{"id":103,"date":"2008-05-30T17:58:20","date_gmt":"2008-05-31T00:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irun100s.com\/daveharper\/?p=103"},"modified":"2008-05-31T05:51:16","modified_gmt":"2008-05-31T12:51:16","slug":"my-latest-passiondiversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irun100s.com\/daveharper\/?p=103","title":{"rendered":"My latest passion\/diversion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Headstock<\/a>What have I been up to lately?\u00a0 Building my own electric guitar.\u00a0 William and Ashley both have Fender Stratocasters<\/a>, and I have bought, then sold a couple different Gibsons to try to find something I like, spent quite a bit of time at Guitar Center playing various axes.\u00a0 Eventually I realized the Strat just seems perfect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Designed in the early 1950’s by Leo Fender, it is\u00a0STILL the mainstay guitar of SO many successful musicians<\/a>.\u00a0 The list of guys that consider(or considered) it their main guitar stretch from Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa,\u00a0 Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink Floyd, to\u00a0John Mayer and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. The Strat’s where it’s at.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rather than buy another of what we have, I decided to build my own from parts I selected myself.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s still the same guitar, just a ‘custom’ version done exactly like I want.\u00a0 I started with an unfinished body\u00a0mostly\u00a0shaped and routed, then\u00a0started searching for the neck and\u00a0other bits and pieces I needed.\u00a0\u00a0 William helped me with soldering, polishing, installing the tuners, and in general, being another set of hands and eyes to help be sure everthing was set right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Basically, it has become my obsession over the last couple months to get it finished.\u00a0 Of course, it took much longer than I thought, but I really couldn’t be happier with the result.\u00a0 I have a full picture gallery of the complete process here http:\/\/daveharperphotos.irun100s.com\/GalleryList.aspx?gallery=95730<\/a>\u00a0 You can click each photo to read the description of what process I was working on, and also access full size photos.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I used a Swamp Ash unfinished body.\u00a0 A birdseye maple neck, with rosewood fretboard. I wanted to build a pretty much vintage correct Strat, with my own upgrades as I saw fit.\u00a0 The basic inspiration was from Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Number One Strat(pictured at bottom of page), thought I\u00a0obviously did not try to ‘copy’ that guitar, with the\u00a0enhanced\u00a0grain,\u00a0different coloring, different wood,\u00a0etc. that I used\u00a0 But I used vintage style tuners,\u00a0tremolo,\u00a0 saddles, string tree, and real bone nut\u00a0\u00a0just as would have been on a 1950’s or 1960’s Strat.\u00a0 I did\u00a0the contouring on\u00a0the body\u00a0to be similar to that era.\u00a0\u00a0An amber tint to the neck gives that older, vintage, yellowed\u00a0vibe\u00a0rather than the bright white maple\u00a0of a brand new Fender.\u00a0 The decals on the headstock are Fender inspired, but my own take on them.\u00a0\u00a0 I even stuck a small quote from Keith Richards<\/a> of\u00a0the Rolling Stones\u00a0on there.\u00a0\u00a0The finish is old school Nitro Lacquer, just as used back in the day.\u00a0 At one time used for automobile finishes, it’s too toxic for that use these days.\u00a0 I replaced the modern, cool abalone fret marker dots with cream colored clay dots, to also give a more vintage look.\u00a0 I think it came out pretty nice.\u00a0 It’s a joy to play, when I can wrestle it out of William’s hands.<\/p>\n

\"Harper<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tobacco<\/a>\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the body that I actually started with.<\/p>\n

\"Copy<\/a><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Above is a copy of the actual Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar that was the starting point for what I was wanting to do.\u00a0 Below\u00a0is a Fender replica guitar of the same.\u00a0 I wanted to do something like this, but actually build a better guitar than I might buy off the shelf, with my own twist on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fender<\/a><\/p>\n

\"SRV<\/a><\/p>\n

SRV was killed August 27, 1990 in a helicopter crash following a concert in East Troy, Wisconsin, headed to Chicago.\u00a0 Also on stage that night had been Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan.\u00a0(though obviously none of them were onboard the helicopter)<\/p>\n

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\nLENNY<\/strong>
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