When I'm not writing, playing or recording music, I like to pretend I'm a luthier. This was a recent kit build (not really a luthier) of a Thoman Jazzmaster guitar. Plays and sounds better than I ever expected.
Good news! I got some time back to make progress on the RA-350 and I finally figured out how I can finish the neck. I also started Tru Oiling the body. It’s gonna be nice, not perfect but nice! Can’t wait!
I think this week the time will arrive. My second 1970’s guitar, my 1979 Gibson ES-335 Pro, may be ready for it’s trip to the shop. I am going to give them a call and see if they can help me bring this baby back to life.
I put my ’78 Les Paul Custom into the shop a few months ago to get the frets replaced. I was scared to have the work done, but I should not have been. The results were fantastic. I am so pleased. Now I need to have the 335 looked at. The frets are in better shape than they were on the Les Paul, but they are still pretty bad. I expect it’s time to have them replaced.
This time there is a second issue at play though. The electronics are in rough shape. The last time I used this guitar at a Lizardfish show the signal cut out and wouldn’t come back. That had happened off stage a few times in the past but once it happened in front of people? Yeah, that’s bad. If you can’t rely on the electronics, what good is the instrument? It may be time to replace the wiring harness. If they can salvage what’s there, meaning clean it up and maybe re-solder some of it, then that is fine. If they can’t save it, then I’ll need it replaced, and hopefully I can get a good 50’s style wiring schematic installed. I don’t want to change the pickups on this guitar. 335 Pros come stock with Gibson Dirty Fingers pickups which are the meanest, nastiest, dirtiest Gibson pickups ever. They are punk rock machines. The wiring and the pots though… we’ll see.
I am planning on calling the shop either tomorrow or Tuesday to see if we can schedule a slot for me to bring it in and see what they can do for me. I am still nervous about this, but given my last experience I am more excited than scared.
Some dodgy playing on the new telecaster, had to figure out how to record video, and audio via Ableton, then edit it all in resolve.. All that took a while.
Always end up playing like a robot when I am recording myself :/
#Guitar build progress, mostly assembled, strung, some issues to sort..
Classic jack socket sucks so swapping for an electrosocket or something, still not got the front which pickups mounted right, also need to add string tree
Finished this one today! Most of this #guitar is #upcycled. The red oak neck is dovetailed to the body, which used to be a chair in my parents' house. The head came from the foot of their table. Ironic!
Walnut and sycamore inlay, wenge fretboard and knobs. I designed and 3d printed the pickups. Magnets are from an old toy, wound by an #Arduino winder I designed. The steel "wings"/pickup mounts were cut from an old PC case. The steel on the head was a spare IKEA part.