Like I need another Tangential Path?

My first electric was bought from a guy down the street who was about 4 years older than me, for a grand sum of $5. I just wanted to be a guitar player, and singing and playing sax leads in my quartet was not getting me to the level of fame I thought I should be. So the Airline Coronado was mine, and leaning against a closed hollow core closet door with the headstock almost sounded like an amp. A year later, I got a used '63 Cherry SG Standard and sold the Airline to that same guy's younger brother for $10. Now I wish I still had every guitar I ever owned. Heck that Airline might be worth near $20 by now!!

So here's my latest Tangential Project, for after I get all the others out of the way, and after my should surgery is deemed recuperated by the surgeon. I have not found a picture of the exact model but the body looks like this one.
135355

And here's the Rhino file I've started to replicate it.135356

I hope you enjoy the wandering mind of a now definitively elderly gent.

For what it's worth - you're only as old as you feel, and mostly I feel pretty young - when I play guitar!

Never give up on getting your first guitar back friend..........it can happen.

When I was about 10, Santa left a jr. sized Encore flat top for me. It was red sunburst and I had absolutely no idea what to do with it. Never learned to play it but remember that it was always in my room when I was young.

Many many years later my wife and I were at some friends' house watching a Vince Gill interview. Vince stated that he still had every guitar he ever owned. I made the statement that I wondered what ever happened to my little red guiar I had gotten for Christmas as a kid. My buds wife said " do ya want it back?" I said What? She said that my guitar had been at her mom and dad's house for 30 years. My mom had donated it to the church yard sale and her mom bought it for $5 for her and her brother to play with. She said it was still in with some toys her mom had kept. 10 minutes later I had my very first guitar in my hands. Maybe you'll find yours some day? Your project looks really good......good luck


Jeff

I have had a supro guitar fetish. I think the deco shape is great. I picked up an airline town and country body (sort of like you drew) a few months ago on ebay. It has yucky paint on it but looks pretty undisturbed otherwise.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/2121940/p1_ujwph3tx1_so.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.gbase.com/gear/airline-town-and-country-3-pickup-1961-blonde&h=750&w=500&sz=64&tbnid=4WXMYg3--tTbLM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=60&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dairline%2Btown%2Band%2Bcountry%26tbm% 3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=airline+town+and+country&usg=__ojDxOVRTJvv44g5Xw-scqr4Um24=&docid=wXZJeT7tp6kQSM&sa=X&ei=-Y8GUJCnGomX0QH65LGsCA&ved=0CFAQ9QEwAA&dur=29
Let me know if you need any specs. I also have a nice dual tone, the 335 style one, and the airline amp in case set up too. I did make a " cool tone" for a buddy of mine which he loves. For myself, I got started on one dual tone body in alder and that got shelved when my attention switched to something else.

I also had to have one of the new airline resoglas ones when they were on sale.

Too many guitars... so little time....so much heat outside these days....

My goal is to at least try many of the guitars I remember seeing through the music store window, and never ever could own as a kid. I've tried the supros, have had some Kays, Hagstroms, and now....I'm even interested in trying a couple Teiscos...just because.

I hate to say it, but the Gibson and Fenders aren't for me as interesting anymore since I've had quite a few of them and they are just too expensive to invest in on my income, even temporarily.

What's good about all of this fooling around is you find what is important to having a good playing guitar. Good quality tuners, neck,bridge, and electronics seem pretty essential. Body wood and pickups...not as much for playability.
Happy belated.

wow, great (plan for a) project!

I have had a supro guitar fetish. I think the deco shape is great. I picked up an airline town and country body (sort of like you drew) a few months ago on ebay. It has yucky paint on it but looks pretty undisturbed otherwise.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/2121940/p1_ujwph3tx1_so.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.gbase.com/gear/airline-town-and-country-3-pickup-1961-blonde&h=750&w=500&sz=64&tbnid=4WXMYg3--tTbLM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=60&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dairline%2Btown%2Band%2Bcountry%26tbm% 3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=airline+town+and+country&usg=__ojDxOVRTJvv44g5Xw-scqr4Um24=&docid=wXZJeT7tp6kQSM&sa=X&ei=-Y8GUJCnGomX0QH65LGsCA&ved=0CFAQ9QEwAA&dur=29
Let me know if you need any specs. I also have a nice dual tone, the 335 style one, and the airline amp in case set up too. I did make a " cool tone" for a buddy of mine which he loves. For myself, I got started on one dual tone body in alder and that got shelved when my attention switched to something else.

I also had to have one of the new airline resoglas ones when they were on sale.

Too many guitars... so little time....so much heat outside these days....

My goal is to at least try many of the guitars I remember seeing through the music store window, and never ever could own as a kid. I've tried the supros, have had some Kays, Hagstroms, and now....I'm even interested in trying a couple Teiscos...just because.

