Project 1979 S-500

Dave McLaren introduces his Project 1979 S-500 and takes us on a magical history tour.
George Fullerton and Leo Fender fans: don’t miss this!
Check it out on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/DczYP5iD04M

Here is the Video:

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Revisiting some previous posts of Dave's on the project:

02/12/2020-I'm having my own custom S-500 built with CLFR styling elements from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Right now I’m geeking out on the logo art mockup and I can already tell I’m gonna love this.

02/19/2020-My custom S-500 logo art is coming along. Next I’ll get this trimmed and stuck on a headstock face, do a quick build to see exactly where strings are relative to the logo and generally how it looks. Really trying to capture a fun feeling like we built it in the late ‘70s and it’s kinda flexing cause it knows it kicks ass. : )

02/26/2020-My pet project has a name: #project1979S500 because I’m going for a retro CLFR vibe. On my development mule it looks like the headstock artwork lines up nicely and the aluminum pickguard fits well. I’m also thinking about using the bass dots like the early G&L and Music Man guitars made here.

02/26/2020-eo’s Lounge is being used for something so I have to settle for Leo’s Lab to test #project1979S500. The struggle is not real. ; )

04/02/2020-Original 1982 S-500 with #project1979s500

I’m making a little adjustment to the aluminum pickguard for #project1979s500

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went to look for a piece of okoume to build a body for #project1979s500 and
literally the first piece I picked up I fell in love with. Got that old school looking hog grain
with a little extra flair. Not sure what color yet but it has to be transparent and project
massive period CLFR vibes. Could be the mocha/whiskey look, maybe old school tobacco,
dunno yet. My test mule body in Honeyburst on swamp ash is extremely ‘90s G&L and
though it’s cool, it’s totally killing the 1979 vibes

Who wants to see some okoume wood chips fly? Getting started in the Woodshop with Armando on a body for #project1979s500

Gonna start on the front of the body with a route for the Dual Fulcrum vibrato #project1979s500

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Rough cut to take out some material for the rear contour. Yeah, I can still do the old bandsaw thing but meh,
this is safer and fun for me to watch rather sketch a little. #project1979s500

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Now let’s route the back side of the Dual Fulcrum vibrato pocket #project1979s500

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Let’s drive around the outskirts of town, see what this place really looks like #project1979s500

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Now I’m gonna finish cut the Dual Fulcrum vibrato pocket. #project1979s500

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Gimme some neck screw holes! The in/out motion is called “pecking” like what a bird does.
It helps to clear out the hole, lowers the temperature of the cutter and workpiece, and probably
seems stupid and unnecessary...you unless you drill a lot of stuff #project1979s500

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et’s rough cut the body edge with a 1/2” radius cutter. Don’t need to be fancy here,
because hand work in the sanding department is where the mojo has always been here at CLFR

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...and we’re about done milling the back side

Me: relax as we begin to work on your arm...contour. Body: but I don’t feel anything yet.
Me: that’ll keep you going for the show, come on it’s time to go

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Gotta dig deep

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Got the neck pocket and pickup pocket going

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Let’s put the controls here and the jack there

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...go around the outside

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The massive brass bushings of the Dual Fulcrum vibrato will be pressed into
these two big holes. Makes other people’s copies of Leo’s DF vibrato look like toys

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Now hit it with that 1/2” radius cutter!

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Han Solo: “I can’t see. Where am I?” You’ve been frozen in this okoume dude

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Han 1: what the
Han 2: argh!!!!
Han 3: im outta here
Han 4: ffs just lemme chill here in the sun for a while I’ll be good ...

Armando with the touch

1: a little radius cleanup on the table router

2: drilling pilot holes for the spring claw

3: drilling hole for ground lead to spring claw

4: drilling hole for leads to jack

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Pressing in those big brass bushings for the Dual Fulcrum vibrato.

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When I couldn’t find #project1979s500 in the Woodshop I went looking in the paint shop, checking a bunch of these until I found the one with grain that matched. I’m frickin Sherlock Holmes over here. But how did the thief manage to steal the body? Well, I left it there. You simply left it “there” unsecured with no marking or identification of any kind? Uh, nope. Then you see, good sir, that the real culprit in this mystery is, indeed, your own stupidity. Oh....

