ShortScale.org

This is the latest project of mine that I have completed. I made this out of an old battered and bloodied low-end Squier Strat that I use in a band of mine, a GFS Telecaster body; and some scrap aluminium that I had laying around.

Surprisingly, the Strat's bridge and middle pickups are amazing (the neck pickup is awful), and the neck is super comfortable -- but I hate Strat bodies. I had been wanting to replace the body with something else for a while. I finally did, and this is what happened:


















The final product:



















Basically, most of the neck and body has been covered in aluminium, and polished slightly. All of the control plates, pickguard and pickup cover (which holds two single coils to look like a humbucker) were cut and shaped by hand. The neck has been painted to imitate a dull petrified wood which would contain mostly carbon. All of the screws on this guitar are special security screws known as spanner screws, which were used on grand prix cars in the 30s (and later). These screws require a special tool to remove them, which I think is kind of obnoxious and great.

For more photos, and more information about the guitar and the cars it was inspired by, click here.

oh my god.

except for the big 12 that guitar is perfect.

brilliant work.

this is straight up awesome!

amazing work. Absolutely stunning.

fuck phenominal
i love the racing number on the back
do demo
i want to know how she sounds

Thanks all.

At first, I was a bit worried about the number making it look like some sort of cheesy Fender custom shop guitar or something, but I ended up liking it after all. And it's on the back, so it won't be noticeable. I also did not put any sort of coating over it, so it should wear off quickly as this thing is going to be beat to hell.

It's like the guitar equivalent of a Cafe'd motorcycle.
I'm in love.

i need to know how you cut that aluminum and what thickness it was.
please

robert(original) wrote:i need to know how you cut that aluminum and what thickness it was.
please

Oh fuck... please do this to the dwarfcraster.

Narco, you don't post here often but when you do your projects are always full of awesome!

Would love to see more of your work.

I cut it by hand with metal snips like these:

Mine are the Wiss A11 model.

I don't own many power tools, so I do all of my metal work by hand. Cut with snips, and file and sand to shape.

I'm guessing it was 20 gauge aluminium or so. It was an old hood range, so I am not exactly sure of the thickness. I use these same shears to cut copper that thickness as well.

astro wrote:Narco, you don't post here often but when you do your projects are always full of awesome!

Would love to see more of your work.

Thank you. Most of my projects end up at my site. I do a lot of various stuff, so it's not all music related: mikecohagen.com

Fuck is right. It's perfect. The numbers make me think of Pete Townsend though.

Looks like made by an elite kitchen mfg. company. Did you make your own pickup cover? Fuck yes.

Thanks. I did indeed make the pickup cover.

Absolutely awesome! I would love to give it a play.

NARCO WITH ANOTHER FUCKING HOMERUNNNNNNN!!11

dude, srsly. you are a fucking madman/legend/boner manufacturer.

i love it.

Hahaha "boner manufacturer".

^YES! Auto Union Type Ds are gorgeous. When I first looked at the OP I was thinking about how cool it would have been to incorporate louvers into the guitar somewhere.

@Narco Martenot: Amazing work. Your projects never fail to impress.

hah, dude, this is so badass. I've seen these old race cars at car shows, this really gives you the feel quite well.


those spanner screws are very cool.

what's the action like? saddles look like they're jacked up quite a bit.

the fucking neck screws look awesome in the diamond pattern! loev it still