New Year/New Project: The Tenor Guitar Project

This is the first post of the new year, and it's going off with a bang.  I decided on building something I've wanted for a long time.  But I took an odd route to get there.  Let me explain.

I found a neat website for cigar box guitars.  It's called C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply.

https://www.cbgitty.com/

I was thinking about building an inexpensive guitar, but then I noticed a few things on their website.  First, they actually have four string electric humbucker pickups.

https://www.cbgitty.com/cigar-box-guitar-parts/pickups/deltabucker-deluxe-4-string-maple-cigar-box-guitar-humbucker-pickup-pre-wired-with-volume-and-tone-no-soldering/

That made me think that I could build something with a cello tuning.

For those who don't know my musical beginnings started with me playing cello at age 12.  If there's one thing that every 12 year old dramatic teenage celloist wants, that's a guitar to play cello on.  What I didn't know then, is that, those guitars actually exist.  They are called tenor guitars.  They are a shorter scale, smaller guitar, and they are tuned like a cello, A, D, G, C.  Here's an example of one.

I wish I had known about these when I was a teen.  It turns out that tenor guitars were popular in the 1950's but not so much anymore.  Only a few companies manufacture them anymore.  The most famous for electric tenor guitars is Eastwood Guitars.

So now, since I am a builder of musical instruments, I can build a tenor guitar the way I want to.  First up, I know it will be a four stringed instrument, and it will have a 23 inch scale.  I will build it in the style of an archtop guitar.

Electronics will be simple.  I will have two humbuckers, one 3 way switch, one volume, one tone.  The woods will be pretty standard.  Spruce top, mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood neck, rosewood floating bridge.

Now, I decided to do this the smart way.  I actually drew out the plans on graph paper.   Here's a photo of my plans.

Next up, I had to acquire the spruce, but I had all the other woods hanging around here.

Here's the spruce being glued up.

I already had access to radiused rosewood fingerboards.  So I took one out, and shaped it.

I've always used a three piece neck method for building necks, but I decided to make one the way most manufactures do these days.  In other words, a scarf joint.  It all started with a giant chunk of old maple I had hanging around.

Within that board I found a really nice straight section.  I built the neck from that piece.

From there it was time to make the scarf joint.  How do you like my homemade jig?

Yes, it's oversized for a few reasons.  I wanted to make sure I had plenty of wood to work with.  Better too much than too little.  Since the neck is only four strings it won't be as wide.  That means it will need to be thicker for more support.  In the next photos you can see where I am planning on installing the trust rod.

Right now I am gluing up the mahogany body.  Admittedly, this will not be like a typical hollowbody.  I will glue the halves of the body together, and route it out.  I know, it's a hell of a waste of good mahogany.  But it works.  Also, I don't have side bending equipment or jigs, so this is the one way I know how to do this.  

 

A lot of the parts for this build I already had.  I will use a violin tailpiece for this project.  It actually fits perfectly.  I already had some old Schaller tuners that have been sitting in a drawer for a long time.  They will be perfect for this guitar.  I already have pots and copper wire.  The same with bone nuts.

The only things I had to buy were a few templates, a 3 way switch, violin tailpiece cord, a book, a fret slotting miter box, and the pickups.  Unless something odd comes up I think I have all I need for now.

So that's where I am so far.  Look for more upcoming blogs about this project.  I'm all ready to put this one together.

Woodworking: Wax Ecstatic

Dad recently found a shortcut when processing wood.  When the wood is rough cut, it is still wet and prone to cracking.  For this reason woodworkers put a seal on the ends.  There are a few products on the market, but Anchor Seal always worked well for the woodworkers I knew.  The only problem was that it was so sloppy to put on.

Dad was checking some woodworking forums, and they told of an ingenious way of sealing wood and not spilling sealing wax everywhere.  Basically, you take an old fashioned crock pot, fill it with water and wax, then heat it up.  The wax will float on top, and the water will keep the temperature down low enough so the wax doesn't catch fire.

