New to the forum

[J_48_Johnson]

Hey all!

I just signed up for the forum and I have to say I like what I've found so far. I have a post in the Other Brands, (Reverend), of the Instruments section. Please check it out. I usually lurk, post a little bit to get my two cents in when I feel the urge on other forums.

I sort of made a hobby out of building guitars even though I play very little, and I do mean VERY little. A few chords, half a song....well, that's about it. BUT I can make you a killer guitar! lol

Hope you enjoy these... Please take a look and tell me what you think.

The Flamecaster

The Beatnik Mojocaster

1959 Les Paul

Walmut/Mahogany Stratocaster

Christmas present for my Nephew; Reverend Guitars Sensei

 

[guitarhack]

Awesome work J! Your moniker makes me think you're a nascar fan. Those guitars are works of art.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Welcome! Beautiful guitars! Pieces of art!

 

[Robert]

Looks awesome!

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Tig]

Wow! Those are some fine creations. I appreciate the work you put into them. Simply incredible.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I gotta check back in to say that that Beatnik Mojocaster is my favorite! That thing just looks cool! How does it play?

 

[J_48_Johnson]

Thanks for the kind words all. They all sound different, since I had that goal in mind when I was in the designing stage for each. I wanted to make a guitar that sounded as good as the last, but different, and I pulled it off. The sound of each varies as much as the look.

Guitarhack: I am A NASCAR fan. I've been watching and going to the races since the late 80's early 90's.

Sunvalleylaw: Like I said, I don't really play so it would have been hard for me to tell you how it plays but... I've had several players play all of them. As I type this, they are at a friends house who has been putting them through the paces for a month or more now. He and another friend of mine are in a band, Your Drunk'n Uncle, (Shameless plug), and he keeps going back to the Mojocaster. He'll be talking about one of the other ones, and then he'll point at it and say, "...but that thing really does this or really does that very well. I love the way it plays and sounds".

The reason it sounds the way it does is in part due to the pickup spacing. The Flamecaster has two full sized humbuckers and a single coil sized humbucker in the middle, it seems that the middle pickup gets in the way of the pick. When I made the Mojocaster I wanted to get the p.u.'s as far from your pick as I could. Both p.u.'s are just about as far as I could move them to thier respective ends; close to the neck and close to the bridge. When you strum or it the strings, it's like playing an acoustic w/o the sound hole. There is nothing anywhere close to the pick. Mission accomplished.

 

[deeaa]

Ahh! What great stuff! Being a person who really enjoys building and bastardizing guitars to suit my needs, my hat's off to you. I wish I had a fraction of your woodworking skills to realize my dreams. I have resorted to modifying old guitars to the Nth degree due to lack of fine craftmanship skills...and the required patience. Hence the gravitation towards more bastardizing.

Guitar world needs exactly this kind of iconoclastic and unorthodox approaches. You do realize pickup relation to bridge/string lenght is one of the key aspects of electric's sound? But, I definitely dig the approach. I really really dislike guitars with too little clearance to pickguard/pickups under the strings...even on strats I like to shim the neck to get some clearance and/or eliminate the mid pup. I'd so like to see and try these instruments in the 'flesh'.

Do keep posting about your stuff, I'd love to see and hear them in action as well!

 

[Commodore 64]

Those guitars look incredible. I love the bridge on that Flamecaster, too.

 

[J_48_Johnson]

Ahh! What great stuff! Being a person who really enjoys building and bastardizing guitars to suit my needs, my hat's off to you. I wish I had a fraction of your woodworking skills to realize my dreams. I have resorted to modifying old guitars to the Nth degree due to lack of fine craftmanship skills...and the required patience. Hence the gravitation towards more bastardizing.

Guitar world needs exactly this kind of iconoclastic and unorthodox approaches. You do realize pickup relation to bridge/string lenght is one of the key aspects of electric's sound? But, I definitely dig the approach. I really really dislike guitars with too little clearance to pickguard/pickups under the strings...even on strats I like to shim the neck to get some clearance and/or eliminate the mid pup. I'd so like to see and try these instruments in the 'flesh'.

Do keep posting about your stuff, I'd love to see and hear them in action as well!

Funny you should say that about a Strat. The Flamecaster.... The guy who has it right now had me back the middle pick up back 6 full turns which puts it right above the body. He loves it now, and he may be on stage with it this Saturday evening.

