Another guitar?

 Why have I decided to build another instrument? Glutton for punishment? Guitar masochist? Lockdown crazy?

To be honest, not even the latter, though building my first guitar did fit in very conveniently with the completion of my latest novel, Easbury Green – my usual way of enjoying my retirement - details on Amazon. That was during the pre-Christmas lockdown.

That instrument's now complete and the mistakes I made in my first attempt have been rectified; good quality strings have been put on and the guitar's been properly intonated. Referred within the family as my 'PH guitar' (from my signature applied clearly on the headstock to avoid any charge that I'm trying to pass it off as a Paul Reed Smith instrument), I now enjoy playing it regularly. Quite apart from the novelty ie newness, it's quicker to pick up than my Gibson, Gretsch or Martin, all of which are in cases.

So what did I choose? I thought about a Strat-type model but there really are so many of those around at very low prices and I've never aspired to be another Hank Marvin, it seemed pointless.

I decided to build a short-scale bass guitar from Coban. I stuck with the brand for the reasons I explained in my blog on the first build. However, a word of caution: as with the first kit, the economics alone don't justify it. Quite apart from the option of a ready-made, no-name copy of Fender's Mustang or Bronco, you can also buy an Octave Pedal that will drop the output from a regular electric guitar to the same range as a bass – Behringer's costs just over £20. One decision I did make was not to buy a kit with the top of the body dressed in a veneer. Quite apart from the thinness of the veneer, any glue leaks doggedly resist staining and I couldn't see any glue until I applied the first stain layer.

Additionally, I was very drawn to the uncoloured wood as used in a number of current professional guitars. I would have preferred an ash body with a maple neck and ebony fretboard but Coban doesn't have a bass like that at present. So, the compromise was an all-mahogany body and neck with an ebony fretboard. I took advantage of a pre-Christmas discount and paid up.

That's where things went wrong - or rather stopped. Although the cargo was undamaged, a fire in the engine room of the ship bringing the consignment from China forced the vessel to struggle into Algeciras in Spain for repairs. UK Music Supplies was as good as they were over the faulty machine head etc on my first guitar and kept their customers up to date via the shipping company's website. The net result is that I'm not expecting delivery until February at the earliest. As soon as I start I'll recommence this blog again.


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