Doesn’t look like much, does it? Just a few hunks of wood, really.

It’s going to be a bass in a while.

And, to be more precise about that wood, what we actually have is a hunk of nicely figured ash, a hunk of rock-hard maple and a hunk of darkest, darkest, ebony.

That ash (the biggest bit of wood in the image) will form the body of the Radio Nova Rocktober bass. It’s going to be finished in a ‘black-burst’ effect, with a clear centre, gradually darkening to a black-toned edge. I think that’ll look pretty damn cool with this grain peeking out underneath.

The maple will form the neck and the ebony will be slotted for a 30″ scale to form the fingerboard (and to carry the black theme up to the headstock).

It’s gonna be handsome and no mistake but these lumps of wood are going to impart a great tone too.

Looking forward to getting going on this. Check back soon for more.

A little late with this but things have been hectic in the Haze shop lately. However, its time to discuss the guitar I’ll be making for the winner of Radio Nova’s Rocktober competition (see posts below if you want to catch up).

As you’ll know if you tuned in for the final, nail-biting, minutes, the number one song in Nova’s 500 Countdown was Stairway To Heaven. Greg Dunne was one of those that guessed this and his name was picked from the hat. I met with Greg and a guitar-playing friend, Erin, recently and we got geeky with some instrument-talk.

So what’s it gonna be?

Well, the instrument I’ll be making and presenting will be a Haze Bassmaster 6.

Cool.

I’m actually really pleased with this as I love these things. The Bassmaster is a six-string, short-scale bass. It’s a 30″ scale-length bass but it’s got a really guitar-like feel to it. It feels very much like a middle-ground between bass and guitar and it’s got some great versatility to its playability and its tone.

A little about the specs we’ve agreed:

The finish will be a toned, black-burst effect so I’m sourcing some nicely figured ash for the body and that grain will look great through the burst. The neck will be maple and the fingerboard, ebony to keep the black theme going. A black/white/black pickguard will be broken by all of those shiny, chromed, control panels and the instrument will be fitted with a vibrato tailpiece and roller bridge.

I think it’s going to look great. A little bit like this but with a few changes. What do you reckon?

A proper FAQ about having a guitar or bass custom-made is probably overdue around here. I’ll add it to my To Do List and, in the meantime, I’ll offer this hastily cobbled together blog post in response to some of the questions I’m getting about the Super Amazing Win A Custom Haze Guitar With Radio Nova’s Rocktober 500 Countown (from here on in referred to as Rocktober as that’s a lot to type).

Naturally enough, I’ve gotten some queries from people who want to know how it will all work for the ultimate winner and from those who have questions about doing the custom guitar thing in the normal, non-competition route.

Hopefully this will help a little. If you think of something I haven’t covered, feel free to shout in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

Q: What can I win?
A: You can win yourself a completely custom guitar or bass. By that, I mean that you can sit down with me and we can design and specify as much or as little of your guitar as you like. Then I’ll build it.

Q: How can I win?
A: Tune in to Radio Nova on 100FM or listen online. Call when they tell you and make a guess at what the number one song in the Rocktober 500 Countdown will be. All correct answers go in a draw to win.

Q: Do you know what the number one song is?
A: Nope. And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. Well, maybe for cash. Or biscuits. It’s all moot though. I don’t have a clue.

Q: I can play a few chords but I don’t have an in-depth knowledge of how capacitor value and no-load potentiometers can be used in a tone control. How can I design a guitar?
A: Don’t fret (guitar humour). We can talk capacitors if you like but you can just as easily chat about what guitars you think look cool or sound cool and I’ll handle the science bit.

Q: Can you build me an exact copy of <insert famous guitar here>?
A: Not really. Legal issues aside, that sort of misses the point of a ‘custom’ guitar anyway. This is your chance to get something unique. Now, that said, there’s no problem looking at existing guitars to garner some inspiration. Exact copies are out, though.

Q: Did you really make a guitar for Joe Bonamassa?
A: Are you calling me a liar? Sure did. Check it out. You can have one too if you like.

Q: I want a guitar made of jelly, with a Waterford Crystal neck and pickups that can curve space-time in such a way that I can see the Big Bang. Can you do that?
A: What flavour jelly? The honest answer is that I may need to advise on practical considerations as we progress through the design and specification process. I’ll do my best to accommodate your craziness but it may not always be possible.

Q: Ha! I’ve caught you, Hayes! You mean to tell me there are terms and conditions to this?
A: Of course there are terms and conditions. You can check them out on the Rocktober competition page and they’ll be here after that’s moved on in case you need a reminder.

Q: How long will it take?
A: It depends on the specification you want and the availability of any parts that are needed for your guitar. Custom orders are generally turned around in a few months but I’m estimating around 20 weeks for this to be safe. It most likely will be shorter but could be a little longer if you want something mental.

Q: I live on a small island off the coast of Laois and I need to charter a Lear Jet to meet you for the design process. Will you reimburse me?
A: Nope. You’ll have to make your own way, I’m afraid. I might make you a cup of tea though and, let’s face it, you’ll get a snazzy guitar out of it so it’s not all bad.

