ShonKy OddBass. Tonika Like shortscale bass.

The Oddbass is a recent commission I have completed.
Andrew contacted me wanting a bass made from the neck and keyboard of his Ibanez Gax. He had seen my previous shortscale Bass.  but wanted something with a longer top horn for balance. He 0wanted 0the pick up to be more biased towards the neck for more bass. and he is left handed too. I sent him a few sketches of similar ideas and a few way out wacky ones and he went for the wackiest. Although not intentional it bears a fairly strong resemblance to the Russian Tonika Bass. But I like to think a bit more graceful.
The design is way out 0there  but fairly practical. the top horn is a useful handle. recessed strap buttons keep the design tidy, comfortable leg cutaways and the "feet" enable it to be rested against a chair or amp without toppling sideways. It actually does stand up on it's own but I wouldn't recommend leaving it like that.
This0 was my first left hander and it was incredibly strange making it. I kept thinking I had made a terrible mistake. then realising It was a lefty then thinking I had got it wrong because it was left handed and I had missed something. I almost painted my logo on upside down too. a very strange but ultimately satisfying building experience.

Sorry about the rubbish quality of the pics. My beloved Olympus Pen broke and is currently in for repair so had to use our point and shoot casio.
 

ShonKy Mako Prototypes. Ergonomic guitar

I have been working on this design for three years now. This one is the 4th prototype the second of which is fully functional.
Unlike most "ergonomic" guitars which are designed to be played in a set position, the Mako is very comfortable in the casual seated position the classical (With footstool) position and also hanging on a strap. The other criteria was that it also had to look good you might think ergonomic guitars look good but for the most I think they generally look ugly and sacrifice aesthetics for comfort. For me it's kind of like eating food if it looks good you are already half way there to enjoying eating it.
  I have concentrated on weight saving for this incarnation it has a very slim (29mm) and contoured body. and a minimal headstock. It was originally intended for a bolt on neck but as the body was so thin I felt it would be better as a set neck so the neck is screwed and glued which isn't the tidiest but the next one will have this aspect more refined.
  I've also treated this one to a retro style paintjob of translucent candy apple burst. which is nice and thin showing the texture of the ash. There is a knot showing this is actually a book matched ash body but the other half is mostly under the pick guard so the effect is lost. I should have had the book match on the rear! Although it a fairly radical and new design I'm aiming for it to still look like it has been around a while so two dog ear style pickups are fitted. This reduces the amount of routing required Just enough for the pole piece screws underneath)  Thus retaining as much solid wood as possible. It was only destined to have a small control plate but then I had the brainwave of making a large scratch guard / control plate. which I believe really enhances the retro look.

 

I am selling the 3rd prototype which was made around this time last year It has a much thicker Sapele Body and a HSS set up with different scratchplates and a slightly different body shape with no countours.  It's on EBAY

 

Firewood Special no3, Recycled guitar

It's quite Ironic that the most possibly the most interesting guitars I make are from the offcuts of all the others. (The previous two can be seen Here and Here).  My latest Firewood Special is no exception It can be safely said one of my favourite builds.

It's fairly simple one bridge P90 affair. The Body is made from Ash offcuts which have been just been sanded to take any roughness or splinters. The Separate fragments have been glued using a polyurethane glue which is incredibly strong. It looks quite fragile but it isn't. although probably not up to been swung about on a stage. The Idea was to look like the wood had been placed together much like a child would use building blocks to make shapes.
The neck is a strat type. Possibly from a squire.  It had a butchered headstock so I tidied it up and applied some smaller Ash fragments to compliment the body.  The Body was then stained using some old oil paints diluted with white spirit then treated to a couple of coats of Danish oil followed by a coat of satin poly lacquer. The lumps and bumps and grain of the wood can still be felt.
The bridge tailpiece jackplate and control cavity cover are all made from small offcuts too.
The machine heads are nice re-used satin finish. they look really modern and compliment the design beautifully.
The pickup is what I think is an Artec P90. measures about 6.4k. The guitar plays incredibly well and sounds sweet. anyway here's the Pics. Will be available for sale very soon

 

 

Rumbler Bass Guitar. OSB chip board top

A friend commissioned a bass guitar for there partner to learn on. the only trouble is I've had a week to build something. Luckily I have a few Bass spares in so didn't have any trouble there well all apart from a body so I made one from Ash with a OSB top. The OSB came from  neighbors shed and is about 20 years old so needed a bit of stabilising and filling. I have some modern OSB and it looks to be much more solid.
To make it a bit quirky I used some gold glitter paint which is clear varnish with gold glitter in it ANd was quite surprised at the effect. From an angle where the light reflects of the glitter it looks like a piece of beaten up gold and when you look at it straight on it looks like plain old chipboard.
The neck is an old Encore that I Stripped and Danish oiled. A bit of glitter paint on the Headstock too.
The hardwear and pickups are generic far east jobs.
Sounds pretty good I don.t think the OSB has much if any affect as the majority of the body is ash. Probably slightly mutes the ash if anything.

