Guitar Collector Forum

All this talk of guitar restoration, refinishing etc has got me thinking back to a couple of guitar projects I have done in the past..

I remember a cheap Tele copy I had... I think it was originally hi-gloss black, but was a bit beaten up so I stripped it down and sprayed it a very pretty light blue using car paint! I had planned to but a clear gloss lacquer coat on top, but after a few coats of blue it had a sort of eggshell finish that I really liked, so I left it like that. I'll have a look and see if I can find any old photos (must have been around 1980?). I sold the Tele to a friend, who decided it would look good "natural" and stripped all the paint off - totally ruined it, cos the cheap body wasn't good enough to look good "naked"!

The other think I did around the same time was to build and electric guitar for a friend. I was known at the time as being "good at woodwork" and Colin asked me to make a guitar for him - he would pay for all the parts and specify what he wanted. He wanted it to be based on a Tele shape, but with "comfort contour" shaped back (like a Strat) and humbucker pickups.

I bought some fantastic Canadian Maple for the body (mail-order from a tonewood specialist). I don't remember too many other details, but the main thing was that Colin wanted it "as heavy as possible, for good sustain". I kept telling him that I should reduce the thickness, but he was insistant that he wanted it "chunky". The result? A guitar that was too heavy to play!!

It had a clear polyurethane finish and, IIRC, miniature toggle switches. Colin is still a good friend some 30 years later and we play in a Sixties covers band together, although he now plays bass. I'll ask him whether what happened to the old home-bult guitar - it would be interesting to see it again... but I suspect the quality of workmanship might be a little embarrassing. I don'r remember exactly when I made it for him, but I think I was no more than 18 or 19 at the time.

A solid maple body? 19 years old and you put Les Pauls to shame That would be pretty cool to see it all these years later though, I've actually got a nice board of mahogany sitting here waiting to be made into a guitar, it's just the right size for a neck (thru even) the guy at the wood store didn't know what it could be used for so I grabbed it for 3$ sorry I got off topic again did you build the neck yourself too?

I have to admit that I didn't do the difficult bit... I bought a stock neck.

I emailed my mate Colin to see what happened to it.. he says "Yes, I still have it, though I think I've raided some of the electronics - nothing that couldn't be easily fixed. I seem to remember it played fine, just weighed a ton (my fault, I know!)" . I'm seeing him this week, so should be able to get it back on loan.

Watch this space for photos coming soon.

OK, it took a few weeks to get it back of Colin, but here it is... the guitar I made in circa 1980, when I was around 18

It's not exactly mastercraftsman standard, but actually isn't as bad as I had feared. A nice lump of maple.

Note the miniature toggle switches - I think they're for coil phase reversal on the Dimarzio pickups, IIRC.

There wasn't much science behing the volume/tone layout, I just wanted to be different from the usual 2 + 2 arrangement.

It needs a good clean, setup and new strings, but is in surprisingly good condition for a 30 year old homemade guitar!

Pretty cool, the fretboard makes it pretty clear it's been well loved over the years it's a fat little bugger too eh? that tail piece fits really well with it.