My son is a mad keen guitar player and asked me to make him an electric guitar. 'How hard can that be?', I thought, '...just cut out a fancy shape and screw all the bits onto the front of it'.
WRONG!!!!!
What a nightmare job for a first-timer. He chose a style based on the late 50s Danelectro Twinhorn, with hardware to produce that twangy, west cost, surfing sound that we all probably best associate with the Beach Boys. Just to add a little difficulty, whereas the original Danelectro was a simple solid body with cavities machined through the front face for all the hardware, and then made to look presentable by covering it all with a flash bit of marbled plastic, he elected for me to be allowed to hollow out the body so that resonance chambers could add to the 'twang' and then to insert all the electrics from behind. Nightmare!
Anyway....some straight-grained ash was bought and machined, a pair of 1cm thick book-matched walnut facings were bought and it was all end-stacked for 4 months in an un-heated room, before work commenced. The lathe forgot that I existed and I resorted to listening to that awful screech of the router as I plunged and hollowed the body, then cut through to the underside to make an entry point for all the wiring. Me-laddo had originally thought of a full sunburst effect on the face, but no way was I going to lose all that beautiful walnut under several layers of paint, so I told him that he could settle for a black-sprayed rim and exposed grain on the face.
Must admit...we're well pleased....and yes, it did involve some turning in the end.... four small knobs for the volume and tone pots and a tiny cap for the rhythm switch.
The finish is 3 brush-coats cellulose, 3 brush-coats melamine, 2 coats black cellulose spray and 5 coats acrylic spray lacquer, followed by burnishing cream and polishing cream.
Can't wait to get back on the lathe...it was fun, but a hell of an intense week....quite a learning curve!
C&C always welcome!