I hate to say it, but the Gibson and Fenders aren't for me as interesting anymore since I've had quite a few of them and they are just too expensive to invest in on my income, even temporarily.

What's good about all of this fooling around is you find what is important to having a good playing guitar. Good quality tuners, neck,bridge, and electronics seem pretty essential. Body wood and pickups...not as much for playability.
Happy belated.

Thanks for the belated B'day wish. Yeah, the T&C is the same body shape. I remember the back of mine had a huge pick shaped plastic cover which was crack, and my dad and I made a replacement from black Formica. Does yours have that? If so send me a photo so I can include it in the Rhino drawings. Mine had a great thin neck held on by 3 screws covered by press-in chrome caps. The gut before me had flat wound jazz strings on it which sadly, I never replaced. The action was pretty low, and it sounded better than my band-mates Teisco guitars. It made the lead guitarist pretty pi$$ed when I learned how to play all of his leads better than he was doing, so he quit the band, and we broke up. I ended up buying his Traynor YBA-1 head a few years later. Another, "wish I never got rid of" instance.

My first electric was bought from a guy down the street who was about 4 years older than me, for a grand sum of $5. I just wanted to be a guitar player, and singing and playing sax leads in my quartet was not getting me to the level of fame I thought I should be. So the Airline Coronado was mine, and leaning against a closed hollow core closet door with the headstock almost sounded like an amp. A year later, I got a used '63 Cherry SG Standard and sold the Airline to that same guy's younger brother for $10. Now I wish I still had every guitar I ever owned. Heck that Airline might be worth near $20 by now!!

So here's my latest Tangential Project, for after I get all the others out of the way, and after my should surgery is deemed recuperated by the surgeon. I have not found a picture of the exact model but the body looks like this one.

And here's the Rhino file I've started to replicate it.

I hope you enjoy the wandering mind of a now definitively elderly gent.

For what it's worth - you're only as old as you feel, and mostly I feel pretty young - when I play guitar!

That would be a cool project Mark , I've always thought the old belmonts were cool , never had one , a few years back they were pretty cheap , now I see they are getting up in price , hmmm , might have to build one .
And you are not definatively elderly , I would say
vintage like a fine vintage guitar :)

Thanks for the belated B'day wish. Yeah, the T&C is the same body shape. I remember the back of mine had a huge pick shaped plastic cover which was crack, and my dad and I made a replacement from black Formica. Does yours have that? If so send me a photo so I can include it in the Rhino drawings. Mine had a great thin neck held on by 3 screws covered by press-in chrome caps. The gut before me had flat wound jazz strings on it which sadly, I never replaced. The action was pretty low, and it sounded better than my band-mates Teisco guitars. It made the lead guitarist pretty pi$$ed when I learned how to play all of his leads better than he was doing, so he quit the band, and we broke up. I ended up buying his Traynor YBA-1 head a few years later. Another, "wish I never got rid of" instance.

I just checked. This one is solid...no weight relief and cover. ONly two machine screws hold the neck on. The neck has tee nuts on the fretboard/neck surface from what I can tell, to accept the threads. A few I had had a tilt adjust under a cover as well.

I had never really ever seen or heard of supro, until I started to stumble across them at the flea market about 15 years ago. My first was a Dual Tone in original case for 75 dollars. Then I started to see them a few more times until ebay started up. I even latched onto a 3 pickup one in black. During my supro fever, I had one of the red mother of toilet seat belmonts... that was a nice one.

Buying and selling got fun when decent stuff was available. Things have pretty much dried up.

I love the looks of this one:
http://www.vintagesilvertones.com/gallery_gtr-supro.html

How weird, I was just looking at pics of these a couple of days ago, and I thought what a cool shape it was. Will be good to see the end result.

I love the looks of this one:
http://www.vintagesilvertones.com/gallery_gtr-supro.html

Now that is just cool

You can buy those fiberglass Supro fiberglass bodies from http://www.guitarkitsusa.com/

I remember my neck had 2 or 3 screws to hold it to the body, and the weight relief was 1" diameter or maybe 1.55" diameter holes from the back under the pick shaped black plastic cover. The pickup switch may have been in a different location than the photo I captured. The HB's were probably not dual coils, cause they were pretty weak on even a Teisco $20 amp. But the neck felt great to me as a beginner, especially when the only other guitar I had access to was a Harmony Stella folk, or my brother-in-law's 1928 Martin OO-19, that had a real high action due to a pulled away bridge. My sister still has that one, and it's worth a ton of $$ now. It has the snowflake fret markers, and ebony neck.

