COMPLETED -- "Tidycatster", the $100 telecaster challenge

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidycatster.jpg

A bucketful of pine and maple gets us started in the challenge. Hopefully I've met the initial requirements. No cats will be harmed in the making of this guitar. More to follow I hope. I'll try and get a litter done this week.

heh - those look just like my two - thelma and louise.

Awesome.

Are you sure this isn't a kitty thread? I've got one just like them.

And so another one logs in! This should be interesting.

No help from the cats!

This is going to be a fun month. Good luck to all.

These are leftovers from the planks and blanks I've been making this last year. The planks I get usually run about 15 to 20 inches wide. Occasionally I can make a 2 pc body or a 3 pc body. These pieces are just too good to burn or toss out. They accumulate and take up space. I figured that someday I'd glue them up for a cheapcaster and this contest prompted me to start now. These pieces are related to your pine bodies out there maybe you'll see something familiar looking :-)......I arranged them with alternating rings to minimize warpage and numbered them. .http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidy2.jpg
I also put a slash mark to help me put them against the fence in the correct direction so that any fence error would correct itself in the next piece
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidy3.jpg
I proceeded to joint each glue surface on my jointer.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidy4.jpg

After jointing I arranged them together to check the fit.
I generally use a metal scraper to remove any knife marks left on the surfaces. I did that on all the glue surfaces and then proceeded to glue up the blank.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidy5.jpg

I use 3 clamps during a blank glue up and tap the boards down to the clamps. Now I'll let the stuff dry for a few hours.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidy6.jpg
I like to see some glue squeeze out between the boards. You don't have to squeeze the daylights out of the clamps to get this part done, in fact you can squeeze out the glue, making for dry joints.
My jointer is one of the first generation Jet jointers from the early 1980's. They've come a long way. This one isn't perfect, but gets the job done. The thing that bugs me about import jointers is that the fences move with fairly light pressure. I'm pretty picky about my machines.
I've bought and sold over the years a Sears jointer, Grizzly shaper, Ryobi Radial Arm saw, Ryobi Drum sander, and a Delta 13 in planer ( the big boy). All I ask is that they cut straight and don't snipe too much. These didn't work out. Currently I have a Jet Planer Molder soon to be replaced by the Dewalt 13 planer in the box next to me. My original Delta 14" drill press, Delta drumsander, Sears occilating spindle sander, countless routers, and assorted hand and power tools. Forgot my Delta bandsaw with the height extension. You can collect a bunch of stuff over 30 years.

The "hard wood floor " model!! Great Idea! Clean up the scrap!!
Good luck
ED

good luck! this is going to be very interesting build...

My dog would like to come over and help you with that cat problem.

My dog would like to come over and help you with that cat problem.

Ah, no it would not....... you apparently have not seen Marty's dog's.

Those junk yard dogs were a well kept secret there Vince....

Round 2
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy1.jpg
This is my homemade CNC router. I'm really kind of proud of this thing. I designed and fabricated all the parts myself. The linear bearings are made from roller skate bearings, but in a more complex manner than you see on the CNCzone. The machine is made from aluminum angle and bar, High density Polyurethane, MDF, and some pine tongue and groove for the table. I made it a number of years ago. It can do roughly a 13x 24 area. My knowledge of electronics was limited, so I bought a motor and controller system from Maxnc. That ran about 8 hundred dollars. It came with software to run it. Not a horrible learning curve, but poor documentation for the newbie. I bought a version of BobCad to draw parts and convert to what is called G code, which is the machine language that the system understands.Basically the router moves up/down, left/right/ and back/forth corresponding to the X, Y, and Z axes you would find on a graph.

A line or two of a program looks something like this:
G01X 6.5Y12
G01Z-1.0

That tells the computer to spin the motors enough to make it move 6.5 inches on the x axis and 12 inches on the y axis. Then a G01z-1.0 would move the cutter down 1 inch into the wood.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy2.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy3.jpg

I planed the blank down after scraping off the glue and attached it to the MDF with some drywall screws. I align the dremel tool to the centerline at the 16th fret. I drew all the individual routs in BobCad and placed them all together into one program.
I wrote the program to locate the holes and incorporated that into the program as well. It actually takes longer to rout the body the way I have this set up than it would to use templates, but I love to watch it run so I haven't revised anything in years with the exception of a tweek or two at the neck pocket. The tweek makes for a nice and snug PIneMart mortise.
The pic of the monitor shows the software set at the starting point of 0,0,0

It takes longer to narrate this thread than it does to make the body :-).
This pic shows the cutter set at the zero point too.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy4.jpg

I decided to make two bodies since I had the scrap and since the computer has hiccuped a few times since I reloaded the software. It runs on DOS and this is a faster chip than I think it really can handle or need. Either that or it doesn't like the sawdust..... Actually I'm on computer #3 since I've had this router running.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy5.jpg


http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy6.jpg

I'm not sure how many pics photobucket will allow me to store, so I'm not putting them all in here.