Q: I reckon that the solid gold guitar and platinum strings I want falls well within budget. Is this ok?
A: Nope. I get to assess the actual realism of costings and final value. I’m not daft.

Q: I never win anything. Can I have a guitar anyway?
A: ‘Course you can. And for a surprisingly reasonable wad of cash.

Radio Nova’s ROCKTOBER has begun.

That means your chance to win a completely custom guitar or bass has begun. More details are on Nova’s site but basically, here’s the deal:

Radio Nova are doing their Rocktober 500 Countdown of the best guitar songs ever. You tune in, listen to some great songs and, when you hear their cue to call, phone them on 01 440 4100 and tell them what you think will be number 1. If you’re right, you’ll be in a draw to win.

Easy, eh?

So, what are you still doing here? Warm up the valves in your wireless and twiddle it to 100FM or listen online.

So, I told you it was gonna be good.

I’m assuming that a lot of the (Irish) people that read this probably listen to Radio Nova for their fix of great, guitary music. Well, now you’ve got another reason to tune in.

The teasers have started to air and I can now announce that I’ve been working with Nova to help spread guitary-goodness.

Next week (first week in October) Nova will be running a fantastic competition for their Rocktober 500 Countdown. It’ll have a rather special prize:

A custom Haze guitar or bass.

Yep, the lucky winner will get to design their perfect instrument with me and I’ll build it for him or her.

This will be a completely custom instrument. I’ll meet with the winner to discuss and decide on specifications and then I’ll hack at bits of wood and metal and strings and stuff to make their dream guitar or bass.

Pretty cool, eh?

More details to follow. For now though, if I were you, I’d turn on the radio.

Things have been crazy-busy in the Haze workshop just lately. There’s sawdust and pickup wire and rusty nails and stuff everywhere. Apologies are in order, therefore, for my lack of posts here in the last couple of weeks. Sometimes the blog gets prioritised down—sorry about that.

I’ll try to make that up to you by showing you a pretty picture.

This is a snazzy guitar in emergent form. This is a budding axe, if you will. As you can see, it’s got a nicely figured top. A little more unusual than many of the figured tops you’ll have seen though (just a little). This is redwood. Pretty, isn’t it?

Now, this isn’t exactly a rare thing, but as many of you will be used to seeing maple tops on guitars, I thought I’d throw this in the mix. The photo shows the roughly cut-out body of the guitar. There’s no finish applied—I’ve just wet the top slightly to let the figure stand out a little.

I think you’ll agree, this is shaping up to be a handsome hunk of wood. I’ve got enough, nicely-figured, redwood for a few more instruments (any requests?) so this is likely to be the first in a redwood series. I can think of worse things to make guitars from.

A while back, I outlined a (slightly) unusual method of repairing the broken neck of a Gibson SG. I mentioned that guitar would make another appearance soon and here it is.

The guitar suffered a broken headstock while still in its case. A neck-break in the case was the final straw for the owner—who’s had more than one Gibson require a neck repair— and he wanted to consider options to help prevent it happening again. We talked over the pros and cons of the various solutions and eventually decided on a backstrap overlay.

This methodis sometimes used where the break is too nasty or offers insufficient glueing surface to guarantee a sound repair. A backstrap was not a necessity to repair this particular break (and, indeed, it entailed additional expense to carry out) but the owner wanted to do something that would go towards preventing a reoccurrence.

A backstrap overlay involves removing some wood from the rear of the headstock and some way past the broken section. A patch is cut from new wood and is bent to conform to the curve between headstock-angle and neck. Because the inlaid patch has been bent to shape, its grain has no run-out and remains strong.

I explained to the owner, and I will to you, that this offers no guarantees. However, this method of applying bent wood certainly strengthens a weak area of the guitar and it will be stronger than the original.

The first thing that needs to be done is to repair the existing crack. I’ve discussed this in a previous post so I’m not going into any detail here. A repaired crack is necessary so that the section to accommodate the backstrap can be removed. My usual preference, when doing this, is to run the strap right to the end of the peghead as the inlaid wood is more discrete. In this case, doing so would have removed the serial number and ‘Made in USA’ stamp and I decided keeping these better served the future value of this guitar.

A 3mm section is removed from the back of the headstock. The Saf-T-Planer allows me to do this cleanly right up to the point the neck angle gets in the way. The remaining section along the neck is removed with hand tools.

A piece of mahogony is thicknessed to the appropriate size and cut out roughly to shape. Out comes the trusty bending-iron and I work the wood into a gentle bend to conform to the section I’ve cut in the neck.

Some inelegant, but effective, clamping and glueing and the backstrap is in place.

But it’s not pretty. The patched in piece does allow you to get a look at the bend clearly though. Because the grain in that patch (backstrap) runs—uninterrupted—from end to end it’s much stronger than the piece that was removed.

A little work with routers, drills, knives and sandpaper and the new piece looks a little more like a headstock should. Some touch-up work helps hide the evidence. A (relatively invasive) repair like this can never be completely invisible under a translucent finish but this is pretty discrete.

We’ve repaired and strengthened a broken-necked SG and preserved the serial number. Not a bad few day’s work.

