Post by leeophonic on Apr 16, 2024 11:06:04 GMT
Cooderbird 20 years in the making.....
Or more accurately a few months in the hands of an expert luthier and the remainder of procrastination and accumulation of parts.
So where do we start, I saw Johnny Winter in the 90’s he was going through the motions with the Steinberger cricket bat until he got the Firebird out of the case and the magic happened, already in my database was Ry Cooders strat which had the Valco string through bridge at the Bridge so the nucleus of an idea was more or less there. Cooderbird, what else could I call it
In the early 2000’s a good friend and neighbour introduced me to her brother (Mathew) a talented carpenter who was down from Scotland and was pricing up a bespoke staircase for his sister which I also joined in on to make his efforts worthwhile, two weeks in the sunny south, set up a workshop and build & fit two bespoke staircases. Over the course of this I got to know Mathew and he was mad about the craft and the properties of wood, he mentioned his stash back home and I discussed the most resonant of woods Paduk to which he answered I have planks/billets of that and will bring you some down. So a few weeks later & in possession of the Paduk I took it to Dave King who fashioned/mated it to a figured maple cap and cut to the shape of a reverse firebird. Around this time I was supplying Dave King with Valco lap steels to be cannibalised into his tele coodercaster builds and I kept one for myself and on his recommendation sent a pickup unit off to Spencer Mumford of Shed pickups in Wales for a electronic overhaul with new pole pieces Bobbin and magnetic field refurbishment, additionally the plate was trimmed and re-plated (all to a fantastic standard).
Ebay was throughout a constant source of distraction but I managed to secure three still boxed new re-issue Danalectro lipsticks so that was the neck pickup sorted, also various other components finding there way to me as time kept moving apace. A local guitar shop (In Tune music) closed down and the six in line tuners were marked at 50% or less so they are added to the stash of parts. Another friend good friend asks for help in clearing his father in laws Garage, Gerry the father in law in his working life had been a site Forman of building sites , and for hobbies he made snooker cues with a lathe and ancient circular saw akin to a magicians cutting the assistant in half (I later trimmed my finger with this in 2018). Aside from the machinery there were ancient hand tools and the pot of Gold I was hoping to find the Billets of mahogany in the rafters for decades, so I now had the basis for the neck with old growth mahogany. All of this accumulation and procrastinating goes on for over twenty years, in the interim Offset guitars become trendy and there are numerous bespoke guitars out there but I still had an idea as to what I really wanted in a guitar, this was to progress rapidly from October of 2023 when I was introduced to Mark Silk at the London guitar show, I knew of his work from social media but was yet to meet and put my ideas to someone who could understand my idea/concept and bring it all together with the understanding and experience to tackle not a fixed project but a series of ideas and suggestions which would take shape.
Neck so I discuss with Mark how about a Bigsby headstock???, 44mm at the nut, 25” scale, oh and lets have it bound with maple to tie in the frets and match the cap on the body. When nearly complete I suggest a Walnut veneer on the face of the peghead and a carve volute to expose some of the south American mahogany lurking behind, unfazed this is how it evolves. Already strung up I question if we can age the nut material, as luck would have it I have Deer antler lying about from the brother in law of Mathew the original carpenter, unfortunately for Mark Silk it needs machining and sanding which I know from experience is not a pleasant one, however the Antler nut is now in place. The Neck is separate to the body with a four bolt retainer but with the sapwood there is an illusion of a through body construction.
Body so I discuss with Mark how about a .German carve as opposed to binding which would be the easier option separating the maple cap from the Paduk back, this would cause issues later in the finish process as it became obvious Paduk has an unrivalled thirst and sucks the moisture from adjoining timber in a selfish frustrating fashion, Mark Silk applied in the region of 17 coats of oil based finish with sanding betwixt this process (Guitar or more likely Bentley!!!) Toning and colouring and going with the grain as opposed to a blanket application, it found it’s own finish point (enough is enough).
We discussed a pickguard and a custom option is devised by Mark Silk utilising a maple base with matching Walnut veneer to the headstock, both are treated to a Gloss makeover to distinguished from the matt of the body and neck, to the rear the access plate for the electronics is matched to the mahogany of the neck, again joining the dots and referencing the original timber source and my good friends father in law Gerry.
Electronics from the get go it was two volumes blending with one master tone, this I knew would work from previous experience with a Lollar powered Godin Radiator build that I Cooderised back in 2006 or so, there is still the opportunity for an out of phase blend but it allowed a blending option or all or nothing bridge or neck, each since completion offers a different range of tones, effectively two guitars in one. The knobs however were originally all chrome then decided to compliment the original Valco unit with cream pickup cover thumbscrews and the chicken head for the tone blend, Mark Silk complimented this further with cream/ivory coloured strap buttons and jack plate. Although the Valco unit was strong I could not resist a more powerful set of magnets produced from Rick Aiello who is well know within the steel guitar community in the US, the leaflet that came with the Ni Bro magnets warns, will interfere and or disrupt Pace Makers/heart monitors & they will erase any magnetically stored data, is there a better advert
So that’s about the strength of it, over twenty years of conception and accumulation of core elements, both Gerry and Mathew are no longer with us so the material has resonance and with Mark silks patience skill and understanding a new old guitar is out in the wild, hope you like it but I understand it is divisive with the body shape not being everyone’s taste.
