Vulcan Guitars

- WALNUT ES-TYPE -

🚨 OPEN TO RESERVATION 🚨

Today I will be discussing the build that has unexpectedly taken priority over my others.

This one will be in 2 parts, as I don’t have enough characters to put in one post 😅🤦‍♂️

While I was taking a break off social media for around 18 months, I was still keeping busy in the workshop and had made quite a lot of necks and bodies ready to use for builds when I was planning on uploading some content.

One of these was a 335 style, all made out of the same piece of maple. I used an MDF template to rout out the shape for the top and bottom veneers, the sides were done using a strip of maple that was wet and then put over an air gun nozzle to create the curvatures.

I then cut out the ‘F’ holes and routed out the recess’ for the bindings and glued them on.

I also made the neck out of the same lumber of maple as the rest of the guitar, the process for the neck is basically the same as I’ve discussed before, so I won’t bore you with the same stuff 🤣👍

From the start I was keen on doing this as a walnut finish, as I’ve always been in love with the 1972 Gibson 325’s in the walnut finish - one of my favourite guitars ever! 🤩

So I stained the guitar using dark walnut stain, which came out looking better than I’d hoped. I then applied around 6 coats of Danish Oil to really help the finish and grain pop 👌

Now on my favourite part - the original plan was to just do this with a dot inlay fretboard and keep it pretty traditional. I eventually decided to do block inlays using the off cuts of the same piece of maple, however these blocks would have half coming from the top and half coming from the bottom, with the 12th fret going all the way across the fretboard’s height.

The fretboard was cut out of some ebony I’d picked up (you can see some of this process on my highlights) and I used my trusty dremel to rout out for the block inlays. I then cut out the blocks to size from an off cut of maple and placed them in the recesses to ensure they fit snug, then followed up by gluing them in using Gorilla wood glue and flat sanded to the same level…

- SEE PART 2 OF THIS STORY TOMORROW AT 19:00 😁 -

Yesterday I posted a story of my plan to put up a post everyday over the next week, covering the guitars that I have been working on over the past year or so.

Between customer orders, I continue to design, spec and build guitars that will be readily available for purchase through our website, Reverb, EBay and Instagram.

I will schedule each post to launch at 19:00 UK time 🕰️

If you get the time, please do check out the first one this evening 👍

Have you checked our website out yet? 👀

Link in bio 👍

Here, you can check out everything we offer under the ‘Parts’ section in the navigation menu - you are not limited by these options and are only really there to guide you or offer products we have readily available in the workshop 🎸

You can place your order in the ‘Custom Build’ section under the ‘Order’ navigation menu 💻

In the Custom Build form, you can put anything you want for your guitar and we’ll get back in touch to discuss everything with you 🧐

We also make our own pickups, built to your spec, which you can order under the ‘Vulcan Pickups’ navigation menu 🎶

Any questions at all, feel free to get in touch via the ‘Contact Form’ under the ‘About’ navigation menu 📝

Thanks in advance 🙏

For anyone who missed the progress of this ebony fretboard posted on my stories 👌

I used a dremel to rout out the slots for the new inlays, which I filled with maple, then stained them the same colour as the body.

I also put a public vote out for whether I should do fret dot markers within the inlays, which the majority voted for - correct decision! 🤩

So yeah, this is where I’m at with it so far…

I still need to give it a final re-slot (I sanded the original ones out while radiusing) and then glue this to the neck, ready for installing the fret wire 😁

This guitar will be listed for sale in the next couple of months on my website, though you can reserve it now by sending me a message through the ‘Contact Form’ on vulcanguitars.com.

It will also be available on EBay, Reverb and Etsy - though it’s worth noting that it will be listed at a higher price due to fee’s.

As always, I’m more than happy to answer any queries that you might have - simply DM me or send me an email 👍

I began soldering, which was not as easy as I initially thought and in not thinking, I was just casually doing it over the guitar, no protection, no soldering mat - nothing!

So of course the inevitable happened and I dropped a few lumps of solder on the body while, which damaged part of the finish 😤

After a very failed attempt, which included inadequate solder joints, misunderstanding the wiring diagrams and even damaging the guitars finish, I decided I was not only lost, but completely out of my depth! 😂😂

Since I was also very confused by the set-up of a guitar, I decided to give up and just take it to a local guitar tech and it would be their problem to deal with 🤣

When I came to pick it up he informed me that the bridge had been routed out in the wrong position, that’s why there was such a large gap between the bridge plate and the pickguard.

As a result of this, the guitar could not be properly intonated and would literally be incapable of playing past the 14th fret or so.

