This is my third guitar, the Orange guitar.  Since I have not yet started the dye process, it is not orange, so don't worry about that.  I am starting this guitar at zero, where I normally start.  I purchase my body's shaped and drilled and routed, but un-finished.  So this photo-log will start with the body as it came from the shop.  The neck is largely done.  All I need to do to is add the nut and the tuners, then attach it.

The details on this guitar are:

A tip: Schatten Designs makes a template that you can use to mark your nut, rather than trying to do all the math yourself.   Makes the nut job much easier.

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Taking these raw, naked, body pictures was tough.  Most of them have a muave bloom over them.   They are still not as good as the photo's Warmoth takes, but a zillion times better than my first efforts.

So, the body......

  This is the way the body came from Musikraft.  The f-hole is there, and the jack hole is there.  Nothing else.  I did not take any pictures of the Blue guitar before staining, and I wish I had.  Both are quilted Maple, and they are still very different.  This will show up after the staining.  The Orange guitar is more subtle in its grain, the Blue more bold.

   I have taped the body and located the controls before drilling.  I use a standard Tele mounting plate for sizes and distances. In this case, I have reversed the controls and put the switch towards the heel of the guitar.

After drilling.  To make sure that I get the right sized hole, I wrote the drill size on the tape.  Very anal, but reduces the chaces of a FUBAR.  And at the price of these bodies, a FUBAR is a big deal.  For the switch, what I did was I drilled a hole at both ends of the slot, and then used a Dremel tool with a cutting blade to finish the cut.  To smooth it out, I will use a finger nail file.

After the tape was removed.  The biggie here is that there was no tape residue.   Given that I stole this tape from work, I am not sure of the model number.   But it is from 3M.  You can buy this tape at pretty much any hardware store like Home Depot, Lowes, etc.  It is painting tape. I suspect that the adhesive on this tape is a derivitive of the adhesive used for PostIt Notes.

I decided to save the tape and I stuck it to the side of my tool box.  No real reason, other than "because".

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I have recently run into the Fishman pickups, and this guitar is going to get a Fishman Pizeo Tele bridge PUP as well as the standard Tele PUPs.  I thought that this mad sense since the guitar is a Thinline with f-hole.  Yee-hah.

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21 Jan, 03

I started to dye the top of the Orange guitar.  In the pictures, the guitar looks orange, but in real life it is more pinkish.    I am not sure what it will look like when it is all done.  The dye is still a bit damp, which is why it looks uneven.  I apply several coats of water based dye, and sand in-between coats.   The water based dye pops the grain a bit and you have to bring it down even.   I even mixed my own "vintage" color dye for the backs and sides.  I will post photos when I can.  I mix and store my dyes in baby food jars.  Since the baby no longer eats baby food, I have to find an alternate source for jars.  And the latex gloves keep my hands clean.

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3 Feb, 03

I did my dyes and then scraped the binding today.  Scraping is a bit nerve racking.  You are taking a razor blade to your creation, and trying to scraped off some dye, while NOT cutting up the nice soft plastic binding.  Harder than it sounds, but I did it with no major FUBARs.

And I figured that since it was scraped, I would start the Nitro spraying process.   I started it even though I am still waiting on the Fishman power bridge and a modified pickguard/neck PUP holder.  I will drill the required holes later.   Probably not the smartest approach, but I want it done so that I can start on the other guitars.  2 small runs, and a couple of small bubbles.  Nothing that would show in a photo, but you can see it with the naked eye.  So I will let it all dry and then sand it out with some 400 grit sandpaper.  But that first layer of nitro really helps with the look: color, depth of quilting, everything.

There is a moral here: I charge ahead when I should be procrastinating, and I procastinate when I should be charging ahead.

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5 Feb, 03

I did the first sanding today.  Had to get the run out, which I pretty much did.   Even though I can't feel it, I can see it.  I used 400 grit and a sanding block on the flat surfaces, and my finger for the sides of the guitar.  Wiped it off and applied some more dye to the back and sides.  Seemed to need it.  Then another light coat of Nitro.  It has to sit 24 hours before I can apply grain filler, which is next Tuesday by my schedule.  So next Wed I should be able to start applying the final heavy coat of Nitro.

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11 Feb, 03

I got the Fishman bridge today, the AST version.  There are two versions, and it may have contributed to a big challenge.

First, the saddles on the bridge are part of the Piezo PUP, so you can not man handle the thing.  And of course the wires are fragile.  I was warned before I took it home, and I am glad, or I would have FUBAR'd it for sure. 

