I had just finished a blue Gibson ES335 style guitar and I was starting on a new stratocaster in zebrawood. Then my boss asked me, could we do it in orange?
Fortunately, I knew of a nice paint that would run semitransparent and orange and yet bring the wood grain of the zebrawood out, so we went for it.
I don’t usually design guitars with any specific thing in mind. How to start with the basic design? Like in this case, the color Orange and then go from there and see what happens. In this case, it was definitely a response to someone who insulted me in the past.
Not from my lack of guitar building skills but the fact that I touched his precious guitar. So I figured I would build something to equal his precious fucking guitar.
As soon as I saw the color of the wood, I decided to do everything in metals, brass, bronze, silver, gold, etc. I pulled the caps off of the pickups and was pleasantly surprised that the bare coils have a clear plastic cover, perfect. I love the naked look with a clear pick guard, everything seems to float when you see it in person.
I wish I had access to a PC because WP sucks on Android, so no alt text or caps.*
This is the sister to my old school clear Telecaster and she’s wonderful. Do I make wierd guitars? Yes
[*EDITOR’S NOTE: WP sucks donkey balls on every platform, 24×7, and not in a good way. We’re working on something.]
Oh that is lovely. I would in no way call it “weird”. I have only seen a handful of guitars I’d call weird, such as the Roswell.
https://www.themusiczoo.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-the-jackson-roswell-rhoads-guitar?srsltid=AfmBOooMC3VazH8XgWD2YyBxls8_YWdjnRmkUGLzDqnb4up58WDBdu1S
I don’t even find that Roswell very weird, by modern standards. I definitely prefer classic Strat bodies though…
I saw a Roswell in person once at a store. The fret board was really wide, and the tail was very long, thin and sharp, in fact this one’s tail had broken off. To me it was weird.
Shiny.
Seconded.
I know nothing of guitars, but can appreciate visuals at least.
Thanks, its a quality build but nothing fancy from an electronics standpoint.
What was the paint you used? You mentioned that you knew of one, but didn’t say which it was.
UCS, the paint is called metalcast, its actually automotive paint. Its hard to work with but the result is magic.
“I know nothing of guitars, but can appreciate visuals at least.”
You’re beginning to see your lack of resonance. Major development. We’d never diminish your augmented view of music and instruments. Adds character, notation.
Well now we’ve got Evan doing it. 🙂
Well, we’re a bad influence.
And the next step in our eeevil plan is…
“And the next step in our eeevil plan is…”
$$$$
Nice job! Not sure how I feel about the clear pickguard, however. Will you get star pattern cracking on screw holes over time? That’s been my experience with clear plastics.
But first rate on the build!
Both guitars are more for show than play, that said they are intonated and setup wonderful to play.
Very nice, that color came out gorgeous.
Lovely!
Does the neck come pre-drilled for the bolt-on so you just have to drill the body? Or both? Drilling the body woudl be bad enough for me, but drilling the neck would be nerve wracking.
Were the routed out bits for pickups and electronics pre-done or did you do it? The bottoms look ‘rough’ for lack of a better term. Intentional maybe? I’d tend to prefer smooth finish with the same grain pattern as the top so it would look more seamless/flow through in the finished guitar.
Good work; would be a nice side hustle if you’re selling them, tickles all the right itches!
The neck and body I drilled.
The interior is copper foil.
Bobbo, you can’t just insert a picture of a nice little pussy cat in the middle of all that beautiful wood.
/jk
I can’t play a lick of music, but I do like me a pretty guitar.
That cat was just Fretting.
He was avoiding the feed back from the dogs below
Pussy is why many musicians are in the business.
Damn. That is absolutely gorgeous. Well done. I hope and trust the sound matches.
I picked up the bass for a spell and could certainly pick it up, but college and other priorities got in the way of that musical digression. I’m beyond pleased I was the drummer in several bands, produced and recorded a few LPs, and kinda-legit toured S Korea. Damn. My 20s rock-about was a wild decade.
“R̵o̵a̵d̵s̵ Strings?̵ Where we’re going, we don’t need ̵r̵o̵a̵d̵s̵ strings.” ~Drummers United.
(“Yo, snares have strings, yo.” ~Drummer exiled for killin’ the vibe.)
I never could get the hang of bass.
Caught a bunch of tiny sunfish tho.
I played bass in my little career,
Heavier than crappy,
Smallmouth Bass are the greatest freshwater game fish in the US. That is all.
I have caught zero. the only thing I’ve caught is a very yellow fish with a diamond-shaped profile about the size of my palm. My dad called them sunfish, so that’s what I’ve called them, but I can’t find any internet reference information where the picture matches what I caught
Musicians attract a lot of groupers.
Don’t eat it then
Rhy – we fished in Onondaga Lake – I would Never eat anything out of that lake.
You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish.
You know the favorite musical genre for saltwater fish? Albacore.
