Hitone

Anyone! Bueller! Bueller!

I'm using Transtint's Black alcohol based dye on my headstock and I keep getting it on my inlay and the binding. Should I mask everything off or is there another way? Also, I'm prepping my body to be transparent orange. Do I need to mask off my binding on it?

I am very much into these types of guitars. I bought a sears guitar 10 years ago for about $50 and it's now work over $300 dollars. I also refinsihed an old Decca that I bought for $30 off eBay. I've seen them go for about $200. That is, if someone is willing to pay that much. What I was wondering is, how in the world does Eastwood Guitars make and sell reproductions so cheap? They must be made overseas. You can get a killer Teisco for $500! Does anyone know where these are made at? Eastwood Guitars Here's a pic of my old Decca!

It's pronounced High tone. Like Silvertone. I'm still working on making the logo a little more obvious. Maybe a hyphen would help.

Thanks for the responses. I have been trying to figure out how the heck to wire this thing. I finally made the F holes large enough to put the pots into. I'll will worry about final wiring after I get it finished. As for the finish the orange isn't 100% set. I really like Luke's idea of the deep translucent honey finish. I want the grain to show through. On the pick guitar, I am thinking of using somekind of colored vinyl on the underside or frosted like the Gretsch guitars. That's still up in the air. It depends on the finish. The inlay is Mother of Pearl. My first and last one I cut of my logo. From now on I'm using pearl vinyl. I'm at least going to try it out on my next guitar. I should have pictures up soon showing the binding, setting the neck and glueing the back on. Also, Luke I did a search and found that Piers Crocker is the Luthier for the 'Crockenbacker', but the only picture I found was a black one that Tim plays. Let me know if you can find a picture of the honey colored one. Those are sweet instruments.

Go Greased Lightnin' Man, I could see the Reverend Horton Heat playing this guitar. It makes me want to grease back my hair and go get more tattoos. Technical specs. I did it all! I have done everything on this guitar. I built the truss rod from Koch's book. I reinforced the neck with the same kite tubes that Myka recommended. I radiused the fretboard with a homemade radius. Designed and cut the headstock inlays. It just very satisfying to know that "Handmade" means made by my hands. The center section is cut out to make a mono-frame. The body is three pieces sandwiched together. The top and bottom are poplar and the center is ash. The neck is three piece maple set neck with a mother-of-pearl inlay. The body and neck will use Trans Tint® orange and the headstock will be Trans Tint® black. It's going to be sweet! Check out more images at hitoneguitars.com

I'm with Eddie "Maiden 69", how did you do the body? It sounds like you had it made since you paid $500 dollars for it. So does that mean someone else did your homework for you?!! I hope you got an A+ on the project. The designs not my cup of tea, but you really did a good job on it. I give you an A+!

Interesting work! How is that done? A milling machine? The only problem I see would be playing shirtless in a cold club! Ouch!! Daniel, much respect for your avatar!

Very Nice. I really like the jag style. I want to know where you got the pickguard materials? Those are awesome looking.

Thanks for the input. I ended up using clear epoxy and mixed in black powder dye. It came out pretty nice. I did break the inlay "accidentally" into 5 pieces and had the epoxy dry before I inserted all the pieces! After cleaning out the route with the dremel, I carefully placed each piece in as I fill the epoxy. With a bunch of sanding it looks really cool. I'll take a picture of it this weekend.

Has anyone ever colorized hide glue? I am wanting a black colored glue for my headstock inlay. I was thinking about taking some powdered black dye and mixing it with hide glue to colorize it. Does anyone know if this would work or not? Is hide glue good use? Should I use epoxy? I would really like to hear some opinions on this.

That's sweet. I bought a harmony just like that at a pawn shop in '91. At that time I played drums in a punk band called "Balls Deep" and our singer needed guitar. I payed $50.00 for it and it sounded awesome through a Marshall stack. The band didn't last but a few months and the guitar ended up going from friend to friend. Dave, my buddy who was the singer for Drowning Pool, had it for a long time. It finally found it's way back to my guitar building buddie. We did a little work and it back to original form. They sell for like $300.00. I still never got my $50.00 for it.

Go with swamp ash! 100% I built my first guitar out of solid ash. It came out nice, but man is it heavy! You have to put it down after a couple of songs and rest your shoulder.

On Ash you need to fill the grain first then you can seal the wood. I did a cherry burst on ash for my first guitar and it turned out great. Check it out here I used a good amount of grain filler and then I put on a sanding sealer. I sprayed the burst with cans of toner from Mohawk. They work really well. Then top coated it with a two part poly. Morben is right. If your going to shoot a dye, then get a cheap canned air brush at the hardware store. Also, check out Reranch's "How to Sunburst". It's the way I did mine.

I am about to mockup my guitar before I put the finish on. Should I go ahead and put the bridge posts in the body? The last guitar I built I waited till the end and hammered them in. This caused one to bend a little and the finish to bubble slightly. Should they be in there that tight? Could I easily get them out if I mount them for a mockup?

I am glad you guys are bringing this up. I built a Mosrite type guitar that is too large for any case I've seen. I bought some thin pressboard and was going use it to cover a light wooden frame. I never made it past purchasing the material. I'm pretty sure it would work if I could get the frame sturdy enough. I even have some fux leather I was going to cover the outside. Someone needs to draw up some working plans! I did find the Cedar Creek Cases company, but they want an arm and a leg to build a custom case.

That sounds like how Gibson does this guitar. They use to have a flash movie that talked about how the flames were applied. They showed one that was black and the flames were natural. It was pretty awesome looking. I am thinking about doing this to my Semi-hollow body I'm building.

I think Drak has a good point. They might be looking for new ideas to freshen up the Fender production line. Did I miss something in the copy. It doesn't say that they will build the guitar for the winner. It just says that they build the winners guitar. Hell, I can run the same contest! Send me your best designs and I will build (myself) the winning guitar. Winner gets an email of congratulations and a virtual pat-on-the-back. That should be more that enough! Right!

Thanks for the feedback. I thought these were junk, but I wanted to see if anyone had any luck with them. The idea of doing a headstock inlay and clearing over it still interests me, but I will do my neck the traditional way of inlay! I have been wonder how PRS makes that really thin gold logo headstock inlay?

I was looking at the links on PG links and came across this link for peel and stick inlay material. It sounds interesting. I figured I would ask if anyone has used it or thinks it might work? fretware.com

This sounds pretty interesting. Guitar World and Fender Musical Instrument Corporation are offering you, dear reader, the chance to design your own guitar and have it judged by three hard rock icons-Tony Iommi, Joe Perry and Tom Morello. From the entries, one winning design will be built to spec by the Fender Custom Shop. www.guitarworld.com/contests

Thanks Myka for the vote. That really means a lot. I think you really deserve GOTM. Watch out next time. I am working on a killer rock-a-billy classic.

Now what's the difference between putting them in with a press and just tapping them in with a hammer? I noticed that wayneguitars did them this way.

Here is my entry for Guitar of the month. This is my first build. A little something for the surf crowd. You can see my site Here Body: Ash Neck: Maple Fretboard: Rosewood Pickups: Vintage Lipstick Paint job: Cherry Burst with Component Poly Urethane Clear

Sorry. This was to be the entry for GOTM. This is my first build. A little something for the surf crowd. You can see my site Here Body: Ash Neck: Maple Fretboard: Rosewood Pickups: Vintage Lipstick Paint job: Cherry Burst with Component Poly Urethane Clear