Archives
March 2008
March 04, 2008
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More than a week has gone by since we last looked in on the guys, so I thought it would be a good time to get an update on the pointy guitars. Here's Senior Builder Mike, holding an exquisite piece of curly African limba that has been fashioned into the shape of a lightning bolt. It's rare to get figure on this wood, and when we do we like to make sure it appears on the side that the audience sees. Mike has been in our shop since we were in Chicago—almost half his life! In addition to the one-off custom work he's known for, Mike is right there in the middle of it every day making our "stock" guitars with the same attention to detail. We like to say that we don't have a custom shop... we are a custom shop. Artists like Mike make that more than a catchphrase. | |
When Jamie isn't building guitars, you can usually find him out back fishing for trout in the Farmington river. Looks like he's caught himself a little six-pounder made from Honduras mahogany. As much as he'd like to keep it, he'll have to release it soon. Wouldn't that look good above your mantle? | |
Our next stop is the paint booth which is the "green room" today. Gary has just finished painting a Standard model with some amazing wide flame in a cool shade of emerald green. The matching headstock overlay was cut from the same piece as the top of the body, and Gary has duplicated the burst there too. | |
March 10, 2008
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Back in black. That's what I thought as the crew began their day today. I looked around and by 6:15 AM everybody had their nose to the grindstone; oddly enough, outfitted mostly in black. So of course, I had to throw on the ACDC to keep things thrumming. Mike had the results of a test he was doing on some new binding adhesive that we'd heard was pretty good. It was a urethane based glue that kicked with moisture, and he'd set up four strips of cellulose binding with varying amounts of water on the wood. Result? Not too impressive—we'll stick with our own custom recipe for now, but it's always good to check out new things in the marketplace. | |
The "other" Mike was at the stroke sander, putting the smooth surface on the top of a Monaco Elite. It's a matter of pressing a moving sandpaper belt down onto the guitar with a block in his right hand while jockeying the guitar sideways with his left. You need steady hands to keep the belt moving smoothly over the work without burning a spot or creating ripples or grooves. The belt is moving fast, and if he catches an edge it will ruin the whole guitar. Good thing our morning coffee is as black as our shirts. | |
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A few feet away, Jamie is chasing the slots in a fingerboard with a backsaw. The slots were previously cut on our gangsaw, but just before fretting, Jamie makes sure that the slots are clear of glue and dust. Then he'll insert the frets one at a time with a hand press. | |
Tom is on duty in a black T as well, and he's got some headstock faceplates that need pearl inlay. This one looks surprisingly like Earthen maple. We'll have to check back later to see what that's about. | |
Just around the corner, Mark is wielding an Xacto knife—not something you want to do if you're groggy. No worries, Mark's on top of the job, which in this case is pulling tape off the fingerboard. Now he's going back over the edges of the neck binding, taking down the lacquer so there is a smooth transition and no sharp edges. | |
As for me, I'm sporting my usual black shirt today too. I've got a ton of projects to do around here as well, as soon as I get the sound system adjusted. Hey, does this thing go to eleven? | |
March 14, 2008
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And it's not even April 1st... viddy well little brothers, viddy well. | |
March 20, 2008
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It wasn't too long after the first Newport guitar was built (in 1999) that we started dreaming about a bass version. It seemed like a natural. My first days of playing bass in a band were spent on an EB2, and I loved the look and the wooly, woody tone. I wanted to create a modern version for bassists who had never had the chance to experience an instrument with that much "inner" character. Mike and I had laid out the rough buck and fitted a neck years ago, but somehow other things seemed to call us away. When the Monaco was launched, it got plenty of attention and great reviews; so we got to work on a Monaco Bass. As cool as that was, the idea of a hollow bass was never far from our minds. Then, one day last month my old friend Jack Blades called to chat. I've worked with Jack from his Night Ranger days, through Damn Yankees, Shaw-Blades and countless recording sessions in his barn/studio in Sonoma.Talking to Jack is one part talk-show, one part therapy session and one part improvisational comedy routine—I love this guy. | |
Jack wanted a new bass, and wanted to know if we could put an f-hole and chamber into his signature double-cut bass. I had a better idea, and told him about the white Newport that we showed you here a few weeks ago, and the fuse was lit. I thought that the larger Newport body size would give it a more "Eddie Cochran" vibe. After all, you can still rockabilly in America, right? We bounced ideas back and forth on the phone like a verbal tennis match. One thing led to another, and by the time we rang off, we'd struck a deal to build him the very first Newport bass. It's going to be a pretty cool piece, with a lot of the usual Hamer details. Best of all, it will be big, bad, bright white and ready to take flight every night, thus the codename—Night Falcon. | |
Down in the engine room, our man Enrico roughed out a one-piece, hollow mahogany blank with rock maple top. Here we compare it to a Newport guitar (check out the triple filtertrons) before placing the pickup routs and control holes. | |
Here's the rough body with my original outline drawing of the Blades Bass laid over for reference. The control layout can't be transferred verbatim, so we sought another solution. Jack indicated that he wanted a pickup selector on the top horn, so that freed us up to use the normal Newport control locations. | |
Here, Mike has roughed out the top carve and fabricated a temporary router fixture for the cavity and the cover plate recess, and is now determining its relationship to the switch hole. The cavity is a small oval in order to fit on the narrow area, and we'll make an aluminum plate from scratch to cover it.
Here's the finished access hole. | |
Meanwhile, Dave has fret-slotted and cut inlay pockets on the 32" scale ebony fingerboard. Then he fabbed a medium scale maple neck with our Monaco bass headstock on it. Another day was spent adding the faux tortiose binding on the headstock, which is faced with matching ebony. Tom fitted the cut pearl "vickies" into the board and the Hamer logo into the faceplate. Things are moving along pretty well, and the crew is stoked, so check back in a little while for an update. We've got a few surprises up our sleeves... | |
March 25, 2008
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Let's skip the wordy stuff and get right to some tantalizing photos of the Jazz-flavored, single pickup Talladega we've been following. After months of waiting, it's ready to comp, swing and sizzle. | |
Complete with impeccable details, premium woods, flatwounds and Bartolini humbucker at the neck position, it's the Anti-Halen axe. It's one man's ideal custom guitar—what do you think? | |
