ShonKy Competition winner. The Rubbachickatar. Rubber chicken tenor guitar.

Back in July I held a competition where the entrants had to design a guitar and I would build the winner. I only had 13 entries which was a little disappointing.  I wittled them down to the 5 I thought where the most original and buildable within my budget then put them to a public vote on facebook.
The winner was John McInnes From Glasgow who designed a tenor guitar in the shape of a rubber chicken.
Here is his design.

Laugh though you may It did throw up some challenges in the build. When I started to draw it out I realised the original design was a little out scale wise for a tenor, (More in keeping with a Uke) If I had kept to the relative dimensions it would have been huge so I had to really re-design the shape to keep it a manageable size, even then the shape was quite a handful as I didn't have luxury of a nice template. I made up a rough one out of some old plastic advertising board but it wasn't really firm enough to do a good job especially around the feet. It was good enough though.  I also splayed the legs a little more to get a more flying V effect and I think it makes for a more comedic posture.
Size wise It's not much shorter than a standard electric. The neck is a little long maybe I think it will look like it's been stretched rather amusingly when  played.

I made it a neck through construction out of some Sapele with a maple fret board
Another challenge was the headstock which is the chickens head how the hell do I get that looking like a chicken head whilst the same time incorporating the machine heads? I decided to construct a cover plate that would sit above the machine heads. It had to be the right shape and cover them completely with the machine heads still being functional. Although you can tune the guitar freely with the head plate It would have to be removed it to re-string but it is only attached by three screws.

I placed the jack socket on the rear. Although that may seem silly it doesn't come any where near the players body. I didn't want to put it on the front for aesthetic reasons The natural place would have been between the legs but there really wasn't enough room with the string retainer plate being there.

Anyone who is familiar with my work will know I don't really do painted finishes. If I do they are very thin translucent finishes so a solid colour finish is a new thing. This is where I ran into a bit of trouble as I decided to do a hand painted finish firstly which turned out terrible. So I stripped it all off and got the spray cans out which ended out to be much nicer although not perfect
John is right handed so I moved the controls to the lower side. I also went for green chicken head knobs to match the green painted fret markers. .

The pickup is a nice little 4 pole cigar box guitar pickup that John kindly supplied.
So It's all built and strung up how does it play and sound? Actually it's quite nice to play the body has a natural knee rest and is nicely balanced. I have left the fitting of strap pins if required up to John. The neck is a quite chunky C profile so sits in the hand nicely. John is mainly a slide player so it it has been tuned up to open D with a fairly high action. The Little pickup delivers a really pleasing tone Nice and crisp on a clean setting with a tight overdriven tone with gain.
It has now flown the coup and on it's way north of the border. I have been informed that it will be maing it's performance debut on the 13th of December at Savifest at the the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow. With Johns band Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5.
I'm pretty happy with it I only wish that I had better painting equipment alas space and money don't allow me this luxury.

ShonKy box no 30 Pandora

Here is the Pandora 6 string. I built this to be like a compact Jazz guitar. I have also crafted the neck it has Acoustic dimensions. Ebony board and Stainless Steel frets! what stainless steel frets on a cbg. yes. I am now using stainless steel frets on pretty much all my builds apart from ukes and mando's. Firstly they are really easy to install. they don't bend and twist as much as nickel frets. the secret is cut them to size and round and polish the ends off before you put them in. Once there installed in the slots they require minimum dressing to make level. Also once you play them particularly with an Ebony board you will not want to play any other. The feel is super smooth and string bends are lovely. Also they will pretty much not wear. for the small amount of extra cost this is a no brainer.

 

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.
 

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

 

 

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

Firewood special No2. Recycled art guitar for monster slide blues

So here is the second Firewood special. that I mentioned in my Previous Post
I really like the multi level designs and might utilise it in a proper guitar in the future. It really opens up the possibilities of what raw wood you can actually use to build a guitar with rather than being stuck on the idea of having a big chunk of ash or mahogany. Believe me this is as solid as a rock and sustains as well as anything. I believe there are 12 separate pieces of wood that make up the body.
Everything on it apart from the strings and the glue, paint and solder of course, is recycled. Even the pots and wires. The knobs are of an old hifi.and the machine heads are counter fit Grovers which work ok but are not the quality of genuine ones.