lowatter Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Posted - 11/09/2008 : 19:15:13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weighing in at 8 pounds 7 ounces Junior is a hefty little fella with good looks and quite a little attitude. When he gets spanked he can really scream and growl. He still is a little rough around the edges, but he's coming along and his looks and disposition will improve. Let me know what you guys think. You can check out some pics of him at... http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/ ...just click on the homepage link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 Dude I can't believe you made that guitar from scratch. Real nice axe. Congratulations. Here I am trying to make a simple wooden box for a tube amp head and I am stuck without the right tools. Any advice on how to round a corner without having a router? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynadude Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 That's a cool guitar, no doubt. Now, how much would ya take for it? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowatter Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 Sorry...after all the work, it's a keeper. Besides, the corporate identity police would hunt me down and leave me poorer than I already am and probably without my Jr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynadude Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Just curious. How much would it take to get that guitar? How much value would you place on it? Did building your own give you more respect for the store bought, or did it have the opposite affect? I'd place a value of about 2 grand on my Teleblaster, and I didn't even build the components. The neck and body were carefully selected though, for their dimensions and weight. The pickups are custom built, and I cut the pick guard myself, mainly because the custom body has slightly different dimensions than a store bought. All in all, I'd say the experience gave me the impression that most factory guitars are over priced, especially bolt on designs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowatter Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 DynaDude...this is a first-time(and probably last) effort. I'm 48 and I had quite few "half-way-decent" guitars in my day, but never had the desire to spend a bundle on a true Gibby(except my $300 Melody Maker). I'm not a professional player or aspire to be one. I'm a part-time rocker who grew up outside of Detroit during the 70's who just likes to play my own orignal rthymn lines and hope to put some home recording stuff down and refine it before gout sets in. I'm a happily married old fart that really can't justify buying a quality high-end Gibby so I decided to build one to the best of my abilities on the cheap and see what I could come up with. I was looking for Epi copy or maybe a Memphis Jap copy etc. at the time. To date, I seriously only have less then $150 of materials into my junior but MANY hours of my spare time. The mahogany body is 5(yes, 5) pieces of honduras I got from a local hardwood supplier for $20 including the neck and I still have enough left over for another laminated body. The fretted fingerboard was taken off a Stagg paul copy neck I got for $25. It's got a GFS P-90 I got for $20. Wilkenson keystones for $27. A cheap wraparound bridge $17. Amber knobs $8. Epoxy for a homemade pickguard $15 and a few other small parts. Basically, it's a turd. The only monetary value that anyone could put on it is bupkiss compared to what it means to me. This little guy rocks and is beyond my expectations of what I was looking for. If someone offered me a straight-up trade for a real Gibby Junior double cut in playable condition, I'd probably take the deal in a heartbeat. But to put a dollar value on it would be like trying to value art, it's worth what's in the eye of the buyer and has no real market value. I'm not going there. Thanks, however for the compliments guys. That means alot to me. :{) http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Lowatter, did you build your tube amplifier as well? I see that you still have your 51. I had the opportunity to plug into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe a couple of days ago and the GFS humbucker I have on my 51 sounded really good. Congrats on your Junior again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowatter Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 Yes Stiffhand, I did scratch-build my 12" combo tube amp. It's based on the High Octane circuit over at www.ax84.com I spent probably 6 months in my spare time building it, and I still have some mods and fixes to do on it when I get time. A very rewarding, satisfying and educational journey to build one. I'm glad I did, and I'm also glad it's mostly over too. It's alot of work, and alot of research. If you can buy a Deluxe or a Blues Junior or even a Deville for a decent price...go for it and save alot of headache. But if your up for a challange... Thanks for your interest. BTW...I just gave my '51 to my step-son for his 15th birthday(you should have seen his face!). Now I have to find another one cheap(and soon)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elessar820 Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 That is some damn fine work. I've been dying to build a guitar from scratch, but due to lack of time, funds and tools I am stuck buying them from a store. I've refinished some in the past, but I'd love to build my own design. Great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynadude Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 That is some damn fine work. I've been dying to build a guitar from scratch' date=' but due to lack of time, funds and tools I am stuck buying them from a store. I've refinished some in the past, but I'd love to build my own design. Great job.[/quote'] You don't need a lot of tools. Just find a body and neck, or have them built to your design. There are lots of resources for this stuff on the web, and most are pretty reasonable, if you take into consideration how much the tools would cost you to build your own parts. Have some pickups wound to your liking, buy your own hardware, and you'll be playing your very own personal guitar in no time. In other words, you don't have to grow the tree, and smelt the metal to have a personalizes guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elessar820 Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 You don't need a lot of tools. Just find a body and neck' date=' or have them built to your design. There are lots of resources for this stuff on the web, and most are pretty reasonable, if you take into consideration how much the tools would cost you to build your own parts. Have some pickups wound to your liking, buy your own hardware, and you'll be playing your very own personal guitar in no time. In other words, you don't have to grow the tree, and smelt the metal to have a personalizes guitar.