The router cuts out the lead pup rout, the control cavity, neck pup rout and the neck rout.

I change back to the dremel bit, reset the depth and it marks the hole locations in the neck rout and then locates the bridge holes.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy7.jpg

It really did take me longer to put the photos and text in here than it did to set it up and rout it out.
Rascal the cat didn't mind me taking his picture with the wood. He is my daughter's cat... she is off to college and now he likes me a lot more than he used to.

Total Cost so far...just glue...

That homemade CNC router looks impressive!
Would be worth a thread of itself.
Good luck on your build!!

OK, Now we have the twins ready to go on to my favorite part, sanding!
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidycatster9.jpg

I was going to ask if you made that router.... It is very nice. How have you made the linear bearings... are they something like this?

http://buildyourcnc.com/images/MH%20Z-Axis.jpg

I'm trying to think outside the box on this guitar....err jar maybe. This is a plastic jar from a giant container of choc covered pretzels.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/bridge1.jpg
This is my little metal lathe that I mainly use for turning down wooden parts. I'm using some left over aluminum hex rod from my cnc project to try my hand at saddle making.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/bridge2.jpg
I tapped the saddles and drilled the holes in the plastic. Could be a bridge...who knows?
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/bridge3.jpg

For those linear bearings I used Hex aluminum rod and bolts. I drilled the hex rod on the flats and inserted the bolts to hold the bearings. These are a bit more ridgid and substantial, and in my opinion more accurate than what you can do with just angle rod. I made these before the 90 degree angle rods came into favor maybe 5-6 years ago.
I have 2 pcs of angle attached to hex rod for each linear bearing.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy2-3.jpg

Marty - Looking good and I know how you just love to sand..... and way to think outside the jar of choc covered pretzels....

Vince I can farm out the sanding to you for free right? LOL

Round 2
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/cnctidy1.jpg
This is my homemade CNC router. I'm really kind of proud of this thing. I designed and fabricated all the parts myself. The linear bearings are made from roller skate bearings, but in a more complex manner than you see on the CNCzone. The machine is made from aluminum angle and bar, High density Polyurethane, MDF, and some pine tongue and groove for the table. I made it a number of years ago. It can do roughly a 13x 24 area. My knowledge of electronics was limited, so I bought a motor and controller system from Maxnc. That ran about 8 hundred dollars. It came with software to run it. Not a horrible learning curve, but poor documentation for the newbie. I bought a version of BobCad to draw parts and convert to what is called G code, which is the machine language that the system understands.Basically the router moves up/down, left/right/ and back/forth corresponding to the X, Y, and Z axes you would find on a graph.

A line or two of a program looks something like this:
G01X 6.5Y12
G01Z-1.0

That tells the computer to spin the motors enough to make it move 6.5 inches on the x axis and 12 inches on the y axis. Then a G01z-1.0 would move the cutter down 1 inch into the wood.

that's some serious McGaivering.

Thanks. No duct tape on it though...

Drilling holes for the bridge and neck.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidydrill1.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidydrill3.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidydrill2.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidydrill4.jpg

Belt sanding to the line!
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidybelt.jpg

Drum sanding to the line!
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidydrum.jpg

Here is a pickguard courtesy of the Tidy Cat container. This is as much as I could get out of the top lid.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidyguard.jpg

This is a hunk of quartersawn maple cut from the pc of wood in the initial bucket of wood. I used the CNC to mark the fret slots and cut them by hand with my hand saw. My CNC probably could be programmed to do it, but I don't have a tiny bit like that and don't want to spend the time figuring it out when I can just cut them by hand.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidyneck-1.jpg


I'm thinking about not putting a truss rod in for the sonic possibilities and the mojo.... I need mojo points to keep up with the other competitors. ( random thought....Hmmmm maybe a carved top using a clam shell would have been better).

