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Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
My handmade electric update
I was posting my electric guitar construction but I stopped because very few of you were interested.
But now I am getting very close. I changed the body shape for something more unique and I installed all the hardware before stripping it down again for paint. Just to hear it before wasting any time and money on finishing.
The wood is from an old pine cupboard in the house.
I have to say that am nicely surprised. After much trial and error, it sounds pretty good. I haven't even dressed the frets or set it up properly yet. The very cheap Alnico 5 pickups are really very nice. The nasty, loud router and precise alignment were the hard parts.
I designed it and it is getting pretty near to the hollow, dry bluesy sound that I am after, along with slightly funky looks. That's a copy of a Hofner bass control unit, BTW and the neck was a cheap purchase, until I can figure out my own, if at all.
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RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
The guitar’s looking great, it’s got a bit of a Bo Diddley vibe going on with it. Also would have a touch of George Thorogood’s sound, if the amp was EQ’d with some more mid and bass (and no chorus). When I heard the tone for some reason I thought of the old song “Who do you love?” But I cant remember who did that.
Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Morante)
quote:
Very nice. The pickups look a bit like Gretsch. What happened to the P90 model?
They are Gretsch humbucker copies. P90s are next on the list. I have yours one on another guitar at the moment but it's going on my best made guitar in due course.
The original P90 design was just too soft a wood, so I scrapped it and decided to mess about with less common body shapes, electronics and hardware.
Everyone "makes" a standard copy from a purchased CNC body nowadays and I wanted it to be a bit more special.
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
Olé! Sounding and looking good!
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RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
and George too..
That is amazing. Last night I was trying to remember the first time I heard that song, because I was pretty sure it wasn’t Bo Diddley’s version, so I went online.
The first band that popped into my mind was Al Kooper’s old NYC band “The Blues Project”, so I searched on them and it turns out they did do the song. So, it was probably them but, when I listened to it, they sounded way different than my memory serves me. Google then popped up George Thorogood. I listened to his version and, nope, that wasn’t it.
Then I remembered John Hammond Jr. and how I wore the grooves out of his “So Many Roads” album. That was it!
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
I’ve been messing about with Telecasters a lot recently. When it comes to electrics, I was always a Gibson guy, when I was younger, then a Strat guy after that. I still have one of my early 60s Gibson reverse body Firebirds stashed away in a closet somewhere.
I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit recently and I’ve come to the conclusion that, on the podium for the greatest guitar makers of all time, at the helm we have Torres, then Manuel Ramirez standing right beside him on the second place tier, and in third we have to have Leo Fender with his Telecaster guitar.
He nailed it, his eye for balance, proportion and form, pretty well everything, was absolutely dead on. He stands as one of the true greats. Just look at his other contributions. The Precision Bass. The Fender amp. The Stratocaster and Jazz Bass. Brilliant, simply brilliant!
Which is not to suggest you should be making Tele copies. Everybody does that. But there will always be a place in my heart for a nicely turned electric guitar, that’s a given. So, I hope you continue to show us your creations, please never doubt that there is an interest in seeing them.
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to RobF)
quote:
Leo Fender with his Telecaster guitar.
The best guitar I ever had was a 74 Tele. For some reason, I changed it for a Strat, which I didn´t like. So I changed the Strat for a Jazzmaster, which I liked even less. When I decided to live in Andalucia I sold all my electrics, another mistake. But I only miss the Tele
Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Morante)
The Tele is the ultimate plank. Straight and level, bolt-on neck with a nice twang. Nothing fancy. Don't care for the look much, but I will do my own interpretation when I turn more to Fenderish guitars.
Though I am using bolt-on necks, albeit at an angle and I will stick with them.
Thinking of incorporating the Strat tremolo down the road. Bigsby wins on retro looks:-)
Posts: 3497
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
Beautiful shade of blue, Simon. Almost cobalt.
Bill
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Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Morante)
quote:
¡Ole! Pity same colour as mine, though mine was painted in a car finishing paintshop. Pity I cant upload fotos!
It's car paint in a can I used to repair, fill and spray cars when I was a kid and my Dad ran a garage. I kind of remember the process now, but after a few failed attempts. Wood is much more grainy than metal so it needs a lot of primer, sanding, paint and then cutting back with 1000 grit, at least.
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
Nice!
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"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
The blue is super cool.
Prep work is always done one step early. Easy to go mad chaiseing perfection.
Nice thing about catilized finishes is they dry really fast and some heat, say 120f, and boom, they are hard. There are a coulple sprayer systems here in the states. One is called Pre-Val it's an arisol like canister that one screws a jar onto with whatever pre mixed paint and spray. I hated cleaning the jar and found a wax free Dixie cup works fine if one is carful and just toss in the trash once done, sounds wasteful but not as much as all the chemicals to clean up a jar etc. you could spray four or more guitar bodies with one canister.
The other sprayer I've seen but never used and looks like a regular rattle can where you pour the paint inside but once you do that its all one use. I didn't like the idea so never tried one.
Whatever you are doing it looks good. If you don't like it, get out some 320 paper break the gloss and shoot her again.
HR
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I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy, doesn't have to be fast, should have some meat on the bones, can be raw or well done, as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
That has the Bo Diddley vibe on it, the color looks good and the burst was well made. About strats and teles, my nickname comes from my favourite guitar model, I have various other electrics but for some reason telecasters seem the best(thinline model is also great unplugged), and it was presented by Leo Fender in 1949, which seems incredible. Also the bridge gives it the unique twangy sound missing from hardtail strats for example.
Unfortunately I don't feel like playing much flamenco in recent years but the flamenco guitar technique is very useful and increases possibilities when playing electric guitar without a pick. The guitarist from Doors band was studying flamenco and adapted his flamenco inspired fingerpicking style to the electric very well, as a famous example.
Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to tele)
quote:
The guitarist from Doors band was studying flamenco and adapted his flamenco inspired fingerpicking style to the electric very well, as a famous example.
I am doing so, as well. A little abanico and using my thumb and index finger for the blues. No pick nowadays.
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Escribano
quote:
The guitarist from Doors band was studying flamenco and adapted his flamenco inspired fingerpicking style to the electric very well, as a famous example.
I am doing so, as well. A little abanico and using my thumb and index finger for the blues. No pick nowadays.
Why not go full flamenco and bring middle and ring finger too, I see many blues guys like legendary Hubert Sumlin using only index finger. I use all fingers and it helps me with speed, about 50% of time I use pick. Somehow without pick the sound is a bit more bluesy, the reason why Howlin wolf told Sumlin to ditch the pick.
RE: My handmade electric update (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Escribano
Paso y paso. Electric strings are a bit less favourable for more fingers and I have 50 years of pick playing to overcome
I struggled a bit for about a year using "short" flamenco length fingernails with electric strings, it's a challenge initially but in the end the sound is much better . I also see one of my favourite guitarists Roy Buchanan had quite long fingernails, and even had his own way of applying flamenco techniques. Although he mostly played with a pick. I started playing blues about 16 years ago and the more I play the more I enjoy it, and I still listen to lots of blues, part of it is Jazz blues though, it really shows how broad the blues is.
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I used to repair, fill and spray cars when I was a kid and my Dad ran a garage. I kind of remember the process now, but after a few failed attempts. Wood is much more grainy than metal so it needs a lot of primer, sanding, paint and then cutting back with 1000 grit, at least. 
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