Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 11:00PM HARVESTER #14 CUSTOHM REDUX from harvester guitars on Vimeo.
... another late night noodle session from me ... doing my best guitar-shop strum to get the most sounds out of #14.
this time recorded straight into my little sony stills camera.
AP
Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 1:10AM thinking ahead to the Sassafras batch, i've invested some time and funds into casting my own plastic parts ...
and took the time to try out some pickups from the very clever Mick at Manlius Pickups in Syracuse NY.
above is his Rod P90 style and here are his Goatmasters ( skinny little Jazzmaster bobbins in a P90 shape and with fender rods ) in my tortoise shell covers ...
as you can see i loaded them into my old faithful #14 and then i played guitar for 4 and a half hours ... bad for my productivity today, but delightful, touch sensitive pickups with a sensational neck sound especially in this guitar.
resin knobs and switch tips to follow !
the possibilities are mindless ...
cheers, Anthony
Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 1:56AM Amid all the repairs, I've started a new autumn tangent - a batch of bolt-neck guitars.
Just because I make mostly set-neck instruments doesn't mean I don't love a well executed bolt-on. My favourite axe around the house lately ( and in recent recordings ) has been my 1966 Mustang, there's something about a tight little guitar like that that cuts through the mix everytime.
There's not much of an argument to be had on 'screws vs glues' in my opinion, my set neck guitars certainly have a 'feel' about them, a solidity that comes from the 'oneness' ( ? ) of their form, but I know that two timber halves of the guitar equation when held in compression with steel screws certainly sing. There's 6 decades of snappy bolted together electric guitars to speak for that.
Here's some of the timber for this project ...
Blackheart Sassafras from reclaimed forest floor stock - ex: Tasmania.
These slabs are showing the typically dramatic spalting that is this timber's glorious trademark, not only that - it's light and ringing and was cut 20 - 40 years ago.
These planks are just made for something a little slabby and simple like my new ( familiar but different ? ) 'Moon' design.
I have to work around the knots and faults in the reclaimed timber.
There'll be nothing reliced or particularly vintage about these guitars, I'm aiming for clean and simple ( yet again ) and I'll be investing in some different hardware, some of which I'll have to make of course.
Looking into laser-cutting for some Harvester neck plates and resin casting my own pickup covers.
In the meantime I have a few more Simpletone designs to complete.
Cheers, Anthony
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 10:55PM many repairs completed and some new ones started ...
here's a few that have darkened the doorstep of my workshop lately.
a rare 1965 Gibson Non Reverse Firebird XII - smashed.
a rickety old German cat-eye jazzgitarre - cracking up.
a delightful 1966 jaguar ( Sonic refin ) with the insidious 'fretboard lift' up at the dusty end of the board.
( i didn't cut the binding, i think someone's been fishing under that end of the board before me )
restringing a Czech double bass with Velvet strings ( they're a little fatter than most and require some setting up )
fiddling with the switches inside my old Eko 1100 the night before a bass gig ( i just had to have that spaghetti bass sound ).
another Italian job to set-up. this one's a Crucianelli Elite ( 1965 )
there's been many more looking for love lately, now back to some guitarmaking !
cheers, AP
Saturday, February 5, 2011 at 11:06AM Harvester #19
Simpletone Series
25" scale
21 medium jumbo frets
TV Jones Magna'tron
White Beech body/neck
Ebony board
*more pix here
still undergoing some polishing and tweaking, i'll post a video next week.
other than that, i've done a lot of very satisfying set-ups and mods this week & have photographed some of the more interesting jobs.
*you can see a few of them here
cheers, AP
