The Red Special

My next project is a copy of Brian May's Red Special. Well, not exactly a copy. The overall shape will be the same, but I'm planning on giving this one some of my special touches - f-holes and output jack on the back. Still haven't decided about pickup configuration or bridge choice.

Here is the basic sketch, that I found online, of the Red Special body with my wood choices in the background. I'll be using padouk for the top and maple for the back. The center piece is a laminate of the two woods.


Here, I've routed out internal chambers on the maple before gluing the padouk top to the wings. This really won't give the guitar any acoustic qualities but it will lighten the weight some. It will also help with the f-holes that I am considering for the top.

Here, the padouk has been cut to a rough shape. I won't glue the top to the wings until I decide I've decided on the f-holes and the configuration of volume and tone pots as well as the pick up selector.

The Reverse Strat

The body and neck start to take shape. The sides are rounded and the surface is sanded to 220 grit. The rear control panel is made from Pau Ferro to match the neck and fret-board. And yes, the output jack is located on the rear. I did this to a Start that I assembled as a teenager back in the 80's. I also did this on the Mahogany Tele that I started 10 years ago. This is designed so that the cord can be looped over the strap.

The Rough Cut Bodies

The bodies and neck blanks are matched with the fret-boards. I will be using a Macassar Ebony on the Tele and Pau Ferro on the Reverse Strat.

The fret boards were ordered by Luthier's Mercantile Exchange lmii.com. These are the rough cuts. As stated earlier, the walnut neck will not survive shaping.

The Neck Blanks

For the necks I opted for Pau Ferro and Walnut. Here are the rough cut outs of the blanks.






The Walnut neck did not survive the shaping. I carved too much wood off of the back near the nut and was able to see daylight shining through. The headstock later became a coaster. The walnut neck was replaced by a three piece with maple in the center and walnut on either side. Will post photos of that neck later.

The first two body blanks

I started with a 7 foot slab of 8/4 ash. This will give me two two-piece bodies with a little extra for a short Steinberger type body.





The two bodies are glued together in this picture and left to sit over night. These body blanks will become variations on a Tele and a Strat.




(While this blog entry is dated 10/22/10, the two bodies were started on 8/8/09. I will be playing catchup until I get up to date with my progress.)