Here's a photo of what I'm talking about.

A lot of woodworkers like using a mixture of mostly paraffin wax mixed with a little bit of honeybee's wax.  However, I was lucky enough to find a box of red sealing wax free on Craigslist.  What I didn't know was that it was about 50 pounds of wax.  Great find, huh?

It came in small pencil sized pieces.

Due to the sealing wax being so hard, you can put mineral oil in the mix so the wax will be softer when it hardens on the wood.  We haven't had this problem since we mixed paraffin wax with the red sealing wax.

Once the wax is soft and in a liquid state, you can then dip the ends of the wood in the wax.

As you see it makes it easy to dip the wood in, and looks professional.  It also keeps the wax from spilling everywhere.  It's a win/win!

So, if you ever need to seal the ends of your wood/lumber, remember this way of sealing it.  Oh, and for those who didn't get the title reference.  Take a peek at this.

I Am Homer

It has finally occurred to me that I am Homer.  No, not that one.

Also, I'm not that Homer either.

I am this Homer. 

That's right.  I am Homer D. Poe.  The Home Depot mascot.  Maybe I should start at the beginning.

You see, I didn't exactly expect to have a girlfriend, but life was kind to me, and I met Lili.  Due to life being even more kind to us, she was able to find a place near where I live, and get out of the not so nice place she was at.  The only problem with the new place is that, the people who lived their before Lili did their best to destroy the place.

The landlord and his three sons due their best to take care of all their properties, but they are stretched thin.  So a lot has fallen on me to make the place better.  And I've done a pretty good job.

If I am Homer, then let's start with the garden section.  The place had no real garden or hedges.  So I put in the garden.  I also put in the patio block.  It looks pretty good, and totally changes the look of the place. 

Moving onto the lumber section, I added onto the front steps.  I added a post and handrails for the stairs and ramp that lead to the front door.  I don't want to talk bad about the landlord or his sons, but since their time is limited, they don't do the best job in the world.  When I added the rails and things, I took my time and did it perfect the first time.  And I am really happy with the job I did.  I even added a ledge to the rail so I can put my drink on it. 

Let's go to plumbing section.  The kids who lived there before Lili destroyed the water spigot.  So it got capped off.  So my Dad and I put in a new water spigot outside.  That was we can water the plants, and use the spigot for outdoor things. 

Dad and I also added a new shower head in the bathroom.  The old shower head looked like something from the 70's and honestly, looked like something you'd find in a 1950's Shasta trailer.  I mean, it worked, but something else would definitely work better.  So Lili picked out a shower head she wanted, and Dad and I got it working.

Let's move onto the pest control section.  Again when Lili moved in there were some friends left behind.  And lots of them.  So I started my own personal war against the bugs.  First I dropped some very nasty poison called "Demon."  Then I dropped down some stuff even worse than that.  Seriously, I threw up when I started to put it down.  Yes, it's that vicious.  And then I did something that hadn't been done in a long time.  I put down some triasicide around the yard.  You put it in a spreader like you do fertilizer.  It is good to kill fleas and ticks so I know the dog appreciates it. 

That left me with a problem that I never had.  I had put down three types of poison repeatedly, but was still having problems.  I found out that the bugs that were still there needed a completely different type of poison.  So it got ordered through the internet, and I laid it down.  That got their attention.  Really.  They started coming out of the woodwork immediately. 

Now, let's go to the paint section.  Again, the house was torn up so the landlord did paint it.  However, all he had was paint that I will call "dog shit brown," so that's what he painted the inside.  The bathroom had the most damage so it got a lot of paint.  Well, not that much paint.  It was not applied very well.  It looked like it was done in a hurry.  So Lili and I decided to paint it.  We choose "wind swept blue."

In my next post I will show the pictures of what we did to the bathroom.  I have to say I am really happy with what we have done so far with it.

Everyone tries to find their way in life.  They also try to find out what they are good at.  If I am remembered as a blue collar "Homer," then I am okay with that.