Leaderboard

Then I took it to my dads woodworking shop and used his surface planer to remove 3/8" off the top... [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"65682766_10219062792509058_5418619697996234752_o.jpg","data-attachmentid":32550301}[/ATTACH] Then I distressed it and stained it to match the box... [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"64819569_10219062798709213_3397833363275382784_o.jpg","data-attachmentid":32550302}[/ATTACH] Then glued down the new top (not pictured - it was covered with car batteries), and then used a router to trim it to size... [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"65847815_10219062809509483_4077528799908986880_o.jpg","data-attachmentid":32550303}[/ATTACH] Then I routed the cavities, and began reassembly (including the original box nails)... [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"65873130_10219062815669637_8312748642645573632_o.jpg","data-attachmentid":32550304}[/ATTACH] This last photo was taken before I applied a flat clearcoat sealer, and screwed down the switch plate. I have also swapped out the tuners since with some fender locking tuners with the compensated pole heights (so I could yank the string tree).

I saw this elsewhere and thought that it needed to be shared:

Have this beastie! I have always wanted one of these, and they were always WAY above my pay grade. (and talent level, but who cares about that, right?) When I saw it in a pawn shop of all places, I did a double take, then asked to play it. At that point my poor suffering wife let out a sound akin to a groan, and she knew. (God I love that woman!) I then played it, and put it away on lay-away. 2 months later, here she is: A 1991 Ibanez George Benson GB 12, with hand signed label, number 317 for those who care to know these things. (I do!!!!) A total of about 600 were made for the 12th anniversary of it's introduction. it's got one of the nicest ebony boards I have every played, and after a bit of tweaking, every single note in perfectly in tune all across the board! At first glance, it's not that flamey, but as you tilt it, BOOM, flame abounds! (Which is ok with me, despite starting to hate the over abundance of flame maple topped guitars.)

The End, Abbey Road

I made the mistake of leaving my banjo in the back of my car while I went grocery shopping one day. When I came back out, my rear window was smashed and there were 2 banjos in my car.

Wait- So in addition to the 3 chords, you’re saying there’s more than one key?

I just picked up this sweet guitar the other day, it's a Danelectro '63 (2015) She's in excellent condition, and for the price... I couldn't pass her up!

I picked up a Strat body routed for 2 P90's a while back and finally sourced some parts and started work on it. Progress has been slow as my IBM ("Peter Frampton's disease") has been kicking my ass and allowing me fewer "good days" when I feel like doing anything. The body has a Chechen top and Cherry back. I left it au' naturale and did a Watco Danish oil finish on it. I was a bit undecided on a neck but wound up going with a rosewood over mahogany neck thinking P90's and mahogany necks always worked for Gibsons w P90's so why not here? The neck pictured in the first mockup pic is ebony over maple. It didn't make the cut and will be used on another project. The P90's have faux rosewood covers and I have rosewood knobs and tuners keys that will go on it.. I decided to veneer the headstock face with Chechen also. I stain-matched the neck to the Cherry back of the guitar and put a couple light coats of lacquer on the neck to make glue removal from the veneering process easier. I was kind of hacked that the body had some chip-outs around the pickup routes (see the first pic), but after working with the Chechen veneer, I can commiserate with the builder. Chechen is rock hard but splits and chips like crazy. Here is the plain headstock as I drilled out the tuner holes to accept the locking tuners. Being a master of "Ghetto Luthiery", I used a step drill (which is essentially a reamer) and drilled from both front and back partway through. I then used my Dremel to remove the remaining "step" inside the tuner holes with an appropriately sized abrasive stone tip. No drama, no chips or splits. I cut a piece of Chechen veneer about 1/4" oversize for the headstock face, steamed the veneer lightly with my Black and Decker steam iron while wrapping it around an aerosol can to shape for the cove of the headstock. I applied wood-glue to both surfaces, aligned the veneer at the edge of the fretboard, pressed the caul into place and applied small C clamps to hold everything overnight. IIn the true sporot of "Ghetto Luthiery". I padded the back of the headstock with a paint stir stick I got with my kitchen paint. lol You can see the block with the radiused end (caul) that I made to clamp the veneer to follow the cove of the fretboard to headstock face. Ghetto Luthiery Alert! Steaming veneer for neck cove contour I trimmed the excess veneer off with an Exacto knife, sanded the edges flush with a Dremel and drum sanding attachment followed by finish sanding. As you can see in the pic below, I had a small sliver of veneer chip away while sanding. I trimmed the split straight with an Exacto knife and glued a small scrap of veneer in with CA. Note that I left a convenient "tab" to hold the veneer in place while the CA set up instead of gluing my fingers to the headstock face. lol. More progress pics to follow!

Oh I think $350 is ample money to get a good guitar. There are so many good guitars around these days that it's hard to go wrong. The Yamaha FG830 comes in around that price point and that is an excellent guitar.

they wanted to produce an album that could not be performed live... [video=youtube_share;msYTb-F1jlI] this is actually quite well done

This is the third time that I have met someone thru this little community, got to know them, discussed their likes (and dislikes) in guitars and music, tried to get thru my head whether to build something or not, all of the communications back and forth as the process goes on - the trust (on both sides), my doubts and concerns. Its a fascinating and interesting experience and I have totally enjoyed the process. For me a commission is someone putting a whole lot of trust and faith in a person they have never met - they front some money which lets me play at my hobby not knowing when they'll see their guitar (if they ever will) and whether it will be anything like what they have dreamed of. I take this very seriously. I'm honestly not very good at the whole process. I worry about everything - will he like this, what will it sound like, have I made the braces too big or too little. What about the flaw that bothers me so much, when things aren't going well should I back off and refund the money. I played Dano's guitar for an hour or more last night - put it thru my little repertoire trying to hear things that I didn't like - how does it sound in D or G, how about a little slide just in case Dano wants to try that. How is the action, how will it settle in with a little more time on it. I watched my wife's reaction. Today I want to take it by my music store and let a couple of friends play it - showing off, sure, but I'm more interesting in anything they think needs work before it goes in the brown truck. Anyway, I just want to publicly say thank you to Dano, T_e_l_e and Grant for their trust and confidence and the friendships that have come out of it.