decadentjon

Still in the process of setting up a workshop in my back shed but i've managed to get a couple guitars done in the last week and half. The brown model is a commission for a good friend, the natural swamp ash is a donation for a competition at a local radio station that does a lot of good stuff for the local music scene. there are build progress pics up at www.myspace.com/2012guitars alder body, maple neck/fb, 25.5" scale, 22 frets (ss fretwire), tonerider pure vintage pickups, vintage trem, 5way, vol, tone, grover tuners, danish oil then waxed finish.

Denim guitar done, turned out better than i was expecting! kinda worked stuff out as we went. some little patches covered up some gaps in the seam, also realized that black p90 covers simply wouldn't do. so denim on those as well. MORE PHOTOS HERE

here is some progress with the denim guitar, basically needs some final sanding and then apply the denim.

sorry i realized that wasn't clear, i was just saying i liked the extra clarity on the bass side of the perry's multiscale, so i was considering a (27.016") baritone standard tuned, not a multiscale at this point. the spalted maple will definitely just go a natural gloss!

Ok, well, i've built my first 3 instruments this year, two for myself and one for my best mate/bass player in my band. And since then i've had a bunch of interest from friends in other local bands, i only really want to make things that interest me for the moment, for people i like making music that i enjoy, im charging little more than the materials and a fraction for my time i just wanna see some people playing guitars i've made making good music. first build, is another one for me. i've been sitting on some pretty interesting spalted maple for a while that i've been dying to use. Build 1 - Spalty Tele specs: spalted/flamed maple top, figured queensland maple back, bolt on neck*(need some advice here), Seymour duncan P-rails pickups, hipshot hardtail (chrome hardware), schaller tuners. clear nitro finish. *Neck/fretboard/scale still undecided, what do you think of the following options- options- Birdseye maple neck & fretboard - 25.5 or 27.016" scale - will be in standard tuning, im a heavy handed player, playing pretty angular noisy rock- think Jesus Lizard/Shellac/Queens of the Stoneage. i use heavy strings, after hearing Perry's multiscale i liked the way the longer side played and felt a lot. Wenge neck, maple fretboard - scales as above. Birdseye maple neck & kingwood fretboard - scales as above. OR a Bailey aluminum custom neck - http://www.baileycustomguitar.com/index.html im yet to hear back from him about option in neck profile etc, as i generally like big chunky Nocaster-ish necks. Heres the body so far, just got it cut out yesterday: a couple more pics HERE ----------- Build 2 - Denim trash custom Building this for the new guitarist in my band, hes playing a mexican tele at the moment and it sounds like turd so i insisted on making him something, he mentioned he might like something a little jaguar-ish so i came up with this shape, its sorta a cross between a jag/mustang/toronado. specs - alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, 22 fret, 25.5" scale, hipshot hardtail, grover tuners, tonerider H-90 pickups, ACID WASH DENIM finish. yep. started as a joke, it still is a joke im just going to do it somehow, cover the headstock and face of the body in acid wash denim, might be a little tricky and not look perfectly clean but it will look different i'll seal the body before hand but i wouldn't laquer over the denim, i know it will get disgusting after lots of sweaty time on stage but thats part of the charm! Any recommendations on finishing with fabric? ------------ Build 3 - Steve's slightly evil bass Mink Mussel Creek myspace Me and Steve have been talking about making him a bass since well before i had made anything, he wanted a more angular moserite-ish thing with a hagstrom style headstock. specs - Alder body, wenge neck, ebony fretboard, set neck, 34" scale, black hardware, hipshot tuners, hipshot BASS TREMOLO! SD Quarter Pounder P-bass pickup. electronics - kill switch, output jack. Black body and headstock, nitro finish. Inlay will be two thin stripes of square sterling silver wire running near the edge of the bass side of the fretboard running the length of each fret to be marked. more pics HERE ------------- Another two builds im yet to start on but will soon are a ~28" scale baritone sorta danelectro style guitar and a butterscotch blonde Mustang im making as a surprise present for one of my good friends (who also has virtually zero income or ability to buy a new guitar) in my favorite local band- check 'em out MILE END so that he doesn't have to keep playing his old japanese squire bullet. Now to find the time to get these done.

oh, as of last night we've decided to give this thing a hipshot bass-trem. shall be fun.

