Rudie: Finish Work

Finishing is always a challenge (for me), it seems that every guitar presents a different issue. This one is getting there, had to add more black color tone to the front of the guitar. This means more clear coats and more waiting time.

Spokes of Sound: More Jigs and Body Plates

More work with 3/4 " MDF making jigs. Used a drill press and jig saw to cut out my form. Need to clean it up by sanding it so that the router follows it smoothly. Have the rough body components put together. The three plates are the back plate, body and top plate which is a very nice piece of Mirtle. (3 hrs)

Spokes of Sound: Milling Boards

A Sapele (African Mahagony) board 6 feet long, 10 inches wide and 8/4 thick was used to begin the process of building the body for this new design. It was milled and cut into three pieces. Two of which will be the body (flip-matched) and one which was resawn for the back plate (book-matched). The tools used for milling were the radial arm saw, joiner, planner, table saw and chop saw. Then straight to the glue-up table to be joined. I have found in the past that if you dont glue the freshly milled boards together the wood may change shape on you forcing you to mill them again. Then after the glue was dried, the design was transfered to the wood plates and they were cut out with the band saw. The top of this guitar will be made from a nice piece of flamey Mirtle, which is still in its rough form. (2.5 hrs)

New Design: Spokes of Sound

This is going to be a new design for a semi solid hollow-body electric. The first step is to always draft a design to scale and make jigs. In this case out of MDF. This is a good step because you can not only use jigs for many routing steps but also to see if it fits in a case. In the past I have made guitars that don't really fit in a case which is a pain. It is called spokes of sound due to an added feature which will present itself later after some progress has been made. (1.5 hr)

In the booth with Rudie

This guitar is getting some lacquer applications. Looks really dark in the photo but has a nice smoky flame burst to it. Its name is Rudie due to the fact that the future owner is a Clash fanatic. Which is OK.

Westbury Restoration

This Westbury electric was in dire straits with no electronics or frets. A friend gave it to me and I felt compelled to bring it back. It was made in Japan at the famous Matsumoku factory known for quality. This instrument had the following work done to it: Fretboard relevel, frets installed and leveled, rebuff and polish, new pickups and electrical components, new control cavities cover plates built, action and intonation re-set. Turned out nice!

Marshwood Remodel, Update from March 16, 2012

Ok. Some work has been done on this Guitar: New logo and Clashtastic 12th fret inlay have been installed. The material for this was reconstituted red stone. Frets put in and leveled and the neck finished in tru-oil. Body sanded and dyed black with alcohol stain. The next step will be to sand the stain back a little, and begin applying lacquer.