Finally My Dearest Old Friend Gets Her Voice And Playability Back !
- Thread starter crusty philtrum
- Start date
Rand-O-Monium
New member
Re: Finally My Dearest Old Friend Gets Her Voice And Playability Back !
Love Happy Endings!!!!
Nice!
Love Happy Endings!!!!
Nice!
daan
New member
Re: Finally My Dearest Old Friend Gets Her Voice And Playability Back !
That's awesome. I've always been intrigued by headless guitars, and I suppose you can get them easily enough today because they're so out-of-fashion. Had EVH played a Steiny (all the time, not just the 1 or 2 pics I saw of him weilding one live) nobody'd be paying 10K for a Franky copy today...
A good friend bought a Steiny bass when they were new. He still has it, it still plays great and sounds good. Of course it helps that he's in a semi-ironic 80's cover band... He told me when he bought it (84) it was either the Steiny or a Camaro, the price was the same.
Did you have trouble getting someone to custom-build your guitar, because it wasn't a "traditional" type design, or was it easy to talk the guy into taking it on?
That's awesome. I've always been intrigued by headless guitars, and I suppose you can get them easily enough today because they're so out-of-fashion. Had EVH played a Steiny (all the time, not just the 1 or 2 pics I saw of him weilding one live) nobody'd be paying 10K for a Franky copy today...
A good friend bought a Steiny bass when they were new. He still has it, it still plays great and sounds good. Of course it helps that he's in a semi-ironic 80's cover band... He told me when he bought it (84) it was either the Steiny or a Camaro, the price was the same.
Did you have trouble getting someone to custom-build your guitar, because it wasn't a "traditional" type design, or was it easy to talk the guy into taking it on?
crusty philtrum
Vintageologist
Re: Finally My Dearest Old Friend Gets Her Voice And Playability Back !
I knew the original Washburn instrument was made from some kind of very cheap, lightweight wood, most of the tone was probably coming from the massive brass bridge/ tuner system and the pickups. I'd often thought how good it would be to have the body/ neck duplicated by a luthier using some good tonewood, but I knew it would cost a bucket of money, which I didn't have. But in 1991 when I moved south from Sydney to Melbourne, I met and became friends with a guy who played guitar and worked in the area of fine machine work. He was kind of obsessive about whatever he turned his mind and skills to, and he got the bug to build himself a Telecaster.
He used to stay back in the workshop after work and used their facilities to build several Tele's after sourcing some great woods and parts. And I mean he really built them, he built the necks and even went to the beaches to find shells, which he'd machine to make the fret dot markers ! The first couple were thinline bodies. The quality of even his first one was stunning. I used to visit him at the workshop when he was working on the guitars, and told him I had a project in mind that was a little different, and I would pay him (I ended up building him a tube amp as well as giving him some cash).
I went away and drew a full-size drawing of the fretboard, bridge and tuner system ... basically the whole guitar but without the body outline. I was thinking that this was the ideal opportunity to change the body shape if I wanted, although I still wanted to keep it small and portable like the original, but get a bit more wood in there. Basically I drew a Les Paul, with a line straight across the middle of the body, between the two pickups. Then I scaled the two halves down by different ammounts and free-handed the lines to get the shape you see now.
The next day I excitedly visited him with this big piece of paper with my life-size plan, and told him the greatest feature of the original instrument was the neck profile, and I wanted the new neck to replicate the original perfectly. Over a period of months, I'd mark up the various cuts and routing sections, and he'd do the machine work (in between building Tele's, as he was starting to build them for clients by this stage). Many long evenings were spent discussing very fine details before he'd commit to cutting or routing anything ... this guy was an absolute perfectionist.
The story of the flame top is interesting .... he'd had some tonewoods sent down from a supplier up in Sydney, including a bookmatched maple top for one of his Tele builds. But it had some ugly flaws that would have appeared around the edges of a Tele top, and the seller wouldn't take it back. He was furious, and sat it next to his fireplace, with the intention of burning it next time the weather got cold. One night we were sitting in his loungeroom, deeply discussing various aspects of my guitar build in the early stages. All of a sudden he leapt up and said "I think I've got the perfect top for your guitar !" and he ran to the fireplace and came back with the two-piece flame top with the flaws. He took the clear perspex (lucite ?) routing pattern he'd made for the mini-LP body and laid it on the maple, and sure enough ... the smaller-than-normal body meant he could use the central part of the maple, the flaws were closer to the edges, and would not intrude, they'd be machined away on my project! We were both overjoyed, he would finally be able to use the wood that had otherwise been a complete waste of money, and I'd get an awesome flame top !
I was very lucky, because if it hadn't been a friend doing this, it would have cost serious money to have had something made to this standard. It would have been beyond anything I could have afforded. It was all just pure luck really ... as soon as I saw his first Tele build, I knew this guy would be able to do something like this for me, and that it would be something really special. The fact that I had some input all through the project (I carved the top) made it even better.
