My Guitar Project, Installment #3-"The Finished Product"

Well, folks, it's time to wrap up my mini series on my guitar project. The guitar is finally finished, and I'm very happy with the result. For those of you it will interest, here are all the gory details...

Here's a picture of the finished guitar. For the few it will interest, it plays very nice. It has a nice neck, maybe just a little on the heavy side. It's a nice C-shape, about the size of a typical Strat neck. The frets are fairly small and more vintage-style than the taller and wider modern ones.

The bridge unfortunately has the hole for the tremolo arm broken out, but that's ok, since I don't use a tremolo anyway. It has all five springs on it so it will NOT move.

Here's all the interesting details about the electronics. The pickups are all Seymour Duncans, a JB Model humbucker in the bridge, a Vintage Rails in the middle, and a '59 Model humbucker in the neck. Both of the humbuckers have 4-conductor wiring, so they can be tapped for a single-coil sound. This set works and sounds great in this guitar!

The controls are as follows- It is set up with two volume knobs, a master tone, a three-way Les Paul style pickup switch, and three mini-toggle switches. The top volume control (next to the bridge pickup), the pickup switch, and the two outer mini-toggles control the two humbuckers. The volume is self-explanatory. The pickup switch selects between the two humbuckers. The two outer mini-toggles tap the respective humbuckers to get a variety of Tele-ish (?) sounds as well as the darker, Les Paul style tones. The tone control works on all three pickups. The bottom volume (next to the end of the guitar) and the middle mini-toggle control the middle pickup. The switch turns it on and off. If you turn the first volume down, you can get just the middle pickup. So, I can get literally any combination of the three pickups, a whopping total of 15 different settings! This system is very versatile, to say the least. It does very good Strat and Les Paul imitations, as well as a few other unique tones.

At the other end of the guitar are the Sperzel locking tuners. In my opinion, they are some of the finest tuners available. They are very well built, and you don't have to worry about wrapping the strings around the posts. Just stick the string through the hole on the post, tighten the knob on the back, and tune.

Here's the matching strap and the Dunlop straplocks. I really like Dunlop's design on these. you put the ends on the strap, and to put it on the guitar, you simply push the button in the middle and put the pin in the hole in the part mounted on the guitar. Taking it off is just as simple. You also don't have to worry about the strap coming loose and you dropping the guitar if you play standing up.

And finally, my homemade back covers. I cut them out of a blank piece of pickguard material with a hacksaw and the sanded the edges smooth. They're not perfect, especially the tremolo cavity cover, but they work.

Well, folks, there's my project. It was quite an adventure, but I had fun, and it probably kept me out of trouble for a little while, at least while I was putting it together. :-) What do you think? Have I completely bored you yet? I'll try to post something a little more interesting to people who aren't guitar nuts in the future. Untill then....

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

My Guitar Project, Installment #2-"The Process Involved"

Well, here's the next installment in the series, sure to bore my readers to tears...

So began the research and the searching for parts on Ebay. (I'm cheap, ok)

The body was originally routed for two humbucker pickups, and had holes drilled for a Les Paul style 3-way pickup switch and 3 knobs. However, I got to thinking, that while I'm at it, why not rout it out and put a single-coil pickup in the middle? (especially since I had several decent single-coils handy) That would open up many more tonal possibilities and make things a bit more interesting.

Unfortunately, though, single-coil pickup surrounds look tacky and it's hard to make a neat hole. The greatest matter of concern is that, without a pickup surround, the hole will be clearly visible, so any mistakes you make will be painfully obvious.

So, I got creative-

I have this old parts guitar body with a singl-coil routing in it. So, I put it on a copier, copied the top of the guitar, cut it out, traced it on a piece of scrap plywood, cut it out, and voila! A homemade routing template! I very carefully measured and marked the location for the hole on the body, clamped the template in place, and very carefully routed it out with some sort of Dremel tool attachment for which I do not have a name. (necessity is truly the mother of invention) I was very pleased with the result!

Here is a picture of the body with the pickups and bridge mounted.

After some research, I decided on a hybrid pickup swiching system that I first discovered on a guitar that belonged to Petra guitarist Bob Hartman. It has a 3-way switch and volume knob that controls the two humbuckers, a master tone control for all 3 pickups, and a volume knob for the middle pickup, so it is possible to get all 7 pickup combinations. (bridge, bridge/middle, bridge/neck, middle, bridge/middle/neck, middle/neck, neck) More details on the wiring next time.

Next came some parts-hunting on Ebay. Many parts were needed- tuners, a strap, strap buttons, a bridge, knobs, covers for the back, and the switches and pots (potentiometers, for the volume and tone controls).

I managed to find a used set of Sperzel locking tuners dirt cheap on Ebay. They are a few years old, and were in dire need of some lubrication, but that's a small price to pay for what are in my opinion, some of the finest tuners made. Especially when they can be had so cheaply. Next came a Black and red Fender guitar strap and Dunlop strap locks. Top it off with some Allparts switches and pots, and a set of red strat knobs, and we're almost ready to rumble.

