# My primary woodworking... uhh... work



## RogerC (May 23, 2017)

My primary woodworking outlet is building custom electric guitars. Here are a few of the most unique I've done.

This one was built for a charity event.  I built it out of a dozen Matt Holliday signature baseball bats and hand-stitched the strap to look like a baseball.  I also treated the back of the neck to look like an old bat that was covered in pine tar. Matt ended up buying it at the auction for $45k













I've built a few guitars for the band Needtobreathe. This one was inspired by the cover art for the album Rivers in the Wasteland.












And this was the one I built for NTB just this year.  Their song "Brother" got certified gold last year, so this one was inspired by the album art for that song.











One of the cool touches I added was a gold record made from gold mother of pearl on the back of the headstock.


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## D.Oliver (May 23, 2017)

Your work is awesome, Roger!


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## campzeke (May 23, 2017)

Holy Shiskabob Batman! Those are AWESOME !!!


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## magpens (May 23, 2017)

Fantastic !!!!! . $45k ..... wish I could get that for a pen !!!!!


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## RogerC (May 23, 2017)

Thank you, guys.  This is a side hustle for me, and it gives me a chance to exercise my creativity and my need to make things.  I don't seem to be happy unless I'm building, tinkering or learning something.



magpens said:


> Fantastic !!!!! . $45k ..... wish I could get that for a pen !!!!!



That middle guitar sold for $31k at their charity event last year, and the bottom guitar sold for $8k at the auction this year. All that money went to the charity.  I try to do a lot for charities and have built others for different charities as well.


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## studioseven (May 23, 2017)

Any more posts like this and I am going to take up weaving.  Those guitars are beautiful.  Very nice work.  Thanks for sharing.

Seven


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## RogerC (May 23, 2017)

Thank you, Seven. I appreciate that.


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## Jim15 (May 23, 2017)

Those are just awesome.


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## Paul in OKC (May 23, 2017)

Awesome. (I love Need to Breath!)


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## mark james (May 23, 2017)

Beautiful artistry!  Thank you for sharing.


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## keithncsu (May 23, 2017)

That is UN REAL!!! Beautiful work!!! I think I should sell my lathe now lol


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## RogerC (May 23, 2017)

Jim15 said:


> Those are just awesome.


Thank you, Jim



Paul in OKC said:


> Awesome. (I love Need to Breath!)


Thanks, Paul.  If you've heard any of their stuff off the new album (Hard Love), there's a chance you've heard one of my guitars.  Bo plays this one on tour and in the studio.




It's made from chestnut reclaimed from an old barn in North Carolina.




mark james said:


> Beautiful artistry!  Thank you for sharing.


Thank you, Mark.



keithncsu said:


> That is UN REAL!!! Beautiful work!!! I think I should sell my lathe now lol


Thank you, Keith.  Nah, I'm sure your lathe work just blows mine out of the water.


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## BRobbins629 (May 23, 2017)

Beautiful stuff. Scratching my head why you would want to make pens. Thanks for sharing.


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## leehljp (May 23, 2017)

You certainly hit a home run and it looks like it was a Grand Slam too!

Beautiful work!

I once showed my wood working to a very humble person (who liked woodworking) - that I met in my neighborhood when I lived in Japan. Then, a few months later I found out he was a artist and his favorite medium was wood. Was I ever embarrassed! He would come to the US and teach Japanese woodworking techniques. He and Sam Maloof met on a few occasions and conversed through an interpreter. That is far far above my thought processes and skill sets!

Your work reminds me of his!


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## RogerC (May 23, 2017)

BRobbins629 said:


> Beautiful stuff. Scratching my head why you would want to make pens. Thanks for sharing.


Thank you.  There's definitely an artistry in pens that I can't get in guitars.  They're really a completely different set of skills.  



leehljp said:


> You certainly hit a home run and it looks like it was a Grand Slam too!
> 
> Beautiful work!
> 
> ...


Thank you very much.  Though I struggle to see anything in my work that would merit such a comparison, I really appreciate the kind words.


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## TonyL (May 23, 2017)

Wow! I have played guitar for a while and attended college on a baseball scholarship. Had I not bought a Gibson LP standard, I would have been interested in the first one. Outstanding! Wait...just noticed it went for 45K (and worth it). The LP was more in my budget .


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## Gregf (May 23, 2017)

RogerC said:


> Thank you, guys.  This is a side hustle for me, and it gives me a chance to exercise my creativity and my need to make things.  I don't seem to be happy unless I'm building, tinkering or learning something.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Your generosity is as astounding as your talent!


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## thewishman (May 24, 2017)

Just looked at your website - love the weathered look of the Barncaster guitar! You do beautiful work!


