Build #1: Finally, Some progress

As I mentioned in my earlier post, today I got the headstock done, thanks to my boss' husband John.

Here is the final product:

Now, the next step was attaching the neck to the body.  Thanks to a generous amount of glue and some clamps, I am one step closer to having a functional guitar!

So now, its a matter of waiting for the glue to set.  Luckily, since the humidity has gone way down, this shouldn't take a crazy long amount of time... and then I'll be able to sand, seal, prime, paint and assemble the rest of the guitar.  

Here's a song to keep you occupied in the mean time:

"That was just your Life" - Metallica

Build #1: The week is upon us

So, I stopped at guitar center Friday after work, and after playing a couple of the Les Pauls they had in stock, I became even more motivated to finish this build.

I will be getting the headstock shaped later today, and then gluing the neck to the body (already have the design penciled on the wood and ready to cut).

Once the neck has dried, I will be then preping, priming, painting, and clear coating the body.  This should hopefully all be done by Tuesday, but we'll see how things go.

Then, once the paint has finished drying, it'll be assembly / wiring time.   I'm hoping to have a finished and playable guitar by the end of the week.  :crosses fingers:

In other news, I am in the process of gathering parts for the refurbish project on my old Aria guitar.  I am thinking, rather than a brightly colored finish, going with a matte navy blue finish.  That, combined with black hardware, should produce a pretty slick looking guitar.

This has turned out to be quite a long, time consuming project, but in the end, the result will be amazing.  I know I'll enjoy it.  In the mean time, here's a song to listen to:

"Throes of Perdition" - Trivium

Refurbish Project #1: Restoring my old Aria Mac 50

So, a few weeks back, when I was home at my parents house, I came across the first guitar I spent my own money to purchase (I had received one before it as a gift).

The guitar?  A blue Aria Mac 50 (like the one below)

Well.  This guitar, purchased in ~2002/2003, has seen its better days.  The metal components on the guitar are tarnished, and the original gold finish is now mostly bare metal.  The finish of the guitar is scratched and nicked all over the place.  Needless to say, this guitar is in need of some TLC.

While I am still on the hunt for help with shaping the headstock of my Les Paul build, I have decided to begin refurbishing this guitar and making it my own.

Plan:

Step 1:  Refinish the body.   As for color?  I'm thinking a metallic green.  Something of this nature:

Step 2:  Electronics.  This guitar is the best of both worlds, the 3 pickup configuration gives you the warm tones of a strat when in the rhythm position but also the power of a Les Paul when playing in the lead position, it provides quite a plethora of tonal ranges.  I will likely go with the hottest single coils and humbucker I can find, and cover them with plastic covers to mimic the look of an EMG with without spending a small fortune on the refurb.

Step 3: Hardware.  Since the green is a light color, I will likely be going with black hardware again.  That is a black tremelo, black tuning heads, black knobs, black cable jack surround, etc.

Step 4: Assembly.  Since this guitar is a bolt on neck, assembling it is a breeze, and setting it up will likely be straight forward as well.


Something fun to do, I suppose :P  Check back for updates

Build #1: Headstock design selected, but still looking for help shaping the headstock

Unfortunately, not many of my friends or relatives are into woodworking...  So finding someone who can help me shape the headstock has led me to a standstill on the project.

However, I have decided on the headstock design.

Inverted Les Paul "Open Book" headstock 

The design is based on the Les Paul headstock, except the top design is inverted.  This, in my opinion, produces a much sleaker / stealty design, without going too crazy.


Let me know what you think.  (Sorry, my photoshop skills aren't the greatest...