 

ShonKy Breadbin Tenor Guitar

You may remember the breadbin short scale  Breadbin Shortscale Tenor I made and sold a while back well here is the second instrument made from the breadbin.
I opted for a normal 22" scale tenor guitar for this one. I have also gone for a cleaner look with binding around the body.

It features a solid Cedar top. The breadbin is beech.

 Sapele neck with purple heart fret board

 I've actually changed the white plastic ferrules for chrome ones as the plastic ones come off too easy.

 Banjo style heel

For sale at ShonKy Musical Instruments

I can make another 2 instruments from the Breadbin. The next one in progress at the moment is a mandola and it really will be something special

Harmony H44 Stratotone Inspired ShonKy TH44 comission Oh and Happy Xmas!

This is possibly my last post of 2013 so I would like to wish all my readers a Happy Xmas and I hope Santa brings you all a nice guitar.
So I would like to end on a high note with this my latest guitar. a commission from a Gentleman in Norway who contacted me requiring a guitar like a Harmony Stratotone H44.


Pic From http://harmony.demont.net/model.php?id=131

Small body. fat wide tapered neck the originals have 25.25" scale length. The neck is a maple through neck with two wings glued either side.
I sent a couple of sketches and I set to work on the agreed design. and here is the finished product.

Like the Original Maple neck through using two pieces of maple laminated together along the length for added  stability. Sapele wings. Neck is a slightly shorter 25" scale.

My trade mark antique finish

The customer wanted a basic utilitarian look, a workhorse guitar

The original H44 fret board joins on top of the body which doesn't leave much room for adjustment. and doesn't leave much string break angle on the bridge.  I reduced the body part of the maple approx. 4mm lower than the neck (not including the fretboard). It looks like a glued in neck but it is all one piece.

The legendary Dearmond moustache gold foil pickup supplied by the customer. Neck has real mother of pearl marker dots and  mother of pearloid binding. along with pearloid scratch plate.  The Pickup is wired up to 50k pots and a 0.1uf oil in paper capacitor like the originals.

The whole guitar has been given the ShonKy Antique finish looks great against the pearl.

 Standard Korean tailpiece and unusual Bullet control knobs. Also a recessed tele type jack cup rather than a plate.

hand carved Bubinga Bridge with hand carved corian Compensated saddle

The neck is fat. really fat the dimensions are pretty close to the original stratotones I had to guess the neck profile though so I went for a round C. A real handfull but surprisingly comfortable.

Hand Carved corian Nut. No reason for the bumpy shape I just like it. Yes that is a truss rod cover. I put one in however as the neck is so massive I don't think .. A/ it's ever going to need adjusting B/ the truss rod would actually be able to move the neck. however the cover is a nice decorative addition.

 Kluson 3 on a plate machine heads with white buttons. The only ones that where going to look right. The Customer wanted the basic square headstock which I had done on the firewood special.

This build went incredibly well. the only problems I had was applying the finish as the temperature had dropped considerably during  November and I had to wait longer between coats for the stain to dry and I had promised the guitar to be finished and delivered by mid December. It was good in the end and I just managed to do it. the great thing was when I first strung it up it was almost perfect requiring only a slight fret dress and lowering of the bridge. I had a concern that the neck being as fat as it was would be too straight but somehow (luck rather than judgement methinks) it had perfect relief.
Soundwise as soon as I played this before even plugging it in it had a bluesey tone which was a good start so I plugged it in. and wow! again spot on. wow pure Blues tone. Lovely clear syrupy on clean. put some gain and it growls. I now have to make one for myself.....one day! 
The guitar now lives in it's new home in Norway and the owner is very happy (Phew!) He has been kind enough to write an extensive review which can be found on the Archive pages of my website Here

See you in the new year.