Hey all, I've had this cocobolo/maple body for 15+ years (I'm guessing '96-97). It was my first guitar assembly project. It's a carved top Tele made by a guy names Gregg Rogers I found on the early days of the intarwebs. I got a an all rosewood neck from Warmoth and two Gibson P94 pickups and figured out how to put it all together. I gigged with it for a good stretch and then loaned it to my band's rhythm player and she used it for a few more years. I love those P94s - that guitar was a real screamer. I moved on to a Warmoth WGD and it got retired. I had always wanted to hear how it would sound with a maple/ebony neck and had been planning for some time to get a new neck. Then I saw Tennessee Jedi's guitar that Brian (milobender) did for him and it looks fantastic. I contacted him to see if he would be willing to breathe some new life into an old friend. Brian has been awesome to deal with. It has taken a while to get stuff to him, I got a neck built by Doug from Soulmate Guitars, which is awesome but he was pretty backlogged. I was going back and forth on what to do for inlay and was thought of combining my two favorite pastimes together: playing guitar and baseball. I'm a lifelong Orioles fan even through 14 years of mediocrity, now that they seem to be on an upswing and after going to a bunch of games including my all-time favorite 3rd baseman, Brooks Robinson's dedication day, I thought that my Os would make a fitting tribute as Brian breathes new life into my guitar and these great young kids breathe new life into my favorite sports franchise. I contacted Cliff Suttle of Shark Custom inlay to do the work and he did a fantastic job with the fretboard and headstock inlay. All three of these guys have been great to work with and I highly recommend them all. Brian is adding a Super II in the middle position, OBEL/Buffer/Blaster, a super-cool pick guard, new hardware, etc.
Here's some pics of the progress -
in the beginning:
The pickguard shape:
Expanding the rear cavity a bit:
The neck (Oriole "O's" for fretmarkers and a #5 on the 5th fret in honor of Brooks Robinson):
The headstock overlay was a little thin so Cliff made a medallion of the Orioles Bird for the headstock that Brian will attach:
She's looking to be ready in about a month or so. I can't wait to get reacquainted with this old flame
Here's some pics of the progress -
in the beginning:
The pickguard shape:
Expanding the rear cavity a bit:
The neck (Oriole "O's" for fretmarkers and a #5 on the 5th fret in honor of Brooks Robinson):
The headstock overlay was a little thin so Cliff made a medallion of the Orioles Bird for the headstock that Brian will attach:
She's looking to be ready in about a month or so. I can't wait to get reacquainted with this old flame
Last edited by tcsned on Tue Nov 26, 2013 4:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.