I've started my first, well, sort of commission, as opposed to just making instruments for me or my band mates. This is for a good friend is a pretty cool band (check 'em out Mink Mussel Creek ) He's been throwing some ideas at me for a while. but until very recently i hadn't really had the time to get on to it. the specs will be... 2 piece alder body, set wenge neck (one piece) ebony fretboard 34" scale stainless steel frets duncan quarter pounder p-bass pickup. passive, probably just with a kill switch somewhere. tung oiled neck, inlay: stirling silver strips a couple mm wide, a couple mm apart running the length of the fret to be marked, near the top of the freboard. will get a picture soon. black nitro body/headstock pickguard still in the works, will probably be anodised chrome or something? so far i've got a decent start on the body- this is a really rough mockup... so its kinda airline/mosrite/hagstrom inspired. but ended up looking kinda evil, or like a transformer anyways, will have more progress/pics soon.

i got a couple each of coco and kingwood fretboards a couple days ago, thanks erik, so much more care has been put into these than anything i've bought before. very happy and will be in touch about more shortly!

another option i did when testing with a similar finish (also the first guitar i finished) was that while there is grain to be filled i wanted to make it as bold as it could be so i didn't just use the black grainfiller but i first used a wire brush on the areas of dark grain and because the grain there is softer than the white ash it removes the dark grain so the grain filler goes deeper. heres a photo of the finished product (well, after a few coats of nitro, was going for a bit of protection, not a glassy finish)

after a first gig with it i'm loving the sound, so much more attack and sustain than the other bass. the wenge/ash/ebony is all set to be pretty bright but it sounds fat and defined too. we play pretty heavy math-ish rock stuff and i'm a big fan of a bunch of bands that use travis bean's and the like, not nearly as extreme as that but its got some snap to it. very happy indeed.

i've just realized. i said twists... there really aren't twists. i just wanted you to look. im sorry :S

I started this about a month ago. as a gift for my best mate/bass player in my band. He has been playing a shitty mexican p-bass for ages, and while he has no problem putting money towards ridiculously loud bass rigs i wanted him to be playing one of my instruments on stage. He said "I want something that looks a bit like this (pbass) and it matte-blackish, but you choose the rest" Swamp ash body Wenge neck, ebony fretboard 34" scale 22 jumbo frets hipshot ultralite tuners duncan quarter pounder pickup. badass II bridge tung oil finish- black grain fill then all stained black. sorta rushed through it a bit yesterday. until yesterday morning it was rough shaped neck and a rough body cut. got a show tonight to test with, also another one tomorrow. it sounds huge acoustically. haven't heard it through his rig yet. needless to say hes happy with it. a couple weeks to get used to it then into the studio to record an album.

hmm, well, i finished another one, it about as un-flashy as you can get but it sounds and plays incredibly. Swamp ash body, indian rosewood neck, ebony board. grover tuners, hipshot hardtail, stainless steel jumbo frets. tonerider H-90's tung-oil finish body is a bit thicker than a standard tele, neck is like a Nocaster but with a light V to it.

i have a gibson firebird VII and the fret access is fine, i dont think its going to be so much a problem of the lower bout being too high nearly as much as it being a bolt on neck as opposed to neck through. you have that extra chunk to deal with along with the cutaway not being all that deep. the build looks sweet tho man, dig the woods. cant wait to see that neck fretted and with some hardware on it.

