New to the forum

**J_48_Johnson** · October 26th, 2010, 05:34 PM

Hey all!

I just signed up for the forum and I have to say I like what I've found so far. I have a post in the Other Brands, (Reverend), of the Instruments section. Please check it out. I usually lurk, post a little bit to get my two cents in when I feel the urge on other forums.

I sort of made a hobby out of building guitars even though I play very little, and I do mean VERY little. A few chords, half a song....well, that's about it. BUT I can make you a killer guitar! lol

Hope you enjoy these... Please take a look and tell me what you think.

The Flamecaster

The Beatnik Mojocaster

1959 Les Paul

Walmut/Mahogany Stratocaster

Christmas present for my Nephew; Reverend Guitars Sensei

**guitarhack** · October 26th, 2010, 05:39 PM

Awesome work J! Your moniker makes me think you're a nascar fan. Those guitars are works of art.

**sunvalleylaw** · October 26th, 2010, 07:31 PM

Welcome! Beautiful guitars! Pieces of art!

Robert**** · October 26th, 2010, 08:24 PM

Looks awesome!

Welcome to the forum!

Tig*** · October 26th, 2010, 08:52 PM

Wow! Those are some fine creations. I appreciate the work you put into them. Simply incredible.

**sunvalleylaw** · October 26th, 2010, 09:15 PM

I gotta check back in to say that that Beatnik Mojocaster is my favorite! That thing just looks cool! How does it play?

**J_48_Johnson** · October 27th, 2010, 04:11 AM

Thanks for the kind words all. They all sound different, since I had that goal in mind when I was in the designing stage for each. I wanted to make a guitar that sounded as good as the last, but different, and I pulled it off. The sound of each varies as much as the look.

Guitarhack: I am A NASCAR fan. I've been watching and going to the races since the late 80's early 90's.

Sunvalleylaw: Like I said, I don't really play so it would have been hard for me to tell you how it plays but... I've had several players play all of them. As I type this, they are at a friends house who has been putting them through the paces for a month or more now. He and another friend of mine are in a band, Your Drunk'n Uncle, (Shameless plug), and he keeps going back to the Mojocaster. He'll be talking about one of the other ones, and then he'll point at it and say, "...but that thing really does this or really does that very well. I love the way it plays and sounds".

The reason it sounds the way it does is in part due to the pickup spacing. The Flamecaster has two full sized humbuckers and a single coil sized humbucker in the middle, it seems that the middle pickup gets in the way of the pick. When I made the Mojocaster I wanted to get the p.u.'s as far from your pick as I could. Both p.u.'s are just about as far as I could move them to thier respective ends; close to the neck and close to the bridge. When you strum or it the strings, it's like playing an acoustic w/o the sound hole. There is nothing anywhere close to the pick. Mission accomplished.

deeaa* · October 27th, 2010, 02:15 PM

Ahh! What great stuff! Being a person who really enjoys building and bastardizing guitars to suit my needs, my hat's off to you. I wish I had a fraction of your woodworking skills to realize my dreams. I have resorted to modifying old guitars to the Nth degree due to lack of fine craftmanship skills...and the required patience. Hence the gravitation towards more bastardizing.

Guitar world needs exactly this kind of iconoclastic and unorthodox approaches. You do realize pickup relation to bridge/string lenght is one of the key aspects of electric's sound? But, I definitely dig the approach. I really really dislike guitars with too little clearance to pickguard/pickups under the strings...even on strats I like to shim the neck to get some clearance and/or eliminate the mid pup. I'd so like to see and try these instruments in the 'flesh'.

Do keep posting about your stuff, I'd love to see and hear them in action as well!

Commodore 64*** · October 27th, 2010, 02:45 PM

Those guitars look incredible. I love the bridge on that Flamecaster, too.

**J_48_Johnson** · October 27th, 2010, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by deeaa

Ahh! What great stuff! Being a person who really enjoys building and bastardizing guitars to suit my needs, my hat's off to you. I wish I had a fraction of your woodworking skills to realize my dreams. I have resorted to modifying old guitars to the Nth degree due to lack of fine craftmanship skills...and the required patience. Hence the gravitation towards more bastardizing.

Guitar world needs exactly this kind of iconoclastic and unorthodox approaches. You do realize pickup relation to bridge/string lenght is one of the key aspects of electric's sound? But, I definitely dig the approach. I really really dislike guitars with too little clearance to pickguard/pickups under the strings...even on strats I like to shim the neck to get some clearance and/or eliminate the mid pup. I'd so like to see and try these instruments in the 'flesh'.

