Finishing Touches

Attempting to inlay an actual Mountain Pine Beetle into to the control cavity cover plate of the Beetle Kill Electric: Routed the tunnel and then set it place with a little bit of epoxy. Will go back in later and fill with clear epoxy. Hopefully, it will give this guitar a unique finishing touch.

The Beetle Kill Electric featured on Outside Magazine Online!

It is really cool to see how everyone is creating with this unfortunate, but beautful wood. Thanks to the staff of Outside Magazine and Maddie Oatman for the interest on our work! Go to the "Links" down to the right and you can see the article.

Beetle Kill Electric and how it got started

This one is just about finished. It has a couple of Gibson pickups (490 R and 498T) and should shred. This guitar features a walnut neck and body, ponderosa beetle kill blue stain top and ebony fretboard and headstock. Background: In 2008, I was working for a Natural Resource Management team conducting forestry projects in Colorado’s front-range forests. The Ponderosa Pine trees are one of the main inhabitants. The main objective was to remove pine beetle infected trees. I spent about six months with a chainsaw in hand and pine pitch stuck to my face and clothes getting to know this material. Not many guitar builders get this kind of opportunity to work with trees at this early stage. The Ponderosa has some beautiful characteristics: The grace they possess in occupying space in a healthy forest, the sweet aroma, and the way the bark on older trees has a rich red color. Bacteria associated with the Pine Beetle leaves the wood with “blue stain” adding another element to perk my interest in creating an instrument out of it. And it is satisfying when you can use a regional material, really creating a Colorado guitar. I was able to find a nice piece locally and began to plan the beetle kill electric.

Carving

Carving, for me, is probably the most enjoyable element of guitar making. In this case I use a Wagner Safety Planer to establish my finished edge by the binding. And then a hand plane to carve down to that edge. It gets smoothed out with a sander. The next step will be to scrap a recurve around the guitar.

The Rufus in action!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVJzW8FxV9A&feature=c4-overview&list=UUsZwqakZRrS5l-FkiJjJUQw

Eric gets his custom Marshwood!

And likes it! It did not take long before loud Clash licks could be heard from across the street. The Bg pup P-90s (www.bg-pups.com) lay down some great punk!

Rudie is Completed!

This Marshwood hollowbody remodel project is completed. Sounds great!