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© 2008 Eric Mecum
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Plywood guitar from 2000, revisited with side views
After 11 years I finally have side views of this guitar. See orig. post to read details.
4 Day Plywood guitar - 2011
This was a quick vehicle for an old archtop pickup (not sure of the make but its like a Dearmond). The neck and bridge were left over parts from another Mississippi Gabe Carter project. The back board isn't needed but gives it some girth. The paint is gesso so it has a nice matte finish. Peavey neck has a great radius and feel. The pickup's self-contained cord is only 4 feet long so I taped a coupler to the back, acts as jack. Pickup sounds frickin' amazing (with no hum or feedback)! I'd like to find more. The left over plywood, with its negative guitar shape...ended up inspiring and becoming the NO-caster guitar!
Railroad Spike guitar - 2009
Old A&L guitar that sounded like garbage so I decided to have some fun with it. I wanted a thin profile acoustic so I cut it half and reattached just the back, but only after weighing down the neck heavy guitar with a railroad spike. I stripped the guitar and aged it. Removing the original black on the headstock I found some nice ribbon maple. Old Dearmond sounds great.
The Chief / MGC special - 2011
I made this guitar for blues musician Mississippi Gabe Carter. He wanted a hollow body like his old Kay Kraftsman. A trapeze bridge and a old '63 Kay neck fitted to it. The bridge was from old archtop he wanted used. I gutted a Peavey strat as much as I could and covered it back up. Because of the neck scale, I added wood to the neck area to move the heal away from the body. Moved jack. Used old Kay pickup in bridge location and a new gold GFS mini humbucker in neck position (not pictured) The middle is fake. Distressed paint to match old neck. Check out Mississippi Gabe Carter on Youtube! There are tons of videos. And he has 3 cd's available if you like his style.
The Harpulele, the Harp Ukulele - 2011
Ukularp! Harpuke? Ukulelarp? Still figuring it out. This ukulele donated by fellow artist Conrad Freiburg, a month later I handed this back to him. Sycamore shelves- alley find, is a majority of the addition. Some teak. Mini humbucker, two way switch, volume and the jack stuffed in P-90 cover used as electronics cavity. This design holds the uke in place. This is a brand new instrument so everything coming off this is new, crazy and wonderful!! Conrad said its a learning process. Video of this is on youtube, search: eric mecum ukulele.
The Silvertone Gremlin Frankenstein guitar- 2009
A close friend handed me two busted up guitars and this is what I made from the good parts. The strings would have pulled out the bridge I put on the Gremlin body so I made that trapeze. When I needed a pickup for another guitar, the two pickups idea, became one. Forget this plugged in, this joke of a guitar, sounds amazing acoustically. Well at least when my friend Mississippi Gabe Carter plays it! Check him and the guitar out at this youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5AQQgrGBX4&feature=related
The NO-caster back detail - 2011
View of the backside. This was a on-a-whim idea. The negative guitar. It was leftover plywood from the 4-Day guitar. I was looking at it leaning on a wall with that guitar-shape hole in it and said what if I put a neck on it? Tubes create a vibrato effect.
The NO-caster - 2011
I present The NO-caster! Three kinds of aged plywood, recycled 27in inner tubes, galvanized bridge, many screws, gesso paint, tape, electronics cover part of a spar urethane can, peavey single coil pickups, and a 25.5 scale neck. Can be played sitting but guitar strap is preferred.
The Erichone special - 2011
This awful sounding Epiphone was given to me. I pulled humbucker's adjustable poles, removed Gibson style stop tailpiece/bridge and put a wrap around bridge on it, moved volume and tone (new knobs), moved the switch to where it would be on a Les Paul, added the pickguard. Some kind of magic happened! Now has a great sound to it!! I had a little fun with the Epiphone name and changed the headstock to read Erichone, then covered it in lacquer. At some point I'll change the tuners.
The Halsted Guitar - 2011
The Halsted! This is the 5th modification of my 627 design. I used reclaimed wood joists from a building they raised in my old neighborhood. I think its 80 yr old Douglas Fir. Not something I would recommend for carving but it had to be done. I have enough wood for two guitars, the 2nd will be the other cross street, '17th'. Pickups are GFS.