 

[J_48_Johnson]

Those guitars look incredible. I love the bridge on that Flamecaster, too.

That bridge is NICE and neat looking. The reason I put it on there is because it is fully adjustable. It's a Hipshot Baby Grand. I like it.

That guitar sings and sustains forever. The bridge has a lot to do with that I think.

 

[Tig]

That bridge is NICE and neat looking. The reason I put it on there is because it is fully adjustable. It's a Hipshot Baby Grand. I like it.

That guitar sings and sustains forever. The bridge has a lot to do with that I think.

Nice to know. I've seen that bridge in the StewMac catalog and was wondering about it. Looks like a great wrap-around bridge upgrade.

 

[J_48_Johnson]

I did the final work on the Sensei and got her strung up. I needed to ground all of the pots together. I finished that, and put the cover on it. Here are a few other pictures for your enjoyment...

A friend of mine is in a band. I took the guitar over to one of the last practices they had and let the two guitarists rip on it a while to put it through the paces. Larry has a rack mounted Mesa Boogie, 100 watt, (I think), amp ran into a 4x12 Mesa Boogie cabinet. Eddie was pounding on it using a Mashall amp. The sounds Larry was pulling from it from the 2nd switch position were just over the freaking top. He was just messing around making some sweet blues stuff up as he went. Tony, (drums), and Donnie, (bass), jumped in for an improv and it was incredible. How sweet that must be to have two guys who know your playing style so well, (they don't play blues music), that they can jump in and play behind your lead and it SOUNDED GOOD!

Once Eddie got there, he tried to get it to distort with the gain all of the way up and the Marshall couldn't get it to break up. My Nephew wanted a smooth sounding guitar, and from what the two of them showed me, this thing is smooth as a flat panel of glass.

 

[Tig]

Wow, that guitar is special.

Hey, do you need some more nephews to build guitars for? Where do I apply?

 

[J_48_Johnson]

One's enough, but thanks. :AOK

 

[Rx Tone]

Got any pics of builds in progress?
I'd really like a look at your shop, too.

Those are some sharp looking guitars.

 

[J_48_Johnson]

Got any pics of builds in progress?
I'd really like a look at your shop, too.

Those are some sharp looking guitars.

Shop? :what

Um, no shop really, I work out of my basement. All of my wood working tools are there.

As far as the build threads, I can help you out there...

Flamecaster
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?11026-B-rad-s-Blog-O-Rama...-The-Trials-and-Tribulations

Beatnik Mojocaster
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?12166-With-the-FLAMECASTER-done-on-to-my-second-build.

Neck through hollow body Les Paul
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?15104-B-rad-s-LP-Hollowbody-Build

Black walnut/mahogany superstrat
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?19525-I-have-it-and-have-it-bad!-GAS!

Sensei Build
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?19780-My-first-build-for-someone-else!-Woot!

 

[Rx Tone]

Shop? :what

Um, no shop really, I work out of my basement. All of my wood working tools are there.

As far as the build threads, I can help you out there...

Flamecaster
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?11026-B-rad-s-Blog-O-Rama...-The-Trials-and-Tribulations

Beatnik Mojocaster
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?12166-With-the-FLAMECASTER-done-on-to-my-second-build.

Neck through hollow body Les Paul
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?15104-B-rad-s-LP-Hollowbody-Build

Black walnut/mahogany superstrat
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?19525-I-have-it-and-have-it-bad!-GAS!

Sensei Build
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthread.php?19780-My-first-build-for-someone-else!-Woot!

WOW...VERY impressive! That's an excellent series of photos!
You, sir, are a true craftsman.

FenderTalk is a great site, BTW... real good people there.

 

[Jipes]

That's really a fine work and the wood seems all very nice and shiny ! How did you get the kick for those projects and what was the guidance on which wood for which guitar is it just aesthetics ?

I'm curious about the little Fender amp on one of the pics ?

 

[J_48_Johnson]

That's really a fine work and the wood seems all very nice and shiny ! How did you get the kick for those projects and what was the guidance on which wood for which guitar is it just aesthetics ?

I'm curious about the little Fender amp on one of the pics ?

I'm not sure what you mean by "kick".

As for the wood I picked out...

