I have a problem with taking things apart, just to find out how they work. I've had a guitar apart or worked on one for the last 20 years, some of them I actually finish! In high school I sanded down and refinished a few guitars, one of them was a Silvertone with the original amp/case, boy I wish I had that now, before I repainted it!

I joined the Navy for the Advanced Electronics Program to learn enough electronics to design circuits for my guitar playing, that didn't work out too well. At least I got a College education out of the deal. I got bit by the computer bug in college, so I never did get much deeper into electronics. I can read a schematic, and there's enough info on the web to feed my guitar projects. I hope maybe this page will give you some ideas too.

The Baritone idea came from a Guitar Shop article I read a while back (Dec. 1995). I've been slowly collecting parts and ideas since then. I'm not sure when I came up with the Stereo idea, I've always been intrigued by the Rick-o-sound. Maybe it was when I read about the Mike Christianson Pickup with the 6 separate sensors that I started wondering about splitting the guitar signal a different way. You'll have to wait till I get my stereo page up to find out my ideas, (there might even be a WAV to listen to), I wonder if anyone else has thought of this yet?

There are 3 off-brand guitars that are my test platforms, 2 baritones and a stereo. The solid body baritone is still "on-loan", and it's holding up my stereo project too. I can't remember the brand name on it; it's your basic P-bass style. I'm planning dual humbuckers and some body-sculpting on it. The other baritone is a Kay single cutaway, 3 pickup, hollow-body jazz box with a no-name student bass neck. That one is getting a major rework on the headstock to fit the jazz guitar body, unfortunately I ruined at least 1 of the original single coil pickups, so I'm looking at a Danelctro lipstick reissue to replace it. The stereo project was one of those real ugly Tiesco bodies with the weird horns. I've done a major chop job on the bottom horn, and I'm looking for some thin quilted maple for a new top. I've also routed out a lot of the body so I will be able to call it a "Chambered Solid Body".

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