[/quote'] Definitely. I pretty much tweak all of my gear a bit to make it more to my liking. I've been debating a Warmoth guitar forever. I mean I'd like to design my own and make it from scratch. If I had the chance, I'd love to even cut the tree myself, that'd be the ultimate custom made guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmngretsch14 Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 That's gorgeous work--The guitar in my avatar is my butchery, used to be a sunburst LP 100, I didnt even do all the carving etc myself, just stuck some Gibson parts on it and found some real goldtop paint for it. It looks like a relic from a distance but if you get up close you realize I did a poor job trying to put a binding on it and the finish is quite sub par. Makes me really appreciate how amazing yours is, you evev made the body and pickguard. Real ace guitar, it's a thing of pride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Yes Stiffhand' date=' I did scratch-build my 12" combo tube amp. It's based on the High Octane circuit over at www.ax84.com I spent probably 6 months in my spare time building it, and I still have some mods and fixes to do on it when I get time. A very rewarding, satisfying and educational journey to build one. I'm glad I did, and I'm also glad it's mostly over too. It's alot of work, and alot of research. If you can buy a Deluxe or a Blues Junior or even a Deville for a decent price...go for it and save alot of headache. But if your up for a challange... Thanks for your interest. BTW...I just gave my '51 to my step-son for his 15th birthday(you should have seen his face!). Now I have to find another one cheap(and soon)![/quote'] Oh I can imagine, they are nice guitars. On the amp, I have a modded Valve Junior head and cab and a Champ 600 that I am making into a head, I have tweed cab for it already. I pretty much tinker with every piece of gear I have too. Fender amps are nice but just too loud for my needs. I will have to settle for playing it at my friends house. I am building an enclosure for the Champ 600 but it looks like a bird house so far and I am still wondering how I am going to round the corners since I do not have a router. I replaced the OT transformer on the Valve Junior and then I used the original transformer on the Champ 600 so now it has 4,8,16 ohm taps. I will be posting pics when I am done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowatter Posted November 26, 2008 Author Share Posted November 26, 2008 Hey stiffhand...if you take a circular saw and set the angle plate for 45 degrees and carefully trim off an equal amount from each corner riding against a clamped board guide you can then take a rasp or better yet a orbital sanger with some 60 or 80 grit sandpaper and finish the round over. You'll have a decent round over ready to cover with tolex. I hope this helps-Lowatter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Thanks a lowatter I was stuck thinking I needed a rounding bit, it turned out the pine was soft enough to work by hand, I went with the sandpaper and since the cab is very small I did not even use the sander. I used 100 grit that I already had. I aplied most of the tweed covering, check the pics I posted here: http://forums.gibson.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=9406 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowatter Posted December 6, 2008 Author Share Posted December 6, 2008 Great job Stiffhand! BTW..as I write I'm watching Pink floyd's Dark Side of the Moon 1994 concert on PBS. I'm comfortably numb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Thanks man, yea, I caught a lot of Pink Floyd on VH1 classic over Thanksgiving. The sentence on my sig stuck in my head. I also went to see "Eclipse" for the second time, they are a Pink Floyd cover band, best $10 you can spend, they play 3 hours, with 3 lead guitars, slide, keyboards, effects and one of the 2 girls sings Big Gig in the Sky. If you have a chance to see them I recommend it. http://www.pinkfloyd-eclipse.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowatter Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Just thot I'd update this thread for anyone interested. I recently completed a 18W build and I'm thrilled with the results. Let me know if anyone has any questions. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10000602@N04/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 The 18-watter is a beaut... You must have a HELL of a shop! Oh yeah, I got some questions...Is it scratch-built, or did you re-use a chassis, circuitry, etc? SS or tube, what's the speaker, where'd you get the 'Marshall' logo from, piping, grille cloth, etc?? Fantastic job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Hey lowatter, you did a heck of a job on the 18-watter. I saw it on the 51 forum. It looks fantastic. You should post this on the Loungue, I am sure it would inspire a few folks that would like to build their own amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowatter Posted April 19, 2009 Author Share Posted April 19, 2009 Brundaddy...yes it's scratch built and the entire build progress pics will answer most of your questions. It's at... My Junior and 18W builds I had invaluable help from the guys from the Hoffman amp forum and AX84. These are great places to hang and learn about amps. The logo I got from a 15W lead practice amp I gave to my Stepson that never gets used. You can buy them for $20 if you do a web search. The speaker is a Celestion Vintage 30 but if your planning to build one, it's highly recommended to use a Celestion G12H. My shop is a modest garage shop with quite a bit of tools, but the aren't the best. I did manage to build a '59 Junior Double Cut in it as well. Pics of it are on the link as well. Thanks for the compliments guys. If I can build this stuff, you could too. You just really have to want to and to do the work. It was quite a journey and I glad it's over. I have great tone now and a few great guitars to play. I'm very satisfied and now it's time to learn to record a little of my original stuff before gout sets in!...I'm 49 in July. Let me know if you have any others questions. Best wishes-Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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