# (WHITE FLAG) MFB's Hellcaster Challenge



## MFB (May 16, 2009)

Yes folks, I've decided to throw my hat into the ring in the build off and do what I'm calling what will officially be known as the "Hellcaster"

Telecaster shape
Mahogany or Alder wood
Maple neck
Ebony fretboard
25.5" scale
24 frets
Matte black body
6 or 7 strings (I'm torn between what to do)
Single pickup? (Not quite 100% sure)
Single volume

Changes may be made along the way but this seems to be the current layout. I even went down to my Daddy's Junky Music and got the Telecaster template. Sometime this week I'll pickup the wood and the hand router.


----------



## Arminius (May 16, 2009)

sounds pretty cool! And definitely do seven strings, so that you don't go back and wish you had an extra string later on.


----------



## troyguitar (May 16, 2009)

Surely you mean "Hellacaster"


----------



## Stealthdjentstic (May 16, 2009)

Home Depot sells Mahogany?


----------



## gatesofcarnage (May 16, 2009)

Home Depot sells Ebony?


----------



## BlindingLight7 (May 17, 2009)

yeah but its regional^^


----------



## MFB (May 17, 2009)

Home Depot as far as I know don't sell mahogany or the ebony, but I do have a local lumber place that _does_ stock "exotic", if you wanna call them that, woods. I'm not sure how strict we are on where we buy the wood so much as - it's all hand built from the woods we find around here.

Troy - Yes, I did mean to put "Hellacaster" but forgot the 'a'

This is most likely gonna be a 7 string but still not sure since I really wanna do aged nickel BKP(s)


----------



## Apophis (May 17, 2009)

sounds cool


----------



## liamh (May 17, 2009)

This will be great, I love tele's.
Also, 7 strings ftw


----------



## MFB (May 17, 2009)

1300th post 

OK, well I've decided to make this a 7 string and then if this goes well I'll do a 6 string next, but for personal use not profit or anything


----------



## darren (May 18, 2009)

MFB said:


> Home Depot as far as I know don't sell mahogany or the ebony, but I do have a local lumber place that _does_ stock "exotic", if you wanna call them that, woods. I'm not sure how strict we are on where we buy the wood so much as - it's all hand built from the woods we find around here.





Lots of lumberyards sell more "exotic" woods, which is why we're stressing the DIY/Home Depot type stores. Common materials only.


----------



## MFB (May 18, 2009)

They really aren't that exotic  After looking at the lumber selection of both Home Depot and Lowes they're both equally shitty as it looks to be Pine and well...more pine

Plus, I don't care if I win or anything, I just wanna have fun with a good sounding guitar in the end. I say if people wanna use lumber from a local yard then fine, you yourself said the point is more about fun/creativity


----------



## Mattmc74 (May 18, 2009)

The Home depot by me sells mahogany. There are a lot of funature and boat builders(chris craft rebuilders) were I live and they seems to prefer mahogany so the HD stores carry it where I'm from. They don'y have pieces big enough to make a 1 piece body but they could order it for me if I wanted.


----------



## MFB (May 18, 2009)

Then I'm off to Michigan to technically buy mahogany from HD!


----------



## DDDorian (May 18, 2009)

The idea is to challenge people to build something playable from materials that weren't designed to be used in the construction of a guitar. I mean, you're already using a pre-made bridge, aren't you? Where do we draw the line?


----------



## Mattmc74 (May 18, 2009)

If I could use the tools I have at work I could build a fixed bridge with materials from HD really easy. Not the saddles but the base plate would be really simple to make.


----------



## MFB (May 18, 2009)

DDDorian said:


> The idea is to challenge people to build something playable from materials that weren't designed to be used in the construction of a guitar. I mean, you're already using a pre-made bridge, aren't you? Where do we draw the line?



Nope, I came up with a bridge design that can be made entirely out of wood; I tinkered with the idea of doing a different design but my Tele is more demanding than another RG/extreme body

As for the wood, mahogany can be used for other things as pointed out like furniture it just happens to have more than one good use


----------



## Jedi_Ekim (May 23, 2009)

I think a pine Tele 7 string would look pretty cool.