Total cost update.... just my time and the glue so far. I'm gonna try and limit the cost to tuners, fretwire, and new- but cheap pickups/pots/hardware.

1/4"red dots... I made them out of the tidycat container top too, but they were a bit too thin for my taste. I ended up making a couple of dozen black ones from leftover pickguard material.http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/dots001.jpg

Harbor Freight sells something like this one for about 20 dollars. You could make a lot of dots if it actually works!

harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91510

Here is a pickguard courtesy of the Tidy Cat container. This is as much as I could get out of the top lid.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidyguard.jpg

Hmmmm...Wilco Johnson!?! Should look great!

I'm lovin' it so far!

OK... next part... the lap steel that will be attached to the rest of the body:
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/laptidy2-1.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/lap003.jpg

Might have to call this something else????? These were all pine scraps.

Here is the lap fingerboard. CNC routed with a 1/8" bit.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/lap001.jpg

And here it is with 1/8" walnut fret markers.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/lap002.jpg


I did a 24 inch scale with 25 markers, but I think I will end up with a smaller scale and 23 markers to fit on the above lap neck.

One week down already!

For the record I never completed a lap steel guitar before so I'm working on the fly here.

Here is a pickguard courtesy of the Tidy Cat container. This is as much as I could get out of the top lid.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidyguard.jpg

Freaking clever and hilarious!

whoah! Awesome you are making a lap steel. This whole contest is frickin AMAZING.

Here is a rough cut lap blank and a sanded-down fingerboard for it. I tapered the peghead because I will glue on some ears ala Gibs*n. The fingerboard will get cut down a couple frets in the process as well. http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidylap2.jpg
Here's a Low Tech operation for more points-
I had the cats lick some milk off of the cut areas to smooth them out. You know how rough those cat tongues are. Probably 80 grit. Photo of cat licking pine not available.

Now I have to decide where to mount it on the tele body for maximum lapability.
No cost on the lap except for another quarter's worth of glue.

Now I'm off to hunt a deer so I can make up some hide glue and dig up some bauxite to make some knobs with.
My trusty mini van is a deer magnet.

I knew this stuff would be good for something some day. Left over aluminum angle from one of my cnc builds. Might have to clean them up a little.http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/alum001.jpg

"A bucketful of pine and maple gets us started in the challenge. Hopefully I've met the initial requirements. No cats will be harmed in the making of this guitar. More to follow I hope. I'll try and get a litter done this week."

You're killing us already! Super sweet use of tools. Subscribed, competition beware!

You're killing us already! Super sweet use of tools. Subscribed, competition beware!

Thanks for looking everybody... I may have to DQ myself somehow in order to keep it. Maybe I'll buy an original Gibson '59PAF for it. That'll take me out of the running.

Esquire + Cats = Win

OK, fingerboard is glued on and a slot cut for the nut. I stuck in a piece of aluminum as a temporary nut.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/necklap001.jpg

I took a piece of 1/2" aluminum rod I had from the ol' cnc project and drilled a couple of holes for mounting screws. I wanted the abiltity to raise and lower it with some washers underneath if necessary. I cleaned up the ends on the lathe. I opted for this rod over the aluminum angle because it has a smaller profile and leaves more space to rest your hand on the wood for picking. I put a little chamfer on the ends to remove the sharp edge.
The center line of the saddle is at the scale length of twice the distance from the nut leading edge to the center of the 12th fret marker.http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/saddle002.jpg


http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/saddle001.jpg


http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/saddle003.jpg

Now onto the lap pickup rout. I have a bunch of new and used single coils but I'm out of tele pups. I have a couple of import styles that are cheap and new and may go with those.

Here is a pickguard courtesy of the Tidy Cat container. This is as much as I could get out of the top lid.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidyguard.jpg

Across the pond they call 'em a "scratch plate". Hehhehheh. Another ingenious idea I'm filing away for the day I become, uh, inspired!:idea:

Scratch Plate.... I love it....

The neck. If time gets scarce I will use the neck that I made for another project guitar. It is a snakehead, quartersawn maple neck. The dots are made from pickguard material and it has no rod installed. See below.

So here is the general concept I'm going with.http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/tidtcat10.jpg

Thus far I've had 2 "oh crap!" moments during this contest. The first was scatterlee starting work on his own bridge, the picture above was the second. kudos dude, that's awesome!

Ahh, a Guit-Steel!

