Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Guitar-a-day


I had the idea for these postings last week, when a small storm of very interesting instruments landed on my bench at the repair shop that is my place of employment. I thought of all the interesting and/or hilarious things we've seen there in the last five years, and knew I'd be doing myself a disservice by not recording at least some of them. I certainly do not plan to stick to posting every single day, but when I get the chance to snap a few photos during the week I'll talk about one instrument for each posting. If only five people, including myself, look at this site, I think it will still be worth the minimum of effort to show at least some of the very cool, bizarre, wonderful or terrible things I get to work on.


We'll start today with a guitar I'm building away from work, in my basement. Here is my humble 9' by 16' basement shop. Builders in Paracho or Granada would kill to have this much space. It is here that much time is spent making messes, losing tools, and trying to find places for tools or wood I may or may not ever use. Thi
s is where all the magic happens.






And Here is the object of the day, the Rogers Coffin. Some day
it will be used for evil, not good. Or at least for evil-sounding riffs at head splitting volume, which I happen to think is quite good.









Look Ma, no neck bolts. The best way for a builder of electric or acoustic guitars to try to dispel some of the stigma associated with bolt-on necks is to build good instruments with bolt-on necks. A tight fit is essential. As is decent playability despite a bulky heel with most bolt on designs. The advantages offered by bolt-on necks benefit the builder, the player, and future repairers. The disadvantages of a well-made bolt-on instrument are few, and sonically are none.

1 comment:

  1. I agree I've built a set neck but the bolt-ons sound just as good, on my "Les Pew" I forfitted some of the upper neck acess for a 14th fret neck joint and long neck pocket, the better vibration transfer has made a huge difference to the sound and susstain.

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