Eastwood Sidejack Baritone & sitarized First Act Westerberg PW580

I got a First Act Westerberg signature guitar because its outline is brillant and it was very cheap, but to be honest the guitar was unplayable - neck too flat, terrible fretwork and very thin pickup. I had already change the pickup for a GFS P90, put an aluminium pickguard and a nut convertor to play slide but it was still accumulating dust, so I achieved its metamorphosis by putting a new neck and sitar saddles - the same I used for the Doppelcaster - and now I have a unique sitar guitar that I play regularly and hope will use on stage soon. It's still not perfect -  I have to adjust the alignment - but it works very well and  I will eventually upgrade the neck and the pickup again so it can be a reliable concert instrument...  

Next to it is the new Eastwood Sidejack Baritone guitar I got for my last birthday - I am very fond of my Danelectro Longhorn Baritone but its lipstick pickups have a narrow register, so I wanted to explore further the possibilities of baritones, and I'm not disappointed... I didn't like the white pickguard so I made a black one - first time I make one out of plastic, not as nice as metal but easier to do... Already used it for my last concert - photos and videos will come soon I hope.

 

 

Tom of Finland Junior

A few weeks ago I passed by a small music shop in a Viennese suburb and saw a 60€ Epiphone Les Paul Junior in the window (actually it was 69€ but the seller insisted to sell it for 60, I didn't object). I bought it because I want to design a kind of LP variation (you might have noticed this in the last sketches) and I needed to feel its balance - I never played a Les Paul, I'm not attracted to these guitars at all. So more or less I needed a template - also I had in the back of my mind that I'd like to customise a cheap guitar just for fun. 

It's Epiphone's last discontinued Junior model with the zebra humbucker and it's astonishingly good for the price - the neck is of good quality, easy to play, straight, good finish, good fret work, tuners do their job - and the pickup is clear and powerful - this just confirms again that people who spit on China-made cheap models are merely being snobbish (when they are not racist). Only the wraparound bridge was badly set up but easy to fix... 

And I had no remorse crudely modifying it it: I refinished it with white spray paint - it doesn't matter if the layer is too thin to last long, it will look even better once beaten -, put a Warman chrome dog-ear P90, also cheap but sounding nicely - the reviews I read about it didn't lie -, and adorned it with a Tom of Finland sticker (that I ordered in Thailand - not only it is hardly possible to find a non-old school pin-up decal, but when you do it's not around the corner...)

I really like my new little guitar, I tried something similar with a cheap First Act a few years ago but the neck was too thin, fretwork awful, and it sounded always quite weak, even with a new pickup. The Warman P90 sounds really good, clear and chiming when clean, sharp and agressive when dirty. Maybe I just needed to play on a P90 after all these years with humbuckers... I still have these Custom 77 pickups, for my next next project (the next will recycle the Junior humbucker, that I wouldn't leave unused...).

Ladies and gentlemen, the Epsilon!

I didn't post about it for a while but my first real guitar project the Epsilon is finished and it's a great player as much as a real beauty. The idea was to make a guitar both ergonomic and looking wild - one I would want to play on stage -, and if I believe the feedback I've had so far it's not a complete failure. 

The body is made of ash, the neck is maple (neck-through-body construction) and the fretboard is plum (all woods come from Europe). Pickups are handwound The Creamery Custom Double Track Humbuckers (they sound just wonderful!), wraparound bridge and locking tuners are Schaller, knobs and switch are Duesenberg, pickguard is laser cut polished aluminium. 

It was a long and sometimes difficult process (I'll make another post later about the whole story) but I'm delighted with the result. Some of you have been following this blog for years and witnessed my many attempts at designing then making guitars, now I know why I've dedicated so much time and effort: the Epsilon is not only a great achievement for me, but I hope also the first step of a great journey!

 

 

Of course you don't have to believe me when I say it's a great guitar, so I asked Argentinian guitarist extraordinaire Diego Munè to test the Epsilon, and it's like they were made for each other - Diego's music is right for the guitar and he really loves it...

back on track!

Epsilon with early stage transparent black finish

The Epsilon is back on the workbench after a one month interruption. We finally opted for oil finish instead of lacquer, so it won't last very long anymore...

more Epsilon

more Epsilon

Epsilon template

Here we go! Andreas from Deutsches Tonholz started to work on the Epsilon - this is the template… The guitar itself will have a maple neck through ash body and a plumtree fretboard. Just received this picture and it makes my day!

miscellaneous

Next Wednesday I will play with my new band, the Soft Power Ensemble of Vienna, in Fluc, Vienna, the same venue where we performed with Yuri Landman. The band comprises 9 guitarists, plus drums and bass, and is not far from reaching sonic heavens. 

Didn't have a real band for 10 years, as I was busy with dance, multimedia performances and electronic music - it feels really good! I will post some music here soon.

These are the handwound pickups Jaime Campbell at The Creamery made for the Epsilon. We chose blade humbuckers with alnico 5 magnets for versatility and warmth. 

For some stupid marketing reasons, not-overwound pickups are called 'vintage' - that is in electric guitar business if you don't play metal, you play old school rock… the Epsilon will prove that wrong!

Epsilon project

In the last months I've been busy with the Epsilon project. I was contacted by a guitar maker in Sweden who proposed me to conceive an ergonomic guitar and have a prototype built - and if things work create a company to have it released… We took plenty of time to exchange about what we really wanted and settled on this model, that I roughly built out of foam. The model should go to a luthier soon... More information on this project when things evolve!