*tips hat*

Perhaps he'll adopt that name for one of his creations.

I want to draw that in proper Fender script right now but all I have to draw with is an 1/8-to-1/4" headphone adapter, a couple pushpins and a half-smoked clove cigarette. None of these would work.

Le sigh.

Hobocaster is, in fact (unsurprisingly perhaps) one of the ones on the list of words that i was using to test purported Fender fonts for letter compatibility and 'correctness'!

'Belligerent', as it may always tend to be, is a nice addition.

As for building things, i would gladly build whatever for all you lads. I need to acquire a few tools though, before i would feel 'right' about sending my work out to people. While i am prepared to do a bit of jiggery wiggling in order to make the various things i build work for me, for something i gave to someone else, i would require a higher degree of precision and a certain greater consistency in things like hole drillings and whatnot.

I am getting there though. I need to get a drill press working however. Drilling things like the string through holes on the tele is way too sketch without one. And i wouldn't even attempt to drill a headstock for tuner holes without one.

As for longscale necks, eventually, i would like to build those from the ground up, as well, but that is a whole pile of other tools and parts that i would need, to do them correctly.

I am interested in how that LP Jr. turns out.

Me too! One thing i am not 100% sure of at the moment, is how stable the pine will be for the tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece studs. As a result, there is a slight possibility, that i won't go that route. I think that one might be next though. Mainly because i actually have most of the parts i need for it, unlike the mustang or jazzmaster, which really, at the moment i am more interested in building.

Yeah I was wondering how that pine would work with those thick studs.

I am thinking it may work with a two-piece TOM, at least it has a better chance than a wrap around. Hopefully spreading that pressure around will alleviate the tension on the body

I am not good with physics though.

I am going to test drill some scrap bits for the bridge. The main issue i am having with the pine bodies, is just that they are too soft to drill a super clean precise hole in with a hand drill. The wood is soft enough that even with a drill press and clamps, the bit would want very badly to make a mess. The bit just moves too easily through the wood and can drift and bend as it goes in, making an odd hole.

If i can make some clean enough holes, i will probably go the TOM route. Otherwise, the studs will potentially have too much "wobble" room in the holes and the tuning/intonation will suffer. In that case, i might go for a hardtail strat style or some sort of tele bridge instead.

It would be a lot simpler if the gigantic mechanical transformer drillsawlathebeast in my basement was not broken and needing a bunch of different parts.

You need a mandrill.



Also, if I may ask, where did your massive Maschineshop come from? How'd you get all this shit?

It is a rusty beat up looking version of this:



Transforms into a drill press, table saw, lathe, jigsaw, horizontal boring machine, grinder/disc sander, etc.

It was my grandfather's. After he died, when my grandmother moved out and they were clearing out the house there, my uncle took it to his house with intent to use it i think as a table saw. Long story short, it threw a belt, fell into disuse for a couple years or so, and then he decided he didn't want it taking up space anymore, so he asked me if i wanted it.

Obviouusly i said hellya. I mean, i wanted this thing since i first saw it when i was quite young.

Unfortunately, the device weighs a few hundred pounds(it is hard to tell scale from that picture, but it is just shy of six feet long) so my uncle and his brother decided to loosen lots of things trying to get it into as many smaller(lighter) pieces as possible before they loaded it into the car and brought it over here. They tried to get the motor out, as it is quite heavy all by itself, but could not. Unfortunately, they neglected to tell me this, but as it turned out, had loosened enough things that when we were carrying the main section of the thing up my driveway, the motor fell right out and its pulley shattered.

Also, now that i have taken inventory, it is definitely missing a few key parts necessary to actually transform the thing.

Luckily, they made thousands of these things in the fifties and sixties, so there are parts available. Unluckily, i will need to buy them before i can use the beast.

So, in the meantime i am focusing on things i can do something about, namely the copious rusts on all of the tubing, which are inhibiting the device's ability to transform with anything short of a medium level of violence.

So, What I Have Been Doing Today:



Tedious shinymaking.

That thing is fucking badass.

Have fun cleaning that fucker though. You should look into parts. I am thinking a few of us may be willing to put down deposits for Hobocasters with varying degrees of Belligerence.

I most definitely would.

Definitely.

Zoinks!

Also, that's a helluva device.

Possibly yes, certainly.

I can't wait to get it going again. I rewired the motor while i was in there, and it runs well, quietly, and quickly. All of the running gear is exposed, which makes for a somewhat sketchy operational safety situation. Before i acquire the pulleys and belts i need, i think i will try to put together some sort of cowling solution to give at least the illusion of greater safety for when it is all together.

Hopefully i will be able to get the the bits and bobs soon.

Motherfucker is heavy though. Yesterday when wrestling with the rusted tubes, i totally smashed the shit out of my right hand middle finger when i loosened the bolt for the the headstock(the main section of the machine) and did not adequately prepare myself to support its probably 80-90 pound mass with my one hand. I was lucky to *almost* get my hand out of the way in time, so i merely had blood to clean up, and not little bits of bone as well.

I find this entire thread wonderful. and of course should you decide to build some guitar I will be in line to pay for one. srsly.

That mechanical contraption while may be great for building guitars might be a perfect start to build our pachyderm

Out of curiosity, i weighed the headstock. Turns out it my weight estimation is miscalibrated, and the thing that squshed my finger is more like 110-120 pounds. I was wondering why it was so difficult to adjust with one hand when the machine was in the vertical position.

btw that IS one shiney shaft you have there.

also, glad you mostly got your finger back intact. For future reference: finger vs 120 lb = finger loss.

So i just got a call from my uncle, and apparently they had an issue with closing my grandmother's camp up there this last weekend. Seems that no one who closed had a key to the front door padlock. Of course, we store said padlock, attached to its eyelet on the front door, with its clasp closed. So they can't get the lock off even to put a new lock on.

So anyhoo, i was trying to save money by not driving up to close, and it looks like, as the closest family member to the camp, i will be driving up anyhow to finish the job of locking the place.

Thing is, i don't have a key either.

So i did some reading, and learned how to do this today:



Which is stupidly simple and stupidly easy. It also works on a LOT of different locks, for tons of padlocks, lockers, some doors, etc.

Actually, it is also quite fun, and i think that once i get the Shopsmith working again, i will use it to grind some more proper picks.

Goodtimes.