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.