Helbard Bass – 1980 (Still Working)

This Bass was built in 1980 in my dads shop cellar and was the first guitar which actually worked! It was built for ‘Pip’ the bass player / vocalist in a Heavy Metal band with myself on guitar and pips 15 year old sister ‘Debbie’ on drums / keyboards. Pip up to this point was using a Hofner ‘Committee’ semi-acoustic guitar. The bass survived our first two gigs, a ten-track studio demo and six months of twice a week practising. (He then bought a Gibson Thunderbird). The ‘Helbard’ Logo on the headstock was the name of the band.

The neck was bought from a work associate for £2 it had three odd tuners and a neck plate still attached. The finish is Brown shoe polish with Ronseal door varnish pained on top. It had brass frets, which were so soft they had to be filled in with a soldering iron and solder.

The wood is two lengths of 2”X2” pine bought for £1.95 from a DIY wood store, the shape was traced round a 1979 USA Fender Stratocaster and cut on a bandsaw which cut at 45 degrees angle leaving over an inch of rough wood all the way round. It looked nothing like a Stratocaster when it was finished. The finish is Black shoe polish with Ronseal door varnish on top.

It has deep cuts and holes all over, this is not from use but from trying to plane it smooth!

The pickup was bought new from a store in Manchester  called “Chase” it is an Ibanez and cost £9 along with a single tuner and acoustic bass bridge saddles. The bridge stop piece is a piece of aluminium dipped in caustic soda (in the kitchen) to anodise it. The brass pickup surrounds and control plate was cut with metal cutters out of thin brass sheet and painted with Ronseal wood varnish.

Joke! Ok as long as you don’t go past the 4^th fret. Hums like hell, neck like a tree trunk.

It sat in a cupboard for a few years and then was nailed to a cellar wall for 13 years (I kid you not!), It has now had the frets replaced and set up to play much better. Ugly is the word to describe it but I would never get rid of it.

The guitar was made in about 1985/6 because I wanted a Gibson Explorer after watching Lynard Skinard playing ‘Freebird’ on TV. The woods were the wrong woods but all I could get hold of at the time. The guitar took a year to make in my bedroom, you could not see the carpet for wood shavings.
Note: When I was buying the hardware in a shop called ‘Sounds Great’ a guitarist out of a chart group called ‘Sad Café’ said I was mad buying the parts when I could buy a cheap Jap copy of a Stratocaster, which would play better than trying to make one. A couple of months later in Sounds music magazine I read that he fell off stage at a gig and broke his leg, Oh Dear!

The neck was one piece of 2” X 4” Mahogany, it had an angled back head stock, this was all cut by hand with a saw, spoke shave and files, the truss rod channel was chiselled out by hand and the truss rod was a thin square metal bar, (non adjusting!). It was glued in using a wrong mix of epoxy resin which gained so much heat it filled the garden with smoke, it was taken out, cleaned up and set again using 2 tubes of Araldite.

The fingerboard was a piece of Mahogany, the dots were filled in with light coloured wood filler, all finished with Ronseal wood varnish. The fingerboard was later replaced with a piece of Indian Rosewood (not fitted very well).

Body

The wood is a couple of 2” X 2” teak lengths bought from a DIY store and cut into 13 pieces to make the body. The shape was taken from a photo in a guitar book, it was cut out with an electric jigsaw and finished by hand with a plane and spoke shave.

The pickup and neck cavities were cut out with a hammer and chisel, the scratch plate was a 1/16” brass plate, comprising of 3 pieces cut out on a guillotine, and etched with ”Custom Explorer 2”. Mounted on it were 9 switches, 3 pots and 1 jack socket. Eight of these switches enabled the two pickups to be in -phase, out of-phase, humbucking or single coil. The finish was Ronseal wood varnish on body and scratch plate.

The Pickups were 2 Schaller X2N style high power bar magnet humbuckers. The bridge was a solid brass Fender Stratocaster style tremolo unit, which was later changed to a surface mounted cheapo locking tremolo unit. The tuners were gold plated sealed units and brass pickup surrounds.

The guitar played quite well, I was very pleased with it and it sounded raw and loud.

