Readers' Instruments

[Jurek]

Out of interest, how durable is the paint finish / what type of paint do you use?

It's nitrocellulose - just like what it should be! It will go darker and start to wear off with age. It will take a long while until it looks all old and beaten up like any self respecting rock star's guitar should though!

Modern polyurethane paints are more hard wearing, but they do tend to chip, look a bit plasticky and generally aren't as cool. More expensive modern guitars tend to have a nitro finish for a more authentic vintage look.

I have just learned that the “Fender Custom Shop” makes a deliberately fucked-up Strat inna-Rory-Gallagher-stylee

Yeah, relic guitars are very popular these days. I can't stand it myself. If you want a road worn guitar, go ang gig it for 20 odd years!

I can relate to that.
Interesting about nitrocell paint - I'd not come across that before.

[bobb]

Fun fact - it's illegal to spray nitro in California, so Fender have to ship their custom shop guitars out of state for painting before bringing them back in to finish them off!

[Jurek]

Fun fact - it's illegal to spray nitro in California, so Fender have to ship their custom shop guitars out of state for painting before bringing them back in to finish them off!

I'm guessing that spraying nitro is up in the realms of spraying 2-pac.

[Hot Flatus]

2-pac dead, man.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Just went through the series on your website. Fascinating to see what is involved and the amount of work (and skill) entailed.

Really superb bobb 

[PaulF]

Very nice!    Also would have looked stunning natural wood (mahogany?)

I follow a guy on FB called Everson who makes basses when he feels like it. Played one about 6 years ago and it was stunning.

Quite partial to mahogany guitars myself. My “charity shop find”

[bobb]

Nice! That a Martin?

I have a couple of boards of genuine 5' x 2' x 3/4" Honduran Mahogany (it belonged to a friend of mine's dad). Of course you can't buy the stuff these days, so you gotta find it from other sources - knackered old furniture is a good start - especially when peope just think it's old shit and throw it in a skip without realising the value of the wood it's made from! This is what happened with what I've got.

I wasn't entirely sure what it was, so I took it to my tame timber merchant. He cut a slither off and with some inspection of grain and a sniff for good measure confrmed it was indeed the "real deal" as he put it.

There's enough to make the back and sides for at least two acoustics - possibly more if I can resaw it (or get somebody with a very expensive bandsaw to do it for me!) It should be ideal. It's perfectly quatersawn and completely flat. My mate says his dad also has a massive old Mahogany desk - the chunky legs of which will be perfect for neck blanks. The desk used to be in the office of some shipping magnate apparantly!

I'm going to build an acoustic using less exotic materials first to hone my skills, before using this stuff. Building acoustics is next level, so it's time I stepped up!

[PaulF]

Nice! That a Martin?

Yes, a 00015-M. Was in my local Oxfam along with another Martin, a Gibson and a Yamaha. Mahogany is a great wood for a guitar, nice mellow tone to it. Good luck with the luthery; be interested to see the results.

[rogerzilla]

Impressive, bobb. I built my own Tele in 2008 but it was basically an assembly job with no woodwork, using a Warmoth body and neck.  It was a way to get something with the exact parts and look I wanted.  The only "clever" bit I did myself was the 50s style Tele waterslide decal on the headstock, which needed applying and lacquering very, very carefully.  I'm still amazed I didn't mess it up.

I didn't enjoy the wiring.  A 40W iron isn't really powerful enough for the pots, which suck heat away.

[hubner]

That's a lot of work, more than on a non through neck guitar.

Does it really say "Gibson" on the headstock?

[bobb]

Does it really say "Gibson" on the headstock?

Yes, it does. I built it for a friend and it's what he wanted!

[rogerzilla]

I think a large percentage of custom guitars are mislabelled.  It's only a problem if you come to sell it.

I saw an Epiphone '61 reissue SG years ago that had a Gibson headstock grafted onto it.  This was presumably not a cheap job, but still a lot cheaper than a Gibson SG.  A few Epiphone editions are as good as Gibsons.

[bobb]

I wouldn't have done it if it was for myself. The others I've built I've just left blank. When I'm finally happy with a design for a logo (using my initials or something) I'll go back and inlay them.

[rogerzilla]

Cool Hair Guitars?

[Mr Larrington]

Bobbson?

[nicknack]

Pink Hat Guitars?