Meeting the Mentor.

So, first things first.

I have one follower. Hi Mom (EDIT: Make mine a double. Hi to you too, Lindsay).

I also asked a question in the last post and got exactly one less response than I have followers. To express that as an equation: Number of Answers = Number of Followers - 1.

For those of you who are even worse at math than I am, that equals... zero.

So I have an idea that I'm basically just speaking to myself on this thing. Whatever. I will march bravely onward, telling the walls on my room and them Internets how the guitar build is going.

I've made a couple of trips out to Clayton since the last post. The body of El Kabong is now roughly shaped... meaning, if I stop this project RIGHT NOW, I would have a Stratocaster-shaped cutting board:

None of the cavities have been routed yet, nor has the neck pocket been started. I basically got as far as Keith's help alone could go before we wandered into completely unknown territory. We got right up to the border and then...

I called Bill Allen. Bill is the mentor I referenced a couple of posts ago. He invited me out to his home in Smithfield, so I jumped in the car... and drove to the grocery store.

Then I drove home to unload the groceries, then drove out to Smithfield.

Bill is an extremely nice guy, first and foremost. Secondly, he has built about seven guitars and repaired many others. Third, he plays bass as his primary instrument, which earns him bonus points in my book.

Bill had a look at the work we'd done so far and informed me that it was off to a really good start (whew). We looked at the plans, he gave me a tour of his instruments, then a little advice on next steps.

So, basically... I have to finish shaping the body first. Maybe you can't tell from the above pictures, but that body is monstrously thick for a guitar. It currently sits just a hair under two inches thick, which is almost half an inch too much. So, that needs to be trimmed, and then I'll look at carving the contours into the back and sides to make the thing, you know... comfortable to play.

This also includes routing the cavities for the electronics - all those weird shapes you saw in the templates where the pickups and wires go. I've decided to wait on that until I actually have the hardware in hand - most Strats have their pickups mounted to the pickguard, and I want mine mounted to the wood itself. So, I'll have to adjust the plan slightly.

Now, another topic...