It went through a couple of changes, new locking tremolo bridge which ended up taking a lot of wood away from the bridge area and a new Rosewood fingerboard which did not feel as good as the first mahogany one. The results of the revamp was a bit of a mess. It was stripped down for the parts and the neck and body being thrown away after a couple of years, the body would have made a good coffee table. All that remain are the 3 scratch-plates.

Telecaster – 1986 (Now Gone)

This was made in about 1986 shortly after the Explorer, it was made because I wanted a Telecaster, and had enough spare parts that it would not cost anything and so it did not mater about end quality.

This was made out of Oak with a truss rod from a cheap neck and a beech fingerboard, the dots were drawn on in Indian ink and the whole neck was sprayed with car lacquer.

The body was two pieces of 1” Mahogany (rubber backed) glued together like a sandwich, quite light in weight.

The pickups were two 1960s Vox single coil (bar magnets) bought second hand quite cheap, they had chrome covers with ‘VOX’ etched on. They were low in volume and high on hum. The pickup surrounds were made out of wood, no scratch plate.

The bridge was half a Stratocaster tremolo without the block as the strings were passed through the body. The tuners were cheap sealed units.

It played OK and sounded thin and was used as a practise guitar quite a lot, just to leave lying about. The neck use to bend at the neck joint as the body wood was quite poor.

It was giving to my Brother in law to learn on for a couple of years then given back to paint and ‘do up a bit’. It did not survive the bypass operation and so was stripped for parts. Nothing remains.

Small Guitar Projects  1986 - 1995
Micro Bass, Gizmo Gibo, Mini Strat and Acoustic Bass (Now Gone)

Micro Bass (Top Left - made for Nephew)This was multi-laminate, Mahogany/Maple body with an Oak neck and a Mandolin pickupGizmo Gibo (Top Middle - made for Nephew / Top Right photo shows size proportion to a full size Tele)
This was multi-laminate, Mahogany/Maple body with an Oak neck and a 60s Vox pickupMini Strat (Bottom Left – Made for Lewis)
This was multi-laminate, Mahogany/Maple capped body with an Oak neck and a Squire pickupAcoustic Bass (Bottom Right - made for Nephew)
This was a strange sort of Acoustic BassAnd soAll basically working, only the Strat survives.

Check Strat – 1988/9 (Now Gone)

This was made about 1988/9 it was a Stratocaster based guitar with a two humbucking pickups and Rosewood style fingerboard. It was going to be a Super Strat.

This was made from 3 pieces of Mahogany 18”X5”X1” (door frame) with a top layer of 1 piece Ash 1” deep (kitchen cupboard door). It was cut using an electric jigsaw and filed / sanded by hand. The body was then sprayed Gun Metal Grey with Black Squares, as the finished body was drying the wood split open on the lower half, enough to loose a plectrum in. Not Good!

The neck was made out of two pieces of Ramin (White hard wood) glued side by side, with an old truss rod and two pieces of dark Mahogany kitchen trim glued side by side for the fingerboard. The neck was ready for fretting when the fingerboard split in two full length. Not Good!

And so! This was the last time I used non-guitar, kiln dried woods.

Dave Tele – 1990 (Still Working)

This was made for a friend of mine called Dave. It was built in about 1990, along side a guitar for myself. He had had a Gibson Les Paul Custom and a Squire Strat and now fancied a Telecaster shape with one Gibson humbucker pickup. It was made from Telecaster blue prints.

This was two pieces of Alder bought from David Dyke supplies (£18), it was great to work with. The wood was sprayed Red. The body was cut to the depth on the plans which made it a little on the light side.

The pickup was a Gibson humbucker, bought from Route 66 for £35. The tuners were Schaller vintage style. No scratch plate. The bridge was a Schaller heavy duty bridge.

It played OK and sounded quite good, It was quite light and the neck felt thin.

Dave was happy with it when it was finished, I believe he still has it. I thought the action could have been better and I am not struck on light bodies.

Jennifer Strat – 1990 (Still Working)

This was the guitar which would change the building process, it was built from quality guitar woods, good quality parts and decent power tools. It was built in about 1990, along side a Telecaster. It was made because I wanted a SuperStrat, with one high power humbucking pickup.