Well, I screwed up. I left the body for #project1979s500 in the Woodshop with no note or anything and now it is becoming a 40th Anniversary Collection S-500 with the Clear Ruby Red finish. Looks killer, but not what I want so....yeah....I’ll buzz out another body then we’ll pick up with videos or whatever in the sanding department

#project1979s500 update: thought I filmed a killer clip of Eduardo using the pneumatic spindle sander. Nope. I spent the whole time *not* recording, then realized I f’d up when I hit the stop button and it started recording

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So what if I screwed up taking that video of Eduardo rocking the pneumatic spindle sander. This time I’m making two bodies so here’s Eduardo hitting the second body for #project1979s500

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Eduardo is a sculptor who works primarily with with tone woods, employing a time honored Leo Fender technique pioneered during the mid 20th century in Fullerton, California. In this example, his creative tool is a 3M orbital palm sander

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Who thinks he could do this blindfolded? Just kidding! Bet he could though, it’s all about the feelz

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“Try the Swizzle Stick, the same tool the professionals use to sand those hard-to-reach areas!” Actually it’s just a piece of dowel wood with sandpaper wrapped around it. This is pretty much the same as in the ‘50s, but we just apply more time and talent so our contours and stuff are cleaner and more detailed than the early days. It’s been that way here since 1976 and CLFR is basically Leo Fender, Act II

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Craftsmanship: Eduardo gets into the fine detail work

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I just explained to Malcolm that I need #project1979s500 to be painted so that it vibes like an aged out natural nitro on mahogany G&L or old Mocha on ash CLFRMM. it’s not about accuracy in finish, it’s about accuracy in vibe. Malcolm: beam me to 1979 brother!

[cue the dad jokes] well I f’d up again tryna use Awesom-O and somehow selected time lapse. Good thing there’s no audio on this clip. I’m making another neck for a second version of my #project1979s500

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Oh yay! More crappy time lapse video. I stood there getting blasted with maplewood chips so we’re all gonna watch the damn video or I swear I’m gonna turn this car around

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Haas VF-4 on blow like sales reps leaving the bathroom at NAMM in the ‘70s and ‘80s

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Who else thinks this would look totally legit on Food Network?

Let’s have another look at all those yummy chips. I could relax in a tub of this stuff like Cartman in KFC gravy #project1979s500

The perimeter cleanup cut in actual video. Sorry about that time lapse screwup yesterday.#project1979s500

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The neck for my second version of #project1979s500 looks more like a neck and less like a block of wood

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This vintage Skyhawk is kinda like my muse for my second version of #project1979s500.
It’s all about that CLFR black crinkle plate against a mahogany body wearing a smokey sunburst.
This is gonna be sweet

Malcolm showing me some transparent brown he blended for #project1979s500 and as he was explaining how the okoume already has a reddish color so he was compensating for that....all I could think is how awesome he is

project1979s500 has that mocha madness vibe I wanted. Malcolm is the man

Hey! I said HEY!!! Yeah, you! I may not look like much now but tomorrow I’m gonna get me some tobacco sunburst action goin on. I’m #project1979s500 version 2.0 and I’m gonna kick ass

#project1979s500 v2 is ready for some color. Magic Malcolm has a plan for my Tobacco Sunburst fantasy and I’m sure whatever he does is gonna be awesome.

Magic Malcolm laying down the first color he blended for this project. The color needs to work with the reddish brown of the okoume to somehow come out like it’s wrapped in some kinda tasty honey glaze.

Magic Malcolm can see finish before it’s even finished. I can’t even see where I left my phone. Seriously, we could totally stop now and it would be ... but nah...Malcolm is on a roll

Magic Malcolm is on fire, he explained the color strategy *just for this layer of the burst* and it took like four sentences. That’s an artist

Magic Malcolm laying down a darker blend to fade out the burst

Magic Malcolm...wow I don’t even know what to say. It’s better than I imagined it could be

#project1979s500 is back on track with a badass CLF Research crinkle powdercoated aluminum S-500 pickguard
modded with George Fullerton’s genius mini-toggle positioning as a secondary control.
This S-500 is here to deliver and it don’t care who’s in the way.

#project1979s500 bringing back the swag of those big ass dots.
Well, actually they were just the standard Leo bass dots.
But on a guitar! Whoa, dude!!!

Due to some issues I am having with the new version of Facebook, I will no longer replicate the facebook posts here,
but instead include a link (which will display in a new tab) for those who wish to continue following this G&L CLF Research
project on facebook named Project1979s500.