The Rigging of the Tailpiece

So I got this box in the mail on Friday. Oh, the happiness that ensued! I opened the box to find quite a few goodies. There was a wonderful set of 3 on a side “Ping” brand Tuners. These guys are soooo smooth, like schallers or anything else. There were some black humbucker rings, which may or may not work out…The pickup mounts are pretty big. And, last, but not least, there was a tailpiece setup complete with the threaded inserts and the studs.

This day, I will be focusing on the tailpiece. Many guitar makers use the same measurements/dimensions for their hardware (things like tuners and knobs and tailpieces)…many things are ‘standard’ sizes. Well…that’s not the case on this guitar.

Waiting is a HARD game to play!

So, you guys know…I’ve been finishing this guitar. Now, I’ve got one whole can of poly on this guy so far. I am seriously thinking of just letting it dry out and use it as is. I don’t necessarily want this guitar to have a ‘gloss’ finish, but I do want it to look good.

The Polyphonic Spree, or The Polyurethane Spray?

*Note: This phase took place Sunday the 21st.*

So it begins.

Well, last night, I began researching finishing materials and such. I really wanted this to be ‘properly’ done. Well…I guess it won’t. I am very impatient and I think I can rig anything up to make it work. This is one of those times.

We ate lunch at Cracker Barrell today. Not entirely eventful in itself, but they have a lot of old junk there. I was sitting there looking around at all the furniture/crazy junk they have on the walls. Many of the wood things had finish on them, and I’m sure they didn’t have re-ranch guitar finish or sanding sealer or any of that stuff. So I made a decision.

The Light at the end of the (sanding) Tunnel

*note…I know the date says the 22nd, but this phase was done Saturday the 20th.*

No Blood, Sweat or Tears *YET*

Oh, man. This project is going so much better than I thought. There has been no sweat, tears or blood. It’s still cold here in Arlington, so I can’t sweat much. I haven’t really broken anything *yet*, so the tears that frequently grace my face during projects like these are nowhere to be found. There has, ironically, been no blood…besides the renegade plywood and his ill-fated attempt at dismembering my head!

If you are lazy, and don’t want to scroll down, this is what my guitar looked like when you last saw it. Pretty good, but not quite there yet either.

Suprises Around Every Corner

Headstock

Well…

I get obsessive about things. I realized that I was not tired, and my wife went to bed early. I had about 7 sheets of sandpaper left. I said I was done for the night…right?

So I go into the shop and start working. The first thing I did was start on the headstock. I was pleasently suprised to find a unexpected resident there in fancy attire.

Say Hello to my first project – ’78 Ibanez Musician

Welcome to Jeff’s Guitar Bench. If you don’t know me…well…My name is Jeff. I am 22 years old (23 in March). I am married to Sarah Stapleton, and we have been married for almost 3 years. We have a baby on the way that’s due in August. She is a 1st grade teacher. I currently work for a school district in a computer lab as the schools “Campus Technology Manager”. At the end of May, we are moving to Marshall, TX where I will be going to East Texas Baptist University. I am pursuing my Bachelors degree in Religion with an emphasis on Pastoral Studies. This blog is dedicated to my projects that I work on. I want to give everybody a chance to take a peek at what I’m doing while giving input/advice. I hope that you use this as much or more than I do

I do all this work out of a shop/wooden shed thing in my backyard that’s about 12×15. Its a pretty darn good guitar ‘workshop’ if you ask me!

Well, enough with all this salad, lets get to the meat….

Here you can see what I’m up against. Its a 1978 Ibanez Musician neck-through electric guitar. I acquired this guitar in a in exchange for my BK Butler RealTube Overdrive. I liked that pedal, but I just got a Pod XT Live, and my pedals are going out the door…plus, I always wanted a neck-through, they just look real classy to me.