This was two pieces of Alder bought from David Dyke supplies (£18), it was great to work with, with a good weight. The wood looked a bit on the green side and so was stained with Walnut wood dye. It looked much better. The neck and pickups cavities were routed out with template guides, this gave a very good finish. It was sprayed with Spectra clear car spray with 2 coats.

All from other gigging guitars, the bridge was from an Ibanez Artist. The pickup was a Gibson Dirty Fingers humbucker, which I took out of a 1976 Gibson Les Paul Custom `Black Beauty`. The tuners were from a Squire Strat. The second pickup was taken from a Fender Contemporary Telecaster. The scratch plate was 1/16” brass completely etched out of a solid piece.

It played very well and sounded quite good, It has good balance and the neck feels really good.

However I was not happy with it as it was not how I imagined the finished product and so gave it to my Brother in law. He had it for 12 years,

I grew to like it very much and managed to get it back. I cleaned it up put a Fender Humbucker pickup in the neck position and a Dimarzio super Distortion style humbucker in the bridge position and this transformed it, it has since done quite a few gigs. I still play this.

Lewiscaster Tele– 2003 (Now Gone)

This was made for my son after seeing Jerry Donahue in concert at a Manchester guitar show in 2002. It was built in 2003 from Telecaster blue prints. This was not intended to be as a finished playing guitar, it was constructed to show my son how a guitar is made.

This was a piece of laminated Birch (1 3/4" thick) it was the cut out piece from the kitchen worktop, the part where the sink should be. Sprayed Metallic Blue.

The pickups were a Westfield single coil in the neck position and Jap Humbucker in the Bridge, The tuners were open back 6 in a row. No scratch plate. The bridge was a Gibson style Tunomatic.

It played OK and sounded quite good, It quite light and the neck felt thin.

IT was played for a while, taken to the Manchetser Guitar show the following year and signed by Jim Marshall. The body was just the wrong type of wood for a guitar (Laminated) and so it was dismantled and ended its life as parts on eBay.

Hendrix 69 Stratocaster – 2004

My first Fender was a CBS Stratocaster, it had a Maple neck with a Natural Ash body. It was sold in 1993 (Sob Sob). So I decided to make one. The finish on the body did not look right so I changed it into a Hendrix axe.

This was made from 3 pieces of American Swamp Ash, it was quite light in weight had nice grain and worked very well. It was bought from Sound Wood in Buxton for £30
When it was finished I stained the body Antique Yellow but it did not look right so I sprayed it Vintage White the back went a bit funny with spraying clear lacquer it has a crazed look, I may strip it yet and restore back to Natural.

The pickups were a taken from a mid 90s Fender Jap Stratocaster, The tuners were bought on eBay they are brand new 1970s Fender ‘F’ stamped from America. The bridge is a 1976 Fender CBS Strat hardtail bought on eBay from America. The scratch plate is a cheap Rhino replacement.

It played OK and sounded very good, The sound is brighter than an Original 1979 Fender Anniversary Stratocaster. It quite light and the neck felt medium thickness.

And soIt has been played quite a bit at practice sessions

Wishbone Ash - Melody Maker –2004

Melody Maker In 1983 I taped a Wishbone Ash concert with Laurie Wisefield playing a single humbucking Melody Maker. Twenty years later  I bought the concert on DVD and decided to make one. This was the first time I had tried a glue in Gibson style  neck joint. All measurements were from plans.

This was a one piece of  South American Mahogany (2" thick) Cost £30 from Sound Wood supply in Buxton. It is a very heavy piece of wood.

The pickups were from a guitar show in Manchester which I believe are Kluson P90s cost £30  , The tuners were Grover taken from a broken Yamaha acoustic. The bridge is a Schaller Gibson style one piece Tunomatic. Brass nut.

It plays very well, nice neck and sounds very good, It has a very classic rock/blues sound, take off the tone control on the neck pickup and it sounds like an acoustic.

It has been played quite a bit at practice sessions, in 2004 I took it to a end of tour concert by Wishbone Ash in Mansfield, it was signed on the front by ‘Andy Powell’ and on the back by the current guitarist ‘Ben Granfelt’ (his last gig), new guitarist ‘Muddy’ (his first gig), past guitarist ‘Mark Birch’ (Guest) also the Bass player ‘Bob Skeet’ and Drummer ‘Ray Weston’.