JoryNad Posted April 2, 2004 Report Posted April 2, 2004 Hey guy, im a posting this just to let everyone know of my FIRST GUITAR PROJECT, and it seems i havn't chosen an easy one, i am building a replica of a 1964 Montgumery Wards Airline JB Hutto guitar (yes a long name) in case you don't know what im talking about here is a pic yea pretty crazy eh? yea so ill keep you posted, oh if the image doesn't work its the guitar Jack White of the White Stripes plays Quote
Drak Posted April 2, 2004 Report Posted April 2, 2004 Cool. J.B.Hutto was one bad muthufuya. One of my slide guitar heroes. Quote
GregP Posted April 2, 2004 Report Posted April 2, 2004 Neato! Are you going to do a full-on replica, or switch some things around to suit personal taste? (ie. for me, at least, that row of knobs along the top are in an inconvenient spot) Quote
JoryNad Posted April 2, 2004 Author Report Posted April 2, 2004 yea exact, well as exact as i can be, slight body dimension changes as i do not have the orignal body measurments, and different pickups (got any suggestions here, ie. brands) yea alot of slefm ade stuff, what should i make a pickguard out of? plus the real deal is made of "resoglas" (fiberglass) and is hollow, so mine will be made of MDF and solidbody Quote
Jivin Posted April 2, 2004 Report Posted April 2, 2004 MDF eh? What made you choose MDF again? I didnt know MDF was similar in properties to fibreglass Quote
darren wilson Posted April 2, 2004 Report Posted April 2, 2004 Maybe try a set of Seymour Duncan Phat Cats. Quote
jay5 Posted April 2, 2004 Report Posted April 2, 2004 Nice choice! Im doing the same project myself!! It is kind of an odd instrument and I have had some definate questions rolling around in my head about how to work things out. My body shape drawing has gone through about 5 different variations alone but I think I have one set now. As far as pickups the originals are just single coils covered to look like humbuckers. Im just gonna use humbuckers myself. Also, the neck meets the body at like the 14 fret, Im just going to do mine at the 16th so I can use a standard neck plate. Im gonna use a standard tune-o-matic and stop tailpiece setup as in all my searching I have not found anything close to that kind of tailpiece. A couple of things to think about are the various routings of the body edges. Your pic shows well the cove route around the edges. Im gonna do probaly a 5/8' or so. Im also gonna route a rabbit and inlay a 1/2" binding around the center of the sides to simulate whatever the did to cover the seam on the origional. Lots of other stuff to think about depending on how accurate you want to be. Let me know if you have any other questions. Ive been beating my brain for a month or twon on this one! Good luck and keep us (ME ) posted! Quote
JoryNad Posted April 2, 2004 Author Report Posted April 2, 2004 yea those semore duncens (or w.e) sound nice, whats the going price on those? thats wicked that were doing the same project! i thought was the only one *sniffles* guess not, yea simply blew up a photo for the design, as for electronics do you have a wiring sceme? if so mind giving me a copy!! yea i think ill go with the tail piece, anything works, but my uncle is a metal worker so maybe he can make something up, oh are you making yours outta "resoglas" or solid body (like me) Quote
jay5 Posted April 2, 2004 Report Posted April 2, 2004 Im just making a wood solidbody. Probably alder or I have some magogany I might use. As far as wiring im gonn do the 4 knobs at the top but no master volime at the bottom so a standard LP scheme will work, just substitute a fender 3 way swich for the 3 way toggle. Quote
JoryNad Posted April 2, 2004 Author Report Posted April 2, 2004 nice, wow you seem to be pretty pro about this, what are you going to finish the guitar in to give it that high gloss, candy red look? oh and where are you getting the white binding for the sides, that one seems to be problem, aswell what are you making the pick guard out of? Quote
jay5 Posted April 5, 2004 Report Posted April 5, 2004 Trust me, I am no pro! This will be my first real project. I think I saw a place that has a 3/4" binding, maybe stewmac. Warmoth has 1/4" pearloid binding. I may give that a go, maybe double it up to get a 1/2" strip. I plan on doing it black instead of the red. As far as a pickguard goes Im just going to make a template and then using a 45 degree chamfer bit route out the guard. Warmoth sells pickguard blanks in a ton of colors. Quote
weezerboy Posted April 10, 2004 Report Posted April 10, 2004 slicence you vermen! lol i ditto that nice constructive criticism there ajb that guitar means a whole lot to me - its a beauty and i would remove my left ball with a rusty spoon for one good luck Quote
JoryNad Posted April 10, 2004 Author Report Posted April 10, 2004 k i need some help, for those of you who have heard this guitar in action, or have heard The White Stripes (weather you like them of not) any idea on how to get that pickup sound, i doubt i can go to the store and ask for "the pickups of a 1964 jb hutto aitline guitar" any idea what might give me that nice "crunch" thanks alot guys! Quote
jefm Posted April 10, 2004 Report Posted April 10, 2004 I wonder if Jack changed the PU's...I'd imagine so This to my knowledge was a cheap store brand guitar...probably cheap PU's...and they were likely tossed when he got it...Meh.. Or maybe that's part of the sound...that's the charm of going with the $50 special at the guitar shop...they're likely made out of plywood and have awful feedback problems...but it makes them have a "unique" sound...for better or worse... When You buy a gibson it's like buying a Cadillac...you know what you're getting...you won't get any surprises... buying cheap is like buying an 8 year old kia...You'll never know if it'll make it around the next corner...and that can be quite charming Quote
JoryNad Posted April 12, 2004 Author Report Posted April 12, 2004 lol! so true, however i have heard he still uses the original PUs, im thinking some cheap PUs (say epiphone or .... dunno) got any ideas for some PUs with Crunch Quote
jefm Posted April 12, 2004 Report Posted April 12, 2004 Well the Epi PU's that I have aren't terrible... They can distort well and with enough tweaking I can pull some really nice stuff from them ...I'd like something with a little more life though...you could do worse....but I think you could do better too for less money Some minibuckers or maybe some burns pickups could work without changing the look of the guitar too much... Quote
jay5 Posted April 12, 2004 Report Posted April 12, 2004 The PU's in Jacks guitar are the origional single coild it came with in 64'. His sound comes from the fact that he uses an old Sears Silvertone amp as well as a Fender twin reverb. While you're not going to get the exact sound a humbucker in the bridge might get you close. Maybe a pair of P90's? Quote
Nitefly SA Posted September 13, 2005 Report Posted September 13, 2005 Either of you finished your guitars? pics? Quote
jay5 Posted September 13, 2005 Report Posted September 13, 2005 Man, I wish I could say that I have. Its really just a body hanging around at the moment. Im trying to finish up my first project at the moment (a tele). I have learned a ton more since I first conceived this project. I 'may' plane the body down a bit, hollow it out and then cap it with maple. I'm not sure though yet. I decided not to start this until I really finish the tele. Anyway, here are my specs as it stands now; Mahogany Body maple bolt on neck w/ scarf jointed headstock rosewood fingerboard w/ pearl block inlays 25.5" scale P90 pickups tune-o-matic bridge string through body I dont really know what I want to do control wise. Despite the obvious awkwardness of the typical control setop on the Airline, I like the look and I will probably keep it. Well see what happens. I really need to sit back down and hammer out all these little details, but that will come when I start to work on it again. Should be fun! Quote
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