I’m heavily into the DIY guitar scene, sometimes I think I spend more time building and tweaking then playing. So I thought it would be cool to start highlighting some of the incredible work I find in the forums and websites where like-minded guitarists congregate. I plan on making this a kind of ongoing series called “DIY Masterpieces”.
I’ll start with the pieces that originally gave me this idea – the “hobocastors” of reranch member Lone*star. This quote from one of his posts seems to sum up his DIY philosophy:
OK. I really love building basses, and one of the things I enjoy most is using “re-purposed”, “found”, and “recycled” materials to build them with. It puts you in a different mindset when designing and building than when you are using shiny new parts, perfect slabs of wood, etc. Not better or worse…just different. Besides, recycling things is good for all of us, and if we get a cool bass out of it, all the better !
My favorite example is this bass pictured below. The main ingredients for the body were a pine shelf and a plastic sign. And the old Bel Air logo was a great touch.
Right after finishing that one he took another pile of junk and turned out a very unique bass once again. I loved some of the ingenuity converting home depot type hardware into bass parts. A good example is how he turned a chrome light switch cover into a pickup ring. Apparently he even gigs with his creations – cool!
He’s already done another bass since this one that used a board found on the side of the road and is now working on a bass made from an old suitcase.
