Show Countdown Update #12

This red guitar here will be a stunner. Fo Sho.

See the way the reflection grabs the grain of the wood. I think that it'll make for good contrast against the plexi. Don does, too. We may not put the glass top on some of these. We'll see.

Getting there.

These will make the show, too.

This one's candy apple red.

Well, see ya later.

Show Countdown Update #11

So I did some more wiring last night. I will do more on Wednesday and hopefully be done wiring the show guitars. More wiring is ahead, however, as we must also build the harnesses for the LEDs.

Checking the fit for the ToneBlaster bodies.

Don was spraying while I was wiring. These are the ash guitars. Butterscotch, cherry, and white.
Bell a Blaster not pictured here, as it was receiving special treatment.

The cherry will look very nice.

Show Countdown Update #10

Remember this custom 7 built for Andy? It was in a fire. Don's gonna make it all better again. Should be good as new when the work is done. Sorry about the fire, Andy.

The body.

Yesterday I finished the white LED wiring and wired some switches for the JazzBlasters and ToneBlasters.

These are the ash bodies just hanging around waiting for paint.

I'll be wiring the pots, input and switches like this tomorrow.

Show Countdown Update #9

These JazzBlasters are masked for paint.

I spent my night making the rest of the LED fittings for the show guitars.

Don masked this ToneBlaster guitar to the tune of Chocolate and Cheese... by Ween.

Show Countdown Update #8

I prepared 40 white super bright light emitting diodes that will be used in the show guitars.

It took about 3 hours to make all of these. Trim, trim, trim, splice, splice, bend, twist, twist, solder, solder, trim, trim, test, shrink tube, shrink tube, repeat. 80 more to go!

Don adjusting the pup routing template to fit the Bell-a-Blaster for Brett's hardware.

Here are the the routed JazzBlasters for the show.

Don completing the routes for the Bell-a-Blaster.

We will be painting very soon. Monday, hopefully.

Countdown post #7...

Don spent most of his time sanding and polishing last week while I was out. The new batch of guitars look like glass! Shown here are four JazzBlasters and two SST's.

Now they feel and look like guitars instead of just parts. Don began shaping the neck joins and routing for the pickups last night. The new neck join is VERY comfy and looks fluid, too (I'll photograph this for you on Saturday and include it in the next blog). I sanded the remaining guitar bodies that don't have necks yet. Although I spent 3 hours sanding, I probably only got about half the work done. We go through tons of sandpaper. 6 different grits for each guitar, I believe.

A little more work

Here's the 12th fret graphic for Brett's Bell-A-Blaster. We machined the pearl because of the minute details. It's full of epoxy and glue right here.

Now it's had the fret slots widened, the fret wire cut, frets set, glued, trimmed and sanded. Just about to be glued to the neck.

Don sands and shapes a neck for one of the guitars. An SST, I think.

Countdown Update #6...

Some necks are fit to their bodies.

One SST will be the worlds first and last Bell-A-Blaster.

We surfaced about 10 headstocks last night. Next they get ears and then they can mate.

Here are some necks. I filed two fretboard edges last night. Wow. I know. Right?

Last night my wife told my two year old offspring she was cleaning the funk out of his toes.
This morning he asked me if I could "Peas get da fuk out da toes". "Hell yes", I said.