Guitarjo
page!!!!
Ok. You're wondering, what the heck is a Guitarjo?
Yeah, I know, it's bad enough having to listen to a
banjo,
but a Guitarjo? I know, you think I've lost what little mind I
have
left. Well, yeah, maybe, so what? Wait till you hear what
it
is, and how I built it, then you will be absolutely, positively,
beyond the shadow of doubt, totally convinced that I'm certifiably
nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, so......what's your point?
I prefer to think of it as a fine piece of
work,rather
than what a friend of mine referred to it as a "Frankenstein" project
What this is all about, is a dream, or vision, that I've had. I do believe that it has finally come true. I have heard of these instruments before, but have never seen one. I believe that Gibson Guitar may have tried to make these once upon a time, but I do not know that for a fact.
After playing at the Goodtimersone
night, a fellow musician asked if it was a
Tenor Guitar. I tried to explain to him what it
was, and after sometime he just finally walked away shaking his
head.
I don't know if he didn't understand what I was telling him, or if he
thought
I had really lost all my marbles!!
Here's how it started.
One day my wife and I went to our local Musician's
Friend Music store, just sort of lookin' around.
Didn't
have a real need to go there, but just wanted to "look" around.
Yeah,
ok, I sort of had the Guitarjo in the back of my mind, but we
also
have a son that plays drums and we were sort of looking for Christmas
present
ideas for him too. What really caught my eye was this
electric/accoustic
Fender
Guitar it had lost it's head!! Literally! It really had.
There setting on display was this Fender Guitar with the peg head
laying
inside the sound hole. Evidently the guitar had fallen and the
peg
head had snapped off. I guess I just happened along at the right
time, and the price was right.
.
See for yourself.
Here it is on the kitchen floor.
See the peg head lying on the floor? It had snapped
right
off.
I've never been able to get the "hang" of playing a guitar, and a guitar is a lot lighter to hold onto than a banjo, so I just thought I'd convert this one into something I can play......a banjo. I had enough stock left over from building my Woody banjo, so that I was able to construct a new neck for this project. I've seen 6 string banjos so now I can say I've seen 5 string guitars.
I only worked on it a little each day at home. After
several
months, almost a year of tinkering, I finally had it finished by
Christmas of 2002. Guess you could sorta say it was my Christmas
present to myself. I was even more fueled to get this
finished
after reading an article in the November issue of Bluegrass Unlimited
Magazine,
where someone wrote saying "he couldn't understand why anyone would try
to experiment or try to build their own instrument, with such a 'high
quality'
of mechanically reproduced instruments available in todays'
market."
Well, it touched a nerve :) :) I
immediately
sent a letter to the Editor, and as of January 2003, I am now a
published
writer :) :) 
Anyway...What do ya think?
Yes, I put all the inlay in myself. This style
of
inlay is called "The Flying Eagle"
I purchased it online from Custom
Inlay Inc.
.
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