Holy cow it's almost Christmas

Hey all,

I can't believe it's almost here.  just got the tree up and it's looking good.  Anyway, hope everyone has a great christmas and most excellent new year.  I'm busy working on a few guitars as well as a number of side projects.....not related to guitars but at least wood working related.  Things have slowed down in the workshop this season but fully expect things to pick up in the new year.  So for now, happy holidays and lets rock in the new year.

Thanks,
Andy

New Projects

I am currently working on 2 projects.  One is an awsome looking cherry top AS20 bolt-on.  It's gonna be killer.  The other is a 5-string bass made of Paduk and maple.  Paduk is one of the most amazing looking woods once it is all oiled up and sanded.  I like working with it much more than quilted maple, and I think it is much nicer.  These guitars will be amazing, call or e-mail me if you are interested.
Andy
http://www.apscustom.com/
andy@apscustom.com

Finally, I'm getting my shop space back!!

Finally, after what feels like months of getting no work done, the shop is mine again.  We have been storing the contents of my mother in law's house in our garage.  Not to mention, the non-required contents of our own house.  Well that has finally been moved out onto the driveway for a garage sale this weekend.  Now I have the daunting task of arranging the shop.  that always takes a few trys to get it right but at least it is coming together.  The first project, a 5-string bass.  Look out boys, I'm back in business.....YES!!

Live Edge guitar has been accepted

I got the e-mail yesterday that my latest live edge guitar has been accepted into the Sidney
Fine Art Show. Check it out at the following link:http://blog.sidneyfineartshow.com/
Remember, the art can be purchased at the show so don't wait, get your live edge guitar from the show....and tell your friends.
Talk to you soon.

First pics of the new Live Edge guitar

Well, here are the first pictues of the new live edge AS10 guitar. This thing is SICK. What a great guitar. It sounds as good as it looks. I went really simple in this design. Single humbucker and volume control. Strat style bridge, Grover tuners, Graphtech Tusq nut. Neck wood is maple and walnut laminations. Body is Flame maple with a Jatoba back. Control cavity cover is Paduk. Anyway, here are the pics. I will get some better for the website tomorrow but for now, here they are.

The Live Edge guitar is done

The shop is still out of commision but I have managed to finish the Latest Live edge masterpiece. Well, almost finish. I still have to setup the guitar and attach the truss rod cover but it is mostly ready to go. It will be going into the Sidney Fine Art show that is coming up in October in Sidney B.C. I will have pictures for the website and the blog by tonight I hope.
The shop is still disaster zone, I don't know when the hell I will get my space back. So all I can do right now is work on guitars that don't require any cutting. The table saw, jointer, bandsaw are all out of commision right now. The drill press, Spindle sander, and routers can be used as well as any of the hand tools and finishing equipment. There MIGHT be time this weekend to do the garage sale and get rid of this stuff once and for all.
andy
www.apscustom.com
andy@apscustom.com

Well the shop is full.....AGAIN!!

Well, guitar building has again ground to a halt. The shop is again full of "non-guitar building" stuff. I can't even move in there at this point. This is all due to our latest move.
We have TOOOO much stuff. We are going to be having a mother of a garage sale in the coming weeks. It's crazy how much stuff we have.
So on a positive note, the Live edge guitar neck is done, just needs to be put on the body now. When I can get in the shop to do so...... At least I'm mostly caught up on the custom orders. This is getting frustrating!!

Andy
www.apscustom.com

APS Custom necks and bodies

The neck for the live edge guitar is coming along nicely. I'm putting on the third coat of finish this morning. The necks feel like silk when I'm done with them. There is no heavy gloss finish that will slow you down, it feels incredible.

And the next guitar to be worked on is actually the first prototype I built for the company. Things have changed since that first one and I want to update it with latest cool things I do. So I'm stripping off the old finish and I might install a floyd trem on it. I will see about that as things progress. Anyway, off to the workshop......

Andy
www.apscustom.com

Live edge neck all shaped and ready for fretting

The neck is all shaped. I have my first coat of finish on it and today's task is to get it all fretted up. I have no absolute method in doing necks. Sometimes I fret the neck before shaping and sometimes after. the pros in doing it after the shaping are if you damage the fretboard while shaping the back (the fretboard is clamped down to a surface, thus can get damaged, even with taking the proper percautions) you can resand afterwards to reflatten it. If you have already put the frets in....to bad for you. however, if you fret it before the neck is rounded it makes the fret job extra easy as it does not shimmy around from side to side when installing the frets. So each method has it's pros and cons and I just go with my gut instinct on each job.

Building necks today

Well, I'm working on necks today. I want to get the newest live edge guitar neck all rounded over and ready for fretting and finish. I also will be working on gluing up 1 or 2 new necks for some upcoming guitars. It should be a fun couple of days. I even still get a little nervous when rounding a neck. I always worry about going to deep and exposing the truss rod, or putting the neck attachment bolt into the back of the neck and having it come out the top, destroying the fretboard. These things have never happened, but I still worry about them.....crazy!!! Although, on one of my first necks I built I was convinced I had put the trussrod in upside down. So I had to rip off the fret board (I could have taken it off carfully but.....I was far to mad with myself) and sure enough I discovered it was on correctly. So a perfectly good neck, down the drain, but I was able to reuse the truss rod.....lol. Note to self, don't freak out, you most likely did it right. relax and take your time.

