ScottR

Why, thank you very much Mike and Henri, I'm glad you like it. I've been enjoying yours as well Henri. There's way too much ingenuity going on over at your place for that build to turn out anything but great. And I see that You've got something in the works too, Mike. Take your time and keep us posted, the build threads are almost as much fun as the build itself. Cheers, Scott

Nope, no problem what-so-ever. SR

I like this a lot. I'm not normally a big afan of offset shapes, but this is nice. I love the fretboard and markers, love the headstock shape. Are you going to cap it with some of that cherry? The cherry top is awesomee--I would not get any black dye anywhere near it. The cherry will darken with time as it is, I'd be afraid you'd lose sight of that gorgeous figure. I'd maybe seal it with amber shellac to warm it up and deepen the figure and then clear it. If you are set on translucent black, you could add some tint coats to yoour clear. Personally, I wouldn't go further than a very subtle transparent light burst. That cherry is too nice to cover up! SR

Well......I can't say I'm sorry to be finished, but I do miss having something new to post and talk about each week. It's been a real hoot! SR

Everybody ought to have a tele body and neck on hand for emergencies. And pretty dang nice looking at that. I'll bet it sounds great with P-90s. Very cool. SR

I'm looking forward to seeing that! I love carved backs. SR

Stunningly beautiful. SR

Thanks Joe, and Paulie. It may be ho-hum old hat to a bunch of you guys, but the recording of that was a real treat for me. I've been around a couple of times while Hook was recording, but this went so fast and smoothly, not to mention it was totally impromtu, with a guitar still getting tweeked and an amp I got off of craig's list a couple of hours earlier, it was amazing to me. Let me see if I can capture it: Joel picks up the guitar and starts noodling on it. "What kind of music shall we play?" Me: Some of it's got to be blues. Joel: We can do that. Hook: Let me pull up a rhythm track. Joel: You got anything slower than that......slower......slower......you got anything slower than that? OK They go into the sound room and mike up. Joel plays some rhythm for a couple of minutes. Hook: You gonna put a change in there or just keep playing those two chords? Joel: It's coming... Plays for a couple of minutes more. Hook: Ok let me loop that and you can play a lead over it.......ok. Joel plays for three or four more minutes. Hook: Ok that's good. Me (giddy): I can't believe that sound is coming out of my guitar and amp! Did he just make that up while I'm sitting here? Hook: Yeah.......Ok let's try something a little harder through one of these other amps..... And that was pretty much it. Hook picked start and stop points and added a couple of the things he mentioned but it was one take- that fast and good to go. Joel probably feels like it sounded like one take to him, but it sounds great to me. I love it. SR

That looks like epoxy. SR

Now those are cool. SR

because we havent seen that before *cough cough* hehe looks good so far Well, technically it's the third one I've seen, and I liked them all. Yours is the only one that carried the inlay across the fretboard though. Ahem, carry on 82cabby, don't mind us, this is going to be great! SR

That chip is not very deep at all. Just sand it out and blend the curves back into the tele shape. You'll never be able to tell any difference. I like the way part of the stems are F holes and part are inlay. SR

I love your resourcefullness (that's probably a new word) in building tools and jigs. I expect good things from this build. SR

"Leroy" First the specs: body: African mahogany top: claro walnut crotch neck: jatoba long tenon fretboard and HS cap: cocobolo bridge: Schaller pickups: P-90 set made by Guitar Logistics (RAD) tuners: Gotoh 510 minis Scale: 25" 22 medium frets, nickel steel Build Thread

That makes a lot of sense. As far as for the way they look, I think the familiar iconic shapes like a strat look a bit odd reversed just because we are so used to seeing it the usual way. I think less common shapes look fine reversed. SR

Sooo, did you stabilize this burl before cutting on it? Or is this burl solid enough to get shaped and the epoxy is just to level up the surface for the finish. If you have and voids or cracks that go below the surface a bit, and it looks like you do, you should probably fill them before carving just to keep pieces from breaking off. As they say, don't ask me how I know..... SR

It's fascinating to me to see how you get such an obviously 3 dimensional carve ouf of such a thin top. That was roughly a quarter inch thick (maybe up to .36") when started right? It's a great top. SR

then at least my input/meddling was helpful Absolutely! I value your opinion greatly. I've been taking advantage of your expertise wherever I find it. Beyond that all opinions and input or criticisms are welcome here. The more viewpoints I'm exposed to the more I learn. ......cool, your next post showed up under this response box. I hadn't seen that happen before. So yeah that shot in the direct sun was pretty harsh on the pups. I was paying more attention to the wood color in that lighting and didn't notice. SR

Here are the audio links: Track 1: Rhythm: Blues Junior Combo Lead: Blues Junior Combo Mic: Beyer Dynamic M-160 Preamp: Daking http://www.skullsessions.com/audio/riffle/01%20Riffle%20-%20Slow%20Blues.mp3 Track 2: Rhythm: 1977 Marshall JMP 50 Lead: First edition Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier Cab: 1977 Marshall 1960a (original 25watt celestions) Mic: Beyer Dynamic M-160 Preamp: Daking http://www.skullsessions.com/audio/riffle/02%20Riffle%20-%20Funky%20Blues.mp3 Note: Drums were not live. We just picked pre-recorded drum loops and let them fly. We spent no time in mic placement…just dropped it in front of the amps and pushed the red button. After laying down basic rhythm tracks and looping them, Joel did a single pass on each track for lead guitar. (He would appreciated that disclaimer, as he’s actually a much better player than this might reflect!) Guitars recorded clean…delay and chorus added after the fact. (note from Hook) Personally I hope to be able to play that well when I grow up. SR

All the polishing time and effort is paying off. That finish is a mile deep. In fact it's so easy to lost in the finsh, you lose track of the fact it's a one piece guitar (with a top). SR

High praise indeed Paulie. Thank you. Bear and I did hoist one....or six. Thank you all for your kind words and input. Wez, thanks for putting up that photoshopped piece. I like the black even better now. Amiee, I'm afraid I can't find the pic of the pickup that's bothering you, but rest assured there's no rust on them. Probably plenty of finger prints though. I'll wipe them off as soon as I get home. RAD, all your input thoughout the build was much appreciated and I love the way the pups sound. The link to the audio should be ready shortly, and you guys can judge that for yourselves. And you and Osorio are spot on: it is harder to take decent pictures. Chad, consider ol' bear's tummy rubbed. I told him it was from you! SR

I cannot explain why.....but I've always liked black hardware, and, have never been a fan of cream covers or rings or bobbins. Having said that, cream covers would balance out the bone nut. Hmmmmm. If I keep building these things, I can see I'm going to have to explore other hardware options and new colors, just to be sure there's not something out there I like better. SR

I can't say if I'd call this guitar a modern looking design; I don't think it really a vintage design, so I can see how vintage type pickups might look out of place. Unless you just mean I should have wiped them off before taking these pics. SR

Ol' bear was getting jealous! SR

SR