Rocky Horror Guitar #2:


Some people had asked for a more step-by-step of how I made The Rocky Horror Guitar. So I figured I would document making prototype #2. I took photos at every step. However, this guitar didn't make it. There was a flaw in the finish so I stopped work on it. Even though it will never be completed I figured that some people may still like to see what goes into making one.

This guitar was began in early May 2004. As a followup prototype to the Original Rocky Horror Guitar. My intention was to give this one to the committee at The New York Rocky Con in July of 2004 to auction off for the Have a Heart Childrens Cancer Charity of Levittown, NY.


"It was great when it all began..."



Choosing of the wood. Ohio Poplar.
A View of the rings.
Rough Layout
Draw out what goes where.
Get ready to make the hollow channel inside. Due to the size of this guitar, I had to channel out some of the inside to keep it from being too heavy.
Clap for safety.

I began chisling out the inside to make a hollow cavity. These two sides will be glued together to make one "hollow body"
Somewhat finished. During the drilling and chiselling step, the air hammer I was using slipped almost breaking my right thumb. It caused me to have to go to the hospital for xrays and I ended up in a hand brace for over a week. This delayed the project about two weeks. (P.S. My thumb still bends in a new direction thanks to this.)
The boards were glued and then I routed the pickup slot and the neck joint. I don't show this step in detail because I use a really weird system I developed myself. I don't like to tell people how I do it so accurately. It's one of those "tricks of the trade" things. I will show people in person. But I don't want to put it on the net.
I routed the back control panel.
Fished the wire thru.
Test layout the image. The original image came from a reprint of the "jaws" poster. It became ruined in the placement. The 2nd time I did this I used an authentic "jaws" poster. I used a good one because they are typically clearer.
Test layout with the neck.
Begin the adherashion stage. I did 14 coats of this special mixture that I use to adhere the image to the wood.
A close up. Yes, I know what it looks like. And it smells about the same. :-)
After all the coats dried. I cut it out on the bandsaw.
After the cutting I had to reapply the 14 coats to the edging to make sure it's thickness would be the same. Between each coat I sanded with 220 and 440 grit sandpaper.
This is post edging.
Here is a better shot after all the coats dried.
Now that it is dry and the sides are done, I did a test neck fit and made sure that it was snug. I also took this time to make the holes for the hardware.
Flip it and paint it. I use a semi-gloss / semi-flat black.
It looks great when it is dried.
Flip it back over and examine. At this point I did a real light black line around the edges with a black paint marker. I did this so you couldn't see the edge of the image.

After that had dried. I began to spray the laquer. Hanging to dry. Looks great. Only 3 more coats to apply. This is where the problems began...

I did the very last coat of laquer to the body on Friday June 25th, 2004. This evening was very humid. At some point the humidity must have gotten too high to spray. Although I stayed within the limits indicated by the manufacturer. After the final coat the guitar finish became cloudy, buckled, and ruined. The image on the guitar was unsalvagable.

I have decided that I will not rebuild this one. It will sit on my shelf with all the other bodies I've butchered.

This was the last photo I took before the final finish was applied.



Want to see what it may have looked like? Here is a rough picture.