Can't wait to see the lapsteel

WOW
You guys are makin this tough
http://www.nittanyanthology.com/Smiley_Kicking_dirt.gif

Ahh, a Guit-Steel!


Going to make Jr. Brown proud!!

that's really something

I was thinking I should have jump in this thing but now..........

Wow, just plain wow. I'm gonna have to check out the other builds but this is just great.

Hey,
Thanks for the kind words. It's been fun doing something out of the ordinary.
Marty

One Lap Scratch Guard.... Hey Purina, if you happen to catch this thread... I bet the local shelter could use some cat food and litter. Those are recycled screws from a superstrat that got cannabalized for its parts.Go green...Recycle and Reuse as they say.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/pick001-1.jpg

Random thought# 3 or is it #4.
I can see some knobs in that red handle that I just took off that yellow bucket before I hacked it up.

Capital outlay so far. I haven't purchased anything yet. Just glue, leftovers wood, metal, and used screws. I know I have the used parts from junky guitars to do this without any cost, but I just can't see putting used electronics ( pots, switches, caps, etc )in this after all the work. Oops I did use 2 new sheet metal screws for the lap saddle. 10 cents?

I'm thinking one single coil right above the kitties.

Here I am laying out some lines to line up the pickup cavity template in the pickguard. I've put some masking tape down to draw on and protect the plastic.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/pickup2.jpg
Then the pattern goes on with some double sided carpet
tape.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/pickup3.jpg
Then it gets routed out with a pickup template
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/pickup4.jpg/mmgguitars/pickup3.jpg
Finally a pickup fits in.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/pickup5.jpg

My grinnin' muscles are gittin' sore!

You know I have that other body....hmmm triplenecker??????

yesss!! Guit steel!! amazing!

this is awesome... period

Well I took the plunge today and cut off the bottom of the body and cleaned up the edge for gluing. I drilled a hole from the pickup cavity where it will join the control cavity. I added the glue and clamped it together.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/glue001.jpg

I took the clamps off, scraped some glue off, drilled a couple of strap button holes, drilled some lap dot holes, and prototyped some knobs. These are toothpaste caps and red cutoff's from the tidy cat handle. The caps already have a knurl to them.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/mockup001.jpg
I think I'll do some type of plastic top to them too.

Still no purchases yet for this thing. 10 dollar ceramic magnet pickup- new. I have some used ones if I need to save the cash for something later. I think we're up to about 11 dollars here so far. Glue, 2 screws, one pup.

I didn't realize the lap would be so close to the Tele control. Any chance the tidy stock is big enough for a one piece for both the tele and the lap ??

I'll bet a nickel you already thought of that... ;)

Robert, I didn't want to put the lap any closer to the neck... I wanted some playing room. When you set the lap on your lap, I didn't want an uncomfortable feel by making the player stretch out any farther to play it. Time will tell whether the ergonomics are correct. Obviously this is a concept instrument like what they do at GM with their Vettes :-). The production models may vary. I had one of the cats down in the metal shop make a quick plate from a foil container. Taipan better start worrying now. This one is a whisker off though....

never seen a lapsteel made before...heck, never seen a lapsteel attached to a guitar before and to a tele...now that's a lot of firsts...simply big wow!

never seen a lapsteel made before...heck, never seen a lapsteel attached to a guitar before and to a tele...now that's a lot of firsts...simply big wow!
Yeah, my first one too....LOL. I hope it's not a big waste of recyclables and time.

Are you gonna mount it at an angle on a stand like Junior Brown?

Fisherbim, google Junior Brown and listen to him rip it up on the guit-steel.

We'll see if time permits accessories for it :-).

Time for a little metal work. This is a hunk of 25+ year old aluminum tubing. I cut a couple of pieces for some fabrication.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/control001.jpg

I gave one a little persuasion to flatten out.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/control002.jpg

I think I am going to rename my C-note caster project to 'Tidy Bowl Caster' or would it be Catster?

I sheared off a hunk and rounded the edges with a file. I countersunk the screw holes and tried a fit with the rest of the parts. I'll need to adjust a few things to make it all work together. I haven't decided what controls to use yet. I have quite a few schemes in my mind.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/control1.jpg

pickguards are really cool sir...

Fisherbim, google Junior Brown and listen to him rip it up on the guit-steel.

he's amazing! thank you big mike...

I have been transcribing some junior brown on lap and on guitar, makes me wish for a guit steel!!!

