Intro to Guitar Building

I will be teaching Intro to Guitar Building at Keeseh Studio in January. Sign up soon, space is limited!

http://www.keeseh.com/?page_id=9

"Using the Telecaster electric guitar design as a starting point, students will learn the principals needed to design and build their own guitar. Participants will learn to consider sustain, tone, and the balance of aesthetics versus functionality while designing. Starting with a brief history of the guitar in the world of stringed instruments, students will be introduced to the art of electric guitar building by using key power tools that are essential in any wood working setting including the bandsaw and router. Using these tools, students will produce a finished electric guitar to take away with them. No previous woodworking experience is necessary. Wood and guitar parts will be provided for $160 material fee."

Length: 7 classes, 2 hours each

Time: 1pm – 3pm 

Dates: Sundays Jan 10, 17, 24, 31, Feb 7, 14, 21

Custom Bass for Rob Icaza

Here are some nice close ups of Rob's bass after the finishing touches. Thanks Rob, for letting me spend a little more time with this beauty before I handed it off for good. Enjoy and I look forward to working with you again and seeing Howl soon!

Howl @ Middle East

Sunday night, I went up to the Middle East to see Howl play at the Middle East. The previous Thursday, I handed Rob Icaza's bass off to him. It was awesome to see him playing in front of a big crowd in Boston, not only that, Rob gave me a shout out at the end of the show, that was really cool. I hung out with the rest of the guys from Howl, super nice guys who play some super brutal metal. Good show. 

Nicks Neck and RAAB 900

I recently completed a custom neck for Fairhaven bassist, Nick Pagano. 

His neck is an 11 piece maple and wenge 34" scale Telecaster style. Two of the maple pieces in the neck are curly maple which makes for a really beautiful contrast to the rest of the maple. If you look close at this first picture below, you can see the reverse color scheme I created on his fretboard. His fret board is also maple and wenge and is a color reversal of the striping  on the neck. Its got 21 frets and plays like buttah. 

This is the RAAB 900 thats in progress. I'm actually letting the frets dry in place as I update this post so there should be some pictures of Rob Icaza playing this pretty soon. This bass has been a lot of fun to work on. Its got a curly maple fretboard with wenge inlays, and a 5 piece curly maple, mahogany and wenge neck. The body is made of 360 pieces, the woods being Paduak, Maple, Wenge, Ash, Purpleheart, Ironwood, Black Cherry, Poplar, Bamboo, Walnut, Brazilian Cherry,  and  Zebrawood. Including the neck, the entire guitar is made of 410 individual pieces of wood. 

Diamonda Bus (complete!)

You can bid on this bass here: http://www.cmarket.com/auction/item/Item.action?id=93872757

The body is made from a salvaged Oak door, (above) and like I said, it's being donated to PBS for their annual auction. 

Dimonda Bus

This is a new body style I just came up with called the Bus. This bass is going to be donated to PBS Rhode Island for their yearly fundraiser in October. Keep your eyes peeled, and if you're lucky you can bid on it and win it for yourself! 

This week has been a busy one. Here are some pictures of the newest works in progress currently. 

This is Jimmy Lazer's "White Lightning";  Note the arcade button KillSwitch!!

Rob Icaza's 4 String bass, (cat not included)

I also had a great time at the Hope Artiste Village open house where my work and other tenants of H.A.V. were on display. 

And lastly, the beginnings of a Dimonda Body Blank for a bass I'll be donating to PBS. 

Window Guitar

Window Guitar

FooFest

Well, to say the least, FooFest was amazing. 

Rachel, I and some friends journeyed into Downtown Providence to Empire Street just in time to catch Deertick (http://www.myspace.com/deertick) Rachel and I went to Highschool with some of them and it was great to see them playing in front of a huge crowd that knew the words and the melodies. 

FooFest introduced me to the Metal-Samba sounds of Made in Mexico, I really enjoyed the bright yellow Gibson SG. 

We stayed through to the megalithic headlining Lightning Bolt. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvSV9Emhz0c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj_m-f9FkAU

I haven't seen them in a couple years, it was really cool to see them live again, most of the time its treacherous to see them live due to over zealous music goers. HOWEVER, they played mostly new material that I haven't heard yet and it was AWESOME. Brian Gibson is definitely one of the most innovative bassists in the world right now. They're current catalogue of recorded material is pretty spastic and frenetic; last night there was some song they played that was really heavy and had this awesome groove to it, very muscular and menacing. 

Its the Middle of August

Currently I am in the process of working on several guitars; The first Tinyhawk Diamonda (in process)

A plying V (a flying V Made of Plywood), A guitar made entirely out of bible pages, a couple Tinyhawk Echos and maybe some other possible candidates. All these guitars I'm talking about right now are going to be a part of a gallery show at the RISD Museum called "This is a Show About Rock n' Roll" that opens on October 1st. Very excited and very exciting. 

I'm also working with a few musicians in helping them bring their ideas to life. 

Rob Icaza of the Providence metal band, Howl ( www.myspace.com/howlheavymetal ) and I have been working closely on a custom for him, I'll put up some pictures when that build begins.

Jimmy Lazer of Sick Electric ( www.myspace.com/sickelectric ) is going to be playing "White Lightning" until his bulb burns out or his screen goes static. 

Nick Pagano ( www.myspace.com/nickpagano ) of Fairhaven (2009 WBRU RockHunt winners,  www.myspace.com/fairhavenri ) has been gracious enough to be promoting Holcomb Guitars with a Tinyhawk Echo, most recently at the Newport Yachting Center as the opening act for Guster just this last Friday the 7th, 2009. 

Nick is an excellent player and it was amazing to see someone so talented really play the shit out of something I had made. 

This month is going to be really exciting. Check back for updates!