Well Officer..........It started as a Music Master...........I swear!

This build started during the 2011 Build challenge . It went like this;


I cut this piece of wood to make my neck





With the exception of a mineral streak, it left enough to make another rather short neck :?:


Then I cut this piece of figured maple to make my fretboard










Which turned out pretty good







Only I didn't use it , I used this







Which turned out even better








That left me with a 23 1/4" scale maple fretboard and enough maple to make a neck for it . I thought "Cool, that would make a good musicmaster neck! At 23 1/4" that would make a good middle ground between the 22.5" original and the later 24" MMII". So I glued a scrap on the neck blank after routing it for a reinforcing bar and laid them aside

 

A little later on, while working on my lapsteel










I ran into this neck and glued the rebar in












Along about that time, I was becoming infatuated (even more so) with the snakehead tele prototype and bought some laminated boards from Lowe's in case I ever wanted to make a few








It was aspen instead of pine (oh they had pine laminates too............full of knots ). Two were 15" X 36" perfect for tele ), but one was 15" X 48". I decided to glue it up for the musicmaster
















I then grabbed a few musicmaster and duosonic pics and sat down with my "Bigprint" program to make a template. Well............................for once it wasn't working for me . I couldn't seem to get a print that was just right. However one I made of a duosonic II came out just fine :neutral:. Oh well, I did have two pickups left from the set I bought for the 2011 challenge build. But I didn't like the layout of the duosonic pickups, so I laid them out like a mustang . At the end of a long day this is the temporary template I had made










I know my markings are a little confusing (just how I do things ). Here it is drawn out on the blank. A little clearer, right?

 

Now I'm not a big fan of the mustang style pickguard (or switches for that matter). I know the metal plate for the controls was to make it stronger blah blah blah. Don't care, don't like it! . Using a pic of the Squier Duosonic reissue, I started to lay out my own


I started with two sheets of printer paper (doesn't eveyone? )






After gluing it to a piece of cardboard for a pattern, I ended up with this. Kinda pretty isn't it?








Here it is cut out









Now starting with a forstner bit, I started hogging out my routes










Sorry about these pics. The wood is so light colored it's hard to catch the right light (swiping on mineral spirits does not help, unfortunately)



Then using my 2011 challenge template (the neck pocket and pickups are the same, remember?) I finished out my routes





















This wood works like butter BTW, almost like poplar but slick like cedar

 

During the 2012 Challenge I dug this back out again (it is sooooooo nice working with flat and level blanks................where you didn't have to do the leveling ) and decided to cut it out







Man this aspen cuts and shapes so easily














I'm probably one of few here that think these things are just one more kind of pretty (it is a Tele forum after all). That "big goofy headstock" and that sleek thin body, just strike a chord with me


Oh yeh, I finally cut out the neck..................shaping to come







I've been accumulating parts for this for almost a year and have most, so this thread will come along during job hunting and as I feel able. I have good days and bad days


As fate would have it, right before the 2012 challenge when I was building my shelves and cutting new bed slats, I found these plain pieces of yellow pine in the Home Depot cutoff bin and got smitten with another idea :idea:. Whether bright or not time will tell, but then again, that will be another thread












Dave

 

Thanks John! , and thanks for stopping by. In over two years here I can count on one hand the shortscale builds I've seen (Musicmaster, Duosonic,Mustang,Bronco etc). I don't look for this to hit a big audience

Hey yeh right. Ain't that a hoot? They don't stock maple from up north, but keep aspen from way out west . Only downside I see so far.............that white dust gets EVERYWHERE!





Dave

 

Thanks! , I believe we'll be a small crowd

I really hope so, you have the touch

Yeppers , the Byrdland is what turned me onto this scale years ago . I call it 23 1/4", but with compensation it comes out almost exactly 23.5. What's kinda funny is, that with Gibsons and my tenor guitar, you don't notice they are shortscales right away (like with a Jaguar). I have a friend who played my tenor off and on for a couple of weeks before he noticed . Isn't that strange?
My limit on shortscales is also one of my all time favorite guitars, the Rickenbacker 325/C58 at approx 21", and I'd dearly love to do a 23.5 12 string at some point, but hey, I have enough to do.......................don't I?

Yeppers

Well, mostly on the pickguard, the CV as far as I know is not an offset body. At any rate, it was mostly accidental, had my original template worked out it would have simply been another Musicmaster clone with a slightly different fretscale

Yes, of the LesPaul variety

Now wouldn't that be something?

 

I'm not that far to the left of sane

Yeh, kinda funny isn't it? Once my original template went sideways, I thought I'd mix the pieces I like and make one just like I wanted

Oh, you didn't see my 2011 challenge build? They will be the middle and bridge of this set LINK, (it's a very good deal on these sets BTW )
From those pickups, wanna try to guess what color I'm painting the body?

 

^^^ Glad to hear it!

 

, How delightfully Fenderish , but I was thinking Krylon Rich Plum

 

Hmmmmm , we'll see

I have a limited selection and funds at the moment. I have black/white/black, white/black/white, and tortoise shell. I'm thinking B/W/B with the plum, should contrast nicely with plum body and cream pups

 

Ok, what ya' trying say?

What can I say? I've a short attention span at times, and also tend to let builds pile up and say, spindle sand all at once, slot fretboards all at once, rout bodies all at once. Just a little lazy that way . BTW, got another one going here LINK

Well build you one! . The neat thing about them was that almost everybody has made them. So if your not in love with Fender shortscales, then try Gibson, etc