This is my favorite line ever…… ever.. about a guitar.. too funny…
Here is where Graeme’s build took him. I wonder if he’s having guests over now?
Well my junior is finally done. Took me a lot longer than I expected – mostly because work took me away for a month. I commandeered one end of the dining room table and fought off the barbed comments about “we can’t have people round cos SOMEONE has turned my dining room into a WORKSHOP!!!” – nyahh!
I wanted it kept simple as possible – but still wanted to be able to intonate the bridge. You lot supplied the guitar and the bakelite parts and I bought the rest from Stewmac. There was nothing to do but glue the parts together and start the painting. I read the TV Yellow tutorials and gave my guitar a thin coat of white, yellow and then a rubbing with some mahogany stained PVA that was wiped off before it could set up. It looks great.
The biggest headache was the headstock – I couldn’t fill the end grain to get a good finish and the American made enamel paint I’d used to set the inlaid plastic logo I’d made didn’t set hard enough. Ended up digging it out and overlaying a 0.8mm birch ply sheet to it and fret sawing a logo from thin brass sheet. I found a Gibson style font and made a Gibson like logo of my own first name- it is my guitar and I made it and I’m proud of it.
Set up was difficult too – the bridge was way too high leaving cheese cutter action. Seeing as I couldn’t back angle the neck, I counter bored the bridge posts and when screwed right down against the body, got the action into the ball park. truss rod had me scratching my head until I realised it was dual action. I decided to make my own nut from a Tusq blank and learned the benefits of baking soda and super glue. Next time I buy a ready cut nut.
Electrics went in OK – final setup then plug her in. Mmmm . The single P90 sings nicely and the Steinberger Jackpot volume control really does give a punch when wound up. Through a 5 watt Blackstar the guitar can go from twinkly to a tiger roar with just the guitar’s volume control. My first P90 and I’m impressed. There is a heck of a lot of sustain in the guitar’s body – chords hang long enough to break into feedback that curls the hairs on your neck. The guitar plays very nicely – I like the fat neck feel. The fretting is great , the playing action very nice and I have a simple guitar that looks cool and can blow the socks off an elephant at forty feet.
A well made body and neck, Sir. Well done. I will recommend your company to anyone who wants to follow my lead and build their own.
Now I’m eyeing up a 59 Carved Top – maybe with a bit more attention to the finish but as I write this, I feel the wife’s breath on my neck and she’s got something sharp digging in to my back and aaaaaarrrggghhhhhhhh!
