Meanwhile in Las Vegas...

[John_H]

Laser cutting, 3D printing, CNC, and a huge workshop full of about every power tool you could imagine. Hopefully, my brain won't explode. I joined a Makers Space to learn the digital tools, and take it to the next level. https://synshop.org/This place is pretty cool. I've met a couple of people that have been very helpful so far on my new pursuance. Starting out, I'm concentrating on laser cutting. I haven't cut anything yet, but I'm getting familiar with "inkscape" which is the design program that was recommended. The results that I've seen so from the 90w full spectrum laser look amazing. I'm anxious to use it. Maybe this weekend I'll get a chance to do a few practice cuts.

Here's a rockabilly mashup guitar that I built for a friend. The overwound filtertron (43AWG) at the neck sounds really neat. Enough so that I want to build a guitar around one. Anyone have a template for a Gretsch Corvette?

[John_H]

I haven't posted anything in quite a while. The job keeps me pretty busy most of the time, and makes it hard to find time for projects. I only built three guitars last year. Two were TV Junior replicas, and One for myself. The Sonic Blue offset has a 25.5 scale. Alder/Maple. I gave it a big bathtub rout, and made a master template for the router so I can make as many blank identical pick guards as I wish. This should be great for testing pickups. It's only the second bolt-on I've ever made. The fret access is excellent with the rounded heel plate. It's lightweight, and jumbo frets were perfect for this one. I put it together for peanuts. The only place I splurged was on the mini-roto tuners. The Silvertone amp sounds great through the vintage P12R. I have other plans for the face plate. The one on there was a quick fix. I've built a few pedals in the last year. Mostly, I use cheap Chinese clone kits as a baseline. I never expected that I would be the guy looking at the old radios in the thrift store, wondering what the transistors were inside, and how they would sound in my fuzz.

[The Dude]

I love it when you post pictures, John, because I always know it's gonna be some good gear porn. Great work as always! That guitar is beautiful!

[Chuck H]

Like a 25.5 scale Mustang on steroids. Who wouldn't love it?!? I always love John's guitars for their form follows function, with a twist aspect. Always something practical, eminently useful and special in some regard. Good designs.

[John_H]

Thanks Guys! I took some better pictures of the blue guitar, and here's the little parlor shaped electric that I started a year ago. This is going to be a fun guitar. The pickup will be sound hole mounted. I'll be making a mold for the vacuum former for a custom mount that I can reproduce. It would be cool to swap pickups easily. The lower bout measures 13 1/4", the upper, 9 3/8, 8 at the waist, 18 long, and 1 3/4 thick. It's 38 3/4" long overall.

[John_H]

Wow, I haven't put anything up here in a while. I need to update more often. It seems that I've always got a slew of projects going, but with no real focus on anything. I did finish the parlor shaped semi-hollow. It's a fun guitar. I like the way the Grover bridge worked out with the string-through. I had originally planned on using a trapeze tail piece. I like this much better, and I've never seen one used like this before.

The filtertron sounds great. I made a few pickup carrier blanks. I plan on trying a P90, and humbucker as well.

I built the little 22"scale lap steel a couple of weeks ago. The fret marker graphics are a decal that a friend gave me. I used a 1/8" lexan overlay so it wouldn't look so cheap. A red celluloid pickguard, some used tuners, and a strat pickup. The bridge/nut is from guitar fetish. I didn't want the finish to be the nicest feature, so all it got was a couple coats of enamel.

[John_H]

Here are a couple that I've finished recently. The Metallic Ice Blue offset is the sister guitar to the blue one that I built for myself not long ago. Alder body, and maple neck. The mini-hum balances well with the tele neck pickup. The lap steel is a 24 inch scale tuned in open E.

[The Dude]

Great work as always! Love the blue, John. I have a strat style guitar built from Warmoth parts that is a very similar color. One of my fav's.

[John_H]

Thanks Dude! I enjoyed making the two offsets. They couldn't be much more simple, and inexpensive to build. I really like mine. It's hardly ever put away.

This one was for a friend. He did the finish, and shaped the neck. It's lightweight, and super solid. I like his pickup choices. They compliment each other well.

[g1]

Have you got a Vegas Golden Knights guit worked up yet John?
I'm pulling for them to win the Stanley Cup since they hosed my team (Jets). Quite the Cinderella story for the ages.

[The Dude]

Canadians follow hockey? Who knew?

[g1]

It's a summertime thing.

[John_H]

Have you got a Vegas Golden Knights guit worked up yet John?
I'm pulling for them to win the Stanley Cup since they hosed my team (Jets). Quite the Cinderella story for the ages.

Sorry about your Jets. This town has been wanting a pro sports franchise to call it's own for years. It helps by winning, but Las Vegas has embraced this team as our own. Cinderella had much in common with this team of misfits that were left unprotected in the expansion draft. I'm sure the NHL will change their expansion procedures next time around. I have a tattoo artist friend who makes tribute/art guitars. I often help out with the woodwork, and construction. He's got a couple of VGK guitars in the works.

It's a summertime thing.

[g1]

I'm sure the NHL will change their expansion procedures next time around.

Maybe the time after the next. I'm pretty sure Seattle will only shell out the half a billion expansion franchise fee on the condition they get the same draft Vegas got.
The irony is that it has been agreed Vegas will be exempt from the Seattle draft.

[John_H]

The weather has permitted me back into the workshop lately. October is my favorite month. 70's and 80's for highs, and dry cool mornings are very welcome after a savage Summer season. I've got ideas for a couple of guitars that I'd like to do this winter, and a couple that are in progress from earlier this year.

I bought some Spanish Cedar in the spring, and let it acclimate over the summer. It's very lightweight, and similar in grain texture to Honduran Mahogany. A bit more reddish in color, but otherwise quite much the same. I've cut, and glued four neck billets from the piece that I had. I've heard a lot of good things, and I've wanted to try it out for a while.

I'm at the point where I need to make fingerboards for two of them. Many of you know that I try to make all of my own jigs, and fixtures for guitar building. Not only is it less expensive, it's fun. In the pictures are a couple of the homemade tools for fret boards. The fret saw jig I came up with after looking at a commercially sold unit. It's accurate, smooth and solid. The router jig for cutting the profile is pretty simple, and straight forward. I copied it from something similar that I saw. This one's for a 12"r.

I did the amp cabinets for a friend. The speaker earlier this year, and the head enclosure last week. The non-flammable contact cement that I usually use wasn't available, so instead I used Weldwood no drip gel formula. It's not messy, spreads easily, and doesn't run on vertical surfaces. It holds really well. Too bad it's solvent based.