Pictures (Guitars)

[Fender3D]

I love offset guitars, in case you couldn't tell.

and paintings... 

[wavley]

i have the same 'greeny' tuners

I've heard they are especially made from teeth of folks in the appalachian mountain chain.  (I am going to get soooo flamed.)

  Too bad this emoticon doesn't have the color reversed.   

MC

Maybe not, I live in Appalachia and I can confirm that this is actually true, it's a major source of income around here... especially since the meth heads and pillbillies started becoming a major portion of the population.  Basically, you can find them along the road wherever shirtless walking guys can be found (mostly between the holler and the liquor store) and in parking lots rattling around in the helmets of folks riding liquorcycles (scooters that folks switch to because you don't need a driver's license to ride one after it's been taken away for too many DUI's).  If you're brave, then you can find them along the trails to meth labs and shine stills.

[Saint Louis Toneworks]

As you would suspect in a DIY forum my guitars are anything but stock. I build parts casters from hand selected pieces gathered, traded for and bought over the years. The Blues strat is my #1 and has all the best of anythign I could find including an authentic .015 bumblebee , speed dials , old hot rails (not the new plastic coated ones), my toggle switch/tele/lp set up, 50's style 8-hole pickguard  and the abalone inlays which do myself. I do golden age harnesses and custom wood working on guitars ( how I got involved with pedals, and if my math and physics were good enough amp building..maybe one day ..maybe a noisy cricket - these guitars also have the locking open geared tuners on them which I love seeing the mechanical gears right out in the open ..no case

both are MIM - MIM are so good for the money it caused me to just sell the MIA tele and strat I had as you cannot tell the difference at all. People say they can , but owning fenders for 30+ years I say its hogwash.  Oh yeah, another cosmetic touch on #1 is no string tree, or string tree hole,  the tuners are staggered as well as open geared





#2



when I restring my guitar I will give a gut shot of it _ here is a preview - 1950's bumblebee on a 500K pot for my hotrails :

[G. Hoffman]

The hooks were $0.47 a piece at the local hardware store and the 2x4s were free.

I'd be careful with those hooks.  If they are coated in the wrong type of plastic, it can react with the lacquer finish on your guitars, and it is very tough to touch up the damage convincingly because it can damage the color (if it gets too bad).



Gabriel

[Liquitone]

I Found this Fender Modern Player Jaguar Bass for very little money at a pawnshop and thought it would be a nice project;



I refinished the body with daphne blue nitro finish, routed the body and adapted the scratch-plate for the extra electronics.
It has a Rangemaster circuit with OC45 transistor adapted for bass (bigger input- and output-caps) which adds a wonderfull liveliness to its sound.
Upper control plate switches between only neck pickup (Seymour Duncan SPB-1 P-Bass pickup) with dedicated volume and tone, or both pickups with dedicated vol, mix and tone (on the jack control-plate)
Lower control-plate has bypass, power and input-cap (2uf/0.1uF) switches for the boost circuit.







Daphne blue is such an odd colour. It seems to change a lot depending on the light. It almost looks surf green in artificial light, bright saturated blue on photos and a soft blue with a hint of green in daylight. I wasn't sure how it would look with the maple neck and black block inlays but I think it turned out great.

[davent]

That did turn out great! So retro-futuristic, straight out of The Jetsons if you're familiar with old North American Saturday morning TV cartoons.

Beautiful results!
dave

[Liquitone]

Thanks! Yeah , The Jetsons was broadcasted here in the Netherlands too. Perhaps that's where my love for retro futuristic design comes from. My inspiration where mainly the guitar version of the Jaguar and a daphne blue /maple neck 50's stratocaster. It's odd the Jaguar Bass didn't exist till 2007, as the design makes perfect sense when you see it.

[bluebunny]

Wow!    I was hooked on the first picture (always liked the look of the Jag basses).  But I wasn't prepared for the reveal!  Stunning work and beautiful bass.

         

[italianguy63]

Wow!    I was hooked on the first picture (always liked the look of the Jag basses).  But I wasn't prepared for the reveal!  Stunning work and beautiful bass.

         

I love Kay's work!!  +100

MC

[Liquitone]

Thanks guys! Yeah I have a thing for Jags too. Never thought my first Fender Jag would be a bass instead of a guitar, but running into the thing on sale for 180 euro's I just couldn't walk out of the pawnshop without it.
Now I'm spending my days lurking on offsetguitars.com and really craving for a Jaguar guitar.
The only thing that bugged me while working on the body was the upper horn, which is a bit longer than on the guitar model, probably for balance. But I think it actually disturbs the balance of the design.
I have considered reshaping it, but with the lack of good tools I was afraid of messing it up so left it the way it is.

[peterg]

Kay - looks fantastic to me just the way is. I've never liked Jags until I saw yours. If you're unhappy with it I'm guessing you could find a few takers!

[Perrow]

That bass looks like it would fit on a boat with an old Mercury engine 

[noobamp]

After years of working on this (School really gets in the way of things)  hand carved Maple top/neck, Poplar sides/back, fanned fretboard with inlays...the works.....So  much elbow grease......

[noobamp]

awesome work guys. I love that blue!

[peterg]

Noobamp - that is incredible work!

[noobamp]

thanks a ton man!

[davent]

Noobamp, just saw this, stunning work,  blood sweat and tears! How do you like the fanned fingerboard? Slot it yourself or able to source a preslotted.
dave

[noobamp]

@Davent: thanks for the kind words! 

Its all done by hand.  the slots were done with a thinned out coping saw blade and a Lo-o-o-o-t of care.  the fretboard plays very well, but after 15 years of regular parallel frets, it does make some chords a little odd.  in theory, it should allow for a more ergonomic feel to the fretboard, but muscle memory wins out in the end.  honestly its a very minor change to get used to, but you get the much greater benefits of better string tension feel, more snappy lows and creamy highs.  everybody wins!

[poojalooba_cow]

I upgraded to some name-brand stuff this summer:

http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0B9rgHFTgs6MDdUZ2N1pqa283VEU
(The forum code won't let me resize the image so you get a link for now until I'm off my mobile device and can resize it)

American "Special" strat and a 2015 Les Paul Traditional.

However, in true DIY-er fashion, I immediately voided the warranty on the Les Paul the day after I purchased it by taking the entire thing apart and then wiring it for output loading rather than coil loading tone controls. The strat is a partscaster that I assembled - American Special neck, Highway One nitro body, and Texas Special pickups that I've wired to include the bridge pickup with the second tone control. Because of the nitro body on the strat, I've been beating it up and throwing it around during band practice to "encourage" faster relicing. I won't take any sandpaper to it or anything to make it a fake relic job, but I'll abuse and mistreat it until it's in the condition I want it.

[Digger1770]

Just picked up this Bookmatched Blackwood to take for a freind.

Air dried it should come up great!