So I made some inlays instead of buying them. 1) It saved probably $100 or so, 2) I love doing this sort of thing, 3) it's just really cool to be able to say "I made the inlays too".

The higher end BC Rich mockingbirds have cloud inlays. I stole this design from a guy who does REALLY nice inlay work. I thought it was a nice variation on the clouds.

The body of the clouds are maple. The sun & rays are canarywood. I tried to use the darker orange & red streaks to my advantage when doing the rays. The grain on the maple is really tight, so the color is pretty uniform.



With the top beveled, I was finally able to put the tiger-eye burst on the top. This is a pic with the first sealer coat on it. The sides are being treated with a faux-binding effect. The sapele base is being dyed black.

My Day

Happy birthday to me!

Mockingbird progress

It's been a while since I posted any progress on this bad boy. It's been sitting in limbo for a while, waiting for time-consuming things to happen. Primarily, I had to finish up some Christmas projects. Good thing I'm in no rush.

The neck is finalized as paduk. I got lucky at the woodcarvers show last month and picked up a nice long paduk board with some sapwood along one side. A lot of woodworkers wouldn't want to combine heartwood and sapwood, but in this case it will just add something to the beauty of the neck.



The fretboard is now ebony. I landed a 3-pack of slotted Martin factory seconds for around $15-$20 shipped. I got another ebony blank that had some holes drilled all the way through for free. I'm using the blank to beef out the width of the Martin boards.

The inlays will still be clouds with the sun & moon. The clouds will be maple, and everything else will be canarywood. They're still going to be made with by beloved scrollsaw.

The body is glued up and routed to shape. It now has a 3A flamed maple top. I'm going to bevel it like BC Rich does theirs. Since the top is getting a tiger-eye burst and the edges of the top are pretty squared off, I'll use the undyed maple edges to give it a faux binging. To match this, the headstock, but not the neck, is being bound in cream.

still a geek.....

scroll saw + thin stock + guitar obsession = 20 unique Christmas tree ornaments

deck the frikin' halls!

I'm such a wood geek

This is sad.

I was just scrolling out a Christmas ornament on some random rosewood I picked out of someone's cutoff pile at the woodcarvers show. I couldn't tell what it was from the looks, but I knew it was some sort of rosewood and that it'd look good as an ornament.

When I started cutting it, I was like "Oh... that's bocote. It must be flatsawn since it's pretty plain." Sure enough, a quick look at the side of the 1/4" thick piece confirmed tha tit's bocote.

Identifying the woods by sight is one thing. Doing it by smell is completely over the top.

Mockingbird: Thoughts and decisions

Not much to report here other than some thoughts and a decision.

The fretboard became a no-brainer. I landed some ebony factory seconds that have been slotted already. The only reason they're seconds is they're a bit streaky. A little linseed oil takes care of that, so the fretboard is now and forever ebony. And it'll be spectacular with the sun/moon/cloud inlays.

I've been thinking about the neck for a little bit. It needs to balance tonally and visually with the body. Sapele is very dark soncially, with the flamed maple pulling it up a bit. I couldn't have a dark sounding neck like mahogany, but I didn't want it as bright as maple for fear of overcompensating. Using Warmoth's neck tone guide as a reference point for the woods I have on hand, this leaves me with bubinga, bocote, chechen, and paduk. They're all in the 75% bright range, with maple being 100%.

Visually, the sapele is getting ebonized, so it's a neutral black, as is the fretboard. The flamed maple is getting the tiger-eye burst, so the main color is varying shades of orange. Not only that, it's a very active orange due to the flaming. I don't want the neck to compete visually with the body or fretboard, so I need it to be fairly plain. This rules out bocote.

The fretboard is 22 frets, 25.5" scale. I already know that the 'Bird is precariously balanced, so a heavy wood for the neck is just asking for trouble. This rules out bubinga.

Looking at the two remaining woods - chechen and paduk - I'm comparing the colors and weight. Overall, taking into consideration everything mentioned above, I have to go with paduk. It's lighter than the chechen, and will eventually turn into a dark burnt orange, which will compliment the top nicely.

Upcoming Projects

I don't have any particular reason, but I have the need to post something about the upcoming projects I have in various stages of planning or incompletion.

Bookshelf
My sister wants a bookshelf. It'll be pretty basic: 3/4" plywood with poplar edging, stained mahogany and bullet-proofed with polyurethane.

The plywood has been cut and the poplar milled to size.

Gretsch Jupiter/Thinderbird
This should end up a straight copy of the original. Mahogany body with a maple cap, the top painted red, gold hardware. The neck should end up mahogany or some laminate with mahogany.

The base has been glued and routed to template.

Iceman
I can't play the mirrored Iceman at church anymore because the reflection from the lights randomly blinds members of the congregation. It's one of the best sounding guitars I have though, so I HAVE to have it available to play. The only solution is to make another an scavenge the hardware.

