ShortScale.org

Hello all,

I haven't posted here in a quite a while, but I just completed a guitar project and thought I would share it with you. Hope no one minds a random run-in from me after such long inactivity on here. This is my first guitar project in nearly three years -- my aluminium Telecaster has been broken in half a few times and I figured it's time to retire it; so I built a new guitar!

This one was inspired by mid-century Porsche and Jaguar race cars. There are tamper-proof screws all over, which were used on German race cars during the 1930s.

Like the Telecaster that I built almost 4 years ago, it started out as a Squier Bullet that was laying around. I love the necks on these things, and the bridge and middle pickups are great as well. The body is aluminium, semi-hollow, with a wooden inner to hold the pickups and bridge. The neck is wood, with an aluminium headstock. It's basically a hollow aluminium piece built around the existing wooden headstock, just for aesthetics. I don't mess with woodwork, so this was easier for me and it's seamless, so you can't tell.

This is probably my favourite build in terms of appearance, playability and sound. It has a great metallic tone, you would think the entire thing was made of aluminium; especially when a metal pick is used.

Like most of my other guitars, I put it through what I call the "In Utero test". In Utero is my favourite "rock guitar" album. If it doesn't sound good or add something great to In Utero when playing along with it, then it needs adjusting. So, that's what is going on in the last photo.

Here it is:

You are the cleverest sausage - love your work.

Post more x

Yeah totally ^^

Lovely work as always.

INB4 someone says 'OUTPUT'

Dave wrote:Yeah totally ^^

Lovely work as always.

INB4 someone says 'OUTPUT'

Ha, I suppose it could be either, no? But, that never even occurred to me!

And before someone says it, I realise there is a tuner screw that is not completely tightened... It's so much easier to notice those things AFTER you take photos! It's fixed now.

Haha I'm just referencing historical debates here where someone has called it 'input' and then a huge debate occurs and a lynching from the Output fundamentalists happens.

Me personally, I really don't much care what people call it. I just call it 'the hole'. Non sexually, I hasten to add.

Either way It looks great. LOVE those knobs.

Thanks! I made them from scratch. They aren't perfect, but they get the job done.

And I didn't know of such a debate, but that doesn't surprise me. A quick search shows both are commonly used. I guess it depends on how you look at it. Something is going in the jack, but something is also coming out.

man, that is pretty awesome! i have always loved your stuff. come on back for a while, stick around.

Narco Martenot wrote: This is probably my favourite build in terms of appearance, playability and sound. It has a great metallic tone, you would think the entire thing was made of aluminium; especially when a metal pick is used.

You could start a whole other debate with the "tone wood vs pickup" crowds with that statement.

Very nice. How does she weigh in? Could you share how she looks under the guard?

Thanks,

What an awesome looking guitar. Very very clever.

Wow. That's fantastic. Amazing work.

Can't view the pics at work but from your earlier work I might as well just get this out of the way:

Amazing.

Somebody could host the pics on the shortscale uploader so I can see them and my compliment can actually be valid?

[youtube][/youtube]

well done mate, thats fucking beautiful.

Just by seeing the author I knew that this was going to be awesome before I even clicked in the link. I wasn't disappointed.
What is the pickup?

Beautiful work as per usual

oh that's lovely.

i keep checking back with this. i love the style, it gives me that "jetsons" vibe, sorta 1950's space oddity or something. i just fucking dig it man. thats what i was trying to do with dwarfcraft, but i could never get it right, you did! bravo!

Fuck. That is amazing. Video of you playing it? I really want to hear how it sounds.

Thanks everyone!

I didn't take any photos under the pickguard before I put it together, sorry. Honestly, it's not pretty so I doubt anyone will ever see it.

It weighs 9.5 pounds.

I'm sure a lot of people will laugh at this, but pickups are stock Bullet bridge and middle single coils, joined together magnetically. I really love those, but hate the neck PU so I left that one out. They appear to be a humbucker under the cover, but they are wired normally as single coils -- same thing I did for the Telecaster. Each PU has an on/off switch. I would think that joining two single coils together magnetically like that would affect the tone, but it did nothing. Same with the aluminium cover hiding the pole pieces -- it did absolutely nothing to the tone or volume. I did lots of testing with this as I really did not want the poles showing, and I was afraid the cover would kill the tone.

Tone myth debates... Yeah. There's a lot going on here that might make those people scratch their heads.