I accepted defeat and brought it home, where I played it for a while but the issues it had caused me to put it up in the loft and start making a new one 😅

The story of this guitar might have you wondering why it would be so special to me, after all there’s so many faults, cheap parts, design flaws and on top of that, it can’t even function properly!

The answer - Because it is a constant reminder of not only how far I have come in these 9 years, or even of how many mistakes were made.

I see it as a point in time in which although so much went wrong, I completely fell in love with the process of making a guitar (or in this case, putting one together) and I have stuck with it ever since, where I have been gradually upping my game, constantly learning through training and more mistakes along the way.

I am now in a place where I actually MAKE guitars and I actually MAKE pickups, that I am incredibly proud of and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else 🤘

If you’ve read this far, you deserve a medal 🏅😂 but I really appreciate it 🙏🖤

P.s. DO NOT buy kit guitars and expect something great! 🤣 unless it’s made by professional luthiers of course 😂👍

So about 1 week after painting the guitar, I took it upon myself to conclude that the nitrocellulose has now had long enough to cure 😂🤦‍♂️

I took the neck and body off the hangers, gave it a very quick and very unsuccessful polish by hand, then got ready to install the pickguard and hardware onto it.

To replace the hardware that came with the kit, I ordered a decorative gold Tele bridge with a matching control plate and it even included a neck and bridge pickup. It was obviously still cheap, I believe about £60 for the matching set - so probably better than the original! I really liked these as the k***s had a pearl top which matched the pickguard perfectly and the pattern on both gave it a bit of character 👌

I also ordered some basic EBay gold machine heads for something like £15, which looking back now probably weren’t too much better than the ones that came with the kit - I also ordered 3x3 (see picture) 😂

I did the same thing for the neck plate, strap button and jack plate (though for some reason I got a Les Paul style plate)- I followed the theme and just found some of the cheapest ‘gold’ ones I could find 🤣

I installed the bridge, control plate, pickguard and pickups ready to attempt wiring it up.

I had ordered a bog standard soldering iron to do the electronics in the guitar - I had looked at a few videos on how to solder, as well as trying to understand wiring diagrams and thought it looked simple enough… 🫣

PART 4 IN FOLLOWING POST!!

Okay, on to the start of the build…

I can remember this whole process quite clearly but it was 9 years ago, so bear with me as I may get some details slightly off 😅

I started out by sanding the whole body and neck up to around 320 grit. I decided not to grain fill as I thought it would look better with the grain being visible, which I would still stand by if it actually had a nice grain in the first place 😂🤦‍♂️

I then applied some nitrocellulose white primer until the guitar was fully covered, then repeated the process with the sherwood green and again with the clear coat, allowing the recommended wait times between coats 🕰️

Oh yeah and for some strange reason I also decided to paint the back of the neck as well, which looking back now was an extremely strange decision 🤔😂

Another questionable choice was to also paint the 10th fret - not the worst idea ever, but it probably would’ve made more sense to paint the 12th right? 😂

Anyways, I was really pleased with the colour, it was exactly what I was going for and at this point, it’s fair to say I was getting extremely excited about how the finished build would look! 🤩

However, I would have to wait - Videos and forums suggested around 3 weeks on average for the nitrocellulose to cure - 3 weeks!! 😫😫 how could I ever be that patient!? 😂

Nevertheless, I hung the body and neck up on some guitar hangers I had in my bedroom and began waiting 😒

PART 3 IN FOLLOWING POST!!

So, I was just noodling on one of my guitars and looked up at this hanging on the wall in my jam room and thought it would make a half decent post to tell you about the story of this guitar - it’s incredibly special to me as it’s in fact the first one I ever ‘made’.

Sometime in 2014 I saw a video randomly suggested on YouTube from a rather popular .angove (though I believe he was only just getting his name out there at that point), in which he was showing how you can make your own guitar without spending a lot of money.

This had me intrigued, as I wasn’t sure how that was even possible without spending thousands on lots of woods and tools, yet alone training 🤔

The answer - a guitar kit. Ready cut, shaped, routed, sanded (to a certain degree), frets installed AND included hardware, pickups and strings 🤯🤯

I can’t remember how much he had bought the kit for but it was something silly like $100, so I thought I’d give it a go and hoped to find something for a similar price in the UK - which I did.

I had already decided I wanted to do a Telecaster style guitar as those were my favourite at the time (I’m a Strat man now), so I looked online and was so surprised as they were everywhere! I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of these kit guitars before AND they were cheap, I believe I spent something like £70 for this kit 😶

While waiting for it to be delivered, I would religiously watch videos of all different kit guitar builds so I could fully understand the process and what I needed to do.