It'll be made almost identical to the 1st one: basswood & maple body and walnut neck. The major differences will be a thinner body, traditional bolt-on neck, and it'll be painted yellow.

SG
A total Gibson SG clone. I have the hardware & pups from a '79 SG to go on it.

This one has the body glued and routed to the template.

Redneck JR
Avenger body shape with a rebel flag on top. The body base is basswood and will be dyed blue. The flag will be bloodwood, ash dyed blue, and basswood. Either the neck or fretboard will be bloodwood. The neck might end up ash.

It'll have a single P90 in the bridge and a wraparound tailpiece, like a LPjr.

The body base has been glued and routed to the template.

Airline
Chambered poplar body, bocote or chechen neck, chrome hardware, Tiesco pickups, Tiesco-style vibrato.

The body is going to be painted with rally orange automotive lacquer. The rosewood neck will match up well visually with the orange paint. I'm leaning towards a plain maple fretboard.

50's car inspired build
This will be the same shape as the Superthin. It'll be reminiscent of the side body moldings of the cars from the 50's - particularly the 55-57 Buick and the 56-61 Corvette. The "body scoop" will be outlined with chrome trim. It'll utilize an aluminum neck I got from in a trade.

Rickenbacker 4000 bass
walnut body, birdseye maple veneer top, Rockfield active music-man pickups

Rickenbacker 600 guitar
maple body, bookmatched crotch walnut top, mahogany neck, gold hardware & pickups from the other Ric600 I made.

Mockingbird: yet another detour

I decided that after looking at it for a few weeks that I absolutely HATE the way the top looks. It's the sum of the parts. The carve didn't go the way I wanted it to go, the canary isn't as colorful as I wanted, and there's something intangible that's completely wrong about the whole thing. I can't put my finger on it, but it's just not right.

I've made enough guitars that I'm unhappy with that I know if i finish it up, I'll never want to play it, so there's no point is going forward.

So we'll have to wait and see what happens with the whole thing. I've always wanted a Mockingbird, so there WILL be another in the future. But that's the only thing that's set in stone. Right now, I'm leaning heavily towards a quilted top with a tiger-eye dye job.

Project: Super-Thin, pt4

The neck & headstock routed to the template. The end of the headstock will need to be "sharpened up" to match the horns, but that's no biggie. I figure to put the 24th fret right on the carve line. This gives you total access to the first 22, and at least availability to the last to. This also places the strap button at the 12th fret, so that ensures no balance issues with the lack of weight in the body. I'm also going to extend the bevel in the forearm area into the body a bit. It's too shallow as it sits right now. The pencil line is where it will end up.

King Of The Hill

I know this has nothing to do with guitars, but this is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. The adult elephant kicks the baby down the hill! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

"Experts" at Guitar Center

No, not the employees... the customers. From craigslist, Birmingham, Al, 4/12/2009. This about sums it up!




This is a special thanks to all of the guys that put on a free concert at guitar center everyday, we appreciate everything you do for our community.

Like when I go in to actually purchase something, you come sit right next to me and play your "top shelf" ibanez through any solid state monster in the store, and show me how fast you can tap.



Or like when I am asking someone a question and you stepped up to the plate and instead tell us all how incredible your band is.

Another reason I am so impressed by you guys is how you find time to come to guitar center every day when you're always out on the road touring. It's already pretty hard to sift through the wealth of knowledge available behind the counter, but when you add your countless years of experience in to the equation, there is no end.

Another way that you guys have changed my life is through my use of equipment. Over the years I've always thought that boutique pedals and custom tube configurations really contributed to my overall tone, yet you proved me wrong. Just from watching you play both measures you know from Free Bird, I learned that all I really need is a digitech floor board or a line 6 product to get the job done.

Just hearing you guys really shred on your speed metal makes me wonder why people still listen to bands like The Beatles, Coldplay or U2.



Thanks again for all you've done for me personally, you've really taught me that everything I thought I knew must be wrong, I am forever in debt to you. Because of this, I am now looking for a new drummer. Currently my drummer plays with a metronome and is way too solid and tasteful, consider him gone!

If you are one of those guys in the drum dept. that knows that fast double bass is so much more important than keeping time, you're the one for me.

So what if you don't own a drum set and therefore never practice, who needs practice when you're a prodigy?

Who cares if you came in 7th place at last years drum off, the judges were conspiring against you.



Last but not least, I am also holding auditions for a bass player. Currently my bass player plays through this stupid little ampeg 8x10 cab & head with a few vintage fender basses, and all he knows how to do is stay with the kick drum.

Who cares that he's never made a mistake, or that he could write a book on music theory, what matters is that he can't slap. If there's one thing that can make any passionately slow song sound even better, that would be slap bass.

