40. Alder/Box Elder P-bass (Nov 2011-?)
I had a purchased a few boards of box elder and I started bookmatching the thinnest board. I thought the board made more than just two bookmatches, but I can't seem to find any third set. Hmm...this is what happens when you have 20 projects unfinished.
At any rate, this was one of the bookmatches. I topped a piece of alder and cut and shaped the P-bass to near completion. During the process, the alder kept flaking off in weird spots. as I was beginning the round over process more of the alder flaked off on the backside causing there a need to sand it down to overcome the missing wood. Each time alder flaked off and finally I had had enough. I then took the whole body to the drum sander and grinded off $20 in alder so that all that remained was the box elder.
Currently I have recreated the alder P-bass and I'll be re-gluing it and continuing where I left off.
Project still in the works in 2012.
39. Mahogany/Box Elder Thinline Telecaster (Nov 2011-Jan 2012)
From the same board as the Pbass this bookmatch came out of it. I was in the position that my bodies were getting recognized on ebay and I purposely wanted to build a made-to-sell body. I thought this piece would give a very unique instrument. I topped a piece of mahogany with the box elder but chambered it as a thinline. It was a near awesome build as the only two issues were that I precut the wiring channels and when cutting the bridge pickup rout the part of the box elder that is usually glued, but now floating over a channel had a slight tear out. Then when I drilled the wiring channels to the control cavity I knicked the inside of the control cavity.
Sold to Paul Cannon in Collierville, Tennessee in Jan 2012.
38. Jon Cook Thinline Jazzmaster (Nov 2011-Jan 2012)
Jon came back with a request to build him a thinline'd Jazzmaster. He enticed me with homebrewed beers. How could I say no? He sent me a board of kelobra, a very soft wood (like redwood and pine), to book match the tops. I supplied the African mahogany.
This was a challenge as I had to make my own thinline template for the chambering, as well as build it with a 24.75" set-neck. Yep, that neck is glued in, not bolted. The control plate and toggle switch cover were hand made out of the kelobra top.
All in all it came out well and the Les Paul style neck looked awesome! Although if I would build it again, I would put a brighter veneer between the kelobra and mahogany (like maple or purpleheart) for seaparation of color (purely aesthetics reasoning).
37. 1 piece Northern Ash Tennessee Strat (Sep-Oct 2011)
I found a 14" wide piece of ash in town. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to build a one-piece body. The board yielded 3 bodies worth. This is the second build.
On a whim I decided I wanted to experiment with cross-breeding (per se) body and routing types. I had purchased a large amount of Fender parts from an Ebay store called "The Strat-osphere" and one of the avatars they had on their site was a Strat body with Tele controls and a custom pickguard. To me the pickguard was the limiting factor as getting a custom one would be pricey. So I decided that instead of the 1/2" round normally on a Strat, I'd build it with the 1/8" roundover of a Tele, but still retaining the belly cut and forearm relief. This way an actual Tele pickguard could be used.
The guitar was built up, and played. Sounded great, but weighed a ton (stupid northern ash...why don't they carry swamp ash in town?!). Body sold to Todd Jarrett in Williamsville, New York in Oct 2011.
36. 1 piece Northern Ash Telecaster (Aug 2011)
I found a 14" wide piece of ash in town. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to build a one-piece body. The board yielded 3 bodies worth. This is the first build.
I built it up regular Tele style. Felt like a ton of bricks. It had a few crack in it, but I filled it with epoxy. Sold to Chase Nash in Tooele, Utah in Sep 2011.
35. Honduran Mahogany Les Paul Junior Clone (Jul 2011-?)
This was a build I started once I bought the Les Paul templates. I found a large enough blank of "Genuine" mahogany that yielded a full two-piece body and two necks. The idea was that this guitar would be built of the same tree, and the same board.
Currently it sits awaiting my learning of neck building so that I can do a set neck with it..
Project still in the works in 2012.
Honduras mahogany body on top, African mahogany body (for Rene's LPJR) on bottom. Not final shaped.
34. Rene's Burl Maple/African Mahogany Les Paul Junior Clone (Jul 2011-?)
This was a build I started once I bought the Les Paul templates.My brother-in-law wanted another guitar after the successful build of his Zebracaster (#13). He liked the pairing of the mahogany with a brighter wood, but he wanted something of interest, like the stripes of the Zebrawood. We decided on a figured maple top but instead of flames or quilts he wanted to try burl maple.
Currently it sits awaiting my learning of neck building so that I can do a set neck with it..
Project still in the works in 2012.
Shown with my Gibson Les Paul Studio for referencing bridge distance.
33. Alder Jazzmaster (Jul 2011)
This build turned out great. But unfortunately my hatred for 60-cycle hum (especially living in an old house where grounding was optional) was the straw that had this camel selling the body right after the build. I built it to replace a Fender parts-Jazzmaster I had just bought all the parts for. I started this hoping to have a back up to the finished Fender. But once the pickups were in, I couldn't stand the buzz. I needed a guitar that could handle clean and dirty. The Duncan single coil jazzmaster pickups were only acceptable for cleans, and I didn't have the money at the time to invest into custom made hum-cancelling versions. Because the jazzmaster pickups routes/pickguard combo weren't useable for any other type of pickup combo, I decided to sell it as is rather than cut P90 or humbucker routes into it..
Sold to Hank Hughen in Atlanta, Georgia in Feb 2012.
32. Relic Black Alder Strat (Jul 2011-?)
Basic Alder Strat. It was supposed to be a 70's clone of U2's the Edge's strat, but somewhere along the line I decided to relic it. And I relic'd it way too much apparently. In the works to rebuild this one, but so far my alder is coming up with internal cracks and I haven't found lumber around town that doesn't have it.
For now it's still in the collection but I'm still leaning on building a black on black with maple neck/fingerboard with the 3 bolt neck plate (this one has the standard 4 bolt). If that is the case, I won't need the relic in black. So now I'm considering getting a heat gun and heating off the finish, filling the bumps and bruises and re-relicing it to a "light" relic.
Currently has a Fender rosewood/maple MIM neck that was relic'd and Seymour Duncan Hum Classic Stack plus hum-cancelling single coils, with Fender Roadworn hardware.
31. Limba Telecaster #4 (Jul 2011-?)
So this was my final attempt to rebuild the Black Korina tele I had with #5, and #9/10. I finally found a grain pattern that was not over the top, and not plain. It's still not perfect. I think the strat neck and humbucker ring hosed the pickguard (in fact its cut at a weird angle). I'm also considering making it a string thru. The strings have a over loop end for the ball, and that part rides up on the saddle, which isn't good for intonation.
Currently its had it's bridge pickup rotated out from a Duncan JB to a Pearly gates, but so far the white 59 neck pickup has been set (though maybe not the color). It's wired 3 way with two push pull pots-- one for each pickup. The neck is currently a Mighty Might Strat V neck (headstock reshaped to a Tele shape).
I think this has a good grasp as being a "permanent" in the collection. Korina grain patterns are probably the most unique I've found out of the core lumber I use, so I'm hesitant to sell any of the Korina builds I own as each board has been completely unique from tans, dark browns, to purples, to oranges.
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