The big ugly ducklings thread

[Blazer]

Well then let's post pictures of the instruments we made that'll never win any beauty contests and if my experience is any indication we all made some monsters in the process of honing our craft.


This sunburst Jazzmaster must be my ugliest make ever. It had a body made from beech which made it INCREDIBLY heavy, the Gretsch pickups were disappointing and I quickly changed them in favor of EMG Bass pickups which I spraypainted gold. And I changed the rough scratchplate while I was at it. The guitar also had different necks during the time I owned it.

I eventually sold this monster to somebody who wanted a jazzmasterbody that he could modify the tar out of and this heavy monster fit the bill.


The "Fido" so called because of a Fido Dido pin which I superglued to the headstock face. The Fido came to be when I decided to use the wood of an old table which was Pine and two surplus floor panels which were Oak, I had this telecaster neck with a really nice feel so I decided to incorporate that as well. The resulting guitar is more Fender than Gibson but that's not really THAT big a surprise, is it?

The Fido in its first incarnation back then it had twin Dimarzio pickups, a DLX at the bridge and a PAF classic at the neck, underneath that big ugly plate there's a swimmingpool rout which makes it a perfect modding platform. I used the Fido a lot, most notably on the Studio recordings of my band Slavantas.

Me using the Fido at a Slavantas rehearsal. The Fido will never win a beauty award but it's one of my most treasured instruments because it sounds so good.

Which is something that could not be said about the next guitar in this list.

Most of the time when a Telecaster and  Les Paul are merged it ends up a guitar with a telecaster shape with Les Paul style electronics. When I concieved this one I wanted to do the opposite. I spray painted the whole thing silverburst and it was the ugliest piece of shit ever. So after a while I had it professionally finished in sunburst.

But polish a turd and it's still a turd, this sunburst make over didn't make it a better guitar at all, it still sounds shrill and I could never get used to the feel of that flat profile neck.

Well those were the monsters of my building career, show me yours.

[drbassman]

Wow, you have some interesting experiences there!  My first was probably my oddest build.  It was a custom made tele body and I put a Musicmaster neck on it.  I wouldn't say it was a dog (it sounded pretty good with those Ric pups), but I shortly thereafter got the T-Bird bug and built one for myself.  The rest is history.  Turned out pretty good and I got the building bug as a result............





I wish I still had that T-Bird.  I'd change that pup and make her sound even better than she did!

[nofi]

that t bird is nice . i like the simplicity of the top . it reminds me a bit of a rob allen.

[Dave W]

I remember that Bird with the walnut top. Were you unhappy with the sound of the pickup? One single coil in the neck position... mmmm, good.

[drbassman]

It sounded fine actually. I just prefer TB pups these days.  I didn't keep it because it had a bad case of neck dive.   a nice bass really. I'd  make one again, but I'll set the heel deeper into the body to reduce the dive.

[Nocturnal]

Hey Doc, did you buy that body or was that one of your first builds?

[Blazer]

It sounded fine actually. I just prefer TB pups these days.  I didn't keep it because it had a bad case of neck dive.   a nice bass really. I'd  make one again, but I'll set the heel deeper into the body to reduce the dive.

I'd say the problem was caused by the placing of the strap button rather than the place of the neck pocket. I put the strapbutton of my Fenderbird on the neck pocket heel reducing neckdive considerably.

This Zebra wood T-bird also has the strap button where I have the one on mine.

[drbassman]

Hey Doc, did you buy that body or was that one of your first builds?

I bought that body off eBay, bought a Warmoth neck and shaped/contoured it.  Wasn't too difficult really!