The Halsted Guitar detail - 2011
Side view of the Halsted, showing side pinstriping detail and a nail holes.
Custom Squire - 2000-2001
Updated 2010. Had P-100's that sounded awful. Finally de-wired them in p-90s. Reshaped the pickguard while pulled apart and finally got my chrome covers. The seasons in Chicago cause the thick coat of nitro to crack in these wonderful patterns.
Overhauled Dyko? Guitar - 2007
Was supposed to be pink, but the varnish yellowed and turned it orange. A great looking 'aged' orange! Change neck direction, slightly re-shaped the pickguard and headstock. I had the bigsby so added that.
Spitfire Guitar - 2006
I made this for my brother who works at Deluxe Distribution. Has a cool, unique sound. The pickups are homemade from a unknown builder. circa 70's/80's. The spitfire wheel on the headstock spins!
627 Guitar - 2003
Flipped the original design for better guitar strap hang. Looks and sounds like a hot rod. (updated photos 10/11 - better color)
The Cello Guitar - 2003
Another 'post-it' drawing turned into guitar. The exact shape on post-it. Cello idea, but I had guitar parts laying around.
Lucy - 2003
Graduation present. Gotta do a novelty guitar once! Despite the novelty, very comfortable and sounds great and whatever neck manufacturer I used has great feel.
Yamaha - 2002-2003
rebuilt yamaha. saving another throw away. Changed pickups, added pickguard racing stripe. Painted dark blue.
Customized Harmony Rocket - 2002
Another guitar on its was to the dump. I love working on guitars that have been written off, got nothing to lose. The added knob on the headstock is fun to grab to move the guitar around. There is crushed glass inside the f holes to reflect light.
Custom Squire - 2000-2001
Metal flakes separated from its water soluble glue in bathtub (looked like a suicide), then spread heavily on (not by choice), then covered with 50 layers of nitro (leveling front and back), outside, in apt complex. My neighbors must have hated me.
Yellow Guitar 1 and 2 - 2001-2002
You are not seeing double there are 2. Thought it would be easy to do two at same time, it wasn't. I was going for stripped down rhythm chick guitar (inspired by Courtney Loves venus before fender dropped the humbucker in it for resale). Based on another tiny post-it sketch.
Dominic's Liquor Wood - 2001
Made from salvaged maple wood after they tore down Dominic's Liquor (Fresno, CA). I realized maple is heavy so you can see I tried to remove wood to lighten it. Carvin pickups and hardware.
The Mecum Design #2 - 1999-2000
Second generation of my shape. Larger this time. Alder body. The red I mixed from StewMac nitrocellulose pigments. Its a fantastic red, I hope someday I can match it. Great color with the white to balance it out. This body has the 1/8 in white pinstripe around the edge, as seen in 627 pictures. At some point I have to retrieve it from storage and fix a grounding issue. Small electrical cavities have mind of their own.
Plywood Guitar - 2000
This idea came from several circles drawn on a post-it note in my quest for a guitar that wasn't the shape of a Fender or Gibson. I need to post side view of this to show the body separation with bolts! The separation was just to give it girth like an acoustic. Its a puzzle to put together. Humbucker has a dead coil so the neck pickup is single coil. Just found out in 2010 that Devo's guitarist had a 'cloud' 'potato' 'potato chip' guitar in 80's with a similar shape. I'm not sure if the shape was his, or Ibanez idea? It was lost for years when he pawned it for drug money, then found it again. Here's a pic of Bob's guitar.
Mecum Design 1 - 1989-1998
The first one. Loved the process of building guitars, except I learned about scale. This body was to damn small! The color is two different blues, sprayed at same time, a can in each hand, crossing the sprays made the one shade of blue.
Car Drop Prop - 1994
this was a prop for a stunt - I won $10,000 smashing two cars (Datsuns) together. Ask me about it and I will tell you the story. KRZR 'Show us your wild hare contest' (1994).
Kapa Cobra - acquired 1981
My very first guitar (that i did not make, but took apart, painted, repainted, added a home made pickup at one point). I traded a microscope for this in 7th grade. I wish it still had the original blue/green paint. C'est la vie.