finished the tele today. pickups are tonerider h-90's sound good to my ears. plays like a beast, huge acoustic sound. really happy. decided to hold onto this myself, and sell my gibson custom shop '56 reissue les paul, gibson firebird VII and fender USA toronado so that i can justify making myself more guitars

some more progress. mainly on the tele. done all the routing today. sanded the body, started coating with tung oil, no stain, i think it will look hot with a 3 ply black tele custom'esque scratchplate. hardware/electronics will be a couple p90's, grover machine heads and a hipshot chrome hardtail. should have this done in a week or so. gotta fret the neck and make the pickguard yet.

ok some progress today, got the bass neck started, wenge with ebony fingerboard, stew mac dual action trussrod. fretboard now glued on. pretty uninspiring picture. but there we have it. wenge. slightly more inspiring is another idea for a new build. a double cut telecaster, for myself. with the following top on a queensland maple back. i have a couple of these tops both very similar but i think i prefer this one a little more:

that is a cool idea, would certainly look awesome. i've yet to slot a fingerboard or install a truss rod under a skunk stripe but its all a learning curve.

you could have moved it like 2mm to the heel end and saved the fret. each to his own. whole frets are overrated anyway.

just ordered a set of the H90's for a swamp ash/rosewood tele thing im building. look forward to getting them! hopefully fairly speedily

been a bit of a slow period of late but finally got some more work done today, plan to spend a bunch of time working on these builds in the coming few weeks. for today i got the tele neck all cut out and carved, its a fairly chunky neck, was aiming for a nocaster/'52 size and im pretty happy with how it feels. no pic of the fretboard of yet, its just plain ebony no inlays.

i will charge for the tele, not quite sure just yet how much. the bass i'll just charge for parts and wood and the rest as a 21st present. im a pretty nice guy.

so i'm all keen and confident after my last build and am getting started on a bass for my best friend/bass player in my band and a guitar for another friend of mine. Telecaster. Swamp ash body to be finished however i want apparently just no blue. i'm not quite sure what i want to do with it. a little while off yet. one piece indian rosewood neck, 25.5" scale, 22fret ebony board, bolt on neck. most likely no inlays. electronics aren't fully discussed yet, initially he was wanting a lipstick in the neck and a humbucker in the bridge, although i want to sneak a p-90 in there somehow. scratchplate will be something along the lines of a tele custom/thinline something like that. Bass- Approximation of a p-bass shape. Wenge neck, ebony fretboard, set neck, either swamp ash or alder body, a little undecided yet, but i already have some swamp ash so it might be the go. duncan hot p-bass pickup. passive electronics. we've got some ideas for the inlay, i have to experiment a little but i want to try using glow in the dark modeling clay that when baked becomes really hard, like fimo or something. and for the design, this is where it gets exciting, a dinosaur and bones marking the other positions. if the glow in the dark looks a little funky i will try some other things. finish- will most likely be pretty boring, black. hopefully he lets me do something a little more interesting especially if its the swamp ash we go with. progress to date- cut out and routed around the tele body, also rounded the edges. today i routed the truss rod channel and glued on the fretboard, will hopefully start shaping the neck on Monday. no pictures yet, will have some when things start looking a little more impressive!

ok here goes, my first build complete. swamp ash body indian rosewood neck with maple laminate. ebony board, 25" scale length, 24 jumbo frets inlay of pearl and white binding for the kite string. finished very lightly in nitro. grover locking tuners gibson '57+ in bridge, '57 standard in neck (although have swapped the neck out for a seymour duncan phatcat p90 in the last couple days, sounds great) wilkinson vintage style strat trem couldn't be happier with it. it stands out, sounds and plays incredible. more pics- http://members.iinet.net.au/~vindago/guitar/ thanks. jon.

i can certainly agree that its not the most logical of combinations. it is all over the place but i love it. if i had an idea for it i kinda just went with it and didn't question it too much, my main prerequisite being it looked different and stood out. i have no doubt that future builds will be better thought out and streamline but when it comes to it, i couldn't be happier with it. i really do appreciate the comments anyway.