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?!

Guitar Progress: Autumn Leaves & Orange Crate.

Orange Crate And "Fall Leaves" Might Be Finished By November '08.

Looks like both guitars might be finished by November. I have no idea what to call my carving guitar so I'll just refer to it as "Fall Leaves" guitar. Looks like I got both guitars mixed up in seasons; Orange for Fall and the Fall might be ready for Spring?
By the way, that's not supposed to be a moldy leaf on that corner section of the guitar. That's a mistake that I haven't cleaned up yet.

"Oranges, Poranges, Who Said, There Ain't No Rhyme For Oranges."

Those of you who grew up with Sid and Marty Kroft Saturday morning shows from the 70's should remember that line from H.R. Puffinstuff. I believe the character "Witchie Poo" was the one who sang it.

Uh.......yeah..well, anyway...I made some oranges today. I used some birch wood and decided to see if I was able to make convincing wooden oranges for the Orange Crate guitar. Things are really starting to gel on this project. I want each one to look a little different so that's why the one on the left looks a little more uniform in color than the one on the right.
Not bad for my first try.

The StewMade Shop Was Busy Today.

I glued up the top to my Orange Crate guitar. It looks like I'm going to go with oranges being seen between the slats of the crate.....um, guitar.
And I finally took a chance on a spare guitar body I had lying around. It's been so long since I've carved anything, that I was wondering if I still had the chops. Since fall is coming soon (my favorite time of year), I decided to do a fall maple leaves theme carving. It will be framed with tree branches and I'm not sure what to do with the carved out sections yet. For just that little section, it took forever, like 3 hours. You have to think like a leaf and get your mind set to think in 3-D.I did a test of the leaf on a piece of scrap wood. All I did was oil the leaf to get this look. I did not stain it to look like this. Pretty cool?

Combining Work and Art.

Yep, I took this xray. In fact at the lower left corner is my lead initial marker. This is just for fun, not something I'm seriously seeking out. Cool huh?

StewMade guitar #2 for 2008: The Orange Crate Guitar!

Ok, you're probably thinking I'm nuts, right? Well, I guess we'll see. My idea is to hollow out the main guitar body, fill the inside with fake oranges (anchored, not rattling around), then glue crate like planks over the top, exposing the oranges between strategically spaced areas and then using some type of citrus producing type label on a couple planks.

This should be the end of my one of a kind ideas for 2008. Although I do have to fit in a guitar that will be painted by Libby. She's very good at abstract art so I promised her that this year she will be able to do whatever she wants and then I'll clear it over and build around it. It will be a 75/25 input, her favor.

Also in the works, a StewMade bass and another boat guitar and "Longboard" guitar. So it looks like 6 guitars are in the works for 2008. The bass idea will be a surprise and will be due out this Fall. Plus a new StewMade t-shirt design.

You're probably asking, "Um, is there a website somewhere in those plans"? I think my fear in the website is that it will squelch my creativity by placing orders that others want. I love stretching out my imagination on these weird quirky one-off builds. I guess I won't have time for my x-ray guitar this year. That was going to be quite an ambitious attempt. Keep reminding me. Maybe if I see enough off this year, I'll get to squeeze that one in before Christmas. Later.