PS The Telebird is now in the starting blocks, guess what that may contain....
Lee
Or more accurately a few months in the hands of an expert luthier and the remainder of procrastination and accumulation of parts.
So where do we start, I saw Johnny Winter in the 90’s he was going through the motions with the Steinberger cricket bat until he got the Firebird out of the case and the magic happened, already in my database was Ry Cooders strat which had the Valco string through bridge at the Bridge so the nucleus of an idea was more or less there. Cooderbird, what else could I call it
In the early 2000’s a good friend and neighbour introduced me to her brother (Mathew) a talented carpenter who was down from Scotland and was pricing up a bespoke staircase for his sister which I also joined in on to make his efforts worthwhile, two weeks in the sunny south, set up a workshop and build & fit two bespoke staircases. Over the course of this I got to know Mathew and he was mad about the craft and the properties of wood, he mentioned his stash back home and I discussed the most resonant of woods Paduk to which he answered I have planks/billets of that and will bring you some down. So a few weeks later & in possession of the Paduk I took it to Dave King who fashioned/mated it to a figured maple cap and cut to the shape of a reverse firebird. Around this time I was supplying Dave King with Valco lap steels to be cannibalised into his tele coodercaster builds and I kept one for myself and on his recommendation sent a pickup unit off to Spencer Mumford of Shed pickups in Wales for a electronic overhaul with new pole pieces Bobbin and magnetic field refurbishment, additionally the plate was trimmed and re-plated (all to a fantastic standard).
Ebay was throughout a constant source of distraction but I managed to secure three still boxed new re-issue Danalectro lipsticks so that was the neck pickup sorted, also various other components finding there way to me as time kept moving apace. A local guitar shop (In Tune music) closed down and the six in line tuners were marked at 50% or less so they are added to the stash of parts. Another friend good friend asks for help in clearing his father in laws Garage, Gerry the father in law in his working life had been a site Forman of building sites , and for hobbies he made snooker cues with a lathe and ancient circular saw akin to a magicians cutting the assistant in half (I later trimmed my finger with this in 2018). Aside from the machinery there were ancient hand tools and the pot of Gold I was hoping to find the Billets of mahogany in the rafters for decades, so I now had the basis for the neck with old growth mahogany. All of this accumulation and procrastinating goes on for over twenty years, in the interim Offset guitars become trendy and there are numerous bespoke guitars out there but I still had an idea as to what I really wanted in a guitar, this was to progress rapidly from October of 2023 when I was introduced to Mark Silk at the London guitar show, I knew of his work from social media but was yet to meet and put my ideas to someone who could understand my idea/concept and bring it all together with the understanding and experience to tackle not a fixed project but a series of ideas and suggestions which would take shape.
Neck so I discuss with Mark how about a Bigsby headstock???, 44mm at the nut, 25” scale, oh and lets have it bound with maple to tie in the frets and match the cap on the body. When nearly complete I suggest a Walnut veneer on the face of the peghead and a carve volute to expose some of the south American mahogany lurking behind, unfazed this is how it evolves. Already strung up I question if we can age the nut material, as luck would have it I have Deer antler lying about from the brother in law of Mathew the original carpenter, unfortunately for Mark Silk it needs machining and sanding which I know from experience is not a pleasant one, however the Antler nut is now in place. The Neck is separate to the body with a four bolt retainer but with the sapwood there is an illusion of a through body construction.
Body so I discuss with Mark how about a .German carve as opposed to binding which would be the easier option separating the maple cap from the Paduk back, this would cause issues later in the finish process as it became obvious Paduk has an unrivalled thirst and sucks the moisture from adjoining timber in a selfish frustrating fashion, Mark Silk applied in the region of 17 coats of oil based finish with sanding betwixt this process (Guitar or more likely Bentley!!!) Toning and colouring and going with the grain as opposed to a blanket application, it found it’s own finish point (enough is enough).
We discussed a pickguard and a custom option is devised by Mark Silk utilising a maple base with matching Walnut veneer to the headstock, both are treated to a Gloss makeover to distinguished from the matt of the body and neck, to the rear the access plate for the electronics is matched to the mahogany of the neck, again joining the dots and referencing the original timber source and my good friends father in law Gerry.
Electronics from the get go it was two volumes blending with one master tone, this I knew would work from previous experience with a Lollar powered Godin Radiator build that I Cooderised back in 2006 or so, there is still the opportunity for an out of phase blend but it allowed a blending option or all or nothing bridge or neck, each since completion offers a different range of tones, effectively two guitars in one. The knobs however were originally all chrome then decided to compliment the original Valco unit with cream pickup cover thumbscrews and the chicken head for the tone blend, Mark Silk complimented this further with cream/ivory coloured strap buttons and jack plate. Although the Valco unit was strong I could not resist a more powerful set of magnets produced from Rick Aiello who is well know within the steel guitar community in the US, the leaflet that came with the Ni Bro magnets warns, will interfere and or disrupt Pace Makers/heart monitors & they will erase any magnetically stored data, is there a better advert
So that’s about the strength of it, over twenty years of conception and accumulation of core elements, both Gerry and Mathew are no longer with us so the material has resonance and with Mark silks patience skill and understanding a new old guitar is out in the wild, hope you like it but I understand it is divisive with the body shape not being everyone’s taste.
PS The Telebird is now in the starting blocks, guess what that may contain....
Lee
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