Well as a short update, Patty has been in a nursing home about a year and a half now. She reached the point where she didn't know she was in our home where we've lived for 25 yrs. and didn't always know me, so we felt, (son Steve who had moved back here from Lake Tahoe to help me care for his mom), that we wouldn't be taking anything away from her at that point. We found a good home for her, downside, it's about 50 miles away, but I go see her usually every other day. She has settled in well there, isn't afraid and is doing pretty good.
So, needless to say it's still not easy and I haven't been able to get myself back into the shop other than keeping my old guitars functioning. So this is a shortcut/jumpstart to get going again.
I fit an old 12 fret Stella neck I collected some years ago onto this body. Used a bridge I had built but never used and strung it up in the white to see what I had. And low and behold, I believe it's gonna make a guitar!
I love the played in look of the old neck and wanted to see if I could save that. It's the old thin brass fretting and of course no truss rod. So that's one reason I strung it up in the white, and looks like it's gonna be playable as it is. Hurrah!
I had to add in some mahogany to get the neck to line up properly. This side had been buggered pretty good. The dovetail was messed up also so I converted it to a bolt-on.
The pickguard is an old one I had removed from another guitar. It still had a little sticky on it so it's just sitting there. I think it looks pretty good though, so it may have found a home.
Oak back and mahogany sides.
You might go up and check out the bracing pattern. Hanns Brentrup's X/ladder pattern, to give x braced stability with ladder braced sound. And looks like it's gonna work out well, I'm loving the sound after being strung up a couple of days.
Now I have to talk myself into breaking it down and applying some finish!
Thanks for watching....