So the first thing that you have to do is drill some new bridge mounting holes, as the stock ones won't work.  So I put the bridge PUP in the bridge, and ran the wires through the hole to the control cavity. Then I put down some non-stick/no-residue tape to protect the guitar top to mark where the holes go.  Then I was going to use some tooth picks through the string holes to finish the alignment process.  But Nooooooo.   The Fishman AST bridge string holes are about 1/4" closer to the PUP than the holes in my guitar. This also means that I have to fill the holes already existing for the string ferrules.  Then dye the filler.  Not onerous, just a pain in the rump. So..... I used a small t-square to line up the bridge square to the neck pocket.  And it calls for a 7/65" hole.  And I have 5/64" and 9/64" bits. Naturally.  So now I have a shopping list for Home Depot tonight.

Fortunately, Fishman includes a hard paper template to use as a drill guide.  So I will drill the bridge mounting holes, then screw the template to the body, and drill the string holes that way.  It may end up wrong, but it will be consistently wrong.

And it will be another week before I can apply the final coat of Nitro.  Argh!  

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12 Feb, 03

  This is what a guitar looks like with wood putty in the string holes.  More Argh!

PS: It is raining today so I could not spray if I wanted to.  Oh well.

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19 Feb 03

Still more rain in the early part of the day.  It has not rained in a week.   Now today again.

So I drilled another hole for the Fishman PowerChip switch.  A little too close the edge of the cavity, but it works.

  You can see where the new hole is.  I wanted it out of the way, which it is.

  Close up of same.  Also, you can see the two rows of string holes.  The forward ones I drilled today.  Took a while to find 1/8" bit that was long enough to get through the body.  Home Depot does not carry such a thing.   Fortunately, there is a specialty wood working store near me, and they had the bit I needed.

  The control cavity from the back.  Sorry for the focus problem.  For some reason, the camera does not like the back of this guitar.  You can't really tell, but the back of the cavity is much smoother than the Blue Guitar.  The reason is that I purchased a real router, and did it properly.  Makes a big difference.

  A close up of the new string holes, and the filled in old ones.  Fishman makes a sticker that I might put there to cover them.

In addition to drilling the new holes for the strings, I also had to drill new holes to mount the bridge to, which I expected.  I failed to take a picture, but what I did was to insert the PUP in the bridge, then I located bridge and then marked & drilled those holes.  Then to mark & drill the string holes, I took the template that Fishman provides, and I used four small screws, smaller than the holes I drilled, and I mounted the template where the bridge would go.  Best way that I could think of to do this.

I did manage to spray a coat of Nitro in the afternoon.  I will drill the string ferrule holes after the body is sprayed.  I think.

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24 Mar 03

Due to the weather in the SF Bay Area, it was a while before I could spray Nitro.   Every day off was a rain day.  Then about 2 weeks ago, it cleared up and the weather was nice.  So I sprayed the Orange Guitar, did the finish, and put on the electronics.  These pictures are the proof.

I have the bridge on, and the neck PUP.  I used my little mounting doohickey again.   Can't stand pickguards on such nice wood.  I don't know what those dots are inside the f-hole.  And the wire off to the right is the wire from the Fishman piezo PUP.

  Side view of the same guitar.

  Close up of the switch.  I managed to rout the slot for the switch a little off center.  *&6 and ^&$^&% and other bad words.  In the future I will build a standard routed guitar.

  The back of the guitar.  BTW: The dye on the back is one that I mixed myself.   Got it right the first time out, IMHO.  You can see where I had to drill new string holes.  Yes, they are off center a bit.  But it is manageable.  I have enough Nitro on this to keep the wood putty in place.  I hope.

  Close up of the control area.  There are only two loose wires in here: One is the Fishman wire, the other is the hot for the jack, which will go to the Fishman switch that I have not yet installed.  You can see where I ran the router up to the edge of the control pocket.  What you can't see is that I also took out just a sliver of the body as well.  Not much, you have to know where it is.

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4 Mar, 2003

It's done!!!  And it is fun, and the tone is excellent.  Pretty much what I have been looking for a long time.   And sustain up the yingyang.  The weight of this thing is almost zero.  The body less the neck weighs less than the PUPs (Fralin). BTW: I got smart.  Rather than fat-finger the solder job on the Fishman stuff, I had my Luthier do it for me.  He did it right, where as I probably would have messed it up something fierce.  Also, he had to shim the neck to get the proper amount of pressure on the Fishman bridge, so that the peizo PUPs would work.

One little funny thing on the tuners.  My first experience with non-locking tuners.  I had no idea how to get the strings in.  Once Keith showed me how, it was "D'oh" time.

    As I play it.  Lots of fun.

  Close up photo.  Again, no pickguard, just the mount that I made for the neck PUP.

  Close up of the head stock.  The neck is birdseye maple with a birdseye maple fretboard.  Clear satin finish, no tint.

  Close up of the controls.  I went to get some colored knobs, but they weren't the right color.  Blood red, and this guitar is actually a Salmon Pink color, rather than Orange.  Works for me.

Please  Email Me  if you have any questions or comments