The white guitar phase 2

Elias Graves

Common misfit
Continued sorta from

http://markweinguitarlessons.com/forums/showthread.php?40868-Walnut-Hollowbody-Build



This next phase mostly finishes detail work. Some things I put off til I made sure the guitar worked. It does, so I'm going to add the finishing touches to it.

First up, the bridge. What with the distinctive looking Honduran rosewood on the fretboard, the Indian rosewood bridge looks out of place. Mismatched.

698C0974-E514-4C4A-95CC-60C2C577AD0A-4926-00000649B8448595_zpsea82c2d9.jpg


It's not that big a deal obviously and has no bearing on performance as far as I know, but from an aesthetic point of view, I'd prefer that they match. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a ready made Honduran rosewood bridge anywhere. Indian Roosewood or ebony are all I can find.

Making an adjustable bridge like that looks like a bitch with my tools, so I stole a different design I'm going to use. Out on the web, I found this.

284EFBDC-BA91-4AF5-A531-6617AC978029-10478-00000D4E5A71CEA1_zps81f13356.jpg


So, I found a suitable piece of Honduran rosewood to make one like it that matches my fretboard. I like the idea of the custom cut bridge. Production guitars have to have adjustable to account for variances in everything. Once it is set up, though, how often does it get changed? For me, pretty much never. I reason that if I cut this one and tweak it til everything is good, I should be ok.

I started cutting on the rosewood block I bought. Here is the bridge blank.


C4E32989-55D8-4EA6-B6B7-E7BA30C489C5-10478-00000D4AD0D6016C_zps2bc9d416.jpg



That stuff is hard. I mean really really hard. As in hard maple and ebony ain't so bad in comparison.
It's hard. A flat surface burnishes to a mirror glaze with a sharp scraper and it feels like Teflon. Damn, it's hard.

Anyway, with my leftover scraps, we cut these. I say "we," because I enlisted some help. The last band Foo played in had a drummer named Rodney and he works in a cabinet shop. :grin: I took the block the shop and we used the band saw to slice it up. The "these" I was referring to are these theseses.

F96BF5CC-DFC0-44C8-869F-74F30544089B-10478-00000D4B106938AE_zpsc3009253.jpg




They will be trim binding for the sound hole.
I reason that adding binding to the future sound hole will tie it all together.
Foo suggested I go ahead and make a matching pickguard. Yes or no? That could look killer but it might be too much. Opinions?


I also need to give it a name. My suggestion is "13" since that's the year I made it.

Foo recommends the "Owl." It's like a white falcon but it only comes out at night.

Please feel free to offer legitimate, humorous, humorously legitimate or ligemately humorous ideas.
 
Last edited:
Is it hard?

No PG.

Name? Edgar. Since it only comes out at night, and it's white, snow is white, and it snows in Winter.
 
I think EG just does this to drive us crazy...

No. This was in the works all along. I wanted to do these little things but didnt want to invest the effort if the guitar sucked. Turns out I like it just fine, so now I'm gonna spiff it up.

How about a TOM directly mounted to the top ES335 style?

:eek: Never!
But if it needed it, I would. Thing is, I'm combatting "too bright" as it is. The wood bridge may be the only thing keeping it from being a telecaster. If anything, I may change the steel tailpiece to wood.
 
No. This was in the works all along. I wanted to do these little things but didnt want to invest the effort if the guitar sucked. Turns out I like it just fine, so now I'm gonna spiff it up.



:eek: Never!
But if it needed it, I would. Thing is, I'm combatting "too bright" as it is. The wood bridge may be the only thing keeping it from being a telecaster. If anything, I may change the steel tailpiece to wood.

Gotcha.
I can't get on with a wood bridge.

Disrupts my right hand technique. I dig in too much.
 
That's a crazy looking piece of wood.

0B6CAC69-8C93-427D-81CA-AB709B9B5935-11163-00000EA91670DE6A_zpsfe7c817c.jpg


And did I mention its hard? The corners on this block are sharp enough to cut a finger open. :embarrassed:
 
Slow going, even with a dremel.


Anyway, I decided what to do about a pickup. Gonna leave it a single pickup for now but I'm ordering a new one. I need a narrow space p90 at the neck and the only ones I've found so far are the chrome ones that come on an Epiphone (Casino, Wildkat) Lollar and Vintage Vibe.

I could probably score a set of Epis on eBay for $30-40. That's if I want chrome. The metal covers do have the advantage as acting as a shield for interference and it also darkens the tone a bit which wouldn't be a bad thing in this guitar. If I didn't like em that much, someone like BG would probably rebuild it for less than $75.
The Vintage Vibes are interesting. A lot of good reviews and advertises a lot about his shielded coil builds. He claims it cuts noise a lot. May be worth it. A single pickup is like $90.
The Lollar 50s wind. It's a real deal recreation of a specific pickup out of a 53 gold top and I guess Lollar's work is like top of the heap, eh? $110 for a single pickup.

Then, chrome, cream or black?
 
Back
Top