Back to the shop

OK, I'm back from a 2 week vacation and what do I do when I return to the shop?
SAND! This time with water, though. The eb0 is now prepped and ready for paint. Hopefully I will be posting painting process pics next week. It's hard to finish this with just 3 hours at the shop a week, but I have to take what I can get.

While I was gone Don worked on getting his shop's electricity finished up in the spray booth as well as a bunch of acoustic repairs. Now that I'm back , I can urge him to get crackin' on the new Bells and the Tele proto for Brett.

eb0 headstock and prep / back to the Bells!

Did some painting last night. Sprayed the headstock and then had to scrape away to the inlays underneath. I was quite a calming bit of work. There's something about scraping that lets you tune out the rest of the world as you focus on the job in front of you.


Also did the final 2 coats of clear before the black goes on. Oh, of course there's some sanding to do before we paint it, but that will have to wait until I'm back from vacation.


We have developed a new method for fusing the wood to the acrylic which will create a stronger bond and a much cleaner look. This took developing a vice-like tool for the CNC machine to simulate 3d cutting. Don's a visionary, for sure. So this means we are back to the Bells after a long stint of repair work. There's really no telling when the guitars will be ready, but it'll definately be before the next guitar show. We should be rolling out 4 models. A V, JazzBlaster, Tele, and Explorer. Then development begins on some original shapes of mine in the fall.

Here's the tool created to cut the new fusing system.

Prince Oz Guitar is complete and gone!

Oz came by and picked up the guitar on Tuesday evening. "Wow" was his first word, just as I told Don it would be. He arrived with bandmates Paul D. and Jon, and they were taken aback as well. Everyone played it and talked about the strange size of it (Prince size). Oz could not have been happier and we can't wait to see it live. Prince, come get you one...

Prince, eb0 and the future...

OK. Last night was fun. The Prince Cloud guitar is almost done and it's looking sharp! Waiting on the white 'bucker to arrive. Tick... Tock... Also need to put the truss rod cover on with the Bell logo. The neck pup is cool cause it's installed from below. No need for a mounting plate.





Well, exciting times for the oh, so slow eb0 transformation. Another sanding and coating. This is the second time and it'll require one more round of spraying and sanding before it's ready for paint. This finish should be smooth as glass...

Back in the saddle

Alright! I'm going back out to the shop tomorrow to resume a somewhat normal schedule of building the Bells!

Thems lots of repairs, there.

The new stock of Bell's (2nd generation Jazzblasters, Vs, and 1st generation Explorers and Teles) are being forced onto the shelf for a little while while Don gets a ton of repairs done. Just look at the pile! Wish I could help out more, but these guitars are generally old, acoustic, and or valuable and I'm impatient and shaky! That one on the ground is one of two shipped over from Austria. It's valued at about $40,000. There's a sticker on the back of the pups that reads "patent applied for". Obviously it needs a neck!


The Cloud Clone is coming along as is the Gibson eb0 refurbishing. Both were sprayed with clear last night in prep for more sanding (of course) and color.

Back to work!

I did some sanding and masking so that after we spray some paint on it I can sand and mask again. Did I mention there's a whole lot of sanding that goes on at the shop? The neck is taped off because I'm not painting it. I don't really like the feel af the painted neck.


Don was working on the Prince Cloud Clone. Getting close!