A Giant Guitar Sculpture
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Starting with a block of rigid insulation foam, I stuck a thin plywood layer to the front. This was to make a durable surface that would be easier to apply finish paint to. At this point I decided to start work on the details; first I tackled the knobs...
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| The scratchplate is Formica laminate stuck to more of the same thin plywood. The traditional and most favourite colour scheme was the planned look:- red body with white scratchplate and pickups. |  |
| Scratchplate and pickups... |
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A name is chosen... "STRATOVASTER" |
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| Parts turned on an electric drill; coated with PVA. For scale compare genuine Fender Stratocaster knob, U.K. 50p piece and CD:- |
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| A search through stocks of pine in my local timber yard yielded a straight grained piece with no knots. The tuning pegs have perspex knobs and duralumin capstans. Frets are wood, painted silver. |
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| With no rule or instruction book available, I just bought lots of slow-setting epoxy resin and covered the entire thing, hanging around for a couple of hours with a bottle of wine to nurse the drips... |  |
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By now, I'd decided to do the all of details at least half properly, even though I knew that the commissioner wasn't expecting all that intricacy. So I did the truss rod adjuster to scale too. As a side note, I bought my first Stratocaster in Denmark Street, London in 1966. It was a '59 sunburst in the original case (with little yellow instruction booklet) and I paid just £45 for it. They made a profit on that, I guess. Swapped later for EKO Jumbo bolt-on neck! |
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Looks pretty cool, or what? Remember this is all double-size. Staggering the pole pieces' heights would have been needlessly excessive, I reckoned, so didn't bow to subconscious pressure here. |
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| All of the bridge / trem parts and output socket are wood and plastic, painted silver. |
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Convincing?
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Then people say such crazy things:- "can you play it?" - Well... after changing the strings a few times, I even asked that question myself. Answer:- Yes, it plays tunes. The fretwork, even though wooden and double-size fake, is accurate enough to pick out scales on the higher numbered frets. See more of this guitar's owner... |
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| smug bastard... |
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The owners live in London, England where Mark has run a recording studio since 1979 (hence the music theme!) and played guitar in various bands for even longer. Debbie is an antiques trader specialising in Teddy Bears, and owning their own beautiful Orlando vacation home is the fulfillment of a lifetimes ambition. Enjoy an unforgettable holiday and live the American Dream! Visa and MasterCard welcome. |
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