SSSSSSSnakehead

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by Martyn

The lap steel part starts around 4:25

That was a cool video martyn , yea , thats the headstock , that old lap steel sounded great .

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by Twangtillmornin

Great work, been watching this thread. I've never really seen any snake head threads on here so it's interesting.

Thanks Twangtillmornin , here's a few threads about the Snakehead , one is Jack Wells 's thread , the other is Barncasters , both great threads.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home...t-esquire.html

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home...snakehead.html

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by Jack Wells

Back in the mid or late '90s the Fender Custom did a "Limited Edition" of 50 Snakehead Prototypes. A couple of years ago they did another Limited Edition run. Are they unclear on the meaning of Limited Edition? Or am I unclear. Is there a statute of limitations on Limited Editions?

Hey Jack , it would seem their Limited Editions are UNLIMITED

[mojoatomic]

Originally Posted by adirondak5

Hey Jack , it would seem their Limited Editions are UNLIMITED

Sounds like a KISS farewell tour... :-)

[halobeast13]

SSSSSSSSSubcribed, Hey Adirondak where did you find all of the information for this build. i just got some fir in, and i've been wondering what to do with it. i think i may be interested in a snakehead in the future.

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by adirondak5

Sounds interesting , I would like to see what it looks like cleared or tinted .

Haven't finished the test neck, but here's what the aspen panel looks like,

In the wrap


Cut and pegged to make the blank


This body will be painted. Will tint and finish the test neck in clear and show you then.
Good luck on your pine hunt for this build

Dave

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by halobeast13

SSSSSSSSSubcribed, Hey Adirondak where did you find all of the information for this build. i just got some fir in, and i've been wondering what to do with it. i think i may be interested in a snakehead in the future.

Hi halobeast13 , well , I still don't have all the info I need , but I'm getting there. A lot of research here , a lot of Google , print or save any picture I could find , The Blackguard Book had some pics and info , sharing info with other forum members. Imo the neck is the easy part , body shape is easy , placement of the control route is the tough part , once I get the bridge from Marc Rutters I can figure the pup route and control route , same with the neck plate , its narrower than a standard neck plate , so I need to have it first , kind of a bit of reverse engineering. Its a research project and a build , I'll post all I find out .

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by crazydave911

Haven't finished the test neck, but here's what the aspen panel looks like,

In the wrap

Cut and pegged to make the blank

This body will be painted. Will tint and finish the test neck in clear and show you then.
Good luck on your pine hunt for this build

Dave

That don't look bad Dave , bet it will look good tinted and cleared.
I'll find my pine soon , thanks for the luck :)

[halobeast13]

How do you plan on going about with the neck? Also what kind of parts are you going to use? Modern or are you a vintage person?

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by halobeast13

How do you plan on going about with the neck? Also what kind of parts are you going to use? Modern or are you a vintage person?

Well , all that's left to do with the neck is fretting and carving the back profile and finish , I am going to keep it close if not at 1" all the way , no truss rod , I'll keep it chunky. Marc Rutters , ruttersguitars.com is making a vintage correct Snakehead bridge , neck plate ,jack cup , got vintage 3 on a stick tuners from Stewmac , the pickup I am going to wind myself , to as close to vintage specs as I can get it. The pickguard I will make out of black gatrolite .Body color Olympic white .When I am done I hope to have a Snakehead that looks identical to the proto type but mine will look brand new , I'm not a relic guy.

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by adirondak5

but mine will look brand new , I'm not a relic guy.

Praise the Lord!

[Mister B]

I collected as many reference photos of the Snakehead as I could on Google last night. All of them are the recent "Limited Edition" reissue from the Custom Shop so I don't know how historically accurate they are (I'm pretty sure the original had a 2" wide nut, the reissue is 1.65" I believe).

I found a good shot of the headstock (slightly foreshortened but usable) and compared it to my drawing: it isn't too far off. It needs a little tweaking (the radii on the corners, the shape of the blend into the nut, the position of the tuners) but the overall shape is pretty close to the reissue (the original may be different).

The body looks like a standard Tele (all be it 1.5" thick) just with the different control route. Not sure if the radius on the edge is slightly larger than a 50s Tele. I'll compare in more detail when I draw the body.

[adirondak5]

Mister B , that's great , there are not a whole lot of pics of the original out there , the reissued are probably true to the original. Thanks for your efforts on this , I sure appreciate it and so will a lot of others. P.M. sent.

[mgdesigns]

Herb: From the pawn shop video I saw the old esquire that was owned by the Fender Amp builder (from the early 50's) Studebaker Red - and it was a 1.5" thick pine body 2x3/4" thick. So ordinary pine shelving should be historically correct?

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by mgdesigns

Herb: From the pawn shop video I saw the old esquire that was owned by the Fender Amp builder (from the early 50's) Studebaker Red - and it was a 1.5" thick pine body 2x3/4" thick. So ordinary pine shelving should be historically correct?

Hi Mark , you are right , it is said that the Snakehead Esquire was glued up 3/4" amp cab pine boards from the amp. shop.
I may glue some clear pine boards up and see what it looks, feels like. I also found some sugar pine . I know I will not be 100% historically correct with this ,but I do want to be as correct as I can be , I am a little torn between going with a 1 1/2" pine blank or a glue up of 3/4" pine like the original . I am leaning towards the 1 1/2" blank. But for $20. worth of clear pine I might just do a glue up too. :)

[mojoatomic]

With all of the activity on this snake build, a few guys have requested a pick guard and cutting template for their own versions -


For those who need it, here's the pdf version and a pic of the finished guard. Hope it'll help some folks with their builds - I drew and sized it from an original archival photo of a snake, and scaled it based on the 2.2' heel of the neck. Would like some feed back from those who use it to see if it's sized correctly.

Hot off the press -



Covering removed, ready to go -

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by mojoatomic

For those who need it, here's the pdf version and a pic of the finished guard. Hope it'll help some folks with their builds - I drew and sized it from an original archival photo of a snake, and scaled it based on the 2.2' heel of the neck. Would like some feed back from those who use it to see if it's sized correct

Thanks mojoatomic , I'll let you know on the size when I get the bridge , but it looks good .

[adirondak5]

Got the tuners today , lets see how they fit.





Perfect , the Stewmac jig did its job and the tuners look great , nice snug fit.

[KRamone27]

Originally Posted by mojoatomic

With all of the activity on this snake build, a few guys have requested a pick guard and cutting template for their own versions -


For those who need it, here's the pdf version and a pic of the finished guard. Hope it'll help some folks with their builds - I drew and sized it from an original archival photo of a snake, and scaled it based on the 2.2' heel of the neck. Would like some feed back from those who use it to see if it's sized correctly.

Hot off the press -




Covering removed, ready to go -

This is great thanks for sharing. You didn't happen to make a pdf of the control plate did you?

[mojoatomic]

Originally Posted by adirondak5

Thanks mojoatomic , I'll let you know on the size when I get the bridge , but it looks good .

Most welcome, hope it helps.

Herb, I'm enjoying this build so much, I just had to contribute something. PM me your address and I'll mail you this guard template.


KRamone27 - hope this helps - first file is cutting path art overlayed on snakehead and the second is the plate by itself. You'll notice some really bad parallax in the photo - hopefully I (along with some Kentucky windage) accounted for it.