The bridge is, unfortunately not a standard size. I was prepared to drill out, plug, and redrill the mounting holes. I found a cheap used bridge on Ebay, and when it came I was delighted to discover that it fit perfectly, even though it's an extremely unusual size.

Unfortunately, the back covers were not to be had, so I had to cut them by hand out of a blank piece of pickguard material. They turned out pretty well, though, all things considered.

And here's a picture with most of the switches and knobs mounted.

Stay tuned for the final installment-"The Finished Product".

Just a note about the guitar for Debi-The vote was almost unanimous for the BC Rich, but there is still time for you to weigh in and cast your vote, as Debi will be coming this weekend. I will most likely be nice to her, though, and let her play them all and pick the one she likes best.

Anyway, until next time....

My Guitar Project, Installment #1-"The Beginnings"

Hi, everyone! (all three of you) I haven't posted in a little while and I finally got this guitar finished, so I guess I'll post about it. I decided to post it in two or three installments over the next few days, mainly because of time constraints, and the amount of time required to upload pictures using dial-up. Well' here goes!

Installment number one-"The Beginnings"

I originally bought this guitar as a decoration probably five or six years ago because I thought it looked really neat. It's basically a Strat shaped body without rounded edges or the arm contour on the top. The color scheme is the coolest thing about it. It's black with 5-layer red and black binding around the body, single-layer red binding on the fingerboard, and red dot inlays on the fingerboard.

It also has this cool, pointy Jackson-style headstock that has to be a trademark violation.

I got it just as you see it here- The body, neck, and tremolo claw. No electronics, pickups, tuners, or even strap buttons.

I originally hung it on the wall of my bedroom. After I got married, it occupied a corner of a closet for a couple of years. I thought about selling it on Ebay, and I may have even listed it (I can't remember), but it obviously never left. Eventually, something over a year ago, I was cleaning or something, and picked it up, and noticed that it had a decent neck on it. Then, I thought about it that I had collected a couple of sets of pickups over the course of time. Then, I decided, that since a nice set of pickups was probably the most expensive thing I would need to make a playable guitar out of it, maybe I would try it. (I have wanted to build a guitar from a kit or from pieces for some time)

So, I began the process of collecting the necessary parts to put it together.

Stay tuned for the next installment-"The Process Involved".

A guitar for Debi...

Here we go again, y'all...

I'm not quite ready to post about my project guitar yet, so I decided to take a little poll.

Just about ever since Debi has been down in NC, she has borrowed one of several of my electric guitars. (I don't mind it at all-I'm happy to loan them to her) She will be coming up for Christmas, and will be taking one of my guitars home with her. The interesting twist this time is that she would like a guitar that she can play in church if she wants to. (the last guitar she borrowed was flourescent orange) I gave her the option of several guitars to choose from. Now, I'm giving my highly priveleged readers a chance to vote on which I should send with her. Heh, heh, heh.... (my mean older brother streak rears it's ugly head)

Sound interesting? Here goes...

From left to right they are- a Dillion copy of a Gibson Les Paul, a Carvin DC200, my Cort Project guitar, a BC Rich Gunslinger, and in front, my Telecaster copy.

So what'll it be, folks? I personally think the BC Rich would make a great impression in a Mennonite churh, don't you? :-)

What To Post???

Well, it's been a week or so since I created this blog and I still haven't posted anything on it yet. I'm not quite sure what about my pathetic little life would be interesting enough to put out there for the two of you that have actually discovered and look at my blog.....

Well, right now while I'm writing this, I'm surfing on Ebay and listening to "The Lost Christmas Eve" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The TSO is a very interesting orchestra. They produce sort-of classical-style music with huge arrangements of guitars (usually electric) instead of or along with the traditional strings, etc. Very unique. They specialize in Christmas music, and each cd has a ficticious Christmas story written to go along with it. The music parallels the story, and I'm told that, in concert, they have a narrator that reads the appropriate parts of the story at the right times. The songs all stand on their own, though. They do both traditional Christmas songs and original arrangements and compositions. Check out their website at www.trans-siberian.com.

On another note, I spent most of Sunday afternoon putting together a guitar I have been collecting parts for for some time. I originally bought the body and neck years ago for a decoration because I thought it looked cool. Then, a year or so ago, I decided to make a playable guitar out of it, so I started collecting the parts I didn't have already. Finally, I decided to go ahead and put it together because my sister Debi may take it back to NC with her when she comes up for Christmas. Maybe for my next post, I'll post some pictures of the different steps in the process and some of the specs of the guitar. Any interest? Probably not. But, It's MY blog, so sue me! :-)

Well, that's probably plenty of a post for now. Later!

I've Finally Given In To Peer Pressure

Hi, everyone! I have finally given in and become hip, cool, and everything else!

I have my very own blog, just like everyone else!

Aren't I special? :-)

Unfortunately, though, I've already been blogging for too long tonight already, so I will have to really get into this later. If you're really desperate enough for entertainment to check out my boring, little life, keep checking back, and maybe I'll post something that will interest you.

Until then...