Tuesday/Wednesday

The past two days have been pretty hectic. I finally just got my guitar buffed and set up today, which was pretty exciting to finally be able to play it. My acoustic is coming along, i got the fingerboard glued on and should be able to finish it tomorrow and be able to start french polishing the next day. I have more pictures!

Shes almost done!

Work!Work!Work!

Its crunch time! i finally got my neck glued in, and im doing a lot of small tedious work to finish up my electric. I'll get more pictures up soon!

Sunday

Today we had off alllll day. It gets pretty boring when you dont go to the shop, and i decided i need a hair cut. Because its sunday everything was closed, so i had john work his magic...i got me a mohawk!!

p.s. Dont worry mom i'll cut it off eventually!!

Fri/Sat.

So its officially crunch time, everyone is really hustling to get their guitar perfect for graduation. The last coat of clear went onto my guitar today, and the top was glued onto the back and sides of my acoustic. Next week ill make the cuts for the neck joint, glue on the bridge and fingerboard and it'll be practically done. Pictures...

1st: the electric with the last coat of clear. 2nd: top glued onto the back and sides of the guitar. 3rd: ebony bridge i made. 4th: braces glued onto the top with the go bar deck. 5th: top braces

Wednesday/Thursday

wednesday and today have been two kind of slow days. my acoustic was coming along pretty good, but i had to put a not so awesome rosette in my acoustics top. Also, i found some small cracks, and really rough patches in the back and sides, but i think it'll be ok.Here are some pictuers...

Tuesday!

Today i got a lot done! Lets see, I, made my top braces for the acoustic, glued on my back braces, got another few more clear coats on my electric, got a veneer glued onto my acoustic headstock, and got my top for my acoustic all glued up. Its almost crunch time, so there will be a lot of work ahead of us for the next two weeks. Here are some pictuers..
1st: back braces glued up in the go bar deck. 2nd: me and jon rockin out. 3rd: top braces. 4th: top for the acoustic being glued.

Monday

Today we had our first electronics wiring class. It was pretty interesting, and we got to wire up a pickguard to learn a few basics. The rest of the day we got to work on our builds and i got some more finishing touches done on the electric.

1st: Pickguard all wired up. 2nd: last color coat on my electric! 3rd: first of many braces to go on the back of my acoustic. I also got all my pickups and made a pickup ring out of maple!

Saturday!/Sunday

Saturday we got to work on our builds all day as usual, i got a lot done, including the first coat of color on my electric. We are doing a very subtle and natural looking burst, im really pleased with how its coming out. I also got my neck glued up for my acoustic, and the rest of the kerfing put on the sides, and even the braces that go on the back. Sunday is our day off so everyone usually just hangs out around the house, some people go to the shop for a few hours, but i like to enjoy my day off and not wear myself out.

Thursday/Friday

The past 2 days have been pretty busy prepping our guitars for the first couple coats of filler. Most of the filler gets sanded off after its dry, and it helps to seal the pores of the wood so it will give it a more even finish. Today we got a little lesson on winding our own pickups, which was really awesome, but kind of boring sitting there watching a wire go around 5000+ turns. I got the first coat sprayed on my guitar, and the wood looks amazing. Let me post some pictures to give you an idea..

1st/3rd: my guitar 2nd: neck blanks for the acoustic 4th: brian teaching us how to wind pickups 5th: Jons total at wendys!!

Wednesday

I got a lot done today on my build. Lets see, i drilled holes for the volume and tone knobs and countersunk them, drilled a hole for the input jack, did a lot of final sanding on the body so it will be ready for the spray booth, and even got the frets put in. I also got the chance to join my back for the acoustic, and bend the sides! I've decided on doing a very light translucent amber burst on the body, ( on my electric) so that i can still see the awesome birds eye's on the maple. Hopefully my stuff from stew mac will arrive tomorrow!! Here are some pics..
1st: Frets being clamped in overnight 2nd: Tim and I bending the rosewood sides for the acoustic

Monday/Tuesday

Today we pretty much worked on our builds all day. I worked on inlaying my initials on the headstock. it was pretty tedious work, but i got it done after about 2 and a half hours. its pretty hard to get those tiny little circles to match up. Nothing exciting has happened recently, so let me get some pictures up..

1st: initials inlayed roughly, still need to do some final sanding and filling. 2nd/3rd: my honduran rosewood back and sides for the acoustic. Tim said it looks and sounds an awful lot like brazilian rosewood (which is extremely difficult if not impossible to find)!! It sure does have some crazy figure to it huh?

Sunday!

Finally a day off. today was pretty exciting, me jon lee guy and jess went into the city to get lunch and walk around. There was actually a big block party that we walked around in for a while. We ending up eating at the hard rock cafe, and it sure put a hurtin on my wallet. 15$ for a cheeseburger! Anyway, we went back to the house and hung out for a bit and went to brian's bands show down in atlanta again. Brian's band (Armazilla) was pretty darn good, then a few other bands played that were pretty good too! We are finally back at the house around midnight and its definetly time for bed.

Block Party!!

Hard Rock Atlanta

Underground Atlanta (underground mall pretty much)

Music Hates You

ARMAZILLA!!!!!!

Saturday!

Today we got work on our builds pretty much all day again! i didn't really get much done because i glued the neck into my body and that has to dry overnight..Mostly i sat around and played guitar and got some small things done like mounting the pickguard and the bridge. The rest of the bigsby has to be screwed down on monday. For lunch tim and brian took all of us out to a mexican place (we called it little mexico). Needless to say it was pretty much all hispanic and no one really spoke great english. Anyway i got a chicken quesadilla (sp?) and it was pretty good. I also ordered a bunch of tools from stew mac so they should be coming in around wednesday! Next week should be pretty exciting. Here are a few pictures.




The first two pictures are of the neck being glued in and the bridge temporarily mounted. The last picture is on the drive to the mexican place.

Friday!

Today we got to work on our builds all day for some reason, but thats fine with me! i got a lot done today and feel pretty proud of myself. the guitar is coming out better than i expected! Let me get some pictures up and explain them...

Ok so the first 3 pictures are the inlay work i did this morning, its pretty tough to get those little pieces to fit exactly in there, so its teaching me a lot of patience. (we all know i need some of that!) The 4th picture is my guitar mocked up so you can get an idea of how it will look, those knobs are cut from the same board as the top of the guitar so they kind of blend in! The last 2 pictures are me routing out the cavity for the mini humbucker ill be installing!. its getting pretty close!! i cant wait!

Passed Few Days

So the passed two days have been pretty busy, during the repair part of the day we have been working on refretting and dressing the frets, making new bone nuts and saddles for them. As far as my build goes, i've been working on theneck pocket for 2 days, we managed mess it up not only once, but twice, so its come to a stand still almost. That will end today when i get it all finished up the right way. Oh yea, i also dressed up as one of the teachers to have a little fun around the shop. i went as far as to buy the pack of cigs he smokes and walk around with a pillow in my shirt, we even got a wig from walmart! the shirt says the name of his band, Armazilla!! it was pretty funny and i got to act like brian all day which was pretty fun. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

So the first one is gary helping jon out with his neck. The next one is brian and brian jr. The last picture is lee rocking out with his almost finished guitar, he sure does have a lot of energy, oh yea he's 21, doesnt he look like he's 16?! haha anyway i'll be sure to get some pictures of my build up soon.