Thumbs up, thumbs down?

[weemac]

Hi all.
Before I say what this is (or isn't), I just want to get a feel for opinion on this one.....
Eden.

[weemac]

More...

[kiramdear]

Looks interesting, Eden. What in the world is it?

[weemac]

What in the world is it?

I'll get to that later....

Eden.

[kiramdear]

Intriguing, with those LEDs and the P90. I'd be curious to check it out.

[ozover50]

It's wired..... er weird!!

[FretlessOnly]

Very late 80s/early 90s-meets-60s looking to me. I dig the back of the neck; nice blue/aquamarine (that's what I consider to be aquamarine; not that froggy green-black one of a kinder that witty got from RIC; although I really loved that color also) color. Wide fingerboard; also good, but overall, not really my cup of the old chai, sir (no time, no time, Alex my boy).

But yeah, what the heck is it?

[weemac]

But yeah, what the heck is it?

Anyone care to guess?

Eden.

[jimk]

A baritone guitar? But more important, what do you think of it?

JimK

[kiramdear]

Reminds me of a Yamaha that I used to have. I'd like to try it. Is it custom made?

[winston]

Something you crafted perhaps Eden?

[antipodean]

Looks like the offspring of a Les Paul Junior and a Mosrite Mk II (the Johny Ramone slab version), with some funky 80's tech thrown in. It also reminds me of some of the interesting stuff Schecter did in the '90s. Whatever it is, it is very funky Eden!

[weemac]

Something you crafted perhaps Eden?

Thats the one!
I built this about 12 years ago and never really finished it, the original design was alot pointier, looked good (to my eyes at the time ) on paper, but in the flesh was rather too much like a can opener. So the points got the chop!
I've never been really happy with the shape but there you go...
The features are a mix of ideas.
The scale length is a fender scale (25.5"?)
The body is made of hoop pine (because it was cheap) It is a alderish weight and density, horrible to sand on the end grain and looks like pine... Sounds ok though.....
The neck is the finest "Merantie" (cause it was cheap) which is like a cross between mahogany and balsa, easy to shape and reasonable torsional strength. It has a Mahogany vener on the headstock.
The fretboard is Ebony and quite thick (to make up for the lacklustre merantie)
The neck has an extended tenon (like early 60s SG juniors and 70s 4000s)
Knitting needle side dots on the neck, shell dots on the front and aluminium welding rod dots on the headstock.
The control cover is ebony from a old banjo fretboard.....

The colour scheme is only a recent idea (along with the LEDs). I was not trying for an 80s look at all, but more like a postwar "Dieselpunk" look. somewhere between a stationary engine and a Nuttall lathe...
The body is spraycan hammerfinish and the neck is nitrocellulose with blue tint.

The LEDs were just to make it stand out a bit on stage (It's a stage prop) and give it a slightly alien look..

Jimk is sort of right! It was first setup as a baritone guitar but I revently refitted it to run in normal tuning.

It plays rather well, the neck was meant to be a blend of a early 60s sg and the soft "V" of an ovation neck. With the wraparound trussrod (all handmade) the neck is in fact overtly strong and for a long time would not bend enough to get any relief, (which is why I first set it up with big baritone strings)
Its the first guitar that I've had with an ebony board, it feels a little different to Rosewood.
It's also rather ergonomic.....

The pickup is a buget AlNiCo P-90, its ok but a better one would not hurt.

It sounds Juniorish but with the added snap of the scale length (changes the string attack) the ebony board imparts Highs and lows (a bit like maple but darker) and the pine sounds a little like light ash.
The merantie neck in most cases would sound a bit hit and miss with some wooly notes and funny resonances, but in this case the other timbers more than cancel this out.

In short somewhere between a Sg Jr and a Hardtail Strat with different mids which makes for an unusual clarity...

I call it "The big mistake"
It's offical name will probably be known (if anyone wants me to make another one) as a "Barefoot Sentinel" ("Barefoot" being my usual state of dress and "Sentinel" being the first design..
Other options are the "Barefoot W.T.F!"

Any other suggestions will also be considered....

There you go!!!

Eden.

[kiramdear]

i think it's interesting. Better than a lot of production stuff I've seen. I'd sleep in the same room with it. Got any sound clips, Eden?

[winston]

Thanks for the great description of the construction of the instrument Eden. I would like to hear it as well. Perhaps a sound byte is in order?