Tuesday Lunch Report 5-06

[Elwood]

Howdy folks,

Lunch today is a homemade veggie calzone with Daiya fake cheese,
probably the best of the non dairy cheeses , with a Sanpelligrino sparkling orange
or two.

Crazy weather here in the NW...snow at 3am,now clear skies and sun, I really hope we have a toasty summer this year .

I took a walk around the house this morning and grabbed some random shots of recent and ongoing projects.

Here's an S-500 built from parts; the neck and bridge have gold plated parts and the saddles have set screws to lock the strings tight.
The consensus is that it was a proto set up that was being worked on
in collaboration with the guitarist from QuarterFlash, interesting the same concept ended up being marketed by Phantom guitars IIRC.
The body is from ebay , after taking the many layers of paint off it resonates MUCH better.
Three SC3 pickups and a Skyhawk control plate. She plays like a champ !!






Here's my L-5000 that I'm restringing/cleaning/polishing.
If you haven't tried Frog tape, its good stuff .




It had a rattle tat took me a little while to find, it was the G string tuner where the key meets the post,
a little clear glue took care of it.



I definished my Tom Doyle this winter , man it plays nice, and light...probably around 7 lbs
Maybe this summer I'll think about a burst recipe ,though the natural colors are just fine .





I am looking forward to trying this neck on my fretless L-2000. As a fretless it doesn't get played often enough .






I took a couple shots of my 64 melodymaker that has an 80's HB...this one is a great "Rock Pig"
(even sans vibrato and neck pickup).





Love that wide grain hog slab ( no...not bacon )



Do you have any guitars built from parts that ended up being better than you thought it would be?
...or have ordered a guitar online and have been thrilled once you get a chance to play her ?
I know many of my ebay G&L purchases have made me giddy.


I'll check in as I can during the day,
Play Healthy!!
Elwood

[Kit]

I know you mention you're in the NW. I live in Portland, and your description of the weather sounds exactly like what we had this morning. Are you in Portland?

Kit

[Elwood]

Kit,
I'm just outside Seattle , before it snowed it was a clear starry sky with an almost full moon,
with weird pink overtones ,

[zapcosongs]

Elwood, you are so talented. Great to see you on LR duties. Wish I had more time to participate. Life's more than a little crazy here right now. Thanks so much for sharing your great projects and fine instruments.

Man, that's some nice wood you found under the paint of that S-500 body, no? Wow!

Wish I could hear all of your guitars. Bet you can make them sing, too.

Gotta go pick up a kid from play practice, then off to swim team (after I fix some to-go dinners). I'll try to check back later. And no, I have no project guitars. No talent. No time. Frankly, I'm a bit jealous of you and your ilk ;+) - ed

[Boogie Bill]

Those are some NICE guitars!

My only real project guitar is "Elle", my 50th guitar that I bought at the end of January. Elle is a 2006 Gibson Les Paul Historic '59 Reissue Flametop in Gloss Ice Tea burst. She was seriously abused by a previous owner, who reportedly has a serious drug and ETOH problem--and he tried to "relic" the guitar using 50-grit sandpaper and the point of a hot soldering iron.

I have some pics, but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I have taken Elle to my luthier, and he's going to touch her up a bit. At the very least I should have a decent looking "relic", but at some point we may go for a full restoration from a company like Historic Makeovers in Florida. They specialize in making Historic Les Pauls look, play, feel and sound like the Vintage 1957-1959 LPs. It ain't cheap, believe me, so we'll have to wait a while and save out pennies if we decide to do that. There's been a lot of research and discussion these past six weeks as we try to figure out a course of action. The Historic Makeover appears to give us the best return on our investment, especially since we were able to buy this guitar for cheap--about $3500 LESS than what a used '59 Historic in excellent condition is going for these days.

Other than a couple of simple pickup replacement jobs and a faulty jack, Elle is my only project. Thank God, 'cause my nerves couldn't stand anymore right now!



