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In
the Workshop. |
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Hofner : New Custom
Archtop. |
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1. A new
Body - a new Neck! |
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Hofner supplied a new
German hand made archtop body and a new John Lennon neck.
Both are perfect - the body has the usual high quality, straight
grain Spruce top with a gently flamed Maple back
and sides. The JL neck allows me to create a
modern style, short scale guitar. |
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2. Modifying
the neck and body. |
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The 60's "Art Deco"
headstock will will define the overall style of the finished
guitar. |
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Frets are all good but
will need a precise fret-dress later. |
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The John Lennon neck is
a little "chunky" for me. I prefer a more
slender profile. It has
the truss-rod adjustment at the heel. I shall
need a long truss-rod spanner for this guitar. |
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Checked and all working
fine. |
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Re-profiled and ready
for finished sanding. |
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Sanded ready for
spraying. |
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I prefer to play small
body jazz archtops these days - much more
comfortable and balanced. |
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Just a few minimal
corrections to the arch contours. |
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Trial fit -
cant wait to see how it will look. |
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I want to use the same
neck set, pickup height and bridge height as La Provençale.
The tailpiece is for a Jazzica but is too long
so needs to be shortened to suit a 24.5" scale. |
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Nice heel joint.
I am pleased with this. |
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3.
Thinking about the design and choosing all the right parts. |
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I have had it in mind to
build this guitar for many years so there has been plenty of time to think it through,
get the design right, and source the parts.
It will be my final
Hofner Custom archtop - the guitar that Hofner never
built - a smaller sister to The Jazz Café
(see #058).
The Shadow AZ pickup on
The Jazz Café and on La Provençale are so good that I shall
also use one on this guitar although I plan to fit an AZ 49,
the ring mounted version, coupled with a Schatten thumbwheel volume control
hidden beneath the pickguard to match the Jazz Cafe!These AZ pickups are
so rich and mellow that I don't want t add a Tone control.
I prefer to let the pickup speak for itself and set up my
Amp for any small tonal adjustments.
The Art Deco logo on the
headstock will be reflected in the design of a new, hand
carved pickguard and tailpiece. I have a choice of
Rosewood with a strong straight dark grain which should look
good with the fingerboard or I may select Ebony to match the
pickup and headstock. Perhaps I will make
one of each and see how they look.
What I am aiming for
with this guitar is a full voiced jazzy instrument without
f-holes (to suppress any tendency to feedback - always a
consideration with the small body hollow guitars). |
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4. Back
from spraying and ready to build. |
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Nice, new clean carpet
for my newly sprayed guitar. I specified a cellulose
finish so I have to be careful now! |
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It is always exciting to
reach this stage - a brand new guitar ready to
be built. It was sprayed for
me, very nicely, by Martin Harrison of Hania Guitars. |
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5. Ready
to start the Build. |
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Firstly, I like to
make a jig, tailor made for the guitar. |
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Glued and screwed, and
lined with carpet, the guitar sits exactly firm in the jig
and can't move. |
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The jig is heavy enough
to keep the guitar steady and I can move it around my bench
to enable me to work on the guitar from any angle. |
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Care and precision is
required to centralise all components. |
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Getting the pickup right
is critical. |
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The "cut-line" has been
scored careful with a scalpel to stop the cellulose
chipping. |
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First, a pilot hole to
look inside with a light and mirror. Don't
want to cut any braces! |
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Then, the precision cut
(by hand) |
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I always seal the cut
edge with hand applied cellulose to seal the grain and to
reinforce the cellulose around the cut. |
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Now I can select the
most appropriate bridge. |
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5.
Getting the playing dynamics right. It's
all about the Nut and the Bridge! |
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Getting the fingerboard
and frets exactly right is critical to the playability and
musicality of any guitar, but I always pay equal
attention to the accuracy and fit of the Nut and the Bridge.
These components control the string dynamics and make all
the difference in getting the best quality vibrations
possible. So
first I want to concentrate on getting the string dynamics
right. Then I can deal with the playing
dynamics. |
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Hofner fitted the Nut
and it is good (after all there is a zero fret and I must
get that right, but later). The body has a
pronounced arch, however, so I shall need to carve a
new Bridge. I have decided to modify a new
Jazzica Bridge.
So, firstly, I
must be able to string up the guitar. Time to
make some choices about Tuners and Tailpiece.
Tuners will be Schaller M6 but I need to modify the Jazzica
tailpiece (above) to fit the reduced scale length and
smaller body. |
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6. Making
the hand-carved pickguard and tailpiece. |
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This is the phase I
love. This is where I can express myself, where
I can create something unique. Here are the options: |
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Left: a
conventional Short scale Hofner Tailpiece, middle:
the Jazzica Ebony Tailpiece which was the donor for the Gold
tailpiece I have modified and, right: the modified golden
Jazzica tailpiece sitting in the routed Rosewood blank. |
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The headstock and pickup
will be black and the neck is Rosewood. I have a clear
idea how I want the finished guitar to look but I could make
the tailpiece and pickguard in Ebony, to emphasise the black,
or I could select Rosewood to harmonise with the neck. |
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OK, decision made.
This is the same Rosewood fingerboard blank I used for carving the
tailpiece and pickguard for The Jazz Cafe.
The idea of Brother and Sister guitars really appeals to me.
I am very happy with that outcome! A baby
Jazz Café! I like it!! |
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Back
to - In the Workshop |
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