Flamecaster
Mahogany: Larry at Gallery Hardwoods. Great guy to deal with and the wood he sent me was fantastic. The tap tone was great.
Maple: Ebay

Beatnick Mojocaster
Mahogany and Maple: Ebay

Les Paul:
Maple: Ebay

Black Walnut Super Strat
Back Walnut and Mahogany: Local from Hartville True Value Hardware

Sensei
Mahogany and Maple: Local from Hartville True Value Hardware


Even though I bought a lot of wood using Ebay, I didn't just jump on and find it. I did a search and watch several sellers until I found the wood I wanted to buy.

For the maple caps of #1 and #2, I watched for almost six months before I bought the wood I made the guitars from. When I made the first one I bought enough wood to make two guitars. I figured I'd screw something up and have to ditch the first one and make a second but that never happened.

For #3, the Les Paul, I needed to find a piece of flamed maple large enough to make a neck through blank. I ended up with a board large enough to make two. As for the body wing wood, I did the same thing as #1 and #2. I watched the sellers and the inventory until the wood came around that I was willing to buy. It takes some time but you can find very nice wood on the Bay.

For #4 and #5, the wood was bought from a hardware store. It isn't a "box" store, (Lowes, Home Depot), and it isn't just a hardware store. It is a HUGE hardware store. You can buy tractors, riding lawn mowers, work clothing, hardwares, housewares, just about anything you need but food!

Behind the main building is the lumber shop. You can have them build you a house or buy a package of shims for a buck, and anythng in between. The wood inventory they have is out of this world.

Down the road a mile or so is the lumber yard and mill. This is where large volumes of constuction is housed and it's where the wood shop is at. They will join, plane, sand, cut or make anything you want/need. Hartville Hardware bought out Schumacher lumber a few years back. The mill used to be that, but they changed the sign out front.

I went in there one time and they were making a staircase for a customer. A HUGE oak two sided staircase. The ones you see in movies where it's in a foyer and a chadalier is hanging down in the middle of the room and the staircase goes around and up both sides. They were making it there to be disassembled and set up in the house.

 

[J_48_Johnson]

WOW...VERY impressive! That's an excellent series of photos!
You, sir, are a true craftsman.

FenderTalk is a great site, BTW... real good people there.

Thanks Rx.

If you look at the threads and read what I've posted, you'll see these don't just fall together. lol I run into problems just like everyone else, but you need to find a way to make it work with the tools you have.

As for the ppl at Fender-Talk... There are some great people there! The page and people posting seems to have slowed way down for some reason but I think there are still quite a few lurkers there.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Holey moley!!! That's some impressive work there, friend! Gorgeous work you do! :thumbsup :rockya

 

[J_48_Johnson]

Holey moley!!! That's some impressive work there, friend! Gorgeous work you do! :thumbsup :rockya

Thanks, but it seems to come easy to me. I've done woodworking since 1979 when I was in 7th. grade. After I graduated high school I kind of got away from it a little, but always has a little project here or there. I didn't get into guitar building until a few years ago and I just love it. Very relaxing/taxing at the same time!

 

[MAXIFUNK]

Holey moley!!! That's some impressive work there, friend! Gorgeous work you do! :thumbsup :rockya

co-sign completely do not know how I missed this thread but hot damn that neck thru LP is one sexy girl.

 

[J_48_Johnson]

co-sign completely do not know how I missed this thread but hot damn that neck thru LP is one sexy girl.

The crazy thing about that guitar....

Neck material: Maple (brite)
Body material: Maple (brite)
Fretboard mat.: Ebony (brite)
Electronics: 100% Gibson Les Paul (Pots., caps., switch, pickups, everything)

Yet the sound and tone of this guitar warm & smooth. Roll the volume off a little or play on a clean channel of your amp and it is so full with a rounded bottom end sound, full mids., and bell like highs.

I have no idea why it sounds they way it does, because from what it's made from, it shouldn't sound the way it does. It should be brite and biting with shrill highs and almost no low end. It's 180 degrees from that.

Does the wood a guitar is made from REALLY effect the tone? I'd say yes, but only to an extent. Does everything you build a guitar from effect the tone? I say everything that goes in or on the guitar makes it sound different from any other guitar. The difference my only be very slight, but every piece that goes into building a guitar has to change the sound.