Ha. I’ve eaten fish out of Oneida Lake. Far enough away I guess.
Allied Chemical used Onondaga as a dumping pond.
Oh joy. I wonder how many billions we are paying to clean that up.
It’s all about the bass.
I played the Socal triangle in my 20s, a rough ride Im glad I walked away from mostly intact.
Cheers Ev!
Excellent, Kia, oops, Bobbo.
I don’t understand music but I like to listen. Thanks for proving my point that Glibs come with a lot talent, a lot of smarts and a lot of interests.
Looks fantastic. Another great Bobbo original!
Im happy to a guy to do custom emblems for the headstock.
My last name looks good in cursive
To have a guy
Skyrocketing
A recent study by VantageScore found that auto loan delinquency rates have increased by more than 50% over the past 15 years.
——-
“Back in 2010, auto loans were the least risky of all products at that point in time,” Rikard Bandebo, chief economist at VantageScore, said in a recent video. “Now, as we look at 2025, it’s actually — excluding student loans — the riskiest credit product.”
While a growing number of Americans have been falling behind on car payments for years, auto loan delinquency rates have picked up after a pandemic-induced dip.
The most recent data from the Federal Reserve shows that auto loan delinquency rates — defined as the portion of loan balances that are at least 30 days past due — were at 3.8% in June 2024, the highest level since June 2010.
Not nothing, but an increase from 2 to three is a lot less terrifying than one from 20 to 30.
Underwater and Sinking Deeper: The Average Amount Owed on Upside-Down Auto Loans Climbed to an All-Time High of $6,905, According to Edmunds
https://www.edmunds.com/industry/press/underwater-and-sinking-deeper-the-average-amount-owed-on-upside-down-auto-loans-climbed-to-an-all-time-high-of-6905-according-to-edmunds.html
I’m genuinely surprised at how many people are able to stay afloat with their car loans.
Only ~4% delinquent and only ~28% underwater is impressive in a world where the average car payment is $500+
OTOH, with 6 and 7 year car financing, the trend is going to go in a bad direction long term.
50%!!!!!!!!!
Like anything else, they give you raw numbers when it’s a small percentage and percentages when it’s a small number.
They have to make it sound scarier.
TMITE
Don’t know Fourscore’s situation, but most of us his age made do with old beaters and five+ year old cars for a good portion of our early careers. My kids and grandkid insisted on new or newish cars from the jump; and the only way to afford them is through long, expensive loans. One job loss and, yeah, default looms (if Bank of Dad doesn’t come through).
Yup. Most people have no idea that you can just pay cash for a used car. Half lease the cars. The other half finance the cars for 5-7 years, trading them in every 3 or 4 years.
Of course, they wouldn’t be caught dead in my 21 years old truck or even my 5 year old minivan. Too déclassé.
I paid cash for two used cars in the last year.
“excluding student loans”
They are in a universe of their own.
So are the students.
Nice.
Cat is ‘helping’ in ways only cats can help.
By getting hair in the varnish?
Sleepervising
This should be fun. Japan’s new PM just appointed a “(c)onservative lawmaker Kimi Onoda has been appointed to the new portfolio to promote an “orderly coexistent society with foreigners.”
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/japans-conservative-premier-creates-foreigner-specific-cabinet-post/3722920
She has an American father and renounced her US citizenship when she decided to play Japan politics. I know nothing about her.
The Japanese memes have only just begun.
https://x.com/GearoidReidy/status/1980516222447083636
One of the progs at church was lamenting this morning that even Japan now has a women as head of government and that the U.S. has now failed twice to achieve the same exalted status. He thinks Trump is a total asshole, so I wonder what he thinks about the inability of two “highly qualified” women to beat him in presidential race?
Well, technically Park Geun-hye was pardoned…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Geun-hye
I wonder what he thinks about the inability of two “highly qualified” women to beat him in presidential race?
Nazis ate my election!
“Nobody I know voted for Trump.”
Good news, everyone
Amazon is reportedly leaning into automation plans that will enable the company to avoid hiring more than half a million US workers. Citing interviews and internal strategy documents, The New York Times reports that Amazon is hoping its robots can replace more than 600,000 jobs it would otherwise have to hire in the United States by 2033, despite estimating it’ll sell about twice as many products over the period.
Those jobs suck. Jeff Bezos should just pay people to do nothing.
Awesome, now we can all stay home and be poets!
Sorry, Kevin, AI has taken over the Poetry positions.
Kevin haz a sad. 🙁
Learn to code robots.
There once was a server in Nantucket…
Amazon employs a lot of immigrants, right?
Deport them all.
Nice work, Bobbo. That guitar is a knockout.
Thanks, next up is the Great Pumpkin from peanuts,
And in news nobody wanted:
Jessica Yaniv Is Back.
Very pretty, Bobbo. Very nice work.