Flamed Maple pickguard for MY strat

OK, I don't see pictures of the pickguard here on the blog, I know I have them on my facebook site "liveedge guitars" but not here??  Well......Here it is.  I don't know why more people don't have custom wood pickguards made as they look a thousand time better them single ply plastic.....or even 3 ply plastic.  Anyway, here it is.  I'm adding all the pics as I don't know if some are clearer then others.  Let me know what you think.

My Strat update

OH, I forgot to mention I have been working on my strat, that goes with the flamed maple pickguard mentioned in posts below.  I have some pictures of it in progress with the sanding sealer before the color.  I went with a cool looking blue with some metallic in it.  This is where it gets a bit silly.  I purchased a new Fuji Spray turbine system and went to town spraying the guitar.  Not being used to this system I went a little heavy on the color coats and have some sag.  It is also has a fair bit of orange peel, and I accidentally touched it so the color smudged a bit on the upper horn.  Geez, after saying all that I realize I need to strip it and redue it.  I was thinking because It was just for me it would be OK to leave it as is but like I say, after typing this I think I have to re finish it properly.  Plus it will give me more practice with this spray setup.  Anyway, here are a few pics of the guitar with the sanding sealer.  I will post some of the crappy paint job once I take some.  I have no problem admitting I'm not perfect, and it may help people realize they don't have to be either.  but I strive for perfect when I build things, and if I'm not happy with the result, it's best to start over instead of just saying.....Ah.....Good enough, it's just for me.  Does that make sense??

2X12 guitar cabinet

 Well this entry is about the guitar cabinet I recently built.  I purchased a used Traynor YCS100H 100 watt head on E-bay a number of months ago and was going to build a 4x12 cabinet for it.  Now......I have NO use for this much power, I don't gig with it and even if I did, 100 watts is over the top for anything I'd ever need.  however......I wanted it......Soooooooo, I brought it.  I can switch it down to 30 watts so it's still over kill but it sounds FAN FUCKING TASTIC.

Anyway, I still needed a cabinet for it and I've always wanted to build a 4x12 cabinet so went looking for plans.  I found pictures, and some Marshall plans but nothing that really explained all the details.  So I was looking on E-bay and found a 2x12 Carvin cabinet for a good price and it was shipping from B.C., Canada so I did not have to pay duty on it.  So I brought it.  Hooked it up to the amp and it was great.  handled the power no problem and all was well....except one thing.  A 100 watt head sitting on top of a 2x12 cabinet looks STUPID.  It basically form a "T".  so I decided I would build another 2x12 cabinet to beef it up and make it look cool.  Plus, now I had plans in the form of the Carvin cabinet.  I would replicate the tilt back and the specs and all would be good.  and they were!  My cabinet turned out GREAT.  I used finger joints to join the unit together (If you ever wondered about the ICRA Dovetail jig, wonder no more and BUY IT, It is fantastic) I used 5/8 Baltic Birch and Celestion G12-75 speakers.  I removed the scoop handle from the Carvin 2x12 to see the internals and got what I needed from that.  Found out what the slant back angle was and did the same to my cabinet.  The only thing I did not do to mine was add the scoop handles.  My thinking was that since It will never leave my guitar room I won't need them.  However, I may rethink that as I've already had to move them AROUND the room and it is a pain in the ass without something to grab hold of.  So I built it, painted it, and using a sheet of server rack siding, added a steel grill.  the thing looks and sounds awesome.  Very happy to have built my first 2x12 cabinet, now my 100 watt head looks right and able to command the respect it deserves.....lol  ROCK FOREVER!!!!

First Performance for the guitar class

So last night I went to my first performance workshop.  It is put on monthly but my guitar instructor for the "Special Forces" group that I belong to.  I think there were about 12 of us at this session and everyone either prepares something or improvises over their preferred key.  I chose to do a cover of a cover of the song "Somewhere over the Rainbow"  A fine gent called Chris Impellitteri recorded it on one of his albums years ago and I always thought it was cool to do a metal version of that song.  Now, Chris I is an insanely good player and I am clearly not anywhere near his level........yet!!  so I did my cover of his cover.  Still Metal, still cool, just much simpler. 

I was nervous as hell but doing everything to try to relax by cracking jokes, mocking my about to be played masterpiece......lol.  anyway, it went great, the group really liked it and I received some valuable feedback on how to improve my playing.......which is the reason we do this workshop in the firstplace.

