1st guitar- “Contempo”

I decided to make a slothead set neck guitar and chose a body shape that combines elements from my 1960 Gretsch Jet Firebird with my ’55 LP Special.  The neck joint goes all the way to the bridge, which is supposed to improve sustain and resonance.  I think the wood plays an important role in resonance too- I chose curly mahogany for the body and spalted maple for the top.  I had the mahogany in my shed for over ten years, wondering what I was going to do with such a nice piece of wood.  I still have enough for perhaps four guitar bodies.

The neck pickup is a TV Jones P-90 humbucking Powertron.  The bridge  pickup is a Budz Mongrel hand wound.  The two pickups work well together and are closely matched in output.  The two knobs are both volume controls.  I rarely use a tone control and chose not to include one on this guitar.  My attitude has changed once I found a great capacitor- Driftwood 1 has volume and tone controls.

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