Monday, February 25, 2013


I’ve been into making music for most of my life. Growing up we had one of those toy organs. I soon graduated to violin, guitar, and bass. I’ve recently become interested the hows and whys of what makes one guitar sound different from another. This led me to experimenting with actually making a guitar. This is the first one.

 
Like a lot of bluesmen, I made this guitar from a cigar box. It has 3 strings and I play it with a slide. It is electric. There is a pickup inside the guitar and it plays LOUD! I keep it in open G tuning and play it with a brass slide.

I am currently designing my next guitar. It will look and play like a more conventional electric guitar. I love surf music and I am planning on making this the ultimate surf guitar. The shape will be similar to a Fender Jaguar, but it will have 3 pickups and have a more stable vibrato bar. Here is a preliminary sketch.

 

Here is the wood I’ll be using. I decided to be kind of a locavore with the wood so I’m using local Washington State Red Alder. Here is what the wood looks like.

 

Over the next month I’ll be collecting the many pieces of electronics and hardware needed to complete the guitar. I’m planning on putting it together and finishing it by mid-April. Stay tuned for further developments!
A.C.

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