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finally been able to get back out in the shop some this week after finishing up the new website and digging my car out of 5 inches of ice. it was nice to be back at it again. this week i fretted the neck, glued it into the body, made cover for my pups, routed the cavities for them, turned some burl down to make my knobs, and shaped the heel. im going to be ready to spray finish before to much longer which will likely have to wait until warmer weather, so this may the be one of the last updates till spring time comes around.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

finally been able to get back out in the shop some this week after finishing up the new website and digging my car out of 5 inches of ice. it was nice to be back at it again. this week i fretted the neck, glued it into the body, made cover for my pups, routed the cavities for them, turned some burl down to make my knobs, and shaped the heel. im going to be ready to spray finish before to much longer which will likely have to wait until warmer weather, so this may the be one of the last updates till spring time comes around.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

That is AMAZING! Good work! Top notch craftsmanship! It also makes me hate you a little.

Wood, wood and more wood ....love it

Steve

Shad, a beautiful and very unique guitar! I agree with the others. Absolutely stunning work. Lovely!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

awe, common now, dont be hatin.

but in all seriousness thanks for the compliments guys, i dont feel like it is quite "Top notch" just yet, but i am really happy with the way its coming along.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

those are just set of gfs dream 180's. i would have liked to go with something a little higher end, but i really cant afford to on guitars that dont have buyers lol.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

I'll give you $20 for it! There, now you have a buyer. Throw in some Seymour Duncans and send it my way!

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

you meant 25 hundred right?

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Beautiful work, please excuse this being my first post, I know I should introduce myself and I will, once I figure out the best place to do that. Your work is inspirational, I came here to pick up a few tricks and learn stuff and I have in this thread, I've never seen anything like that neck jig, I need to look through my books again.

My newest instrument, an electric, is making it's debut tomorrow at the River Walk Blues Festival in Ft. Lauderdale FL. I gave it to a buddy of mine Albert Castiglia, he'll be using it and later this year recording his next CD with it. I am almost embarrassed by it in comparison to what you're doing, but in my defence I must say I did make it to be a sleeper, not fancy, kind of tacky, all cheap parts, except tuners, but a smoking sound, I was trying to make a point with this instrument, that tone and playability is 90% set up, but it sure doesn't hurt to make them look good. I'll have to try that some day

Thanks again for this thread and sharing your knowledge, I hope I can add a little to the knowledge base of this forum.

Mike in Homestead

welcome to the forum mike, its great to have you here! thanks so much for the compliments i am glad you were able to take something away from. i dont think you'll find that neck jig in the books anywhere, but its an extraordinarily handy device, i used for routing out the pickup cavities as well. that style of jig was originally made by david myka, and he was kind enough to share the idea. there are several threads in the electric section for completled builds, you ought to post some pics of the one you just finished !

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

cool headstock.

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

Thanks for the welcome Shad, I'll look up those thread with the neck jig, I pretty much do everything by eye, except scale, of course, but I can see the benefit and quickness of set up on electrics with this jig, space is a problem, I'll use a tensioned chalk line now and then but usually everything is done off a center line.

I'll write up an introduction and show some of my instrument projects in a new thread. Some are electric, some are acoustic. With my job and retirement slowly approaching the guillotine I've decided to increase my production rate, this year I plan to focus on 18th century parlors and lutes. I've not tried side bending yet but I wimped out and made up a heat blanket jig for ukuleles and purchased a side bending machine for guitars, which will arrive in the next few weeks or so.

I'm converting my wife's sewing room into a finish work shop, for both instruments and my leather work, which is still popular among those that know I do it.

I'll just throw this in here since you asked. I've got to be insane to show this in the same thread with such a beautiful example of skill and craftsmanship that your guitar so eloquently exhibits. But I ain't no wall flower and this instrument plays great and has a fair tone.

The Ashton Tele


Sound file of Albert playing it at the Titanic Brewery.
http://www.box.net/shared/tdjee4vyds

Well I worked on the wiring harness last Saturday, and I think it is all in working order now. This is the first time I have done any type of wiring where I didn't have a standard wiring diagram to go off of so it made things a bit more interesting. I ran into a couple of kinks with the grounds not being where they ought to be, but once I got that figured out it was smooth sailing. It has one volume control, one tone control, and a 5-way switch. its also got a three way mini toggle for each pup that selects series, split, and parallel for each.

i had to take off one of the little nodes in my electronics cavity to get the super switch to fit right. i'll know better in the future.

electronics cavity by Peters Instruments, on Flickr

got the cardboard template to do my wiring on. if i ever get to the point where i am doing much of this i think a plexiglass or plywood template would be really nice.

cardboard template. by Peters Instruments, on Flickr

tried to get everything hooked up tightly first to test it before soldering the joints, trying to back track mistakes when they are already soldered can get messy.


wiring up the guitar 2 by Peters Instruments, on Flickr

here is the finished harness. appart from hooking up the pickups its ready to go.

wiring harness by
Peters Instruments, on Flickr

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Well Its been a long time, but I finally have a little bit of news to report now. finally got this guy under finish yesterday, and now I will let it cure until I get back from my honeymoon then I can wet sand and polish. doing the pore fill on this thing took for ever, the buckeye was a pain, and school kinda got in the way which is why it has taken so long, but its nice to finally be making some progress again. That buckeye is even more eye popping now that its under finish. makes me a little sad that I have to ship it off when its done


under finish by Peters Instruments, on Flickr

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

shweet! Looks incredible under finish. Good work. The customer should be very pleased(I'd be stoked!).

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Shad, this is incredible!

Over the past 10 months, learning how to build my first guitar, one of the most rewarding things I have found is the awesome woods out there - especially burls, which I used on my guitar - this burl you used is eye-popping! Wonderful curves and I bet ur sorry to see it go!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

finally got this one all wrapped up, I've been working on all the little details for the past week or so, and took photos on Monday. The only thing left to do is have the case made and she'll be going out the door.


The hell cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The hell cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The hell cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The hell cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The hell cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The Hell Cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The Hell Cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The Hell Cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The Hell Cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr


The hell cat by Peters Instruments, on Flickr

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

That is GORGEOUS! Excellent execution

That is a fine guitar my friend. I'd hate to see it go away. I suppose letting go is a skill in itself.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I love this guitar - nothing like the smell of sanding burl first thing in the morning!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

MAN! that looks amazing.
All of it !
The top, the combination of woods, the back of the headstock, the pickup covers, the bridge! All of it ! Just AMAZING!

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Beautiful!!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC