Friday Lunch Report Aug 9,

Good Morning ; good evening, and everything in between to you all.

Some music maybe?
"Rainwater blowin' all under my hood ...but I knew that was doin' my motor good ,"
...one of my most favorite lines. Got any that stick with you ?

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I mentioned to Darwin I'd elaborate on some pics of guitars in the works.

I bought a few slabs of white/black streaked limba a while back . They were 2" thick and pretty
heavy at full thickness. I'm leaving one as a full slab that will have some artful sculpting to reduce the weight
some. The other two I divided ; one just about in half (1" thick each), the other I shaved a top of of it (5/8" or so)
leaving a nice slim 1 3/8" slab for the L-1000 parts and old L-2000 neck .

Here's a body with one of the 1" halves glued up with some Honduran Mahogany I 'milled' from a 60's pool table
that was in pieces at a previous residence. I left the three slate slabs (would be good for sound isolation now that I think about it ), each slab must have weighed 400 lbs+ . I split one of the( I have lots!) thick toneful Mahogany boards and glued
them together bookmatch style to get the 15" width needed. So that's what's on the back .

Here's the front -


don't worry...nothings resting on the ASAT...just the camera angle




Here's a nice shot showing the two woods , Korina on the top /old Mahogany on the bottom -




I love how the grain seems to magically fit with the lower horn -





This one is assymetrical in a few ways. Let's say I didn't have a wide throat bandsaw and just had a sawzall with a long blade, a couple handsaws and a funky jig to keep the blades straight (they like to wander in these situations). The top is not an even
thickness as a result , I made it work , looking forward to feel how it vibrates with some heavy bottom strings.
It'll probably be a hardtail.

Can you see what I mean?



...and a couple shots showing the sculpting -





the upper horn grain -



This is a piece of one of the 'hog boards , split , and in the raw -



and with maybe the 5/8" korina top ?





In an ASAT form ( I'd need to put an accent stripe in the middle to make up that overhang) ?




I promised Ken some shots of the PRS neck and it's body .The neck is probably late 80's , I bought it NOS .
The body is Macascar ebony on the top , vacuum pressed to a korina base .
It's being refinished and done a bit more right this time around . I gigged it heavily years ago and it was built when I had
a couple chisels , no dollars , and alot of determination . Plays and sounds great , boy that control cavity is rough...LOL

I had a piezo under the fender style bridge (what was I thinking ) . Might be a good place to put a saddlelock bridge boss
(I called it a boot the other day, I was close...sorta). The guts were/are Alembic P-bass style.









The neck slips in and is tight ...angles back from the body ever so slightly .





I have more black walnut veneer , I can make this pretty . It was done ( and again ...gigged heavily) in a time of no workshop or tools .I have a nice truss rod cover for it.



Here's some art shots of the inlays , the last one I reduced the brightness to bring out the colors in the inlay.







getting close to a final wet/sand buff where it really counts .Or maybe as louis suggested , buy a spray can of casey tru-oil for the final coat.



I know there's a vid of us playing a dive , not the greatest band, but not the worst . I used this bass then, I'll see what I can find.

I'll report back with what I see in my lunchtime future , it's a little early for that still .

I'm thinking of using pool ball looking inlays for fret markers for the guitars with the billiards table wood.
Interesting that all that beautiful mahogany was sheathed in plastic fake woodgrain .


I've been watching a 12 string aria pro on ebay...can't really afford it , so I'm destined to make my own .
Found this in a google search , it makes me feel a little less sheepish for my guerilla guitar work.


pretty rough, even before the decades of (ab)use .
http://vintageprsguitars.com/1970s-prs- ... ring-2955/



I better submit before a solar flare hits. I think I need to play for a while, it usually makes the sun rise quicker .

What do you do to get your Zen on ?
Does playing guitar /bass get you there most the time ?
If not...can we help ??


These guys had some serious tools at hand ( and probably some cool hotrods in the garage !! ...1959 ?!! )
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all my best,
elwood

Turned the computer on and WOW! This is a report!!!! First of all, super great projects. I viewed the factory video and these people were craftsman. It was all done freehand. Probably like you are doing on your projects Elwood. You have some cool projects going and I really like the wood laminated to the mahogany. The PRS neck is especially cool and a perfect birds inlay arrangement. Keep us posted on your projects. I am waiting on paint from my paint man.

