My Duct Tape Masterpieces

Steampunk Guitar Part 1

2009-09-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

It's been a bit busy about the shop and studio lately and I've not been able to update as much as I'd like. However, here is the first installment of the Steampunk project.

The inspiration for this project is Jules Verne's 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. Or more specifically, the Nautilus. That fantastic Electric submarine that is at the core of the story. If you've not read this masterpiece, do so NOW!

Anyway, we're starting with a Dean EVO. Yep, cheap as dirt, and even cheaper because I picked it up scratch and dent. No electrical signal. Hmmmm, that's where that arrow went.

Tear down begins!

One of the first ideas that I had concerned the pickup selection. Yeah, sometimes I start in the middle and work out. I thought about how interesting it would be to route out the body and do a sliding pickup, with a lever system that would determine the pickup position. Alas, this idea was shattered by the poor quality of the guitar. How's that for an unstable neck joint?

Oooh, and lots of extra wiring. Maybe the signal just didn't have enough steam to get all the way through. : )

Alright, with tear down complete it's time to start with the rebuild. WWCND? What Would Captain Nemo Do?

Stay tuned to find out. The next installment is coming soon!

Later,

Tale of the SeaHag, part 2

2009-08-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

Last time, I got a good start on the story of this old Hagstrom Super Swede project. I'd finished up with having done the new wiring in the same style as my SG Classic.

So, of course, no guitar is right without the knobs. I had bought a matched set of Vintage Les Paul replacement knobs for the Old B.O.B. project and didn't end up using them, but they were perfect for this guitar.

You can also see in the picture the useless hole left from the Hagstrom coil tap switch, which I didn't see the point in trying to replace. Here's another pic, just because I kinda like a useless hole in my guitar projects.

To be totally random, I went with goldtone for the strap buttons and jack plate.

Hmm. Pics didn't turn out too good. Sorry about that.

Anyway, new strings, a set up, and some other minor adjustments and we have the finished project. The SeaHag! So named because I'd chosen to "Scrimshaw" a treasure map onto the guitar face. It's lightly scratched into the finish and then the scratches are filled in with ink.

So, that's the tale of the mighty SeaHag. Next up, I'm going to tackle SteamPunk using a Dean EVO and a whole lot of ingenuity!

At last! The return of My Duct Tape Masterpieces, featuring the Tale of the SeaHag! Part 1

2009-08-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long, and I do know that a few folks are following this, so please accept my apology for the long absence. My shop is now back up to speed and I've got some projects lined up, so there should be no end to up coming posts!

Now, for the Tale of the SeaHag!

When I bought my shop equipment, part of the package was some guitar parts, including almost everything needed to put a Hagstrom Super Swede back together.

Of course, not EVERYTHING, but most of it. This was a guitar that had had the neck joint seperated rather rudely, and the guy I bought all this stuff from had glued it all back together. It looked a little odd to me, but it all measures out right, so I guess that's all that counts.

I decided to leave the repair unfinished. I just have this thing about refinished repairs, it makes me think someone's trying to hide them. Just not my thing, I guess.

I had the original pickups and tailpiece, but the bridge, wiring, pots, toggle, and tuning machines were missing. Of course, this just means that I get to be creative with what I've got laying around! Which of course, makes me VERY happy!

First thing I tackeled was the tuning machines. I had an old 1960s Ventura semi-hollowbody, that is in many many pieces and it just happened that it had the only set of 3 and 3 tuners in the shop. The challenge was that they were a plate style set that had 3 machines on one base plate. No step for a stepper, right? A hacksaw and file took care of that issue.

Who needs pretty?

The same Ventura also donated this killer roller bridge!

The original pickups went back in, but I used new Gibson 500K pots, and a Gibson 3-way toggle, with the same wiring pattern from my Gibson SG Classic.

Next time I'll finish with the tour of the SeaHag and show off the full finished project! I'll also outline the next project coming up!

The Story of B.O.B. Part 2

2008-12-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, so in Part 1 I left off with my misguided idea that I would rewire this Ibanez like a Gibson Explorer. Still, I think, not a bad idea, just maybe not practicle.

So, after letting the project sit for well over a year, I finally decided that I wanted to play around with it again.