Mike Keneally played a solidbody Taylor that had a huge wood flaw on the face. It looked really cool. I love when furniture works around wood flaws too.


----------



## DDDorian (May 23, 2009)

Eric Devries tried to write them off as "tone knots" Works for me!


----------



## Andrew_B (May 24, 2009)

i did a pine one a few years ago just cause i could lol (never finished it though)
you always get atleast one flaw in pine... 
never got to see what a great """"tonewood"""" it is


----------



## MFB (May 24, 2009)

I think I may change this to Poplar since the tonal properties are similar to Alder, it's cheaper than mahogany, and CAN be picked up at Home Depot

That should please everyone


----------



## 74n4LL0 (Jun 4, 2009)

An hellecaster?






wow


----------



## MF_Kitten (Jun 4, 2009)

my poplar body strat sounds awesome. it's really resonant and acoustically loud


----------



## MFB (Jun 9, 2009)

Well, I've decided to make some slight changes to this. It's now gonna be a :

6 strings
_Very _unique body shape
Either staying as H/H or changing it to H/S/S depending upon my changes in neck likings

I believe that's it


----------



## Arminius (Jun 10, 2009)

MFB said:


> _Very _unique body shape



pics plz


----------



## MFB (Jun 10, 2009)

Aysakh said:


> pics plz



Using a very shitty mockup designed in Fireworks, voila






Haven't redesigned the headstock yet, but I have a good idea of what it will look like


----------



## troyguitar (Jun 10, 2009)

So it's like a KV/RR with the lower wing chopped off... interesting.


----------



## All_¥our_Bass (Jun 10, 2009)

^ That's pretty cool actually, kinda somewhere between a V and an Explorer.


----------



## Arminius (Jun 10, 2009)

originality ftw


----------



## MFB (Jun 10, 2009)

Aysakh said:


> originality ftw



I found out actually I'm not the first to have the design 

But it's OK since the other originator was oh I don't know...RON JARZOMBEK. I actually shot Ron an e-mail about how he set up the strap pins for it because as you can see, it may suffer from neck dive and he actually wrote back and helped out with this :



> Ben,
> It's been quite a while since I played that guitar, but as I remember I did have to press a bit harder with my right forearm onto the body so that the guitar wouldn't be too neck heavy.
> 
> I just pulled the body out of the garage, and the strap button hole in the back is right behind the bridge (as is usually is) and the front strap button was mounted on the back of the metal plate that holds the 4 screws attaching the neck. Try to find the lightest machine heads you can, because that's where the weight of the neck actually comes from. Ther wood itself barely weighs anything. An idea for your guitar would be to get a Steinberger type bridge to avoid having machine heads at the end of the neck.
> ...



Ron =


----------



## xtrustisyoursx (Jun 10, 2009)

MFB said:


> I found out actually I'm not the first to have the design
> 
> But it's OK since the other originator was oh I don't know...RON JARZOMBEK. I actually shot Ron an e-mail about how he set up the strap pins for it because as you can see, it may suffer from neck dive and he actually wrote back and helped out with this :
> 
> ...



What a gent. Of course, most of us Texans are


----------



## Justin Bailey (Jun 10, 2009)

reminds me of the fender katana


----------



## MFB (Jun 11, 2009)

BREAKING NEWS!

This will now be a headless guitar, as due to a whopping 2 (yes 2!) comments on here that when combined, gave me an idea as to how I can make this headless, which will also prevent neck dive


----------



## TemjinStrife (Jun 12, 2009)

Actually, that shape is pretty ergonomic. With a bit of a 'forearm carve' it will lock your picking arm in the right position, and the pressure from your right arm will keep the neck at a good angle.

Also, that 'point' at the base can go between your legs classical-style when sitting. Looks great, and I love headless designs. I'd love to see how your bridge turns out..


----------



## MFB (Oct 26, 2009)

Well guys, I just don't have the necessary funds or proper weather conditions to really be working on a guitar right now. New car savings are more important than a guitar so consider my white flag to be hoisted.


----------

