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Tagged With: electric guitar

Mahogany and Padauk Neck

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Atomic Age Surfcaster

Before routing the neck pocket in the body, we need a neck. This guitar again features a Gibson-style angled headstock made with a scarf joint. The bulk of this neck will be African Mahogany like the body. For this guitar I decided to also laminate a “racing stripe” down the center of the neck. A … Continue reading »

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Atomic Age Surfcaster

This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Atomic Age Surfcaster

With the charity guitar (the “Wishcaster”) complete, it’s time to start the next build. Though I still haven’t completed the acoustic, I really want to build another Surfcaster – this time for me. A few weeks ago I acquired three burl Maple bookmatched caps for the next few guitars. Perhaps it’s the fact that during … Continue reading »

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Wiring the Wishcaster’s Electronics

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Make-A-Wish Surfcaster

A primary difference between this guitar and the previous two is the electronics wiring and installation. The Surfcaster is wired like a Stratocaster — with the pickups and controls attached to the pickguard instead of directly to the body. This greatly simplifies installation and makes it possible to work on the electronics and the finish … Continue reading »

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Dyeing the Wishcaster Blue

This entry is part 5 of 7 in the series Make-A-Wish Surfcaster

With the neck now attached, it was time for a quick trip to quality control – my eldest son Sean – for a check. Thankfully it passed and so the project moved forward to making the pick guard. Pickguard construction began, as usual, with templates. They were prepared from 1/2″ MDF using the full-size drawing. … Continue reading »

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Carving the Wish-caster Neck

This entry is part 4 of 7 in the series Make-A-Wish Surfcaster

After a couple weeks away, I was finally able to spend a weekend in the shop. Returning to the fretboard, I gave it a bit of thought and ultimately decided rather than try and fix the bad frets (there were probably 8-10) and paint the fretboard with CA (see the previous post), I would basically … Continue reading »

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The “Wish-caster” Fingerboard

This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series Make-A-Wish Surfcaster

The Design The first two electrics I built were constructed with factory-made necks. Having never fretted an instrument before, I was apprehensive about taking on that part of the project with a hard deadline. For this design I wanted a custom inlay on the fretboard featuring the primary ‘star’ component of the Make-a-Wish logo. Last … Continue reading »

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Make-A-Wish Surfcaster: Capping the Body

This entry is part 2 of 7 in the series Make-A-Wish Surfcaster

With the Ash blank shaped, it’s time to prepare the figured top. I made a “top cap” template including holes for the sound hole and electronics pockets. Two of these were cut: one in MDF and another in acrylic. I wanted a clear version to allow me to see the grain pattern I was selecting for the … Continue reading »

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Make-A-Wish Charvel Surfcaster: Starting the Build

This entry is part 1 of 7 in the series Make-A-Wish Surfcaster

In 2014 I had the idea that I could build an electric guitar (my first) and raffle it off for charity through my company’s holiday party band, the LCA. This resulted in the LCA SG Jr. guitar which raised over $2,100 for Make-A-Wish Illinois. Last year this was repeated with a Lospennato-inspired “Radio star” clone, … Continue reading »

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Electronics cavity, headstock, and placing the bridge

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series The LCA SG Jr

I managed to make significant progress on the SG build this weekend. After routing the electronics cavity I laminated sheets of black and white acrylic together with some CA glue and fit the cover. Though I’d  typically fret and fuss with something like the headstock design, in this case I basically decided to wing it … Continue reading »

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The LCA SG Jr.

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series The LCA SG Jr

An annual running joke at my company is that due to overspending on the space, food, and booze, the social committee ran out of budget for entertainment. The solution, they say, is to form an all-volunteer, all-employee band! This year was no exception. The band, affectionately known as “LCA” or “lowest-cost alternative” has been a … Continue reading »

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