One of the contributing factors was finding a brand new, still in the box, Gibson Burstbucker Pro neck pick-up at a garage sale for $4. Yep $4, I love garage sales. Having always loved the way the Ibanez played, but never really liking the sound, I decided that that is where the new pick-up needed to live. So, it was off to storage to dig it out.

In going through the parts, one look at Mt. St. Solder on the volume pot convinced me that I needed to just replace the electrical components. Luckily I had, on hand, an old ESP M-100 that had many issues of it's own, so I robbed what I needed from it. Volume and tone pots, capacitor, three way blade toggle, and wiring. Since it was all factory done soldering on these parts, I just left it all together and put it in. Unfortunatly, when I did this project I wasn't thinking about doing this blog, so I didn't take pics of this part of the process.

Here's B.O.B.'s Gibson pick-up, in place.

I decided to leave the middle pick-up out because it never really served much of a purpose to me. The bridge pick-up is the stock Ibanez. I have just recently gotten a replacement for it in a batch of guitar parts that I picked up off of Craigslist. I don't have a clue who made this replacement, but it looks well made and I figure it's worth putting in to try out. I can always take it back out if it sucks and I've been thinking about a Seymour Duncan JB anyway.

The last step in getting B.O.B. playable again was the tuning machines. I had a set of Sperzel locking tuners on hand. They're kind of a funny fit, but with the theme of scrounged items already in place I figured, why not?

With that final step taken care of, I put on a set of strings and went to playing. I was kind of surprised. I figured the holes in the body from my idea of rewiring to be more like my Explorer would have messed up the tone of the body somewhat, but if anything it has a little more sustain than I remember. The Gibson pick-up is HOT. It just screams on leads and is perfect for rhythms as well, so I actually rarely use that bridge pick-up.

Through the process I fell in love with this guitar, and it has become my favorite, at least for the time being. But you're probably wondering "Why B.O.B.?".

Old B.O.B. was named after the little robot from Disney's The Black Hole, and like the B.O.B of the movie, my B.O.B. is a beat to hell, obsolete model with an inexplicable Drawl, but he still kicks the asses of newer, more sophisticated models.

And that's the story of B.O.B. Next up, I'm going to go over the Strat that I built from Official Fender parts a few years ago.

The Story of B.O.B. Part 1

2008-12-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well, since I'm still working on getting the shop in order so I can start working on new projects, let me start out with posting some of my past projects.

I'm going to start out with my most recently built friend. This is Old B.O.B. or my Duct Tape Masterpiece #1.

B.O.B. started life as a somewhat stock Ibanez EX370 that I bought several years ago because I had never had a guitar with a Floyd Rose.

I quickly found out that someone had been jacking around with the wiring and there where a lot of "interesting" examples of soldering. It wasn't but a couple of weeks into having it that the tone pot just stopped working, and within a month two of the tuning machines broke.

After buying my Gibson Explorer I decided that I'd really like to rewire the Ibanez to the same configuration the Explorer has. It was pretty much trashed anyway, so I didn't see any reason not to experiment. : )

My first plan was to route out a cavity for a 3-way toggle and drill holes for the extra volume pot.

Somewhere during the process I lost interest and let it set for a couple of years and as you can see by the wounds in the body I never ended up going that route.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Story of B.O.B.

My Goals for This Blog

2008-12-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

It's my plan to use this blog to chronicle my exploits in building, repairing, moding, and fabricating all things guitar.

I called it My Duct Tape Masterpieces, because that's what my first few projects have been.

Always a fan of renowned luthier, Eddie Van Halen, (insert knowing wink here) I started as a kid with modifying my guitars with whatever parts I could scrounge up. My very first project was to rattlecan paint my Harmony Strat copy my folks bought me for Christmas when I was fifteen. I mean, come on, what fifteen year old aspiring Metalhead wants a sunburst Strat copy? : )

Electrical mods, pick-up upgrades, neck swaps, you name it and I've done it over the years.

While I still like to piece things together from parts nobody ever intended to go together, I'm also finally in a postition to start designing and building my very own guitars from scratch.

So, in that spirit, I've started this blog to keep track of that journey and maybe there are folks out there in Cyberspace that are interested in what I'm doing. That'd be cool. : )