I figured that I needed something to keep the lap strings from cutting into the wood. Here are some pop rivets with the mandrels removed sitting in the holes I drilled for the strings. I'll super glue them in after sanding and finishing.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/anchor001.jpg

The bridge.... I thought I'd try my hand at making a bridge plate from thin aluminum plate. I cut a few squares 3.75 x 3.75 and used a scratch awl and try square to layout some lines. I had these options for cutting out the corners and such. Hack saw, band saw, and notcher. I opted to use a hand held sheet metal notcher to notch out the corners and remove some hunks of metal in strategic places. I drilled some holes for the saddle screws and two holes to ease the corners in bending. More tomorrow.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/bridge001.jpg

this is awesome for three reasons.
1. its pine
2. i love cats
3. do i really need to say it?

okay fine.
its a tele and a lap steel!

BEEP BEEP BEEP....Low tech operation ahead.....BEEP BEEP BEEP.


Now the trick will be to get it to bend where I want it to!


http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/bridge001-1.jpg

I stuck it in my little HF machinist vise. I hand bent it and then crisped up the corners and angles with a plastic hammer. The floor made a good anvil to absorb the blows.

and you had your doubts....right? OK.... Yes, I admit it, that one hole is a hair (but only a cat hair) off.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/bridge2001.jpg

I'm thinking new saddles here, but you get the idea of where this is headed.

WOW, that was worth saving 7 dollars instead of using a commercial Fender bridge...yeah right.


Oh, the pickup slot? What pickup slot? We don't need no stinkin pickup slot. It's a stealth pickup...yeah... that's it.
We do need a little brushing of the aluminum and final tidying up...( tidy cat....Ha...)
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/bridge2002.jpg

Audience participation time...... Would the 2 or 3 of you clicking on my thread this week please enter your answer........

What is a 3.75 x 3.75 square of aluminum worth? It's been around since at least 1982. Let the bidding begin.


These 5 slides were brought to you by Starbuck's Italian Roast of which I enjoyed 2 cups prior to the drill press drilling, and hand bending, and hand filing.

* Hand- no power tools involved. It was so easy a caveman could do it..... (Judges, remember this when you are adding up the points please.)

Now I am off to study and practice a Monet painting for my final panorama of colour for the final finish coats. I will be attempting to do this with a Boeing 737 aircraft engine blowing the paint onto the guitar body.

Random thought #6.....Common ScatterLee...I'm running out of material here. Save some water for the fish, eh?

I found a mistake in my saddle adjustment screw holes....Darn... My two outer holes are off and need to be brought closer together. The pressure must be getting to me. Too bad I already drilled them in the other plates I made. It'll work but......http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/bridge2003.jpg

Audience participation time...... Would the 2 or 3 of you clicking on my thread this week please enter your answer........

What is a 3.75 x 3.75 square of aluminum worth? It's been around since at least 1982. Let the bidding begin.


I paid $2.61 for my piece of 4 inch channel aluminum.

Well today I glued in the black lap steel dot markers. I also made myself an electrosocket and a couple of strap buttons with the aluminum scraps I saved and some hex rod. Pictures forthcoming as the wife is out with the camera.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/aluminum.jpg
My electrosocket doesn't have internal threads, it needs a nut and lockwasher on it. I was going to just do a red jack plate but had time this morning. It was fun just winging it on the metal lathe. I'm no machinist as you can tell. I'm gonna spring for some switches at Radio Shack with the money saved.

OMG, that bridge looks horrible and uncomfortable. LOL and oddly appropriate. The saddles don't even line up with the neck. Is this a 2 string guitar? :mrgreen:

OMG, that bridge looks horrible and uncomfortable. LOL and oddly appropriate. The saddles don't even line up with the neck. Is this a 2 string guitar?

I believe I said the saddles need some work....LOL. No... it is a 3 string guitar and yes... the saddles are quite uncomfortable at the moment, however the cost is extremely low....LOL.

Ha ha...I'd still vote for yours...so far the most original

This is a set of aluminum ferrules I am in the middle of making. I still have to drill the string holes and chamfer the ends. The homemade electro- socket fits, and is in place next to the aluminum strap button I made. The strap button is held on with a black drywall screw temporarily.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/aluminum1001.jpg

Scrap metal is not bringing much $$$$ right now !!!!! Soooooo, not much !!