There is a young guy in our group who is well on his way to being a virtuoso player.  He's 16 years old and been playing for 4 years........WOW.  Sweep arpeggios, changing keys at will, working the modes to perfection, superb player and only getting better.  Our instructor makes it very clear.......if you want to play as well as Rio.....you MUST DO AS HE SAYS......and you will get there.  I have never had as much fun playing guitar as I am now.  I really wish I had Tomasso as an instructor when I started playing guitar at 14 (impossible as I think he is younger than me...lol).  Now, it's possible it may not have helped as my practice schedule was....shall we say.....non existent??  But maybe it was because I never really saw any improvement week after week.  I learned different songs but always had the same flaws in my playing....like my picking hand, I could not pick smooth to save my life.  So for 30 years I've had horrible picking technique and Tomasso was able to fix that in about 4 months.

I'm learning so much and enjoying playing guitar like I never have before.  I think that is the reason I also have a renewed passion in building them again to. 

OK, so when I get home from work I'll be applying primer to the strat project.....maybe some pics?

Strat with an old vintage Kahler Steeler trem

So a number of years ago I brought a kit guitar just to see what the quality was like.  it was a strat clone......Imagine that?  Anyways, everything about it was cheap.  The body, the hardware, the electronics.....everything.  It has been sitting around the shop for years now and I've always wanted to build it using the existing body and neck, but upgrading everything else on it. 

So a few years ago I built a flamed maple pick guard for it.  It might be on this blog further down, if not, I know I have pictures of it on my Facebook site "liveedgeguitars".  And a few months ago I loaded it up with CTS pots and NOS DiMarzio pickups, Q-Parts knobs......Anyways, it looks killer.

So just recently I have been working on the body.  It's made of Basswood which is alright, not really standard strat body material but it was a kit guitar so what do you expect.  Anyway, the tremolo was routed for a standard 6 hole fender diecast metal trem.  I did not want that...AT ALL, so I've upgraded it to a Kahler Steeler trem.  This thing in the day was the best alternative to a Floyd Rose.  I've always loved Kahlers so I found this one on E-bay and picked it up pretty cheap.  Now the routing on the body for the tremolo cavity was horrible to say the least.  If it was done on a CNC machine they must have forgot to clamp the body down.  If it was done with a standard router, the guy must have not used a straight edge to guide the router....or he was drunk.....who knows?

I spent a few hours yesterday making the cavity larger to accommodate the larger trem and straightening out the drunk operators cuts.  I must say it looks great and is one step closer to being finished.

I will say that before I brought the Kahler I did prep the body, only to have to strip it once I received the trem as I did not know the actual dimensions and thought it would just drop in the existing space......Whooops.  I had only sanded it and applied white primer to it so it was not the end of the world to have to strip it after making the changes to the body.  This is a kit guitar so I was never going to be selling it anyway, it was always going to be for me with the proper upgrades.  I'm not upgrading the neck.  I'm happy with the feel and even the small vintage frets.......I would never build a guitar with small vintage frets but again, for a kit guitar what do I expect.

So tomorrow I'm hoping to re-apply the primer and maybe later this week get going on the color coats.  Well, let's get the primer on first huh?

I had forgotten my password for this blog so it has not been updated in a few years.  Finally up and running again.  anyway, I am building guitars again.  I have been building some necks and things like that for customers but I am NO LONGER DOING CUSTOM STUFF.  I have no interest in dealing with silly requests and changes late into the ballgame.  I build what I want to build........If you like it, GREAT!!  If not.......GREAT.....I don't care anymore.  I don't do this as my bread and butter anymore so it WILL remain fun.  I'm back to taking guitar lessons as well.  I've always hated my playing and now it is 10 time better than it ever has been.  Life is good.  for an easy picture history have a search of Liveedge guitars on Facebook.  there you can see all the guitars I've build through the years and any new stuff that will be available.  I will also be updating this blog..........Why not???  OK that is it for now.........THAT IS ALL!!!

so here is the V and the bass

with the economy going south and nothing really moving as of late (well the last year really) I have stopped building guitars for the time being.  In the big picture I need to make money and right now the guitars just are not doing it.  I'm sure alot has to do with where I live.  the island is such an acoustic place that most people who play guitar here have NEVER picked up an electric.  when I offer to let them try it I often see a look of fear, like they might turn into demons or something......very strange.

Anyway, I'm gonna include some pictures of the V and the 5 string bass I built.  Enjoy.

Oh, it looks like I don't have any of the bass.  I guess I need to take some and get them posted.  Strange, I thought I already posted some????  Oh well, now to find the camera.

I will update this when I get around to building some more guitars.