ShonKy S3. custom black and white Strat

For a long time I have wanted to make a guitar inspired by the aesthetic quality of 2001 a space odyssey. I think with the S3 I have come quite close.

 

I actually found the necks for sale and thought oh yes! it has to be done. The only thing was I was not going to get away with using recycled parts. It is about time a made a nice spanking new guitar anyway a change is as good as a rest they say.  

The hardest thing was to find pickups to suit the look of the guitar. I first thought Lace Alumitones but that would have pushed the build price too high and I would have to be selling near £900. I then thought maybe lipstick pickups. Although I love them they have a not entirely accurate "Surf" tag I then found these awesome looking pickups from http://www.voltageguitarpickups.com/ They are the Chaos model and are hand wound from 5.8 - 6.2k  They are odd pickups. The covers are bonded on to the main body but looking from the bottom there are is no magnet on the bottom or any pole pieces. I assume the magnet is on top of the coil just below the mesh. any way they sound as good as they look. Not particularly stratty but wonderfully clear and pure without being sterile.

The bridge and tuning machines are courtesy of Wilkinson.

 

It is now for sale on My Website for £590 With an Aluminium Hard case and Free UK postage!

 

ShonKy custom Strat No 3

 

 

 

I don't often do normal shape guitars or customs these days but here is my latest.

Strat style custom guitar with a unique finish created by applying several different layers of different coloured acrylic paint by dripping, splattering, spreading, throwing, painting etc. The paint is then rubbed down through the different layers to reveal random multicoloured patterns.

 

The guitar itself is all made from re-used parts apart from the electronic controls which are new but some of the wires are re-cycled from old stereos and tools. The Capacitor has been recycled from a defunct phone socket.

The body is a good full thickness lightweight alder. It came to me with a nasty crack through one of the neck socket screw holes. I took the damaged area on and bonded a piece of hardwood to replace it.

 

The neck is a very nice maple with maple fingerboard. Slim D profile with a fairly flat radius. It's quite wide (57mm at the heel) The neck came to me as an unused with a blank headstock. It was going to be used for another guitar but I changed my mind so it does have some filled holes in the headstock for different machine heads. I cut  a quite funky headstock shape reminiscent of some eastern block guitars that I can't quite think of.

 

It is fitted with a Blade type humbucker at the bridge and two ceramic single coils in the middle and neck. I think the neck one is from a squier. sound wise quite unique. The blade humbucker has that stratty honk but with a bit of p90 grit thrown in. Overdriven it growls like a rabid dog. the middle and neck deliver a good honest strat tone with a raw bluesy edge. I'm pretty sure the phone socket capacitor really gives this guitar it's sound as they are fairly generic pickups used on a multitude of guitars and I have never heard any that sound quite like this. If you open up a phone socket you will be surprised at the amount of capacitors you will find. I also gutted out a broken CD player the other day and It's chock full of them, great for experimenting with.

 

The other thing I have done on this guitar and the Cohiba 6 string cbg I finished recently was my own hand made nut. made from a piece of Sheet brass bonded to a thin slice of ebony. I like the Idea of a brass nut as the guitar saddles are metal. the frets are metal then the nut is usually not metal. Also no matter how stunning the guitar looks the nut is a fairly boring piece of white stuff so I thought i would experiment with making them a bit prettier. don't get me wrong this one is still a bit rough but They will get better. Works perfectly well though. when I have perfected them I might make them available for sale.
 

The guitar is now available for sale Here

 

If you like your strats then in the next couple of weeks I will have something very special for you.

 

Yamaha pacifica modified Partscaster

I mentioned back in November that I had completely refurbed my old  Yamaha Pacifica

Here are the Pictures Check out the awesome ash Body I am a lucky boy.
So far I'm happy with it. Although I feel the musicman pickups are a bit clean for my tastes.

As I mentioned in November. Putting a guitar together with Yamaha parts is effortless. I can recommend it.



 

Another 6 String Cohiba Cigar box guitar.

Yes folks They are coming thick and fast. It probably seems that I'm making a guitar every 2 days at the moment but actually I usually work on 3 at a time as you have to wait for glue to dry parts to arrive paint to dry and then I always like to leave them at least a couple of weeks to settle and make sure nothing is going to break before I put them on sale.
here is the latest and probably the last at least for a while Cohiba based 6 string.
It is for sale at The Shonky Website along with the other 3  have for sale at the moment.

ShonKybox Cohiba HS Cigar Box guitar

Made with a Cohiba cigar box re-used 25.5" scale guitar neck. D profile

Added mahogamy bouts for comfort.

Re-used Humbucker and single coils with volume and tone and 3 way switch.

Re-used Chrome TOM bridge and tailpiece.

Re-used chrome Tuning machines

Plays superb sounds awesome.

neck is finished with an aged walnut wood stain and satin clear coat

Body is finished in a satin clear coat.

Made from 97% recycled or reclaimed material and parts. The re-used parts are in good cosmetic condition and are in perfect working order. "Play Green"

Also Included is the hard case pictured.

Will be sent Professionally packed with a signed certificate of authenticity.

 

What's next on the Agenda well the Beatnik copy's are in progress. I have a commission for a cigar box Mandolin that I should be getting on with and I am also going to concentrate on my unique designed electric guitar that I have been trying to build for 3 years. (the Prototypes have ended up on the fire so far). I think I have it right now but we'll see.

ShonKybox Flor de Santolina 4 String Slide Tenor Guitar

My latest guitar is this lovely little 4 string slide guitar in a tenor scale.
Made from  a vintage mahogany box, added mahogany bouts. braced and re-enforced. A mahogany neck with an offset open book headstock. The neck is attached to the body via a tenon joint.
wenge fingerboard, Grover tuning machines and twin disc piezo's.
I attached the label from the inside of box from the Pleasant dreams 1 String on to the headstock for a bit of colour.
The floating bridge is a banjo style Walnut and Ebony. It has an Ebony nut. The strings are anchored via a Brass Tailpiece.
It does have Strap pins although I didn't have them on when I took the photo's.