Do keep posting about your stuff, I'd love to see and hear them in action as well!

Funny you should say that about a Strat. The Flamecaster.... The guy who has it right now had me back the middle pick up back 6 full turns which puts it right above the body. He loves it now, and he may be on stage with it this Saturday evening.

**J_48_Johnson** · October 27th, 2010, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Commodore 64

Those guitars look incredible. I love the bridge on that Flamecaster, too.

That bridge is NICE and neat looking. The reason I put it on there is because it is fully adjustable. It's a Hipshot Baby Grand. I like it.

That guitar sings and sustains forever. The bridge has a lot to do with that I think.

Tig*** · October 28th, 2010, 09:28 AM

Originally Posted by J_48_Johnson

That bridge is NICE and neat looking. The reason I put it on there is because it is fully adjustable. It's a Hipshot Baby Grand. I like it.

That guitar sings and sustains forever. The bridge has a lot to do with that I think.

Nice to know. I've seen that bridge in the StewMac catalog and was wondering about it. Looks like a great wrap-around bridge upgrade.

**J_48_Johnson** · November 22nd, 2010, 05:51 PM

I did the final work on the Sensei and got her strung up. I needed to ground all of the pots together. I finished that, and put the cover on it. Here are a few other pictures for your enjoyment...

A friend of mine is in a band. I took the guitar over to one of the last practices they had and let the two guitarists rip on it a while to put it through the paces. Larry has a rack mounted Mesa Boogie, 100 watt, (I think), amp ran into a 4x12 Mesa Boogie cabinet. Eddie was pounding on it using a Mashall amp. The sounds Larry was pulling from it from the 2nd switch position were just over the freaking top. He was just messing around making some sweet blues stuff up as he went. Tony, (drums), and Donnie, (bass), jumped in for an improv and it was incredible. How sweet that must be to have two guys who know your playing style so well, (they don't play blues music), that they can jump in and play behind your lead and it SOUNDED GOOD!

Once Eddie got there, he tried to get it to distort with the gain all of the way up and the Marshall couldn't get it to break up. My Nephew wanted a smooth sounding guitar, and from what the two of them showed me, this thing is smooth as a flat panel of glass.

Tig*** · November 23rd, 2010, 08:40 AM

Wow, that guitar is special.

Hey, do you need some more nephews to build guitars for? Where do I apply?

**J_48_Johnson** · November 26th, 2010, 01:53 PM

One's enough, but thanks.

**Rx Tone** · November 26th, 2010, 05:45 PM

Got any pics of builds in progress?
I'd really like a look at your shop, too.

Those are some sharp looking guitars.

**J_48_Johnson** · November 29th, 2010, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Rx Tone

Got any pics of builds in progress?
I'd really like a look at your shop, too.

Those are some sharp looking guitars.

Shop?

Um, no shop really, I work out of my basement. All of my wood working tools are there.

As far as the build threads, I can help you out there...

Flamecaster
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...d-Tribulations

Beatnik Mojocaster
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...y-second-build.

Neck through hollow body Les Paul
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...llowbody-Build

Black walnut/mahogany superstrat
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...ve-it-bad!-GAS!

Sensei Build
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...one-else!-Woot!

**Rx Tone** · November 30th, 2010, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by J_48_Johnson

Shop?

Um, no shop really, I work out of my basement. All of my wood working tools are there.

As far as the build threads, I can help you out there...

Flamecaster
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...d-Tribulations

Beatnik Mojocaster
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...y-second-build.

Neck through hollow body Les Paul
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...llowbody-Build

Black walnut/mahogany superstrat
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...ve-it-bad!-GAS!

Sensei Build
http://forum.fendertalk.com/showthre...one-else!-Woot!

WOW...VERY impressive! That's an excellent series of photos!
You, sir, are a true craftsman.

FenderTalk is a great site, BTW... real good people there.

Jipes*** · December 1st, 2010, 03:40 AM

That's really a fine work and the wood seems all very nice and shiny ! How did you get the kick for those projects and what was the guidance on which wood for which guitar is it just aesthetics ?

I'm curious about the little Fender amp on one of the pics ?

Thread: New to the forum

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Display

New to the forum

Posting Permissions