First Parter Guitar

[Dennis Mitchell]

Well gang, forget the pink beast, I got more important fish to fry! Starting with a Warmoth "Musiclander" three piece alder body routed for P90 pick ups, and all rear routes for the controls. Which will be single volume and tone pots, with a Fender 3-way p/u switch. Pick ups??? She'll sport a set of Jason Lollar's p90's. I played one of Ryan Gadow's Classic Set Neck models with these and fell in love with the tone. So it was a quick and easy choice. The neck will most likely come from Warmoth as well, and be maple with a rosewood finger board. As a side note, this is probably the nicest looking 3 piece body I've seen in the raw. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot clear nitro, translucent color, or my favorite tobacco sunburst right over my current shellac coats. But......I have other plans!

For now, the body has two sealer coats of 2lb cut shellac. I need to run into town and get a small brush to seal the routes and p/u cavities. Then it's time to sand and prime. I'm trying Zinsser's BIN primer, which is a white shellac base primer.



Ok, those other plans are........
One of my wife's friends has a son that is quite an artist when it comes to airbrushing. While his work is a bit out there for most of us, it is still good art work. So in an effort to help show off his work, and give him some supplemental income, he'll be spraying the body in what ever theme suits his fancy. I sent him a 4" by 4' poplar board for some "test strips" of the paint he uses, which is acrylic. Here's what I got back!

I'll get some detail shots later today after I go buy more batteries for the camera.

[Aoibeann]

Dennis, I like the body. You can't tell it's a three piece from the photos. I like the shape. It looks like it will be comfortable to play.


Nice bows. Your take down reminds me of my '63 Polar Bear. I love the grip on that bow. Nice static recurve. Make your own arrows?

[Dennis Mitchell]

Thanks Lillian. I went with that body style since it sort of follows what I've done with my acoustics. Whoever matched the pieces for the body at Warmoth was really paying attention to color and grain. It looked good on their web site when I ordered it, and even better in person. Since I'm not tooled up to do all the body routes, I plan to use their bodies for any future electric builds that will go out the shop door with my name on them. So yes, this guitar will be for sale. You folks keep reminding me I said that once I get it done!

On the archery side, I haven't tried making my own cedar arrows yet. After taking a break for a few short years, I went back with high density carbon fiber until I get my skills back up to speed since I shoot purely instinctive. I did build up and fletch the carbons, and have all the stuff to do cedar shafts, including a dozen Port Orford shafts. The take down was built in 1990 by Jim Brackenbury, who was sadly killed in a canoeing accident the following year. The static tip recurve is killer little bow at 54" and 60 pound draw! She doesn't need string silencers either. It was built by Texas Recurves and Longbows. I have their longbow also (sitting right above the Brackenbury), which is my go-to bow for just about all occasions. Both are built from Osage and Mesquite.

[Aoibeann]

Dennis, forget cedar, use a hardwood. Ash is all but indistructable. http://www.arrowwoods.com/fixins.htm Good people to deal with.

I was living in southern NM when I got started in traditional archery. I was poor and in school, so I made all my own arrows. I found that cedar dries out in the desert and becomes brittle. Grazing a target stand was usually enough to put the arrow out of commission. I found that ash holds up better and I like the added weight. At first I thought that the extra weight would be a problem, but I found that it wasn't. If anything, the weight helped with penetration. I had far less target rejection after switching from sitka to ash.

[Dennis Mitchell]

Thanks for the link! I do in fact like a heavy arrow for the stability and penetration. I've always shot Port Orford shafts when using woods, but I will certainly look into ash and give it a try.

As for the guitar body, it is now white with it's first coat of primer. I'll give it a light sanding and final coat tomorrow, then it's off to the artist to see what he comes up with.

[Dennis Mitchell]

Little update:.......
The primer and seal coats went well on the body, and it is still with the artist. So far, I have three light coats of shellac on the test board, and hope to get one more, and maybe a coat of lacquer on it this weekend since the weather has settled down a bit. When I get the body back, you'll know! Be ready for literally anything, as I gave him free rein on the artwork.

[Dennis Leahy]

How exciting! You have no idea what he is going to paint. In my mind, "free rein" and "artist" go together very nicely. Wait a minute... He's not a 16-year old "tagger" is he?

Dennis

[Jim]

Seeing his "practice" board, I can't wait to see the guitar body and neck!!!

How will you seal the artwork; with what and how many coats? Brushed or sprayed? I'm curious. What paints does the 16-year-old use? I've got a son who could do some nice work also, now that you've stimulated my mind.

Jim