ihavenothingprofoundtosay
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Happy Birthday, Jonn!
And hi everyone else viewing this!
So this is your new Ex-RD-bird (or "Exarghdeebird" - part Explorer, part RD, part Firebird, part Mockingbird), based on bunch of ideas I had and the resulting collisions with reality. I had the idea to build a guitar for you months ago, and I tried pretty hard to get as much info as I could about what you might want without tipping you off. I don't remember exactly what I was thinking of building when I first had the thought, but we talked once about how you wanted your next guitar to be something way different than what you already had, and you mentioned a Firebird or Explorer. I figured something Gibson-ish would be a good contrast to your all Fender herd, so I had a good idea where to go.
The build thread is here and as you can see, I started with the RD shape, then went through a few variations on the shape. The neck is a 59 roundback, modeled on a 59 Les Paul, and 24.75" scale, so it's quite Gibson-y feeling. Mahogany neck, with an Indian rosewood fretboard, and 6130 ("low, wide"), also very typically Gibson style features. The body is all mahogany as well, finished in TruOil varnish. I wasn't sure about a regular Tune-O-Matic, or the recessed, but recessed with a through body was such a cool & different look I just had to do it.
The final shape is somewhere between the 3 Gibsons, with a bit of a Mockingbird shape of the lower horn. I had some problems (see here) with the neck heel, and had to reshape that as well, so hopefully that feels decent. The body might be a little strange in it's shape, and if you want to get a regular output jack along the side of the body, I can understand. The output jack on the control plate was an idea I saw on this discussion board (anyone else remember who did that?), and I thought it might be cool for a guitar that gets played on stage a bunch. You might not like it - it's possible to change that if you want.
For the parts, I was trying to do as high-end as possible without going nuts, and wanted to get an entirely made-in-USA guitar if I could. With the exception of the MIJ Gotoh TOM bridge, all the major parts are MIA! The hardware (knobs, switch, output jack, tuners, pots) is all Carvin, and the bridge pickup is their S22B. The neck pickup is a Seymour Duncan Phatcat - a P90 in a humbucker mount.
I was actually thinking the S22 would be the crunchy, bassy pickup and the P90 a jangle-y, rowdy sound. Totally the other way around (the placement probably helps.) Granted, I just played clean through my acoustic amp, but the P90 sounds smooth & very bass-heavy, while the S22 sounds clear and sparkly. Sorry Warmoth forumites, I didn't have a chance to get samples recorded. It sounds pretty damn great, though.
I adjusted the truss rod & intonated the strings to standard tuning, but I expect it's going to be a little off after the trip down to California ( I also loosened them for shipping, so they should all be floppy when you first open the case). I'll bring along my truss rod tool & we can borrow some of Dad's tiny screw drivers to re-set that when I'm down there in December. Sorry if you don't like the flatwounds on it right now - an easy enough fix if you want to switch to your regular strings; just be sure to save them - they last forever, and won't gather junk in the grooves like roundwounds.
There's a bunch of stuff that I learned along the way building from "scratch + 10" (the pre-routed blank and professionally built neck from Warmoth are hardly "from scratch"), and a handful of things I would have done totally different knowing now what I did when I started. I totally understand if it's not for you - there's lots of parts that can be swapped around.
Or you could keep this one, sell a few Fenders and I build you a new Telecaster to your exact specifications….
; )
I'm glad your guitar playing enables my love of guitar building. Happy Birthday, little bro! And thanks everyone else for all the excellent tips, ideas, and advice along the way!
And hi everyone else viewing this!
So this is your new Ex-RD-bird (or "Exarghdeebird" - part Explorer, part RD, part Firebird, part Mockingbird), based on bunch of ideas I had and the resulting collisions with reality. I had the idea to build a guitar for you months ago, and I tried pretty hard to get as much info as I could about what you might want without tipping you off. I don't remember exactly what I was thinking of building when I first had the thought, but we talked once about how you wanted your next guitar to be something way different than what you already had, and you mentioned a Firebird or Explorer. I figured something Gibson-ish would be a good contrast to your all Fender herd, so I had a good idea where to go.
The build thread is here and as you can see, I started with the RD shape, then went through a few variations on the shape. The neck is a 59 roundback, modeled on a 59 Les Paul, and 24.75" scale, so it's quite Gibson-y feeling. Mahogany neck, with an Indian rosewood fretboard, and 6130 ("low, wide"), also very typically Gibson style features. The body is all mahogany as well, finished in TruOil varnish. I wasn't sure about a regular Tune-O-Matic, or the recessed, but recessed with a through body was such a cool & different look I just had to do it.
The final shape is somewhere between the 3 Gibsons, with a bit of a Mockingbird shape of the lower horn. I had some problems (see here) with the neck heel, and had to reshape that as well, so hopefully that feels decent. The body might be a little strange in it's shape, and if you want to get a regular output jack along the side of the body, I can understand. The output jack on the control plate was an idea I saw on this discussion board (anyone else remember who did that?), and I thought it might be cool for a guitar that gets played on stage a bunch. You might not like it - it's possible to change that if you want.
For the parts, I was trying to do as high-end as possible without going nuts, and wanted to get an entirely made-in-USA guitar if I could. With the exception of the MIJ Gotoh TOM bridge, all the major parts are MIA! The hardware (knobs, switch, output jack, tuners, pots) is all Carvin, and the bridge pickup is their S22B. The neck pickup is a Seymour Duncan Phatcat - a P90 in a humbucker mount.
I was actually thinking the S22 would be the crunchy, bassy pickup and the P90 a jangle-y, rowdy sound. Totally the other way around (the placement probably helps.) Granted, I just played clean through my acoustic amp, but the P90 sounds smooth & very bass-heavy, while the S22 sounds clear and sparkly. Sorry Warmoth forumites, I didn't have a chance to get samples recorded. It sounds pretty damn great, though.
I adjusted the truss rod & intonated the strings to standard tuning, but I expect it's going to be a little off after the trip down to California ( I also loosened them for shipping, so they should all be floppy when you first open the case). I'll bring along my truss rod tool & we can borrow some of Dad's tiny screw drivers to re-set that when I'm down there in December. Sorry if you don't like the flatwounds on it right now - an easy enough fix if you want to switch to your regular strings; just be sure to save them - they last forever, and won't gather junk in the grooves like roundwounds.
There's a bunch of stuff that I learned along the way building from "scratch + 10" (the pre-routed blank and professionally built neck from Warmoth are hardly "from scratch"), and a handful of things I would have done totally different knowing now what I did when I started. I totally understand if it's not for you - there's lots of parts that can be swapped around.
Or you could keep this one, sell a few Fenders and I build you a new Telecaster to your exact specifications….
; )