After 11 years I finally have side views of this guitar. See orig. post to read details.
4 Day Plywood guitar - 2011
This was a quick vehicle for an old archtop pickup (not sure of the make but its like a Dearmond). The neck and bridge were left over parts from another Mississippi Gabe Carter project. The back board isn't needed but gives it some girth. The paint is gesso so it has a nice matte finish. Peavey neck has a great radius and feel. The pickup's self-contained cord is only 4 feet long so I taped a coupler to the back, acts as jack. Pickup sounds frickin' amazing (with no hum or feedback)! I'd like to find more. The left over plywood, with its negative guitar shape...ended up inspiring and becoming the NO-caster guitar!
Railroad Spike guitar - 2009
Old A&L guitar that sounded like garbage so I decided to have some fun with it. I wanted a thin profile acoustic so I cut it half and reattached just the back, but only after weighing down the neck heavy guitar with a railroad spike. I stripped the guitar and aged it. Removing the original black on the headstock I found some nice ribbon maple. Old Dearmond sounds great.
The Chief / MGC special - 2011
I made this guitar for blues musician Mississippi Gabe Carter. He wanted a hollow body like his old Kay Kraftsman. A trapeze bridge and a old '63 Kay neck fitted to it. The bridge was from old archtop he wanted used. I gutted a Peavey strat as much as I could and covered it back up. Because of the neck scale, I added wood to the neck area to move the heal away from the body. Moved jack. Used old Kay pickup in bridge location and a new gold GFS mini humbucker in neck position (not pictured) The middle is fake. Distressed paint to match old neck. Check out Mississippi Gabe Carter on Youtube! There are tons of videos. And he has 3 cd's available if you like his style.
The Harpulele, the Harp Ukulele - 2011
Ukularp! Harpuke? Ukulelarp? Still figuring it out. This ukulele donated by fellow artist Conrad Freiburg, a month later I handed this back to him. Sycamore shelves- alley find, is a majority of the addition. Some teak. Mini humbucker, two way switch, volume and the jack stuffed in P-90 cover used as electronics cavity. This design holds the uke in place. This is a brand new instrument so everything coming off this is new, crazy and wonderful!! Conrad said its a learning process. Video of this is on youtube, search: eric mecum ukulele.
The Silvertone Gremlin Frankenstein guitar- 2009
A close friend handed me two busted up guitars and this is what I made from the good parts. The strings would have pulled out the bridge I put on the Gremlin body so I made that trapeze. When I needed a pickup for another guitar, the two pickups idea, became one. Forget this plugged in, this joke of a guitar, sounds amazing acoustically. Well at least when my friend Mississippi Gabe Carter plays it! Check him and the guitar out at this youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5AQQgrGBX4&feature=related
The NO-caster back detail - 2011
View of the backside. This was a on-a-whim idea. The negative guitar. It was leftover plywood from the 4-Day guitar. I was looking at it leaning on a wall with that guitar-shape hole in it and said what if I put a neck on it? Tubes create a vibrato effect.
The NO-caster - 2011
I present The NO-caster! Three kinds of aged plywood, recycled 27in inner tubes, galvanized bridge, many screws, gesso paint, tape, electronics cover part of a spar urethane can, peavey single coil pickups, and a 25.5 scale neck. Can be played sitting but guitar strap is preferred.
The Erichone special - 2011
This awful sounding Epiphone was given to me. I pulled humbucker's adjustable poles, removed Gibson style stop tailpiece/bridge and put a wrap around bridge on it, moved volume and tone (new knobs), moved the switch to where it would be on a Les Paul, added the pickguard. Some kind of magic happened! Now has a great sound to it!! I had a little fun with the Epiphone name and changed the headstock to read Erichone, then covered it in lacquer. At some point I'll change the tuners.
The Halsted Guitar - 2011
The Halsted! This is the 5th modification of my 627 design. I used reclaimed wood joists from a building they raised in my old neighborhood. I think its 80 yr old Douglas Fir. Not something I would recommend for carving but it had to be done. I have enough wood for two guitars, the 2nd will be the other cross street, '17th'. Pickups are GFS.
