Let's Review StewMade Guitars of 2008 and 100th Post.

Well this ends the year and this marks my 100th blog entry! Wow, only 100? It seems like more for some reason.

I'm so ready for a "Do Over" in 2009. 2008 marks a year of a series of unfortunate events. Rather than imagining Baby New Year passing by Father Time 2008, I imagine a teenage New Year thug kicking the crap out of 2008. I want to thank Switch to Plan B and Epic Beat for being there for me, just to listen to me, while I worked through many issues that came up this year. Not to mention Epic's patience with me while dealing with my hand issues for worship services.

So rather than rehash out a year in review for me, I would rather reflect on what was accomplished in the StewMade shop. I set out to build about 3 guitars this year and with hopes of squeezing out maybe an additional one. Turns out it was a different combination of the three.


The 70's Muscle Car Guitar. Really happy with this one. I got the vibe I was after. It really sounded nice and was very comfortable to play. Unfortunately, the guy who bought my last two guitars bought this one as well. He seems to be buying up all of my guitars rather than letting me send out my babies into the world to be enjoyed by all. I think secretly he was hired by Fender to purchase my guitars and destroy them upon delivery (LOL).

I keep getting hits on this blog regarding the Muscle Car Guitar so I might build about two next year. I'll probably still go with Sublime Green and possibly Plum Crazy. I dunno.


Mark's J-5 Signature Bass. Really nice bass and my first 5 string build. This wins the "eye candy" award for Stewmade this year. The wood grain just popped off of the guitar and just looks stunning when stage lights hit it.

I took a leap of faith and used a local guy, Carey Nordstrand from Yucaipa. He uses a scatter wound technique and I guess has a machine that simulates the hand tension winding process. Many feel that this process is what really makes a pickup stand out more, in a good way. There is much talk that the reason why early Fender pickups sound so good is because they were hand guided onto the pickup bobbin (spool) in a random (scatter) fashion. The tension was also "felt" as the pickup is being wound, something modern winding machines lack; the human factor. I subscribe to this theory only because I've compared the two and there is a noticable difference, to my ears.

Anyway, I was really impressed by the tone of these pickups. Relatively quiet yet had that great classic J bass growl. I would really like to include another bass for 2009.


Fall Leaves Guitar. This guitar was made a bit late to capitalize on the fall season. I had this guitar body that was to be another Beach Scene Guitar. The body had been lying around, getting in the way of things. I couldn't come up with a third beach design when I was curious if I could maybe carve something other than surfboards and tide pools. Plus I'm such a sucker for the fall season and have always wanted to build something that just made you feel like it was fall.

So with the same "what the heck" ambition, I sketched out some leaves and started cutting. Once I started, I realized I was in for some major work. I couldn't just stop, I had to finish what I started. I studied countless images of leaves; the way they curled up at the ends without compromising the construction of the guitar.

This guitar was not planned out until the last minute. But now that it's done, I think I got it close to what I pictured. So far I've faced much criticism on my choice of colors and wood choices. But I guess that comes along with any art form.

The guitar is lightweight and I used my friend Tommy to finish the neck for me this time. I was very impressed. The neck is a satin finish which feels really smooth and friction free.

Also, I choose pickups by Jason Lollar; "Blondes". Let me explain for you folks who are now wondering why "blondes" (WARNING, HEAVY ELECTRONIC GEEK CONTENT! SCROLL PAST THIS PARAGRAPH IF NECESSARY). Jason, like Carey, makes his pickups hand scatter wound. But Jason voices each of his pickups with the amplifier in mind. During Fender guitars Strat history, there were different amp coverings in relation to the time the amplifiers were manufactured; early 50's tweed amps, early 60's blonde tolex/vinyl amps, and the mid 60's black tolex amps (also known as blackface amps due to the color of the amp's black control panel). So Jason matches the output and specs according to what the guitars were being played through at that time. If all there was available to play in the late 50's was a tweed Fender Bassman amp, then your guitars of that same era didn't have much bass response since you got that tonal aspect from the amplifier. So theoretically, if you play a real 1956 Strat through one of today's modern amplifiers, it would sound a little on the thin, treble side. So if I typically play through a very bassy sounding amp, then Jason would recommend using the Tweed or Blonde pickups. But if I have a '65 Fender Deluxe or Twin amp, then the Blackface pickups would sound better based on the amp voicing. Dig?


As far as the Orange Crate Guitar is concerned, I'll be working on this pretty heavily to meet my Spring '09 deadline. I hit a road block in one element regarding weight and stability. But I think I worked it out. And yes, this will even smell like oranges when I'm done. HA! What other guitar manufactured today can say that?!