Chuck Berry was one of my favorites in the old days. I grew up on Chuck. We still do a lot of Chuck songs. Steve smokes on Johnny B Goode. I get songs that stick in my mind for days. Today it is "Invitation To The Blues" recently redone by Emmy Lou and Rodney Crowell. Our band will be doing it and our vocalists will do 3 part harmony and it will be tasty. The songs will stick in my head for days.

I already had my high for the morning. I sat on the couch, played a bunch of tunes on my Hamer Newport. It is a smokin' guitar unplugged and just sings. One of my go to's in the morning is my Classic S. It is a treat to pick a guitar in the morning depending on the mood. I am really pumped today. The van is loaded for a gig tonight. I really look forward to these. I am a lucky man to be doing this and this band is a treat to be in. We will start recording in a month or two. Keep those projects rolling Elwood. It is what keeps us young! I feel about 20 this morning . Did I say Great Lunch Report or what?????-- Darwin

Good very early morning to you Elwood. You are one handy guy, those guitars look great. I have two Korina guitars, one with a maple top, and it makes great sounding instruments, I'm sure that one will be no exception.

I just got back in from a fantastic gig and need to wind down a bit. I usually go for a bit of light, soppy, sing-along adult-contemporary music to help. The lyrics in this one are wonderful - overly sentimental, sappy, and simple. One of my favourite songs. The handsome bugger can SING like a mofo too.
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Beautiful ASAT. Would an SC shape fit in between the edges of that plank?

In an ASAT form ( I'd need to put an accent stripe in the middle to make up that overhang) ?

Dang , you ain't afraid of nothin !! ... sweet projects !! ..... somehow Chuck MIA'd on me ... edit >> it must be on my end because Chuck's back on line now

Chuck Berry was the greatest "rock and roll poet". Nobody before or after wrote lyrics like him.
His song Nadine is full of great lines--

I was pushin' through the crowd tryna get to where she's at
And I was campaign shouting like a southern diplomat.


She moved around like a wayward summer breeze
Go, driver, go, go on, catch her for me please
Moving through the traffic like a mounted cavalier
Leaning out the taxi window trying to make her hear

Great looking projects you've got going there. I always enjoy seeing the handyworks of some of the talented folks on this board.

Nice videos. They really were doing it by hand back in the day. And Fred Fullerton working the saw.
Its been too long since I listened to any Chuck. So you inspired me to spin a bunch of his tunes at work today.

Jeff

I've got to tell you that I often wonder about why guitar players build guitars, especially bolt-ons when they could just go buy one, but projects like yours show me. Great work.

Would an SC shape fit in between the edges of that plank?

We should see, I don't have an SC (there's one in ocean beach CA I need to reclaim ) here . but I could probably find the specs or have one of you help me with a template.

I just got back in from a fantastic gig and need to wind down a bit.

Sweet, It's been almost a year since I've played out, No wonder I've been listening to lot's of (old)Metallica and (older)Rush ( winding myself up !) .

Dang , you ain't afraid of nothin !!

Nice of you to say , I'll try to keep it up as long as it doesn't affect playing time too much.

Chuck Berry was the greatest "rock and roll poet". Nobody before or after wrote lyrics like him.
His song Nadine is full of great lines--

Thanks for those lyrics, I had forgotten how much time I spent listening to Chuck on road trips ,what a guy!
It worked as well as Deep Purple to keep this highway star movin' and groovin' . oh yeah, the Who worked pretty good too.

So you inspired me to spin a bunch of his tunes at work today.

Cool...I made a difference . I need to listen to him more also.

I've got to tell you that I often wonder about why guitar players build guitars, especially bolt-ons when they could just go buy one, but projects like yours show me. Great work.

I think that's up there in the greatest compliments ever . Thanks lesdavez ...I'll remember that

I might add some more project pics while I have a chance,
thanks for the good stuff everybody!!

elwood

RESPECT

RESPECT

right back atcha , THANKS !