2001 Kirby 0101 Telecaster #1
This is my first attempt at building a guitar, limited to assembly and finish work. The body and neck came from WD Music Products. Pickups are EMG-T active Telecaster pickups together with a Fishman PowerBridge VT, with all pickups run through a Fishman PowerChip to a mono/stereo jack. Controls include 3-Position (bridge-both-neck) selector for the EMG's, stacked Volume/Tone for the EMG's, Volume for the Fishmans, and a 3-Position (EMG-both-Fishman) selector. Finish is nitro with a mix of orange and cherry stains on body, Master-gel rub on poly on neck.
2003 Kirby 0301 Telecaster #2
The second project Telecaster. The body for this guitar is homemade, with
1-1/2" swamp ash topped by a 1/4" walnut top. Routed for two control cavities
in back and two humbuckers and a single coil pickup. The magnetic pickups are
Dimarzios: a Super Distortion for the bridge, an SDS-1 for the middle, and a
Super II for the neck. The guitar also has a Pick-Up-The_World #27E SBT
mounted on the bridge. An L. R. Baggs Ctrl-X provides a preamp for the PUTW pickup as well as a pan
control between magnetic and SBT pickups. The other two main knobs are Master Volume and Tone.
Each humbucker may be switched series-single-parallel, and the single coil middle pickup has a phase
switch. The guitar may be connected either mono to a single amp, or with stereo separation for the
magnetic and SBT pickups. Five-way switch is
(bridge)-(bridge/middle)-(bridge/neck)-(neck/middle)-(neck).
Note that the gain in the Ctrl-X is not quite sufficient to get the PUTW pickup output (very low
gain) up to the level of the magnetic pickups (which are quite hot). A fixed-gain pre-amp booster
is going to be
inserted in the guitar soon.
The neck on this guitar is wide - 1.75" at the nut. Ebony fretboard over plain maple, made by
Warmoth.
2003 Kirby 0302 Lap steel.
A very basic lap steel with a Telecaster-style bridge, one piece maple body,
cheapo Tele bridge pickup, and a volume control. This still has to get some more paint in the
spring - the "spray booth" is too cold now.
Now - if I only had a clue how to play it.
2006 Kirby 0XXX OM-style acoustic (work in
progress)
This is a Rosewood and Spruce OM being build from a Martin kit - supposed to
basically duplicate a Martin OM-28V when done.
2006 Kirby 0XXX Classical guitar after Miguel Rodriquez
Jr. (work in progress)
This is an Indian rosewood and western red cedar classical guitar based on plan #46 from the Guild of American Luthiers. The guitar is being build in conjunction with David Schramm's Online Apprentice course. Highly recommended to other wannabees like me. A detailed storyline for this project can be found here.
2006 Kirby 0XXX OM-style acoustic (work in
progress)
This is a walnut and western red cedar OM being build based generally on the Martin OM style with
scalloped, forward-shifted bracing. The first set of pictures shows the joined, shaped and
thicknessed plates, and the braced back plate.
This guitar is going to have a "vine of life" fretboard and headstock inlay. The work to do this is
the homework for the Basic Inlay Workshop, being taught by Amy Hopkins on the Musical Instrument
Makers Forum, mimf.com.
2006 Kirby 0XXX OM-style acoustic (work in
progress)
This guitar (well, there will be pictures here soon) was built under the guidance and tutelage of Frank Finocchio, during a visit to his shop for a one-week workshop. The course was a present from my wonderful wife, Barb. I will provide a few photos from the course after I get organized.
kirby@udel.edu