I am refinishing the prototype Picket Guitar

[newbuilder]

I have had this guitar at home for 3 years now unfinished. Part of that is, first guitar build, trying something new as the pups mount from behind and only the poles show, and ass backwards assembly process. I decided about a year ago to give this to my buddy when I am done. But that was a year ago and it is still not done. Alas, I am out of money to fund my current projects and that is usually when this one comes back out.

 

First big issue was a big hole in the front of the guitar...it is by no means expertly fixed, but it is patched and there will be things there to help cover the boo boo.

 

I hated the ghetto-ness of the headstock, looked like a couple of kids did it...so I cleaned that up, and started to get really excited. I stripped all of the poly off of the back of the neck and tung oiled it. I cleaned all of the tape residue off of the fretboard with some WD40 before the tung oil...the tape was on there for a long time and that residue came right off with good 'ol WD.

 

Couple of changes to the design...no more rotary switch, three on off toggles instead, one vol, two tone...ok one design change, but the toggles are gonna walk right through the patch:thu: That should help hide it.

 

 

For anyone who has not seen this, it is an ash, walnut, maple body that we got for a steal ($40 on Ebay) and the neck was about the same:thu: It was my intention for this concept (back mounted pups with just the poles pushing through the wood on top) to be what was different about Picket Guitars, could still be:idk:

 

Here are some old pics of what it looked like a few years ago.

 

Here is the beginning of the patch...plastic wood gets super hard, but I will never used it again if I have a choice of a better patch material.

[newbuilder]

Here is the patch now...still very obvious, but better.

after some work on the headstock



The neck all silky smooth

[newbuilder]

COntrol cover

Gonna stay with the gloss poly on the body I think...not sure.


Other thing I am not sure about is whether I will stick with the chicken head knobs or not.

[ej]

stick with the chicken heads... i them

[Elias Graves]

Chicken heads are cool.

I've always liked the pickup mounts on that thing. Very neat.

 

EG

[twofoolsaminute]

That thing blows my MIND!!!! Awesome.

[newbuilder]

That thing blows my MIND!!!! Awesome.

 

 

Wow, and super thank you.

[Ralph onion]

2 for chickens. That is fine looking guitar! Good Job!!!

[newbuilder]

2 for chickens. That is fine looking guitar! Good Job!!!

OK, so the chickens are cool...thank you vvery much:thu:

Here is some fresh logo little bitty tung oil head stock...neck feels soooooooooo good, it is a round profile, really cool.

[sxyryan]

Man I would love to get me one of those :poke:

I just love everything about that! Awesome.

[diceman1000]

that really is a badass axe Matt... i'd love to hear it...

[Darkstorm]

Only thing I dont like about the body is the pups cant be adjusted to personal taste for height. otherwise looks awesome.

[newbuilder]

Only thing I dont like about the body is the pups cant be adjusted to personal taste for height. otherwise looks awesome.

 

 

Yeah, this is the worlds first guitar that's sooooo badass it doesn't need adjustment:lol: That's really the only critique that I have gotten that I have to check out...like I said I haven't even gotten to plug her in yet and don't know how much of an issue that is really gonna be yet. Thank you:thu:

[vintage clubber]

very unique set up on that guitar, Matt. How do the pickups sound with the way you have them mounted??

[k4df4l]

Yeah, this is the worlds first guitar that's sooooo badass it doesn't need adjustment:lol: That's really the only critique that I have gotten that I have to check out...like I said I haven't even gotten to plug her in yet and don't know how much of an issue that is really gonna be yet. Thank you:thu:

 

 

I think it's a really neat idea but it does have several practical limitations given that pickup height is a pretty critical element of preference and can vary from pickup to pickup, player to player. It's also critical for balancing pickups so their output/volume is even across switch positions. The other problem I could see would be with respect to physical size if someone wanted to replace pickups....depending on how tight your clearances are in those routes.

[newbuilder]

I think it's a really neat idea but it does have several practical limitations given that pickup height is a pretty critical element of preference and can vary from pickup to pickup, player to player. It's also critical for balancing pickups so their output/volume is even across switch positions. The other problem I could see would be with respect to physical size if someone wanted to replace pickups....depending on how tight your clearances are in those routes.

 

 

I thought in this case that the most important thing that i could do is take this idea and put it into the real world for a test ride, that gives me a chance to address the issues that come from this type of installation. I didn't think this would be the end all, but a good beginning and a way to look at guitar building/assembly with new eyes. I have played tons of guitars with a standard pup set up that is fully adjustable and have to admit that is one of the first things i do to personallize my guitars to my taste, but this guitar with all of its limitations is a milestone for me in making my ideas a tangible thing. There is no clearance in those routes:lol: