot for $3 each!!  I've never really been into the 'articulated' guitar but have always thought they looked interesting.  

if they were my bodies... rather than char them I'd probably do the charred grain thing... that looks really cool imo.  (you know... take a blow torch and follow the grain).  

here's some other ideas... do the 'steel wool' in a cup of vinegar thing and ebonize the wood.  then char the grain.  might look like something that came out of a mine shaft fire.  

anywho, fun stuff!!

[Charlie H 72]

I did a quick charred guitar during quarantine this spring-nothing special as a build but I do like the finish. it was very easy and it has already started to wear in a way I like. Not sure if you are planning to put resin over it or anything but I like the “living finish” of just charred wood and some wax/oil. 
 

 

[CC1]

Yep - Clear epoxy, and re-cut to shape.

[CC1]

11 hours ago, mistermikev said:

round here... we got rebar at home depot for $3 each!!  I've never really been into the 'articulated' guitar but have always thought they looked interesting.  

if they were my bodies... rather than char them I'd probably do the charred grain thing... that looks really cool imo.  (you know... take a blow torch and follow the grain).  

here's some other ideas... do the 'steel wool' in a cup of vinegar thing and ebonize the wood.  then char the grain.  might look like something that came out of a mine shaft fire.  

anywho, fun stuff!!

I will do a Subodu char at some stage, but these I'm going for the "log pulled out of a fire" style dessication 

[CC1]

 

[ShatnersBassoon]

Absolutely love the finished result! Truly one of a kind.