mosriteforum.com

The Plan, so far:

After finishing a Budget Junior-Brown style Guitsteel, I decided to embark on a next challenge.
The idea is to build a very basic 50's style Maphis Doubleneck-special-guitar that can grow, be customized in it's later life.
Reason for not going for the whole bells and whistles recreation is that I don't have much money at the moment, and I don't have a workshop, so I depend on good weather (scarce in the Netherlands these days) so I can work outside, or the workspace friends provide me with.
In a later phase, if wanted, parts can be changed, pickups can be wound, pickupcovers can be milled, inlays can be routed...if maybe I get the use of a workshop I could try my hand at making my own necks etc. etc...

Body:
Thin semi hollow body, swamp ash, double bound.
German carve front, initially a flat back (could be upgraded later to a carved back)
Maybe thinline/ES type construction, maybe a Plywood back, or felt covered aluminum like Larry Collins' Larico.
Stained sunburst, then finished with Danish Oil or Tung oil.
Since I'm planning on two fullsize necks, the body might have to be a bit bigger than the originals, more like the Mythical "Bill Bartlett" one.

Necks:
Two standard Bound Eden T- type Paddlenecks off Ebay, fixed with screws. Pearloid fretmarker and headstock decoration.
One neck in standard tuning, one tuned down to Baritone or up to nashville tuning DADGAD or whatever.
Since I'm not much of a virtuoso on the strings, I think the Octave neck is not for me, I have no need for a 12 string either,
I thought about maybe a mandolin, but I'm not a good mandolin player either;)
For some songs I play, a baritone or Drop D would be great.
If I stumble upon a cheap source of octave or electric mandolin necks I might change my mind though.

Electronics and other parts:
4 cheap Dog ear P90's off eBay, I used those for an ES-175 copy I customized, and I kind of like the sound.
If I'm going for a design with Black pickup covers, I'm going to try to square off the dog ears. If I'm going for white I'm going to try to customize some Jazzmaster Pickup covers or make "Elaine Frizzell style" wooden surrounds with "Pickguard tops".
Not sure if I'm going for white or black pickguard/sweatguard yet (Terry of TNM-Guitars is giving me some info on those)
2 Budget Roller-bridge knockoffs off Ebay.
DIY wooden/Aluminium stop piece for the upper neck, DIY stainless cover.
Bigsby B5 (the only part I already have.... ) or some Japanese chrome sixties thing I have lying around (like the GFS vintage tremelo), maybe make something out of aluminum myself, DIY stainless cover or Violin tailpiece.
Grover imperial knockoffs off Ebay.

Good idea, or not?
Tips (both kinds warnings and clever questions are more than welcome.

Grtz
Dennis

Sounds like a fun project Dennis. Can I ask why you choosing mostly "knockoff" parts instead of the real deal? I'm thinking more in terms of quality componants that can really enhance a guitar such as real Grover tuners, good quality electronics, etc.

I would love to watch a double neck step by step. I have aspirations of building a double neck Celebrity someday.

Sarah93003 wrote:Sounds like a fun project Dennis. Can I ask why you choosing mostly "knockoff" parts instead of the real deal? I'm thinking more in terms of quality componants that can really enhance a guitar such as real Grover tuners, good quality electronics, etc.

I would love to watch a double neck step by step. I have aspirations of building a double neck Celebrity someday.

Thanks for your interest, Sarah.
Actually most of the choices are to save costs, I've recently lost my job and money is real tight, but I want to continue my hobby.
For instance: the Real grover tuners are twice that of the Chinese knockoffs. the P90's are only 10 usd a piece, compare that to "real" p-90's or even GFS ones for that matter, it makes a huge difference.
Everything on there can be upgraded if I have a little bit more money to spend, and parts can find their way to future low-budget projects.

Furthermore I don't think the higher grade products are worth the extra dough. Most cheaper tuners stay in tune pretty well.
Cheap necks, well... necks are a personal taste, I play on two cheap Squier guitars and a Cheap "Action" ES175 copy most of the time, while I have had access to very expensive Gibsons and Fenders that I didn't like half as much as these 400 dollar guitars.
Finally In my opinion cheaper pickups just sound different (as apposed to worse) than expensive ones.... People around the world are looking for Valco/National and Dearmond goldfoil pickups... these were cheap pickups, as probably goes for Carvin pickups

Lastly I don't want to spend lots of money and then screw stuff up, I'm not a great crafstman, and I'm doing this for fun.

I have decided though that the first thing I'm going to do is to try to do a "gingerbread" Pickguard and armrest for my ES175, nothing to screw up, and a nice project in preparation of this big one.

I'd love to see a doubleneck Celebrity by the way... go for it!

Grtz
Dennis

There's nothing wrong with rockin a Squier. I have a Squier Telecaster Custom from the Vintage Modified series and it's awesome. I also had a Classic Vibe series 50's strat and would love to get my paws on the new classic vibe 50's telecaster with the butterscotch blonde finish and pine body and turn it into an esquire.

Check out guitarfetish.com I hear they provide a reasonable product at reasonable prices. Personally, I use Stewmac for most of my parts, but they are pricey on some items...shop, shop, shop around!

olrocknroller wrote:Check out guitarfetish.com I hear they provide a reasonable product at reasonable prices. Personally, I use Stewmac for most of my parts, but they are pricey on some items...shop, shop, shop around!

Good idea, that'd be my first step up upgrade option. the pickups in my 90's squier Strat are GFS , love 'm.
the rest of their hardware, necks, tuners etc is just rebranded chinese stuff same as you could get off eBay cheaper I think.
I remember their shipping cost being a bit on the high side too.

Their "vintage tremolo" unit looks nice though:
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Vintage-Sty ... p_839.html

Of course the hardware/necks have to match which makes shopping a little bit more difficult.
At the moment I'm shopping for 1.5 mm (1/16") black acrylic sheet to make "gingerbread" pickguards.
This seems to be impossible to get in the Netherlands, suppliers even say it doesn't exist, maybe someone can point me to an online source?