the Nelson Build

[jakeisjake]

first off, i kinda had to talk bobby into this...he doesn't want to run afoul of the Ric police. after we talked a bit, he thought it would be fun...and since it wasn't our intent to build an exact replica...but rather to take the capri shape as a model and then let things happen, he was open to the idea.

the cost was the same as his other guitars with an upcharge for some components that he had to do special.

as we began talking, i asked him if it was possible to use OLD floor boards from our house fro the top. he thought that would be fun...so, i had several boards planed and i shipped them out to him.



however, the boards were not usable...i was disappointed, but i asked if he could somehow use some of the wood in the build. he took some time and
came up with the idea of using pieces of our floor board as a 1/2'' center strip on the front and back.



it's a pretty cool thing to have a part of our family's life together built into a guitar.

we talked a lot about color and shades and styles...somewhere along the line, someone (i think it was OSG member Mongoose) shared a pic of a Ric and i said..."that's it!" and it became a bit of a template (altho not in color).

[jakeisjake]

it was important to him to do things the way as when they built capris in the 50s and 60s. one of the issues i had with the chinese capri that is mentioned in the other thread was that the bracing and neck joint is off...i don't know if it will hold over time...so, i'm glad he wanted to do things right. in fact, he went little further than i would.

the first thing he did was to hollow it out with a forstner bit just like the old ones:



then he smoothed it out with a router:

[jakeisjake]

bobby builds his own necks...as was mentioned in the other thread, they are quite thick...somewhat Gibson like....i had a Nelson and i didn't really mind it. but, i did want to have a thinner neck...bobby shaved down the neck a bit into a "soft V shape". it's a 3 piece neck and 5 piece headstock...with Paduak (i think...) in the middle.





neither of us wanted to do a Ric style head stock...plus his head stocks are pretty cool looking on their own. so i chose his original. mine is on the left

[jakeisjake]

head stock with his logo

[jakeisjake]

as for color...

i thought about shading...but my other capri is "fireglo"...and bobby has his own style of shading that i didn't want to do. so, it was choosing between natural or with a little bit of amber dye on the wood...



sometimes i think i would have liked it a little darker, but oh well. with all the hardware on it, it looks pretty good.

[jakeisjake]

i thought i was going to use "oven style" knobs...but, again, i have them on my other faker...and then bobby scored these sweet knobs, not vintage style, but pretty cool nonetheless



originally, i asked him to put in a dummy switch for the 2nd switch...just so it looked like the guitar referenced above. however, bobby was kind enough to make it a real tone shift...this is his description

Speaking of the tone switch I should just outline how it functions. It interacts with the tone knob and the knob functions the same way as normal. (When the knob is all the way up nothing happens but as you turn it "down" you get the effect)

When the switch is all the way down you are bleeding off bass frequencies so the effect is a more trebly sound. When the switch is all the way up you are bleeding off treble (like a normal tone control). When the switch is in the middle position the tone knob doesn't do anything. As usual when the knob is all the way down the effect is the most extreme but you have all the space in between to play with the effect.

The fun part is that you can dial the tone knob in to just the right spot for what you're doing and at the flick of the switch have 3 distinct tones for each pickup selection!

[jakeisjake]

so...now we wait for Fedex to do their job. tracking says June 19...too late for father's day...but a week before my birthday.

[marqueemoon]

So cool. I like the natural finish.

What pickups?

[jakeisjake]

he calls them Dynamos. they are single coils...he usually winds them to .11

tracking update says saturday!

edit: apparently it will not be delivered on saturday...the email says tracking is updated to saturday, but then when you open the tracking, it still says tuesday.

[BoringPostcards]

I really like his stuff. Looks great so far!

[wproffitt]

I love this! His guitars look like a load of fun. How are you liking the dynamo pickups?

[jakeisjake]

I love this! His guitars look like a load of fun. How are you liking the dynamo pickups?

i am impatiently awaiting its arrival. Fedex says today is the day!

[garyfanclub]

Oh my god, it’s gorgeous. Congrats!

Cant wait to hear how it sounds!

[wproffitt]

I love this! His guitars look like a load of fun. How are you liking the dynamo pickups?

i am impatiently awaiting its arrival. Fedex says today is the day!

Whoops! I somehow thought it had arrived by now and that you were so immersed in the fun of playing the thing that you hadn’t yet come up for air to give us a report!

[StevenO]

Great guitar, Jake! You mentioned Father's day and your birthday, is this a gift to yourself or from your family? If so, awesome!