So what if these pocket bass players like Adam Clayton are living in mansions and you're working at the mall, you know that slap bass is what's gonna bring in the big bucks. don't worry, you'll get your chance, the world won't know what hit'em.

Project: Super-Thin, pt3

I forgot to tale a picture of the final body shape. Here's the beginnings of the carve, though. It's realy not so much of a carve as it is a bevel. I'm taking the time to do this entirely by hand with only rasps and files.

I also finalized the fretboard: makore, or African cherry. I've never seen it used before, so I did a little research on it. You want a fretboard to be reasonably hard & durable. Makore is actually a bit more dense than maple, so I don't see any issues with it whatsoever. The warm, reddish-brown color of the wood will match up well with the turquoise body and abalone inlays. I still haven't decided on whether I'll be using ovals or stars.

Project: Super-Thin, pt2

Moving small pieces of wood like this has a number of advantages. The big three in my book are reducing waste, the pieces are already the EXACT thickness needed, and with wood like this, it's color/grain matched already. Once it's shaped and sanded, the glue lines will be virtually invisible.

Project: Super-Thin pt1

The idea is to see how thin you can make a guitar and still be functional, good sounding, and good playing. A good friend of mine is working on a surface-mount pickup, taking design inspiration from an old Teisco pup I sent him. The hardware will be mini-pots and a hard tail bridge.

The piece of white limba I have for the body is EXACTLY 1" thick. It's just barely not wide enough to have a 1-piece body, so pieces from the blank will have to be glued onto the widest parts of it. I'm going with a traditional Strat-like shape. With the body being so thin and lightweight, I figure to need the strap anchor pretty far forward. Under normal circumstances, the 12th-15th fret is the target. As it stands right now, it might fall near the 11th. We'll just wait and see on that one.

The neck will need to be pretty lightweight as well. I picked up a 2" thick piece of Spanish cedar. It's used in acoustics, so the strength should be fine. It's also stupid-light. The body blank uncut weighs about the same as the 2" thick piece of cedar. No neck dive on this one.

I really wanted to do a back-bolt on this one, but it's just too thin. The surface mount pups would eliminate the normal routes taking away material for the bolts to go into. However, the body itself will be too thin. Oh well - a set neck it is.

The edges are going to be beveled, though not very deep. The body will be getting dyed turquoise. I'm not positive about the type of finish yet.

It'll be getting a white pickguard into which all of the electronics will be mounted. This will save depth in the already shallow body.

The headstock is going to be very similar to the Parker Fly.

Mockingbird: An abrupt right turn

GOOD LORD!!!! It's been 8 months since I posted any kind of update! Well, THAT wasn't supposed to happen.



So I finished up the mockingbird and didn't like it. It sounded OK, but it was damn heavy and the action was really high. Since I had over 15 guitars at the time, I decided that there was no reason I should ever have one that i wasn't 100% happy with, so I disassembled it and began making another.



Here's where I am right now. It's a Sapele base with a carved Canarywood top. I'm not completely happy with the carve as it stands right now. I'm in mo hurry though. I can let it sit for a while and look at it until I figure out exactly what I need to do to it.

Man, Sapele and Canary are both great to work with. Sapele machines like a hot knife through warm butter. I've never had any tear-out, it sands up easily, and looks fantastic. Canary is like maple in hardness and texture, but it smells fantastic and is gorgeous to look at. Yellow with orange & red streaks flowing in sometimes unexpected directions.... wow.

I'm debating whether to use the old neck or to make a new one. I'm not sure the maple/purpleheart pinstripe will look good with the body, and I KNOW the headstock doesn't fit in. I made a bubinga/canarywood neck a while back, so maybe I'll put it on the 'Bird.

Mockingbird p10

The paint is starting to go on this week.

I gots me a yeller gee-tar body!

bad omens

I had a dream last night that the headstock of the Mockingbird broke off right in the middle of the scarf - twice. That better not me some evil portents of future badness.

Mockingbird p9

I'm not feeling particularly chatty today, so here's the quick version:

The cypress just wasn't working out in the painting stage. The wood between the growth rings was simply too soft and wouldn't sand smooth - always ripply. So I scrapped the old body and made a new one from mahogany & cherry. These are the progress shots, Also included are a couple shots of the finished headstock.

Right now, the body is being grainfilled and sealed up with sanding sealer.

Mockingbird p8

Mockingbird p7

Soapbox, p3 - Warp Factor 3

And that's the end of it for now,





As you can see, both the body AND the top pieces warped over the weekend. That doesn't mean I'm through with it - I still love the idea of a pine guitar. I just have to find a better supplier than the box stores. There are plenty of construction lumber yards I can talk to about it.

For now though, the soapbox is getting laid to rest.