Cross-posted to Guitarless

You know when you paint your sitting room and you break out the masking tape to stick around all the bits you want to prevent getting covered in that weird green colour that’s going on your walls?

Yeah?

Well, I’m certain you know the wonderful curvaceous ins and outs of a Gibson Les Paul.

Imagine having to fiddle about, awkwardly trying to mask off all that beautiful, curvy, binding on the top before you spray it? How much effort and time must that take in the Gibson finishing department every day?

Well, none really. Gibson don’t bother masking the binding here before spraying that sunburst or that Black Beauty. It’s just too much work. It’s far easier to spray over the binding and then scrape it off again.

This Les Paul is being refinished with a black top. I spray solid colour (after some surface prep and sealing coats) over the whole top, let it dry a little (not too much, though) and then scrape the new finish off along the binding. It’s actually pretty easy to use a blade, with a knuckle as a depth-stop, to remove the finish cleanly.

With that done, I’ll let some of the solvents evaporate a day or two before starting on the clear lacquer top-coats (including a little ‘antiquing’ for the binding). This bundle of top-coats then needs to cure before being sanded and buffed out to a gloss—a gloss that I’ll actually knock back with some gentle relicing to get things in keeping with the rest of the guitar.

None more black. None more beautiful.

By the way, you’ll notice that the sides are masked. It’s a lot easier to mask here than on the top and, often (as in this case), you’ll want to keep the top colours off the side.

Cross-posted to Guitarless

It’s not too unusual for the strap button on your guitar or bass to become loose.  They can take a bit of punishment without your even realising it.

Many of you will be familiar with the ‘matchstick trick’ where you can insert a matchstick (preferably spent) or toothpick or similar into the worn screw-hole and re-screw the button back on.  This can get you through a few gigs or even a bit longer but it shouldn’t really be considered a permanent solution—it could get embarrassing when your strap flies off as you’re doing an Angus Young duck-walk across the stage.

The best thing to do is to plug the worn hole completely and re-drill a new screw-hole into fresh wood.

The hole shown here has been let go a bit too far.  It’s had matchstick after matchstick inserted and all that (ahem) screwing has worn away more wood than usual.  This one is a bit of an extreme case.

To put it right is the same principle though.  Plug and re-drill.  In this case, I’m actually going to drill the existing, worn, hole a little to clean it and get rid of the taper that it has.  This will allow me to insert a decent piece of new wood that will hold the strap button for the foreseeable future.

In the image above is the piece of mahogany I’ll use. I like to match the plug to the guitar wood if possible and I think it’s better to use hardwood plugs rather than those softwood dowels you can get in the hardware shops. The only drawback is that I generally have to shape a plug. It’s not that big a big deal though, and it gives a better repair.

I’ll drill this hole out a bit—it won’t be wider than it is at its mouth and it’ll be covered by the strap button anyway— and shape that mahogany to fit. Then, I’ll glue it in and let it set.  A new screw-hole is drilled and the surface given a dab of lacquer to protect the fresh wood (we’re not talking refinish-quality here as it’s all hidden anyway).

Once done, the remounted strap button should be good for plenty more years of service.

A little ways back, I discussed the removal of an acoustic guitar’s neck for repair. I also talked a little about my opinions on the construction of that particular guitar. The neck-removal post was getting a little long so I decided to split out the reassembly part.

Putting an acoustic guitar back together generally involves some glueing. Sometimes more and sometimes less.

A bolt-on neck will generally just require that the fingerboard extension (the part past where the neck meets the body) be glued to the guitar top while the bolts inside will handle the job of pulling, and securing, the neck into the body.

A dovetail neck joint requires this but also needs glue in the joint itself. Depending on the manufacturer, the face of the heel (the flat portion that butts against the guitar side) may be glued too. Some guitar makers (Martin, for instance) don’t apply glue there while others (Gibson for example) glue it. This is one of the reasons it’s a bit more work to perform a neck reset on a Gibson.

In the case of this particular guitar though, the heel face is entirely flat and is all a glueing surface. The steel box-section tenons must also be glued into their corresponding mortice (channel) in the top and the fingerboard extension must be fixed to the guitar top.

Complicating matters is the fact that there is no force that would pull the neck into the body in the same way as a dovetail or bolt-on joint would. This means I had to clamp the neck into the body in some fashion while the glue cured.

Some inventive clamping-caul making later…

And I had a wooden caul that would fit the curved heel, letting me clamp the neck into the body. Ready to go. I did a couple of dry-runs with no glue as this was a tricky clamping job. When I was happy I could get the clamps on quickly and accurately, I went for it.

That clamp in the photos—running from the soundhole to the heel—wouldn’t normally be required but this instrument’s construction made it necessary. The clamp doesn’t actually contact the soundhole edge but I’ve got a piece of linoleum there to play it safe.

Once the glue’s properly cured, it’s ok to unclamp. I replaced the fret I removed (see the previous post) to help steam off the neck, made sure it was secure and level and I strung this little fellow up to make sure it played well.

This job was a little more involved than it might be on a different guitar. All that’s not important though. What’s important is that this guitar is making music again. That’s always good.

Cross-posted to Guitarless