The Halsted Guitar detail - 2011
Side view of the Halsted, showing side pinstriping detail and a nail holes.
Custom Squire - 2000-2001
Updated 2010. Had P-100's that sounded awful. Finally de-wired them in p-90s. Reshaped the pickguard while pulled apart and finally got my chrome covers. The seasons in Chicago cause the thick coat of nitro to crack in these wonderful patterns.
Overhauled Dyko? Guitar - 2007
Was supposed to be pink, but the varnish yellowed and turned it orange. A great looking 'aged' orange! Change neck direction, slightly re-shaped the pickguard and headstock. I had the bigsby so added that.
Spitfire Guitar - 2006
I made this for my brother who works at Deluxe Distribution. Has a cool, unique sound. The pickups are homemade from a unknown builder. circa 70's/80's. The spitfire wheel on the headstock spins!
627 Guitar - 2003
Flipped the original design for better guitar strap hang. Looks and sounds like a hot rod. (updated photos 10/11 - better color)
The Cello Guitar - 2003
Another 'post-it' drawing turned into guitar. The exact shape on post-it. Cello idea, but I had guitar parts laying around.
Lucy - 2003
Graduation present. Gotta do a novelty guitar once! Despite the novelty, very comfortable and sounds great and whatever neck manufacturer I used has great feel.
Yamaha - 2002-2003
rebuilt yamaha. saving another throw away. Changed pickups, added pickguard racing stripe. Painted dark blue.
Customized Harmony Rocket - 2002
Another guitar on its was to the dump. I love working on guitars that have been written off, got nothing to lose. The added knob on the headstock is fun to grab to move the guitar around. There is crushed glass inside the f holes to reflect light.
Custom Squire - 2000-2001
Metal flakes separated from its water soluble glue in bathtub (looked like a suicide), then spread heavily on (not by choice), then covered with 50 layers of nitro (leveling front and back), outside, in apt complex. My neighbors must have hated me.
Yellow Guitar 1 and 2 - 2001-2002
You are not seeing double there are 2. Thought it would be easy to do two at same time, it wasn't. I was going for stripped down rhythm chick guitar (inspired by Courtney Loves venus before fender dropped the humbucker in it for resale). Based on another tiny post-it sketch.
Dominic's Liquor Wood - 2001
Made from salvaged maple wood after they tore down Dominic's Liquor (Fresno, CA). I realized maple is heavy so you can see I tried to remove wood to lighten it. Carvin pickups and hardware.
The Mecum Design #2 - 1999-2000
Second generation of my shape. Larger this time. Alder body. The red I mixed from StewMac nitrocellulose pigments. Its a fantastic red, I hope someday I can match it. Great color with the white to balance it out. This body has the 1/8 in white pinstripe around the edge, as seen in 627 pictures. At some point I have to retrieve it from storage and fix a grounding issue. Small electrical cavities have mind of their own.
Plywood Guitar - 2000
This idea came from several circles drawn on a post-it note in my quest for a guitar that wasn't the shape of a Fender or Gibson. I need to post side view of this to show the body separation with bolts! The separation was just to give it girth like an acoustic. Its a puzzle to put together. Humbucker has a dead coil so the neck pickup is single coil. Just found out in 2010 that Devo's guitarist had a 'cloud' 'potato' 'potato chip' guitar in 80's with a similar shape. I'm not sure if the shape was his, or Ibanez idea? It was lost for years when he pawned it for drug money, then found it again. Here's a pic of Bob's guitar.
Mecum Design 1 - 1989-1998
The first one. Loved the process of building guitars, except I learned about scale. This body was to damn small! The color is two different blues, sprayed at same time, a can in each hand, crossing the sprays made the one shade of blue.
Car Drop Prop - 1994
this was a prop for a stunt - I won $10,000 smashing two cars (Datsuns) together. Ask me about it and I will tell you the story. KRZR 'Show us your wild hare contest' (1994).
Kapa Cobra - acquired 1981
My very first guitar (that i did not make, but took apart, painted, repainted, added a home made pickup at one point). I traded a microscope for this in 7th grade. I wish it still had the original blue/green paint. C'est la vie.