March 3, 2009
One of the channels was showing the Lord Of The Rings trilogy again on TV. I saw bits and pieces of it during the weekend and later scribbled out this guy… he’s not a character from the story, I just attribute his creation to the story… or maybe to the pizza I had on Saturday night… hard to know which…
March 17, 2009
…cutting out some chunks…
…a careful sanding job…
…paint and rivets…
Last year my youngest son, Pete, found an old guitar in a second hand shop and gave it to me for my birthday. He told me to redo it into something really cool. I now believe this was all some sort of diabolical plan on his part to give him something new to make fun of me with, since he still makes fun of the last guitar I built.
I immediately tore the guitar down last summer, (that’s always the fun part) but then didn’t know what to do with it. Last weekend I decided the time had come to get busy and get this guitar put together. I’ll post the progression of assembling this contraption here for the next few days.
Off to a great start! I already want one…
…yeh, well, a great start is always the easy part… I run into a little trouble in tomorrows exciting episode… and later succumb to the ever present temptation to try and do too much…
I bet that Dremel had a melt down
…didn’t think you could burn those Dremel bits up, but you know what, you can! …learn somethin’ new ever day…
Den, I have a reciprocating saw I can send up if you need to do some heavy demolition on this thing.
March 18, 2009
…cracked head stock…
…JB Weld to the rescue…
…plus a little sinew…
I was happily working along on this project, thinking about how easy it was all going together… then part of the head stock cracked off. This is a pretty major deal because there’s a lot of tension and stress on those tuners. I dug around in the garage, found some JB Weld and glued the chunk of head stock back on. I didn’t trust the glue alone to hold, so I drilled a hole, inserted a pin, and wound sinew around the fracture… so I guess what I did was put a permanent splint on this patient.
Happens every stinkin’ time… cruisin’ along and BOOM! Either a patrolman in the rearview mirror, a rock under the mower, or a busted piece of head stock from a guitar demolition. I feel your pain.
…fortunately, I was able to skillfully hide the crack with bright yellow sinew… no one will ever be the wiser…
Clever… discreetly hiding the unsightly crack by camouflaging with unsightly sinew.
what’s sinew with you?…
March 19, 2009
…E.T. phone home antenna…
…fur lined flux capacitor…
…dog tags…
This is where I go wrong with most projects. Instead of leaning on the “less is more” training I got in college, I always go with the “if a little is good, a whole lot more would be even better” theory… which is always wrong. These are a few of the “whole lot more” things that ended up on the guitar.
I think the proper term for this is “Too much is not enough” …a common affliction for many of us
Isn’t that the same fur you have around your steering wheel?
I think you mean “HAD on your steering wheel.” I think the dog tags are a nice touch. It would be nice if there was a way they could help provide percussion accompaniment. This could be your firt step to becoming one of those one man band type of things.
March 20, 2009
…finished…
…steampunked…
How did I know when I was finished with this? When I ran out of room to tack anything else onto it. I threw on a set of Ernie Ball Slinkys and the guitar actually plays really well. It only has one knob… volume. I guess that’s really the only knob it needs anyway.
That is a fantastic piece of conglomerated, eclectic BladeRunneresque guitar body. The daily play-by-play this week was great. Enjoyed it. Let’s put this on Ebay!
…no Ebay for this guitar… I’m playing it next Sunday at church!
Good series! I was on the edge of my seat! Hope the church members don’t forget their ear plugs…
And by all means, DON’T climb up on the pulpit and JUMP off.
…too late…
was not a good idea…
Looks great! But you aren’t done yet. I still see some room for more stuff- on the strap! I think the final post to this series should be video of it in action. Maybe a rendition of “We dont need another hero” from Mad Max Beyond Thunder Dome. Sorry, I can’t think of any better “Steam Punk Classics”
March 27, 2009
I feel it’s my responsibility to bring a little culture to the Brother Jones website and with that in mind, please click into the comment section below, watch the 40 second video and, good luck getting that out of your head any time this weekend.
That is one catchy tune… Seems like it went to number one back in the early 70s. Nothing beats a Segway minkey.
…that’s a lot of entertainment for your money right there…
The wife and I have canceled our plans to go to the local multiplex and decided to stay right here and watch this fine flick. You have saved us oodles of money. Thank you.
March 30, 2009
A couple of weeks ago, my wife gave me a Flip video camera for my birthday. Last weekend our church held it’s 7th annual 5K run, and I thought that might be a good place to figure the camera out.
Uhm… there’s not a whole lot to figure out. Press the red button to start, press the same button to stop. I’m giving this the Official Brother Jones Stamp Of Approval. Even WE can use it!
I edited the 70 clips I shot and put together a two minute short on the race which was shown at church the next day. The congregation seemed to enjoy the way (thru Hollywood magic) I had the youth ministers pregnant wife (who was pushing a baby stroller) cross the finish line way before her husband did. Ahhh, the joy of making things up… on paper or on film. Some people would call that lying. I prefer to think of it as being very creative with the truth.
Click into the comment section below if you would like to view this two minute video.
So good, I watched it twice.
i laughed, i cried… this video changed my life!
…almost changed my life, too… did you see the runners in the middle of the pack almost run over me??
Did you drive beside these runners in your car for those actions shots?
…Don, I strapped on my hockey inline skates and skated along with the crowd to get some of those shots… it didn’t work as well as I hoped it would… between the natural shakiness of the little camera shots and the skating movement, it made you kinda sick at your stomach to watch… too much fluid motion or something…
I like your “whatever it takes” video production attitude.
The Comments
Don Jones
I totally relate with this dwarf.
Dan Lietha
Are those goggles on his head or did he have his horns trimmed? 🙂
Doug Jones
Judging from those ears, I think there is some Vulcan in his ancestry…
Roballoo!
Digital? I’m guessing so, looking at the way you handled the color in his sleeve. But maybe I’m wrong.
Dennis Jones
…yes, yes and yes… those ARE goggles on his head… apparently big ole coke bottle magnifying lens goggles… he’s part vulcan, and it was rendered digitally…
Doug Jones
Hey… I was just wondering… what do ya think BEN has been doing on the island for 3 years? Hmmmm….
Dennis Jones
…I was wondering where young Ben would be in this whole scenario since regular Ben is over on the other side of the island right now with Locke… by the way, do you know who plays Ben’s dad in LOST? …the same guy that played Uncle Ricco in Napoleon Dynamite! …I hope he makes another appearance on the show, I get a kick out of him…
Doug Jones
well now… THAT ‘splains the time travel thing doesn’t it?