When it arrived it looked okay, it was a 3 piece Ash body (which looking back now is absurd in itself) but I didn’t really know any different at the time 😅

After much deliberation on how I wanted the guitar to look, I opted for a sherwood green finish with gold hardware and a pearl pickguard.

One of the things that always came up in those videos was to throw away the strings and usually the hardware too, as they were so cheaply made and wouldn’t serve their purpose long - so that was the first port of call! 🗑️

Absolute pleasure using these products, if you’re looking for a product with all the positive benefits of using a stain/dye: great finish, low odour and easy to work with, then get yours now!

Cheers Littlefair's 🙏🖤

I was hoping to get all 4 coats done before leaving to go on holiday, but I unfortunately ran out of time 😢

This is the results of 3 coats on the front and 2 on the back (none applied to sides yet), really pleased so far as it’s produced exactly what I was hoping for - adding more depth to the grain and colour 👌

It’s always important to ensure you’re following the manufacturers instructions, and as much as I wanted to get all of the coats done, they recommend 6 hours between them.

Nothing new really, as working with guitars, a lot of things (especially finishes) require a ton of patience.

So many people make the mistake of rushing these things and thinking it’ll be okay to just add more coats in a smaller timeframe or skip steps in the process (trust me I’ve been one of them in the past) - but instructions and guidelines are there for a reason and the only people who truly know best are the people who manufacture the products we use.

Giving adequate time for finishes to cure will determine the quality of your overall finish (along with correct preparation beforehand of course!)

Sorry peeps, I honestly wasn’t planning on this post being a mini rant on finishes 🤣😂🤦‍♂️

What I was ACTUALLY posting to say, is that I’m off to Norfolk now… so TBC for the time being 😅🤘

I really hope everyone is enjoying the amazing weather we’re having at the moment in the UK ☀️ trust me, we don’t get this often so cherish it - it won’t stick around for long! 😂🙄

As it’s our beautiful dog Lexi’s 7th birthday today,it’s vital to ensure your dogs drinking plenty of water and aren’t being walked in this heat - wait for it to cool down or keep them busy in in a cooler environment 🙏

If you’ve read this far then thanks and apologies again… Longest. Post. Ever… 🤦‍♂️

#335

Couldn’t decide what finish to use for this guitar, oil or nitro - so I’m going with both! 😅

I’ll apply about 4 coats of Colron Danish Oil to help the grain pop and add some more depth to the walnut stain.

I’ll then leave the oil to fully cure for around 10 days, come back and apply some coats of Dartfords Tinted Nitrocellulose to give it that real ‘aged’ look (it’ll be most noticeable on the binding).

#335 -type

Before and after.

I got some great results using Littlefairs Dark Walnut wood dye, it took about 4 coats to get this colour 👌

I’ve used this brand a bunch of times before and would highly recommended them 👍

New customer order commencing soon! 🤘

I absolutely love the look of this design, it really reminds me of an 1980’s Korean Epiphone Sheraton II 😍

Super excited to see how this one turns out 🙌

#335

Build complete 🙌

This has been a really fun build to do, and the fact that it’s a gorgeous design is a bonus 🤩

A massive thank you to for the order and for being an absolute pleasure to work with on this. I recommend you all check him out, he’s an extremely talented guitar player and an all round cool dude 🤘

Pickguard loaded up and installed into the body, along with the jack plate and tremolo bridge 🤘

I unfortunately sanded through the original finish, so I had to re-finish it and wait for it to cure for a few weeks before wet sanding and polishing it again.

I debated leaving that out but I believe it’s important to highlight mistakes, as oppose to pretending everything goes smoothly all the time - which it doesn’t for most of us guitar builders 😅

Thankfully the customer has been amazing about everything and now it’s almost there! 🙌

I will be polishing the fretboard tomorrow and then putting this beauty together, stringing and setting it up ready to be shipped to it’s owner 😌

Single coils complete! 💪

Got a few shots at specific stages:

First, is the slugs installed into the flatwork bobbins.

Second, is the pickups post-winding but before being wax potted.

Third, is the single coils both wax potted with the cover on.

Finally, the last picture is of all three pickups for this guitar 🤘

Some shots of the finished Abalone inlays I finished installing yesterday 😁

Here’s the Humbucker I finished on Monday night 🤘 absolutely love the look of the cover on this! 😍

Finished drilling out the fretboard ready to fit the 6mm abalone inlays 🧐

Cut and filed the nut slot, ready for the gold nut to be installed upon final setup of the guitar 🌟

Next stop, the neck 🤘

Primed and Ready to go! 💪