Sadly it was one of the last instruments he built, as he became involved with hard drugs and messed his life up. He moved away and spent years living a messed-up existence, but eventually he started making a few things again. I haven't heard from him for years. But I've always treasured this instrument, and it was always my number one until the wear in the bridge rollers became evident. But even during that time, this guitar would always be near me at home, reminding me to keep searching for a solution. I'm just so thrilled that I have finally found a way to restore her to her full glory because she's an amazing playing and sounding instrument, and we share a long history together. You can miss some instruments, but I positively ached for a few years whilst this one lost her tone and playability.
In fact I think I'm going to buy another one of those ABM roller bridges just so I can have a spare set of roller saddles stashed away ... just in case ... probably never need them, but ... ya know .... peace of mind.
I knew the original Washburn instrument was made from some kind of very cheap, lightweight wood, most of the tone was probably coming from the massive brass bridge/ tuner system and the pickups. I'd often thought how good it would be to have the body/ neck duplicated by a luthier using some good tonewood, but I knew it would cost a bucket of money, which I didn't have. But in 1991 when I moved south from Sydney to Melbourne, I met and became friends with a guy who played guitar and worked in the area of fine machine work. He was kind of obsessive about whatever he turned his mind and skills to, and he got the bug to build himself a Telecaster.
He used to stay back in the workshop after work and used their facilities to build several Tele's after sourcing some great woods and parts. And I mean he really built them, he built the necks and even went to the beaches to find shells, which he'd machine to make the fret dot markers ! The first couple were thinline bodies. The quality of even his first one was stunning. I used to visit him at the workshop when he was working on the guitars, and told him I had a project in mind that was a little different, and I would pay him (I ended up building him a tube amp as well as giving him some cash).
I went away and drew a full-size drawing of the fretboard, bridge and tuner system ... basically the whole guitar but without the body outline. I was thinking that this was the ideal opportunity to change the body shape if I wanted, although I still wanted to keep it small and portable like the original, but get a bit more wood in there. Basically I drew a Les Paul, with a line straight across the middle of the body, between the two pickups. Then I scaled the two halves down by different ammounts and free-handed the lines to get the shape you see now.
The next day I excitedly visited him with this big piece of paper with my life-size plan, and told him the greatest feature of the original instrument was the neck profile, and I wanted the new neck to replicate the original perfectly. Over a period of months, I'd mark up the various cuts and routing sections, and he'd do the machine work (in between building Tele's, as he was starting to build them for clients by this stage). Many long evenings were spent discussing very fine details before he'd commit to cutting or routing anything ... this guy was an absolute perfectionist.
The story of the flame top is interesting .... he'd had some tonewoods sent down from a supplier up in Sydney, including a bookmatched maple top for one of his Tele builds. But it had some ugly flaws that would have appeared around the edges of a Tele top, and the seller wouldn't take it back. He was furious, and sat it next to his fireplace, with the intention of burning it next time the weather got cold. One night we were sitting in his loungeroom, deeply discussing various aspects of my guitar build in the early stages. All of a sudden he leapt up and said "I think I've got the perfect top for your guitar !" and he ran to the fireplace and came back with the two-piece flame top with the flaws. He took the clear perspex (lucite ?) routing pattern he'd made for the mini-LP body and laid it on the maple, and sure enough ... the smaller-than-normal body meant he could use the central part of the maple, the flaws were closer to the edges, and would not intrude, they'd be machined away on my project! We were both overjoyed, he would finally be able to use the wood that had otherwise been a complete waste of money, and I'd get an awesome flame top !
I was very lucky, because if it hadn't been a friend doing this, it would have cost serious money to have had something made to this standard. It would have been beyond anything I could have afforded. It was all just pure luck really ... as soon as I saw his first Tele build, I knew this guy would be able to do something like this for me, and that it would be something really special. The fact that I had some input all through the project (I carved the top) made it even better.
Sadly it was one of the last instruments he built, as he became involved with hard drugs and messed his life up. He moved away and spent years living a messed-up existence, but eventually he started making a few things again. I haven't heard from him for years. But I've always treasured this instrument, and it was always my number one until the wear in the bridge rollers became evident. But even during that time, this guitar would always be near me at home, reminding me to keep searching for a solution. I'm just so thrilled that I have finally found a way to restore her to her full glory because she's an amazing playing and sounding instrument, and we share a long history together. You can miss some instruments, but I positively ached for a few years whilst this one lost her tone and playability.
In fact I think I'm going to buy another one of those ABM roller bridges just so I can have a spare set of roller saddles stashed away ... just in case ... probably never need them, but ... ya know .... peace of mind.
Last edited:
Laughing Kookaburra
New member
Re: Finally My Dearest Old Friend Gets Her Voice And Playability Back !
Yeah, with ya on digging headless guitars. Easy on a tight stage too.
Yeah, with ya on digging headless guitars. Easy on a tight stage too.