I'm published.......lol

Hey all,
Just wanted to let you know about a news (and video) article about me and my guitars. View it here at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/peninsulanewsreview/news/52086117.html

It was the RAM

So, I was finally able to get the PC up and running and it was the damn RAM. removed 64 megs (hell there were only 192 megs in the first place) so down to 128 but the thing is running like a true champ. Anyway, I was able to get the codes install what I needed to install and the pictures are up. Check them out at www.apscustom.com on the AS10 page under guitars.

No new pictures yet......

BECAUSE I HATE COMPUTERS............. Every time my computer goes down and I have to fix it reminds me why I got out of the field in the first place. IT SUCKS. So this is the senario. I have taken pictues for the website with the digital camera and want to download them, edit them, and get them on the website. Problem is, I have a new computer and none of my editing software is on it yet. My old one was having all sorts of issues with blue screens. Now, in XP blue screens are very uncommon so you can imagine the problems the PC has. I can't install the editing software on the new PC because the install codes are in a document on the old PC and it won't stay up long enough to go into the document and get them. So, "reinstall XP" I says to myself. "Installing XP is easy and quick" I again says to myself. Well 36 hours later It APPEARS........like it is going to work. The installs kept erroring out, blue screening, etc. I thought the boot disk was bad, then the CD rom drive was bad, then the MB cache was bad, then the CD rom cable was bad.........Well, it appears none of that was bad. it appears I had a faulty stick of RAM. The install is still going but I'm well past the usual crap out point so it appears to have fixed the problem. Holy CRAP, 36 hours (not straight) just to open a document to get a product key so I can install an application. What a pain in the ass. However, the pictures SHOULD be up later today on the site for the Holycaster.........stay tuned!

Holycaster is now done.

Finished it last night. It looks and sounds amazing. This one was made out of Jatoba and uses very simple electronics, 1 pickup, 1 volume, standard bridge........but what a great sound. Here is a "just done" picture of it. I will take some better ones for the website later today.

Hey, and let me know who is reading this. Leave me a message or send me an e-mail at andy@apscustom.com. Now, on to the "Live Edge" guitar. I want to get that one finished pretty quickly

The Holy guitar almost complete

Well, I have the shop in a usable state now. Large tools are not in their proper place but at least I can use them. I still have to install a subpanel to be able to get my 220 volts for the bandsaw but that will come with time. So with the makeshift shop I was able to work on the Holy guitar......or better yet.....the Holycaster. installed the bridge, pickup, did the wiring, and installed the hardware. Only thing left to do is attach the neck, string it and set it up. It should be done tonight, or tomorrow.
It always amazes me when you move what stuff seems to go missing. I have my shop and can find everything but my fret hammer and a can of WD-40. I have no idea where either of those items have got to. I'm hoping they are at the other house, but what strange things to loose??

Well, the shoulder spasm/nerve pinch is finally gone, but now I'm sick. This is just pathetic. However, I'm going to fight through it and get some much needed work done in the shop today. It is finally looking like a shop and I can work on things that don't require the big machinery, like some necks to add to the live edge guitar I'm working on. Here is a quick look at the new guitars I have on the go right now. They are both pretty impressive. One is a live edge guitar with Jatoba back and Flame maple top. The other is full on Jatoba but with circles cut all the way through the body to make it a little different. Believe me, you won't see Fender or Gibson building guitars like these....EVER. The live edge guitar will be 2300.00 CAD and the circle guitar will be 2000.00 And each of them will be worth every penny. The finsh is super smooth, but you can feel the wood. It takes a ton of time to get these finishes just right, but it's worth it.

Oh, the pain of it all

My neck and shoulder are all messed up this morning. It feels like a nerve pinch or a muscle that is in spasm and just won't unlock. I've had it for a few days now but this morning is the worst. Makes it real hard to build guitars when you can't move your arm. Oh well, I'll try some more heat and see if it will loosen up. In the mean time I guess I will have a coffee and enjoy the morning.

Andy

Pictures from the shop

Well, as you can see I'm still knee deep in moving the shop. It's slowly coming together. Just have to get the table saw and jointer from the old location moved in and then I can start planning the dust collection routing. Setting up tools with dust collection is an art. Some tools you need to be able to access the front and back, like a planer, some tools need to face a certain direction so it can be connected to the dust collection unit and not interfere with the tools next to it, etc, etc. It usually takes a few trys in order to get everything setup right. I don't like having to pull tools out, use them, then put them back. Everything must be available all the time. OK gotta go and get this place setup.

Later,

Andy

News from the Live Edge guy, Andy

Well, I'm now part of the blogging world. For those that don't know me or what the hell a live edge guitar is, let me broden your horizons on what an electric guitar can be.


I'm Andy and currently living and building guitars in Victoria BC. I've been doing it as a hobby for 20+ years now but decided to get into it as a business a few years ago (http://www.apscustom.com/). I have been doing the same old designs that everyone else is doing, changing it up with exotic woods, and making some killer guitars, but still not doing anything radically different, until now.



A friend of mine turned me on to "Live Edge". Meaning, using the Edge of the tree as the edge of the guitar. This has been done with furniture for years, but never with a guitar.

So this was the first of many more to come using the live edge style. The back is a select piece of Walnut while the top is a natural piece of maple. These guitars look INCREDIBLE and they play even better.

I just moved locations and am busy getting the shop up and running again. Everything has been moved with the exception of the table saw and jointer. So, I should be ready to go in about a week.

So there you go, my first blog and your first look at the live edge guitar.