Tagged With: guitar
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
Final Assembly and Setup
Once the finish cured, I sanded with wet/dry paper starting with 400 grit and then working up to 2000. After than, I polished it with brown jeweler’s rougue and buffed it out to a high-gloss near-mirror sheen. I attached the neck, installed the pickguard and bridge, and then attached the strap pins and tuners. For … Continue reading
Wiring the Wishcaster’s Electronics
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
The “Wish-caster” Fingerboard
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
Make-A-Wish Charvel Surfcaster: Starting the Build
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
Assembling the Box, Part I – Soundboard and Sides
The head and tail blocks The head block was assembled as a 5-piece glue-up with three ‘core’ pieces stacked vertically and a top and bottom glued horizontally cross-grain. This is done to promote stability and strength in both dimensions while providing a side-grain surface for both the sides and the top and bottom. The top of the … Continue reading
Electronics cavity, headstock, and placing the bridge
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
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
The Soundboard and Back
Back to work I took some time off guitar building to spruce up the shop and make some much needed improvements. Also, with the parents visiting for the week, the shop was occupied for a time with more pressing matters… Alterations This weekend I was finally ready to get back to the build. Since carving … Continue reading
The Neck
My lovely wife spent her weekend watching the kids and provided me with nearly two full days of shop time. In the intervening days I’d decided I wanted to build one of the guitars from cherry. I have a rather large stockpile and had read somewhere that Martin made/makes a “sustainable” series out of cherry, … Continue reading