I dig it marty.... maybe piezo for the pickup? that would cool!

I'd say the aluminum should be charged at about 2.15... just a guess but based on many many trips to my local hardware stores.

I glued the knobs together ( toothpaste caps and tidy cats handle sections) and drilled and inserted 3 soft touch on-off switches. I liked the red buttons and they are clinching the deal for a switch set up. one for the lap on, one for the bridge pup, and one for a future neck pup. This was my first purchase so far 3 switches at 2.69 each.
I'm thinking putting some plastic tops in the caps for added colour.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/knobs001.jpg

Nice. There is alot of talent 'round here.

I glued the knobs together ( toothpaste caps and tidy cats handle sections) and drilled and inserted 3 soft touch on-off switches. I liked the red buttons and they are clinching the deal for a switch set up. one for the lap on, one for the bridge pup, and one for a future neck pup. This was my first purchase so far 3 switches at 2.69 each.
I'm thinking putting some plastic tops in the caps for added colour.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/knobs001.jpg

I like them buttons. :smile:

Oh man................. it's getting to the point where you're not a real guitar builder if you don't make your own bridge.

...and what's with all the double guitars, like two in one?
shouldn't that wait for the $200 Tele challenge in summer? :lol:

great stuff I'm seeing here - you rock!

...and what's with all the double guitars, like two in one?
shouldn't that wait for the $200 Tele challenge in summer? :lol:

great stuff I'm seeing here - you rock!

they will upgrade to quadruple neck guitars

Someone needs to call Jr Brown. He might be interesred in this one:lol:

OK, Tonite's basement action included finishing the aluminum string ferrules and routing a neck pickup in the pickguard. I had to re-rout for the strat pup in the body too. I like the white on red. We're looking at 20 dollars in pups and about 10 in switches as out of pocket costs.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/neckpup001.jpg

Bleached dogbone from PetSmart cut into pieces.http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/nut001.jpg
Sawing a piece in half.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/nut002.jpg

I superglued the nut blank to a piece of thicknessed pine and ran it against a fence clamped to the table until 1/8". I never really tried this before. It worked! The gel superglue was still tacky too.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/nut003.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/nut004.jpg
Here it is with a homemade aluminum neck plate. Now the nut making begins.

I'm loving this one on every level!

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll14/redneck10000/juniorbrownbig041802.jpg

All sanded and ready for a natural finish.
An oil finish would be nice to the touch. In keeping with the cheap,easy to apply, and green theme. I'll see what I have in the house. I decided to keep the knotty pine look in the peghead. I made a couple of maple knobs too. I decided to do the little radius on the transition to the lap to mirror the little radius on the tele neck cavity.

I'm thinking I should have called this a Telelapster.

I had a pt. of water poly, regular poly, a couple rattle cans of lacquer, and some Watco. I went with the Watco. Now if it doesn't go up in flames, we can do another coat later or tomorrow. ( Watco rags can sometimes light themselves up, you have to put them in water).
Front View

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/telelapster001.jpg
Back view
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/telelapster002.jpg

Have you weighed it in this state? Or rather in your state?

I haven't weighed it yet. Most of these piners have been around 4. 5 lb give or take without the lap.

Amasing...simply amasing job!

Just wish I had a friend like you to bug on the weekends...:D
Congrats!
A.

A couple light coats of danish oil.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/watco001.jpg

the lap fretboard looks great with some oil on it

Looks great, and should be killer to play. Thanks for the originality. Keep us posted for sure, and put up a soundclip. And get back to shoveling that snow!!

Thanks everybody. Snow? I heard we broke the record for rain yesterday. Had over an inch. It's been in th 50's here for a couple of weeks.

So freakin' sweet!!!
You should wire it up so the lap steel pickup is RW/RP to the tele pups, if possible, then you have a dummy coil, no hum!

I calculated that I could afford a cheap import bridge to help the cause. I found some red ribbon to wrap the lead coil with. Everything else buttoned up. I just need to solder the electronics in. Zach,(aka goatboy), one of our greyhounds managed to chew the peghead a bit, so now it has its first dings. Oh well, there's more to come. I finished the neck in Watco danish oil as well. Cheezy tuners, but well worth the price as they were take offs in the parts dept. I decided to use these knobs instead of the wooden or plastic ones I made. These have a lower profile which will facilitate the lap playing I believe.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/theend001.jpg
The snakehead neck is one piece with no rod. It is quartersawn maple strung with 9's. The lap neck is strung with 12's.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/theend002.jpg
That's a strat pickup superglued to an aluminum mounting plate that I made. I have a ton of strat pups, but no tele lead pups except a Fender which would have put me over the 100 dollar limit. My rough estimate is about 90 dollars right now. I will itemize the parts tomorrow after the soldering session.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/theend003.jpg

Wow this is so over the top nothing out there like this !:shock:
How does it sound:?:

Will this become a PineMart Custom Shop model :razz:

Holy crap...