I remember my neck had 2 or 3 screws to hold it to the body, and the weight relief was 1" diameter or maybe 1.55" diameter holes from the back under the pick shaped black plastic cover. The pickup switch may have been in a different location than the photo I captured. The HB's were probably not dual coils, cause they were pretty weak on even a Teisco $20 amp. But the neck felt great to me as a beginner, especially when the only other guitar I had access to was a Harmony Stella folk, or my brother-in-law's 1928 Martin OO-19, that had a real high action due to a pulled away bridge. My sister still has that one, and it's worth a ton of $$ now. It has the snowflake fret markers, and ebony neck.

Supro pickups are a p-90 like single coil under a bigger metal cover. Some of the them are attached to rings with two adjustable screws at the e strings. Others are direct mount with screws in the corners and center. The coils are the same, but the magnet placement can vary. I think they evolved from the lap steel pickups. The coil flatwork themselves look like wax or varnished cardboard. Pretty cheap but cool when you think about it. Teisco pickups are a plastic version of them. I've seen a round magnet adjacent to the side of the teiscos. Similar concepts. .... As you can see I'm getting into the pickup side of things....no sanding involved.



They sound pretty nice and are sought after. They usually get about 100 per pickup on ebay. The guitars get parted out some for the pickups and bridges and tuners which are all unique.

As far as the Teisco things, the Teiscos would be 100 percent better if they had bridges that were intonatable. ( Is that a word?). The necks themselves could have used taller frets and had some work done, but the wood work itself is OK in my opinion. Bodies have been some type of mahogany. Switches and jacks are cheesy. These are things that can be fixed on the custom teisco clones coming to a forum near you. LOL.

I can't recall if Paul is on this forum, but google Paul Rhoney Guitars. He builds one called the Oceana Duo-Tone that looks pretty similar to this among other retro-ish styles.


Mike

I worked on the CAD file late last night, but did not post it. I discovered I had extruded out a chunk for the neck pocket, skewed by about 5 degrees towards the lower horn. I have fixed it, but I'll probably re-do the CAD 3D model to make it less complicated. I also can't boolean out the neck heel, 'cause it's got 1 naked edge I can't get rid of. It's just a graphic, but still bugs me. The main idea is to get a scaled print set for the template generation. I'll play with it more and post renders as I go. Maybe someone will want to build it, too.

BTW: If I can remember correctly, I think it had a wooden bridge, not a TOM type. Maybe someone has a photo of the old Airline to help with the design.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-s-VINTAGE-ORIGINAL-WOODEN-BRIDGE-BASE-BY-VALCO-FOR-SUPRO-DUAL-TONE-NATIONAL-/130731105644?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item1e702e5d6c

Here's what I've got so far.
135624
135625

BTW: Thanks for the leads on the bridge, Marty. The way I've lightened up the body from the back is different and won't use the big pick shaped cover.

I like it!

Marty:

I worked from the ebay bridge photos and came up with a bridge design. Here's the renders.
The bridge close-up:
135775

Front of guitar:
135776

Bottom of guitar with reworked cover insets:
135777

And a render with covers shown removed:
135778

I have a lot of fun trying to design. It helps to pass the time while the right shoulder gets stronger. I hope someone enjoys this. And I hope to make this guitar also.

Looks good ! I think I'd use a bit larger radius on the German carve part....just my opinion.... :-). I don't know if the rendering is causing it to look sharper inside than it really is.

Looks good ! I think I'd use a bit larger radius on the German carve part....just my opinion.... :-). I don't know if the rendering is causing it to look sharper inside than it really is.

I was thinking 1/2" maple top over the structure of poplar (or cheap wood), and using 1/2" radius cove bit. The top edge is sharp, might hand relieve it after I actually build; but that's the way I remember it.

I don't think the original guitar had any truss rod in the neck, but the new ones have TR's, so I have designed for that. This is a really tough type of model, but after fussing with it for about 40 hours, I think I might have the basics figured out. It's easier to build out of wood, than in 3D, I think. The transitions of the neck are a bugger, and the fillets of the German carve were a trick. Let me know if you want the 3dm file - I'll send it to you and you can play with it.

Those valco necks had what looks like a pot metal bar that ran through to the peghead. It removed a lot of wood. I have one neck here that I had sold on ebay. The neck arrived broken and there wasn't any bending of the box. I epoxied it back together, but there isn 't really enough wood in the area to do deciduous surgery. It really needs a milling machine rout to be able to spline the peghead back on. I have no mill here.... I'll have to finish my alder dual tone body before I start another...but thanks...you never know.

I re-worked the neck and layed out the block MOP inlays. I found a good image of a Les Paul Custom (Ace Frehley Budikhan), and scaled the image behind my CAD file of the neck to trace the inlays. Then projected the rectangles to the top surface of the neck and extruded down 1/16", and swept the tops & bottoms closed. Then did Solid Difference to subtract them from the neck solid, but not delete them. It's fun to CAD. I've always enjoyed doing this.135980

I hope you enjoy this guitar.