Early Guitars




So, back in 1989 I was in need of a decent guitar and I couldn't really afford what I wanted (a Carvin) so I decided that I would have to build my own guitar. This was, of course, pre-web. Now you can just go to YouTube University but back then you were on your own. So, I bought a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's Make Your Own Electric Guitar. Being somewhat of a maverick I didn't build my first guitar based on one of his three examples (set neck with angle, neck-through with angle, bolt-on neck with no angle). My first guitar (and all the others I built during that period) was a neck-through with no neck angle. I built everything on that guitar from scratch without any specific luthier tools (I had never heard of StewMac at that time). I played that guitar for five or six years. It has an ash body and a three piece hard maple neck (that used to be bowling alley lanes). I still have it hanging on my wall. I got Albert Lee to sign it when I was in Nashville to record a CD with my band, I-59. It was a good thing that I was young when I played it because it weighs a ton.

First three guitars

The one on the left is my first guitar (sorry about the resolution, these pictures were taken with a Polaroid camera). The one in the middle is my second guitar. I made that for a friend of mine. The one on the right is my third guitar. I gave that one to a kid from down the street who had a not-very-good cheap guitar. The next guitar I built was also for a friend. He wanted a Strat type guitar with a recessed, locking Floyd Rose tremolo. I made it out of Cherry and Purpleheart with a three piece neck, an angled back headstock and Sperzel locking tuners. You could pick that thing up by the whammy bar and shake it and it would stay in tune. I have to say, I hate that honking big Strat headstock but that's what he wanted.

Strat style guitar

I made two more guitars after that. One of them I gave to a friend who has since moved away (I don't even have a picture of that one and I have since lost touch). The last one I made during this period was a half hollow Tele style guitar which I still have (also hanging on the wall). It's made of walnut with a ziricote and walnut neck.

Half hollow Tele style guitar

By the time I had played this one for a couple of years I was able to afford to get a Gibson Night Hawk (1993, flame, sunburst). I played that for a while but everyone kept bugging me to switch back to my own guitar because it sounded better. That's the only guitar that I have ever regretted letting go. I finally got to the point of being able to afford a Carvin in the early 2000's. Actually, three Carvins. After starting back making my own guitars I finally sold all of them (with the exception of an AC275 that will soon be gone).