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Topic: Check out my new homebuilt 8-string |
Terry Farmer
From:
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 5:10 pm |
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After looking for the 8-string of my dreams and not finding one, I decided to build my own. It took 3 months of spare time. Some of the features include:
Bookmatched grain Koa top and bottom
1/4" thick aluminum layer
Steinberger gearless tuners
Inlayed Black/white/black maple frets
Inlayed abalone fret markers
Herringbone purfling
Tortoise binding
Tung oil/urethane finish
Jerry Wallace True Tone pickup (great sound!)
Concentric volume/tone pot
Strings, bridge, nut, and tuners all connect directly to the aluminum layer for maximum sustain.
I would like to thank my new internet friend, Joe Delaronde, for his advice on design issues and machine work of the bridge and nut parts. Here are some pics:
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 5:28 pm
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Killer beautiful, Terry! Good thing it didn't turn into a log (w/ Joe D.'s help)  .
But man, you must be proud. How's it sound? |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 6:16 pm
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Awesome!!!
Love the Herringbone!
I don't think I've ever seen that on a Steel.
What's the scale?
Where's the Beaver teeth marks? |
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Joe Delaronde
From:
Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 6:38 pm
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Terry
It was a pleasure. And thanks for the compliments for the little assistance I rendered. I gained a new friend.
I though you might have made it out of Alligator wood. (Internal joke)
Beautifull job!! Now, get playin' it!
Joe |
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Terry Farmer
From:
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 6:38 pm
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| Heh,Heh,heh. Yup, Joe's Beaver Log is great! Scale is 22.5" I'm real happy with the sound. The range of Jerry's pickup is incredible. The laminated Koa and aluminum make for good tone and sustain. |
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 6:45 pm
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| Terry, job well done! I was wondering how you connected the wood to the aluminum in the middle. I hope mine comes out as cool as yours. Thanks... |
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Joe Delaronde
From:
Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 7:08 pm
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Jesse
Terry has the best clamping system I have ever seen. It's a clamping system without clamps. Believe it or not!
Terry, don't keep this a secret. Tell the formites how you done it and what you used!!!! They will be pleasantly surprised.
Joe |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 7:25 pm
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| What a fine accomplishment. My hat is off to you sir! |
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Terry Farmer
From:
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 7:44 pm
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| The layers of wood and aluminum are laminated together with West Systems laminating epoxy. It's a very thin epoxy. The method to clamp is vacuum bagging. Basically, the pieces to be stuck together are put in a heavy plastic sheeting envelope. The envelope is sealed with caulking and a vacuum is pulled with some kind of vacuum pump. I use an old refrigerator compressor. An 18 Hg vacuum is pulled and the whol thing allowed to sit overnight. Next morning, the parts are super stuck. I've heard the clamping force is equivalent to parking a car on it. That's probably an exageration but it works very well! |
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Dennis Olearchik
From:
Newtown, PA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 7:53 pm
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| just beautiful... |
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Wayne Carver
From:
Martinez, Georgia, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 7:58 pm
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| Beautiful guitar, what did you use for string bushings or whatever they're called to get your strings through the body? |
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 8:17 pm
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| Wow! If is sounds as good as it looks, you've built one heck of a steel! I love the tuner design! |
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Terry Farmer
From:
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 8:19 pm
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| Wayne, I used thick walled aluminum tubing from my local hobby store. It's 3/16 OD x 3/32 ID through the top wood down to the aluminum layer. There are tubes through the bottom wood layers to the aluminum layer also. They are 1/4 OD x 3/16 ID so the ball of the string can slide through and catch on the aluminum layer. |
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Alvin Blaine
From:
Picture Rocks, Arizona, USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 8:37 pm
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GREAT JOB!!!
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Don Walters
From:
Saskatchewan Canada
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 9:49 pm
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| Hey, Joe. Now just talk your friend Terry into joining us in Winnipeg in late April. It would be a real pleasure to have Terry and his beautiful guitar there .. maybe a duet with the Log!! |
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Smiley Roberts
From:
Hendersonville,Tn. 37075
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Posted 15 Feb 2003 10:53 pm
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That is the most UNIQUE tuning key system I've ever seen,since Leo Fender came out w/ the "straight-line" design. BEAUTIFUL guitar!! If this guitar is any indication at all,you'd best be prepared to go into "full-time production"!! Good Luck!
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©¿© It don't mean a thang,
mm if it ain't got that twang.
www.ntsga.com |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 2:09 am
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| XCELLENT ! |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 4:36 am
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| Man, Terry, what a beautiful job. It's great to see an original take and different aesthetics on an exisiting design. I've never seen these tuners - do they work with a lock/unlock mechanism? |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 5:32 am
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| Quote: |
| An 18 Hg vacuum is pulled |
unfortunately, my vacuum cleaner will only pull 6 1//2 Hg...  |
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Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 5:51 am
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Congratulations on a very nice creation
Terry. Beautifull!!
As a matter of interest,,,the Steinberger
Gearless Tuners,,,Do they work easy, smoothly
with the thumb and index or is a tuning wrench req'd?
If you have a sound file, I would like to hear it. Am sure others would too.
Roy
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http://www.clictab.com/royt/tabmenu.htm
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Ray Diorec
From:
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 7:18 am
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| Terry, as we Hawaiians say "Maika'i Loa" (very very good)thats an awesome looking steel keep up the good work. |
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Terry Farmer
From:
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 7:26 am
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Thank you all for the kind words.
Information on the tuners can be found here; http://www.musicyo.com/product_specs.asp?pf_id=392 Be sure to click on the links in the lower part of the page for use and installation instructions. After a little tweaking, they turn easily with thumb and forefinger. I found that they worked better if you put the bottom knobs on after the strings are installed and the there is some tension on the tuner. It's a 40-1 tuning ratio. No sound files yet. It was quite a trick for me just to figure out how to get the pictures up! Also, I've got quite a bit of practicing to do before I'm ready to share my inexperience with the world. ;o) |
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Mike D
From:
Phx, Az
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 7:33 am
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| Very cool Terry! Space age, retro and most important tasteful, all at the same time. |
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 7:55 am
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| I really like the concentric tone/pot, nice touch. |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 16 Feb 2003 8:06 am
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I wasn't going to mention the knobs, but since Jesse brought it up...
The concentric knobs are the one feature I did not like.
My concern is:
Can you sweep the tone control back and forth(for a Wah sound) without accidently moving the volume slightly?
Maybe my fingers are too fat. |
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