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## Rink (May 25, 2017)

Need to breathe is great and so are your guitars. I play a bit and I'm itching to make an electric and an acoustic. I made a cigar box guitar last year and that was fun.


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## fitzman163 (Jun 2, 2017)

Beautiful work!


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## MikeL (Jun 2, 2017)

Very impressive craftsmanship!


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## Dalecamino (Jun 2, 2017)

As someone who had a fun time building a kit Tele (with upgrades), I can appreciate the amount of skill and labor that goes into building a guitar. These are beautiful. I still want to build a Strat & Les Paul.

Thanks for sharing!


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## mmayo (Jun 2, 2017)

Wonderful, my '76 pbass would love to party with those tele's


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## TellicoTurning (Jun 2, 2017)

I am one of the most unmusical persons you'll ever meet... I don't even play a radio very well, but I do admire your handiwork on the Git-Fiddles... :biggrin::biggrin:


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## RogerC (Jun 3, 2017)

TonyL said:


> Wow! I have played guitar for a while and attended college on a baseball scholarship. Had I not bought a Gibson LP standard, I would have been interested in the first one. Outstanding! Wait...just noticed it went for 45K (and worth it). The LP was more in my budget .


Hehe, yeah, it went for way more than I was expecting.



Gregf said:


> Your generosity is as astounding as your talent!


Thank you, Greg. I appreciate that.



thewishman said:


> Just looked at your website - love the weathered look of the Barncaster guitar! You do beautiful work!


Thank you.  



Rink said:


> Need to breathe is great and so are your guitars. I play a bit and I'm itching to make an electric and an acoustic. I made a cigar box guitar last year and that was fun.


Electrics are so much easier to do than acoustics.  When you start building your electic, go to tdpri.com and post a build thread in the Tele Home Depot section.  There are tons of great guys in there, and they're all extremely helpful, especially to new folks.  For the acoustic, go to luthiersforum.com.  It a builder community focused primarily on acoustic guitars.



fitzman163 said:


> Beautiful work!


Thank you



MikeL said:


> Very impressive craftsmanship!


Thank you, Mike.



Dalecamino said:


> As someone who had a fun time building a kit Tele (with upgrades), I can appreciate the amount of skill and labor that goes into building a guitar. These are beautiful. I still want to build a Strat & Les Paul.
> 
> Thanks for sharing!


Thank you.  Yeah, with a Tele, Strat, and LP, you pretty much have the holy trinity of guitars :wink:



mmayo said:


> Wonderful, my '76 pbass would love to party with those tele's


That would be a good party :biggrin:



TellicoTurning said:


> I am one of the most unmusical persons you'll ever meet... I don't even play a radio very well, but I do admire your handiwork on the Git-Fiddles... :biggrin::biggrin:


Thank you very much.


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## Woodchipper (Jun 4, 2017)

Don't know how I could have missed this thread.  I have a small musical background but it has faded over the years.  My complements on the baseball guitar.  There was a lot of thought, creativity, and time put into the instrument.  And you want to turn pens?  I will be looking for others in the future in this section.


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## Scollins (Jun 4, 2017)

Beautiful work. 
Being someone who knows nothing about guitars, does the wood make a difference in the sound quality or is it the electronics that determines that?


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## RogerC (Jun 4, 2017)

Woodchipper said:


> Don't know how I could have missed this thread.  I have a small musical background but it has faded over the years.  My complements on the baseball guitar.  There was a lot of thought, creativity, and time put into the instrument.  And you want to turn pens?  I will be looking for others in the future in this section.


Thank you, Woodchipper.  There's every bit as much artistry and craft in a well-made pen.  Seeing a lot of the work here has me in awe.



Scollins said:


> Beautiful work.
> Being someone who knows nothing about guitars, does the wood make a difference in the sound quality or is it the electronics that determines that?


Thank you, Scollins.

As far as wood making a difference, it depends on who you ask.  That's a huge area of debate in the guitar community.  In one sense, yes.  Everything makes a difference, but it doesn't mean it's a discernible difference.

In my experience, the body wood on an electric guitar has an incredibly small effect on the sound -- not something that would be noticeable. As a matter of fact, it's never been shown that anyone can reliably tell the difference between mahogany or maple on a guitar body just by listening.  The same is actually true in acoustics.

The neck wood can have a fairly noticeable impact, though, because the strings more or less come in direct contact through the frets.  The density of the neck essentially acts as a filter in certain frequencies.


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## Peter Bester (Jul 7, 2017)

wow man wow


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## Jim Smith (Jul 7, 2017)

AMAZING WORK!!!  Great artistry and craftsmanship.  Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Jim Smith


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