EJC Instruments

 Based on the hardanger fiddle idea, tuned GDAE with 4 sympathetic strings running under the fretboard. Inspired by a conversation with someone who bought one of my other builds! Top and bottom are spruce and mahogany salvaged from an old gramophone and graded down. Neck is from an old teak window board. Walnut fretboard, bridges are gramophone mahogany, bone nut. Basic piezo pickup system mounted internally. White binding Finished with button shellac - very traditional golden brown colour.  Resonance effect ranges to a light reverb acoustically, to a more significant drone when amplified (this is in part due to overall output being higher, and in part pickup placement). 

You can see the making of this guitar in the ‘ anatomy of a build post ’  Single piece reclaimed pitch pine body from a Victorian hospital bench. Neck from same material.  27” scale, tuned low cgda  Finger board and pickguard made from mahogany from a 1910s gramaphone case.  Finished in tinted button shellac on body, and button shellac on neck. Single coil mustang style Alnico 5 pickups, hardtail strat bridge, bone nut. Wired with bass and treble cut and series/parallel switching 

Both because I work largely from different materials each time, and I’ve yet to make the same instrument twice, every build is a little different - but there are common techniques I use across builds. What’s outlined in this post is the making of a single solid body, 27”scale, 4 string guitar, which was made to someone else’s specs.  you can see and hear the finished product here The Neck.  I always start with the neck. In this case the first step was using a router sled and a plane to grade down and level a piece of mahogany for the fingerboard. This is then slotted for the eventual frets. A very careful job.  The neck blank is then cut, planed and squared. In this case the wood is pitch pine from part of and old bench the the fretboard is resting on. The single most difficult cut in the whole guitar making process is the 13degree angle for the scarf joint. Should the saw wander by more that a mm or so over length of cut you have firewood. This time it came out well and ...

25. 5” scale  Set neck  Body pitch pine with a mahogany top. Pine from a Victorian hospital bench, mahogany from a 1910s gramaphone case. Chambered with sound hole.  Neck mahogany from old wardrobe  rosewood board, position markers made from old string ball-ends Staples p90 in neck, regular p90 in bridge, master volume bass and hi cut controls  Tunomatic roller bridge and Bigsby type tremolo arm  bone nut finished in green tinted shellac, and button shellac Rear strap lug made from turntable speed control of gramaphone 

  An older build, originally strung with greek style strings (octave), and re setup for unison strings on the G and D. Body is reclaimed makore, neck reclaimed teak, fingerboard rosewood. Thinline style chambered body. Set neck 25.5” scale Finished in red tinted shellac Wilkinson bridge and tuners Bone nut Fleor Alnico 5 blade pickups Wired with coil split and master vol/tone  Large mustang style knobs