Mike T

Wish I could take credit for that design. I saw the truss rod cover on an original Bigsby guitar, a Keith Holter model.

The guitar is all I could hope for. It is a blast to play. If you like the project build, please vote for it in the July 2019 contest. http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/49896-guitar-of-the-month-vote-july-2019/ Here's a short segment with a looper in 5/4 time.

I cut out the maple headstock and marked out the tuner spacing. I selected a walnut veneer to laminate over the maple. I wetted down the veneer to easily follow the headstock carve. I then glued and clamped it. I trimmed off the excess. I fashioned a truss rod cover out of aluminum. I used a natural stain and clear lacquer on the walnut. . I used D'Addario 9-42 strings.

Thanks guys! As far as the P-rail pickup switching, I used a three position toggle switch and volume and tone push-push pots. With that, I was able to go between the rail, P-90 and humbucker. I didn't want to use mini switches. I liked the pickguard design so much that I didn't want to busy it up. I posted a video of me demonstrating the different P-rail sounds in the July 2019 GOTM link below, http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/49819-guitar-of-the-month-july-2019/

I wanted to use some metal on the front of the guitar and happened to score a few aluminum panels at the recycle center of my local garbage transfer station. The metal was about 2 mil in thickness and cut easily on my bandsaw and scroll saw. I cut a pickguard out of the aluminum and mocked it up on the guitar. It was a little overpowering, just too much metal. I tried different colors of 3 ply plastic and decided the black looked just right. I dulled it down to match the aluminum finish. This guitar is entered in the July 2019 GOTM contest. A link is below. http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/49819-guitar-of-the-month-july-2019/

mistermikev, I think the build is just right and on the next level as it is!

I applied bondo and spot putty to the glue seams. I finished sanded, masked off the back and sprayed on a couple coats of black primer. I use and recommend Mohawk lacquers. I mixed up black and Sy Casual blue for the front. I applied several coats, varying the mixture till I was satisfied with my idea of a midnight blue. I used the purple Harbor Freight touch up cup gun to spray the lacquer. I was so happy with its performance. I clear coated the front and back and added a little amber to mellow the back.

Thanks to those who commented earlier, I appreciate it Now on to the front. The strat blank was oversize so there was some meat to work with. I couldn't get lacewood in anything but 4/4 so after I added the lacewood crescent to the back, I had to fill in the same shape to the front. I cutout and glued/clamped poplar to the end. After a lot of measuring and routing I worked out the pickup/control cavities. There still ended up being some trial and error but that's why I love working with wood, so forgiving.

It seemed that something was missing from the back. I needed something to enclose all that geometry. I bought some lacewood because it fit with the warm tones already on the back, in fact the lacewood had the vibe of the sun to me. So I cut a crescent on my bandsaw and glued/clamped it to the end. I love the look.

It is easy to see my inspiration is the Paul Bigsby guitars of the 1940's. His eclectic, hands-on and one-off approach was super cool. My background was opposite as a production kitchen cabinet maker. I basically established a formula and repeated it. This build, my first as a retired dude, was a chance to take some time, be creative and riff on what has inspired me. I'm an artist, amateur musician and guitar maker and do this for my own enjoyment in my garage/workshop. The guitar body is 1 1/2" poplar with 1/4" maple, oak and mahogany pieces laminated to the back. The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard and pearloid inlays. It is a 25 1/2" scale. I fashioned an aluminum neck plate. I applied a walnut veneer to the headstock and finished it off with a handmade aluminum truss rod cover. Sperzel style staggered tuners were used which I dulled down with steel wool to match a satin aluminum finish. I sprayed the front of the body with a custom lacquer mix of a midnight blue color and clear top coat. I made oval pickup rings from aluminum with walnut spacers. The other chrome hardware was fumed in a muratic acid bath to dull down the finish. I hand cut and applied aluminum pieces to the end of the guitar to mimic the effect of a crescent moon. My idea from the start was to have the guitar express the winter and summer seasons. That is why the guitar is dubbed the "Solstice" model. I misted on a light blue lacquer to the sides of the body to imitate approaching dawn. I routed out the back of the guitar and layed in different veneers of warm tones in a geometric mountain/forest motif. I finished off the back with a lacewood crescent at the end. I wanted the vibrant lacewood as a counterpoint to the aluminum crescent on the front. The back was finished in clear lacquer with a bit of amber added. I chose the Seymour Duncan P-rails pickups because of the tonal possibilities: P90, single coil and humbucker in 12 switching combinations. I can only handle basic wiring at best so I lucked out in finding a schematic for this complex wiring setup on the SD website. I used push-push pots and one selector switch to keep the front of the guitar uncluttered so the pickguard shape stands out. I posted two videos: The first shows the different P-rail switching options in neck-middle-bridge starting with HB parallel, HB series, single coil and P90. The second is a short video of me playing utilizing a looper.

Guitar strap buttons work like a charm. Six could be had for about $6 on ebay

I cleaned up the routing with my dremel tool and layed in the veener. I've not done that before and it was fun. I think it came out awesome and exactly what I was looking for.

I drew some geometric shapes on the back to make it a little less plain. I plan on routing out and laying in some veneer.

I picked this body up on ebay. Someone laminated 1/4" oak, mahogany and maple to 1 1/2" poplar to achieve a standard 1 3/4" strat body thickness. I didn't mind, in fact I kind of liked it. I always hated a blank white canvas so to speak, so here was something to work with and hopefully improve. I was going to go with the strat shape but got turned on by some research of the Paul Bigsby guitars of the late 1940's. Could I honor his aesthetics in my own build? Hope so.

I'm starting a Fender Marauder build based on the '66 prototype. The control/bridge plates are all unique. I'm going to cut them out of a sheet of aluminum and custom cut a pickguard, My project body is set up for a Jaguar trem. I will fill in the cavity and rout for the Mustang trem. I'm thinking of using two SD P-rails pickups.