I’ve been twiddling with guitar since i was about 14. I taught myself basic stuff, and learned a bit from tabs. I never really got serious about learning or even took lessons – it was always just a hobby/therapeutic thing for me to do… just twiddle away for a bit, not really caring to write anything down or try to remember what i played. But for some reason, I decided I really wanted to learn about this thing, the guitar. I started writing some songs last year, I started remembering what I had played and tried to “work on it”, but for some reason my acoustic wasn’t doing it for me. I went around looking for electric guitars – craigslist, mom and pop music shops, even the dreaded guitar center… nothing – either it was a busted piece of wood wrapped in strings (which I could afford), or it was some shimmering golden axe, carved from the femur of Thor himself (even if i sold all my paintings for ridiculous prices – never could i afford one of these). I was really getting into it – I was learning about the different woods, different finishes, different brands, different setups (physical and electronic)… and then i realized with all of this knowledge – why don’t I just make a guitar, i’ve got a great woodshop at my job – why the not try?
Well that was in February… or around then – and this is what came of that.
The guitar isn’t complete just yet. I’ve only put it together, and strung it up so that I can check the string action and make sure I know how to assemble everything. I still need to put on a few layers of sealant and protective finish and I also need to do the electronics. As you can see if you click on the image to the right, there is a bit of inlay – I was able to do that with the laser printer at my job. We etched out the shape of the falcon – and then cut the exact shape out of a piece of thin pine – I then shoved those into the freshly cut cavity with some glue and some clamps and blam – I had made a beautiful guitar body.
The body is made out of plywood – one layer of 3/4, one layer of 3/16 luan, and one more layer of 3/4 pine plywood – the neck is made by the company warmoth, its maple with Brazilian rosewood – the pickup is a seymour duncan APH-1 (or something like that) – most of the hardware is gotoh, I know its cheap, but hey, atleast i’ve got an electric guitar now – and the strings are DR.
I really do love this guitar – and not just because… I made it. But, because of the materials its made out of – good ole plywood (a working man’s wood), maple (a wood that makes pancakes awesome), wood glue (’nuff said). I’m interested to hear what the tone is like – I’m curious what the “working man’s” tone is – what is the tone of the cheap and sincere – what is the tone of the middle and lower classes? We’ll see and hear, eh?
I update this post once I’ve completed the guitar – I’ll even try to record some music so you can hear this sweet axe.
oh yeah – i forgot. there is something special on the back. the electronics cover is made of black plexiglas, and it has bubinga inlay of the falcon.
