Well, Like any work of art it is never finished...
Thursday, June 30, 2005


Well, I know I have said it all before but I will tell you about my guitar again.

It is in the style of a Fender Les Paul??? There is no guitar that I am aware of so let me explain. The body and neck are bolted like Fender might do (Strat, Tele.) The body is flat and semihollow like a thinline Tele. That is where the Fender part comes from. The scale is 14 9/16th like a Les Paul and the feel of the fretboard are Pauline also. The wiring is a modified Paul with two humbuckers. The volumes are independant. I expect that I will change it to be dependant. As I play it I come to understand why Gibson did it the way they did. The neck is finally shaped like I want it and is feels like an Ovation (not a Celebrity.) My wife has an older real Ovation so I modelled it after that one. I finished it with a tung oil and beeswax rub which brought out all the beauty of the wood without causing it to be too shiny. I like shiny, but I love natural. It is smooth as glass since it was sanded to 1000 grit (overkill I know, but I only made one guitar.) The tuners are black schaller, the buckers are schaller, the pickup rings are zebra striped ebony, the bridge is a schaller, the front is figured maple, the back is ribbon striped mahogony (notice the Paul style here) the neck is ebony on rock maple (Fenderish) the truss rod is martin style adjustable. I play on nanoweb strings. Pickup is just below the strap button on the fat end, the 'sound holes' are modelled after newer Ovations and are mostly for looks, the semihollow design is for weight and has a solid center for sustain (which it has plenty of...) the holes are sized by quarter, nickel, dime and hole punch, there are 12 (apostles), 7 (forgiveness) and 3 (trinity) clusters in various places for lookes and evangelism, there is an inlaid cross on the headstock (hey, everyone signs their guitar, I did also.) The control knobs are ebony and I indend to change out the metal tuners for ebony when I get some money. (you may contribute to the andy guitar fund by sending me monsy.) The frets are medium wide. Like an american fat strat. Well that was random but it covers the basics again. I had a lot of fun and now I blew my amp and need to get it in the shop.

So enough about construction. How does it play? It is fine! I could have purchased one that sounds as good as it and felt as nice but I would have paid $2000 for it and I would not have had any of the love for it that I have for mine. Like I said I blew my amp, and that makes it tough to play. I have a Digitech GNX2 that models amps well enough (really quite good) so I can play though the monitor or headset or system easy enough, but I miss my amp. (see note above for contributing to the guitar fund)

So what is left to finish??? I need to tweak some more. Better action can be achieved, finish neck back (oil and wax), more ebony on the tuners... who knows maybe a complete rewire with a black ice box for passive distortion, I don't know.

Let me thank a few people who made it possible. Gary - your shop rules, your new one is even better, thanks for the time and knowledge and tools... Bryan - you know everything about guitars thanks for the tweaks... Janet - my love, thanks for the support and time (and money) I love you... JESUS - you gave me life, love, ability and desire, Thanks for everything... You all are awesome.

Special mention to Zach who encouraged me to finish more than anyone. I wish you the best. Keep in touch...
Updated: Thursday, June 30, 2005 (2:48:16 PM)

Coming Soon
Thursday, November 4, 2004


If I ever figure out how get a picture off of my camera phone then I will put one on the web. I have a Motorola VT220 if you know how and want to let me know.

The guitar is nearly finished. I have put it together and finished it with a danish oil rub, polished with beeswax. It is very smooth, and bright without the glare of a lacquer. The beauty of the wood is very clear. The schaller electronics sound great. I have obviously played it since I said it sounds great. The only thing left is to finish the nut (I played it with a $2.00 plastic one...) which is to be made of bone and to adjust the neck (there is a buzz), action and trueness(is very close but not perfect.) Alana, I promise I will bring it to the college when I finish it.

I made a mistake when I was putting it together which is why it needs to have the neck adjusted. Never, ever string up a new guitar and then tighten the truss rod immediately and then leave the strings off of the guitar for an extended period of time. What you do is string it up and let it sit for a few days and allow the neck to adjust itself. If necessary then you may adjust the truss rod after the neck 'bounces back.' Then keep tension on the neck. Lesson learned.
Updated: Friday, November 5, 2004 (11:15:11 AM)

Finally, A Picture
Friday, March 21, 2003


Finally, I have put a picture of my guitar as it is in its current configuration. As you can see it has a unique body style. It is my own design. The neck is a bolt on like a Fender with 24" design like a Les Paul. The neck will hold 22 frets, because I want to put the neck pickup under the 24th fret and could not figure out how with a fret in the way.

The body is almost 14" wide. That is big and I may have to build my own case as a result. The body is semi-hollow since it was going to be too heavy without letting some of the weight out. My english is going down hill since I am rambling. I will probably update this eventually. I finished the pickup routes and still have to finish the neck route. I will be sanding the final millimeter for the neck. I was not so bold as to think I could hit it the first time with a router. I will be turning my own knobs and building my own pickup mounts from mahogany, rosewood or maybe ebony depending on how they look. I will be cutting holes in the back for the wiring access soon. After I finish these I will wire in the Schaller humbuckers. I still need to get the fretwire and tuners. Pray that I can finish it some time before I die.
Updated: Thursday, November 4, 2004 (1:10:04 PM)

The Pickups
Tuesday, October 22, 2002


I have started to do the routing for the pickups. Fortunately or unfortunately for the guitar I have picked up a little side job the is pre-empting the time I set aside for the guitar. Praise the Lord for the income. I should be able to get back on it eventually.
Updated: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 (6:11:39 AM)

Now that the Summer's Over
Thursday, August 29, 2002


Now that the summer is over I will have a chance to work on the guitar again. Maybe I will get a picture of it on the website. About 5 years and 3 kids ago when I started working on it I had a picture of the plans on my web site... I guess I a going backwards.
Updated: Thursday, August 29, 2002 (12:09:58 PM)

How's it coming
Thursday, May 16, 2002


I guess I could update you on the status of the guitar. If Alana ever finds this site I will have to put in a picture. Until then...

I have basically finished the body. I will begin the routing fot the pickups soon. I recently (last friday) finished the neck. I never know what 220 grit sandpaper could do for a piece of maple. It Shines... The ebony fretboard (which I plan to put frets on) shines also. It has a u shaped back and the headstock is sort of Ovation like. I hope to work on it again soon however work schedules are a little shakey right now since I am coviering another teachers class on Fridays.

Updated: Thursday, May 16, 2002 (7:53:08 PM)

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