Bill

[louis cyfer]

i have several projects going on right now. a mahogany strat is getting finished, a tele body is getting finished, doing a neck for both as well, all in true oil. i have to refinish a g&l bluesboy semihollow no f-hole in a solid color and find a neck for it. have all other parts already.

[suave eddie]

And perhaps one of the best values are the Italia straps.

Another vote for Italia--I bought a couple of these last year. They seem expensive (although not nearly as much as the Moody) but they have a secret two for one offer that is always on.

[darwinohm]

Elwood, you really have some cool projects going. The Doyle looks like a real powerhouse. Plenty of switches. The S-500 is very nice and would be perfect with a Clear finish. It looks a someone moved the string trees on that one. The neck you are putting on the fretless is really nicely flamed. You generally see these on the older G&Ls. Most of the recent builds are pretty generic.

I do have three project guitars that I need to get going on. I have a Stingay 5 all stripped and ready for finishing prep to the painting. I had planned on doing a Baby Blue but the swamp ash grain is very vice and it could end up clear. It also has a nicely flamed neck so I will clearcoat that. I like goss finished necks. I have a Hamer artist which had the neck broken from the body. I bought it that way as a project guitar. The neck reset is stronger than original and has about 5 years on the repair and is stable. The last is to refinish the top on my 63 Fender Concert Indian Rosewood acoustic that I was the original owner. There is not rush on that one as it is easy and is a lacquer job.

Great LRs Elwood and keep 'em coming!-- Darwin

[Kit]

I'm finally home and finished with chores.

Elwood, you have a bunch of cool guitars. I love your S500 except for gold hardware, which is not my favorite. I have never heard of Tom Doyle. It certainly look like an interesting guitar. I remember in the 80's there were a number of guitars with multiple knobs and switch so I wonder if this is from that era. I also notice the 2 jacks. I had a 1981 Carvin DC200 that was a dual humbucker guitar with 2 jack so the 2 pickups can be run in stereo if I plug it into 2 different amps.

In yesterday's LR you asked about my band. We are a hobby band with 5 members. Two of the guys I had played together with for 1 and 3 years, the female singer and the other guitar player had been with us for just a few months. We don't typically play out, but 2 weeks ago we played a 3 hour gig at a grill pub since several of us in the band wanted to see how we'd do. We did fine, and got some positive feedback. Due to people being out of town for the next couple of weeks we won't be having practice for a while. When we get back together we'll discuss whether and when we want to play out again.

Kit

[Ahryn]

Wow man, cool projects.

I love the look of that gold bridge, very neat and that melody maker looks like it has a Joan Jett thing going on, very cool.

The only guitar I have ordered online has been my ASAT.

It was and is everything I had hoped it would be, and it came on my birthday too, how cool is that.

[kakerlak]

Neat stuff.

I don't really have any active projects right now. I have a really fancy old Goya classical that's in pieces, but I lack the confidence/skill to glue it back together myself.

Never made anything from parts, but have swapped parts on guitars over the years. I have a Warmoth thinline tele that I did some reconfiguring on a while back. Came to me as a really pretty used guitar, but pickups were a high output Kent Armstrong at the bridge and one of the old Schecter Monster Tone pickups (tele size) at the neck. Not liking either, I put a 2nd hand Antiquity at the bridge and routed the neck for a vintage-style SD Strat pickup I had lying around. I also swapped out a really heavy modern style tele bridge for a stamped steel vintage style one with three of the slanted "Gatton style" brass saddles. Getting the extra mass off the top and putting some livelier, lower output pickups in the guitar really opened it up to resonate with a quicker response. I suppose that's at the price of sustain, but it sounds a lot better.

Been a while since I've bought online. I do have a '74 Guild Starfire VI that I bought back in the days of photoless internet. Guy mailed me some murky photos and I bought it b/c the price was fair and the model so rare. I was very pleased with the overall condition and guitar in general when it arrived.