Red Rocks Community College's 40th Anniversary Gig

Some fellow instructors and I preformed at the 40th Anniversary celebration of Red Rocks Community College. It is at this school where I assist the Electric Guitar building program. We decided it would be fun to promote the program by playing on our own instruments. The set list: Brown Eyed Girl, Let It Shine, Any Major Dude and Ain't Misbehavin'.

Roy's Guitar, Chapter 20, Lacquer Finish

Today I added some color tones to the neck and body of the guitar. Sometimes you get lucky, by combining two color dyes and mixing them with the lacquer I was able to produce a nice reddish brown. This blends the maple neck with the mahogany body.

The Rufus, Carving the Recurve

Traditionally the recurved is carved into an arched instrument (violin, cello, etc,) and it gives the top or back plate the ability to vibrate creating a rich sound. In this case it will mainly be an aesthetic addition. A scraper is used to remove wood leaving behind a small concave ring around the body's edges. The light helps see the progress.

Roy's Guitar, Chapter 22, Lacquer Finish

Sorry it has been a while, but summer is always a busy time. I have finally got around to applying some lacquer to the body. This is a long process which requires many coats and much fine sanding in between. The photos are of the guitar hanging in a spray booth. You can see the true nature of the walnut top as it is brought to life by the lacquer. This is the first coat, there will be many more to come.

Recording

Sometimes you need to use your feet when recording (picture). Jerry Lewis style. At the keys doing the sounds for the Film, Fret Work. The guitar part once again was recorded with a Marshwood instrument. It is a more subtle part using an EBow (comes in at about 25 seconds) to give it that synthesizer sound. It is a small device held over the strings near the pickups, it sends a vibration through the strings. You can build tension with this thing. You don't pluck!

Film: Roy's Guitar, Chapter 21, Fret Work

Fretwork. All of the preparations are ready; clean radius, straight fretboard and sanded to 000 steel wool. The frets are bent with a crude radius jig which takes the once straight wire and bends it to a circle. Then the fretwire is cut to the appropriate length and set aside. The short film will show you the rest. The guitar part is played using an Ebow. It sounds like a synth.

If you have headphones put em' on.

Film: Fret Work

Fretwork. All of the preparations are ready; clean radius, straight fretboard and sanded to 000 steel wool. The frets are bent with a crude radius jig which takes the once straight wire and bends it to a circle. Then the fretwire is cut to the appropriate length and set aside. The short film will show you the rest. The guitar part is played using an Ebow. It sounds like a synth.