wilderness

a collection of writings for the obsessive guitarist

[mclamuth-blog]

63 Telecaster Heavy Relic

Fender Custom Shop on the left, mine on the right.

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My journey into CNC guitar building pt.1

It recently occurred to me that I should be making the most of my makerspace membership and log some hours with the ShopBot. Having a theoretical understanding of the CNC process unfortunately isn’t enough, I need practical hands on application time. And since it has been too long since I’ve churned out something cool I figure there is no time like the present to dive in and CNC a simple guitar body, trial by fire.

To kick things off I’m sketching some of my existing templates and will scan them into my CAD program.

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2006 Gibson Custom Shop SG Standard

In 2013 I traveled down to LA to see a Matchless DC30 previously owned by Billy Duffy from The Cult.The owner at the time, Ricky Mahler of Circus Of Power fame and go to guy in LA for all things vintage and boutique gear was kind enough to invite me into his studio to demo the amp. Ricky plugged in and kicked out a few riffs with this 2006 Gibson Custom Shop SG Standard and right away I was sold, not only on the amp but also the guitar. As it turns out it was also part of Billy’s collection and had been out on tour with The Cult on the 2006 Return To Wild Tour and was played by rhythm guitarist Mike Dimkich.

This story unlike so many had a fairy tale ending in that I was able to leave with both the amp and this beauty.

Check out Mike Dimkich rock out with the guitar in the Live From NYC DVD.

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EVH Rude Project kickoff

Edward Van Halen’s “Rude” guitar has always been one of my favorites among his early collection of super strat partscasters, only second to his black and yellow Charvel. The guitar appeared briefly sometime around 1981 and was retired shortly thereafter. Of all of his early guitars this one may be most challenging to recreate due to its unusual dimensions and paint scheme.

So when I recently had the opportunity to bid on this mahogany body I made sure to snatch it up.

This one does seem to resemble the dimensions of the original which are a bit unusual in that the overall thickness of the body is closer to 2″, not 1.75″. As with the original the pickup cavity had also been routed completely through into the tremolo spring cavity. The rear control cavity is an odd diamond shape that I’ve not seen before, and as well the belly contour has a deep cut alas the old Boogie Bodies guitars.

Sprayed on a few coats of sealer to stabilize the body. From here I’ll do a rough build to make sure the neck and bridge align.

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EVH Charvel Black and Yellow Project

Here is another old project from 2013. Specs: Musikraft Charvel Strat Ash Body w/ Rear Bumblebee control route & Musikraft Birdseye Franky neck w/ rounded Strat style heel.

Some prep work shots of my favorite part of the project… yes, grain filling and sealing the ash body. Here are some before shots.

Here is a close up shot to show the filled grain.

Followed up grain filling with some more sealer coats.

Laying on the yellow.

With a few minor tweaks in Photoshop I was able to lock in the template with the body using an LCD projector. Whoever came up with this overlay idea, that person is a genius.

And here it is painted black with the yellow stripes. The original pictured on the left for reference.

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Here is a project I completed from the spring of 2012. I had this alder body wrapped in faux snakeskin. The birdseye maple neck was custom made by Scott Smith. The humbucker is a Bare Knuckle VHII and the bridge is an original German Floyd Rose. 

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Here is a quick fix for removing imperfections on a bare guitar body. For smaller divots like this one the job should take no more than 5-10 minutes.

First, heat up your soldering iron. Then place a damp cotton rag over the damaged area. Next, roll the soldering iron back and forth over the damp rag covering the imperfection. You should hear the sizzle of the soldering iron making contact with the damp rag. Be sure not to leave the soldering iron in one place for more than a few seconds otherwise you risk burning the wood.

Finally, lightly sand back the raised grain with 220 grit paper.

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My old Superstrat partscaster recently made an appearance in this Pete Thorn EVH 5150 Overdrive gear demo. A lot of folks have asked about what is in the guitar so here is a quick rundown. The body and neck both come from Musikraft. The body has all of the EVH pickup routes and is cut from a heavy northern ash. The neck is a two piece birdseye maple construction and has an aged oil finish. The tuning machines are original vintage West German Schallers. It also has an original vintage Floyd Rose tremolo which sits flush on the body. The pickup is a Motorcity 2nd Degree Blackbelt which is directly mounted into the body alas EVH. The pickguard is custom cut from Warmoth. And lastly, the paint job is all nitrocellulose.

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I know this guitar. It was among one of the first I painted, aged, and assembled. I posted a build thread here back in 2013. Humbled to see it featured in several of Pete Thorn’s gear demos. 

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Trying out Reranch vintage cream.