Great work.

I really had some fun with this, although I am experiencing some burn out after a long week at the day job. It's not wired yet, but the strings sustain for a loonnnnng time when strummed.

I love the dual neck. My first lap steel was a Gretsch Electromatic, in gold/tan MOTS. It was a screamer. I've also done a little dobro and pedal steel work, so I am an admirer.

That knob looks SO much like the one I put on the push-pull volume for my "Spa-Caster". Is it the same?

http://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo3/IrishMail/Spa-Caster%202009/Spa-Casterknobdetail.jpg

You're in the home stretch - you can do it!!

These are about 5/8 Dia and about 1/2 high I'd say. I found them while rummaging through the parts for some tuner mounting screws and all the other good junk. I think RatShack might sell these too.

I'm glad to see this one getting finished up too! Such a unique build, and an inspiration to me along the way with the excellent use of found materials.

I hate wiring. I don't do it that often and it shows, but the switches work and there is no hum other than normal single coil and early valve junior hum. I could have saved time by planning this out on a sheet of paper instead of doing it on the fly. Glasses that magnify could have helped too so I could see what I was doing.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/wired.jpg

I tuned her up and noticed we needed a string tree to hold the D string in the groove. The bone nut yielded to the plastic nut to save time. The homemade aluminum strap buttons were scrapped for factory ones. It needs some setup work, but it's done. I left out a tone control and opted for a separate volume for the lap steel. Each switch controls a pickup in the order that you see it from your playing position.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/done002.jpg

Neck
Fretwire—med 4 feet from bulk 3.00
Dots- made from pick guard waste- 0
Wood- maple 0

Tele Body
Wood scrap pine - 0 0
Pickguard- recycled bucket- 0

Lap body
Pine scraps 0 0
Walnut inlay from scrap 0
Pickguard-recycled bucket- 0

Electronics
Ceramic pickups-new import - 27
3 soft touch switches- 8.40
Pots- import mini- 5.90
Wire- .30
Jack- 2.00

Hardware
Tele Bridge-new import - 10.00
Tele Ferrules- hand made from scrap- .50
Lap ferrule washers and bridge screws .60
Lap bridge hand made - 1.00
Tele tuners-used take off - 5.00
Lap tuners-used take off- 5.00
laptrosocket- hand made from scrap .50
control plate- hand made from scrap tubing .25
Strap buttons- new 2.50
Used knobs from parts drawer .75
Plastic string nut 1.20
Hex nut for jack .20
Neck screws 2.50
Neck plate hand made alum and plastic. Scrap .25
String tree 2
rivets from a box of 1000 or so .24

misc
4- bridge mounting screws #6- .20
6- #4 washers .25
11 Pickguard screws .55
2 pickup ring screws- .20
2 sets of Strings 11.00
Glue 2.00
Watco – old leftovers in can 1.00
Sticker 5
total 99.29

I had a sticker that I thought I'd add to the theme. Cost 5 bucks and brought me up to the total of 99 and some change. It's kind of hard to price some of this stuff. I used some ebay pricing and allparts list pricing. Some of these parts although new, I've had for 10 years or more. I hope you find these reasonable.
Thanks everybody for the kind thoughts and compliments over the month. I'd like to wish all the competitors that finished, and those that didn't, the best of luck in this competition and look forward to seeing all of them completed soon. It's been fun to watch the newbies too. You all should be proud of your work.
Marty
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/mmgguitars/sticker001.jpg

You need to rig a little steel holder!
I am so jealous that you could build that!!! So awesome! Congratulations!

Very cool build. So... you got any plans for that extra 71 cents?

Edit: changed to reflect added rivet expenditure.

I suppose I could use 71 cents worth of steel and make a steel. :-). I forgot the rivets and went back and added them in.

:cool:

Great job on a truly unique instrument! Love the use of the "Tidy Cats" parts!

Jim