Ellieguitars

Bloody Les Paulish Guitar

2008-06-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

My pal Mark gave me a stripped to nothing but wood Roland Synth Guitar with a cracked neck and a ton of funky pickup routs.

I filled all the routs, stuck a bigsby clone on it and a few custom P-90's from my pal Clint at www.searcystringworks.com.

It weighs a ton, and screams like a dying pig being eaten by a giant flying vampire bat.

I stripped it down to bare wood and added the bloody looking paint job using tinted shellac, and stabbed on a coat of nitro lacquer with a nasty old paint brush to make it look like dried blood.

I added some of my own blood by accident, too.

Sometimes you really get into your work in ways you don't expect.

Copperhead Road

2008-06-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Steve Earle - Copperhead Road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc86_Weoye0

I fell in love with this dude when this song came out back in the 1980's.
Damn, he's dangerous and lovely in this video.
And the older and uglier he gets, the better his songs are, and the more I love him.

Orange, Rotten Copper and Lacewood Tele-ish things

2007-11-01T09:12:00.010-07:00

Sometimes I just need to build something colorful and quick and funky, because while building acoustics is rewarding, taking a break from it and getting your tele-ish freak on is nearly instant fun.

Cartoon Guitar

2007-10-31T19:59:00.001-07:00

I draw a lot of strange things down at my favorite coffeeshop. I drew this guitar shape one day after a lot of cofeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I drew it about two inches tall.

My pal Robin blew it up for me at his graphic art job, I transformed it into this oddball thing.

I gave it to my buddy Erick Coleman, rockstar, madman and luthier genius, because everybody needs weird ass guitars around.

It's got a Searcy P-90 in it that honks like a mac truck.

Dreadfull Eva and Her Acoustic Guitar

2007-10-31T19:50:00.000-07:00

I played in a band with her Dad, a very handsome and fine fellow who gave me the Les Paul Copy I play most of the time now, in spite of having over a dozen electrics I built.

Something about cheesy Japaneese guitars appeals to my dumpster diving side.

Anyway, this lovely and talented young woman is Doug's daughter, and she came over to my shop and I helped her build this little Martin Clone. It sounded pretty damn good, too.

Steampunk Flying V

2007-10-31T19:13:00.001-07:00

My buddy Clint Searcy at Searcy String Works sent me some whackjob pickups last year, the one in the glitter silvertone clone and this one.

It spoke to me and said, make me a steampunk pipebomb guitar heart.

So I did, just in time for Halloween, or Devils night.

Basswood body, with patina paint and hardware and surplus store junk all over it.

It sounds pretty good.

Three more electrics things, one a mandocellocaster

2007-02-20T16:58:00.000-08:00

New effects pedals

2007-01-09T17:07:00.001-08:00

One's based on the vintage Dallas rangmaster top boost. The other is just an A/B pedal. Both are painted with refractive paint, the A/B pedal was doused in lighter fluid and burnt till it bubbled funky, then painted again.
Howl/Snarl = Volume/Tone. Very Stevie Ray/ Brian May sounding pedal.

More fold leaf fiddle

2007-01-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

Gold leaf electrified fiddle

2007-01-09T17:04:00.000-08:00

Made this for Sheila, our violin player so I could hear her over the rockin' band I'm in.
Filled with expanding foam, coverd in varigated metal leaf, hacked to have an acoustic guitar pickup and preamp in it. It started out as a horrible sounding 69.00 fiddle.
It sounds funky good, and doesn't feed back at shows. Or not yet anyway....

Woodcut Gutiar, Detail Headshot

2006-09-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Woodcut guitar, close up

2006-09-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

Naked Women Woodcut Covered Archtop Electric

2006-09-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

I didn't make it, but I did cover the top in early 20th century German Expressionist Woodcuts, and replace the generic pickups with Stew-mac Golden age humbuckers. I wanted a different guitar to record with, and hate generic instruments when I'm playing them.

Close up, Peter's Bubinga Six string

2006-09-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Peter's Bubinga Six String

2006-09-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

I started it, my sometimes bandmate Peter Fee rescued it from my shelf of semi finished projects and gave it a home.
We distressed the hardware to make it look funky beat up. Bubinga top, butternut back. Mostly hollow.

Detail Shot, Birdseye Gutiar

2006-09-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to make this one a perfect flat surface, so I left some of the figure unleveled.

Redwood/Birdseye Maple Guitar

2006-09-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

The top is some wild birdseye maple, the back is salvaged old growth redwood timber from a deck I tore down a few years ago.

All Three Instruments

2006-09-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

Another Bling-o-caster

2006-09-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Made this one for my pal Erick, who plays in an Athens, Ohio band called The Speed Knobs. It's gold leaf over a semi hollow poplar body, rosewood fretboard and maple neck.

Spalted Walnut Bass Guitar

2006-09-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

I felt like building one in case our bass player quits. Not that I have a clue about playing bass. But it never hurts to keep one around.

Double Neck, Ocatve Mandolin, Six String Guitar

2006-09-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Got sick of doing quick changes between songs in the band, so I built one that does both. I'm too lazy to want to move that fast. Pine body, maple necks, my own hand wound pickups. It weighs less than your average Les Paul, and balances pretty well.

Blue Electric and Flying V lap steel

2006-09-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Leopard Amp and Guitar combo

2006-09-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Matching Silvertone influenced guitar

2006-09-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

Of course, no outfit is complete unless it all ties together. I built a Silvertone style body in matching leopardskin. Short scale, two genuine lipstick pickups, with an onboard preamp/booster made by Mark Swanson, who makes pretty cool guitars himself.

The New Amp Head

2006-09-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

I just got a thing for leopard print, must be my inner Peg Bundy tacky streak...

New Amp build

2006-09-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

A classic amp design, based on the 40 watt Fender. We built if from a box of parts that Weber Amps sells as a kit, although they have no directions and you have to download the schematic.
Reverb, tremolo, four ten inch alnico magnets. It's rewardingly loud.

Peptocaster Custom and Lemon Drop Lapsteel

2006-01-10T13:44:00.000-08:00

Saw John Hammon play on Austin City Limits. Liked his cheesy Harmony Stratotone. Made something like it with a cedar two by four, a vintage Kay pickup and a few pots of coffee.
The lemon drop Lapsteel is basswood, and snorks and honks.

Flying V acoustic mandola

2006-01-10T13:42:00.000-08:00

Because I could.

Aussie Blackwood/Redwood electric

2006-01-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

Jack Spira gave me this nice wood. He's an Aussie builder who makes great guitars.

More salvaged redwood two by fours make the body.

My rude banjo

2006-01-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

I did not build it. But I did make it rude, and drew the monkey.

Myrtlewood acoustic

2006-01-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

Cedar top, myrtlewood back and sides.

Ebony on Redwood Relicaster

2006-01-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

It just looks heavy. Homewound single coils, macassar ebony top, distressed hardware, salvaged redwood body from a deck I tore down.

Solid Redwood octave electric mandolin

2006-01-10T12:24:00.000-08:00

Jessica mandolin

2006-01-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

Barbie pink puke mandolin

2006-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

green snake mandolin, f style

2006-01-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

GIANT f style electric octave mandolin

2006-01-10T12:07:00.000-08:00

See small mando in background for size comparison.

Tarotcaster

2006-01-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

Leopard amp

2006-01-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

bling

2006-01-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

New work not on my website

2006-01-10T11:50:00.000-08:00