Home from Alaska.

I'm home from my trip to Alaska.  I won't really give any details now, I still need to unpack, post process my photos (about 1200), and figure out how to best present the trip.  Here is some quick info about the trip:

• We didn't see a single bear.
• We didn't see the northern lights.
• The weather was much better than we had prepared for, only a small amount of rain.
• Did a decent amount of hiking around.
• Walked around on a glacier.
• Saw lots of snow.
• Saw a humpback whale and some killer whales.

That's it for now.  As I get some pictures and trail stuff ready I'll post more!

Mikeocaster: The Grain Filler

The paint arrived the other day, so I figured I'd have some time to do at least the first step this weekend.  That would be to use a grain filler to fill in the grain.  It is an oil based filler that you just wipe onto the wood, let dry, clean off the excess and repeat then let dry overnight.  Here is a shot of the body prepped. I filled in the areas that don't need any paint with some tape to protect them.  The body cavity will eventually be covered in copper shielding, so it has the most blue.

After getting it prepped, I wiped on the first coat of filler, let it sit for about half an hour, then wiped off the excess.  Here is what it looks like before applying the second coat:

The purpose of the filler is to make sure all the pores and what not are completely filled in, we don't want the actual paint to fill in and take the shape of the grain.  After this is done, I'll apply a coat of sand + sealer, which will smooth it all out and create a nice base for the primer and paint.

The body has arrived

Just got back from the Warriors game tonight.  Don't worry, the Spurs totally embarrassed and destroyed the Warriors.

As I approached our front door, I saw a nice package from Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts.  I opened it up and found this:

That is the new body I'll have to paint.  Now I just need me some paint.

The Mikeocaster

I've decided to build my own guitar. No, it's not as hardcore as you think. I'm not going to fashion my own guitar body or anything like that. I am, however, going to paint the body, finish it, pick a neck and electronics and put them all together.

I just ordered the body and some paint.

The body is a light Alder Stratocaster body from Warmoth guitar parts. It'll come completely unfinished. It looks like this:

I got the contoured heel, which will make upper fret access a bit more comfortable. I don't know when it'll get shipped, as they have to do some more woodwork on it before they ship it out.

I also ordered all the finishing supplies I'll need. I've really been digging white strats lately, so I ordered up some Olympic White paint for the whole body. I figured since I'll be doing the paint job, I could also maybe use another color to paint some design into it, so I picked up some surf green for that. I have no designs in mind but I'll start drawing some up soon enough.

I'll keep you all well informed as the project goes forward, and probably backward since this is my first time doing anything like this.

As for the neck, I plan on picking up a good Fender neck. I haven't decided which shape I want. The American Strat I play right now has a thin C shape, but I've heard great things about certain V shape necks. As my usual, I'll probably get one with a rosewood fingerboard.

For the pickups, I'm really tempted to go local. My amp broke down about a month ago and I took it to this repair shot in San Mateo called Torres Engineering. Turns out they also wire up their own pickups. They have a decent selection and the price is pretty good, so I'll probably try some out.

In the end I hope it looks amazing. I plan on taking my time, so it'll probably be at least a couple months before the thing is assembled and playable. Oh yeah, I'll probably go all out and order a custom neck plate so I can really say the thing is mine, but we'll see what happens when I get to that point.

Any advice on painting and finishing is welcome.

About time I get back to this blog

Yes, I've been rather absent.  It's not that there hasn't been anything to post about.  I guess it's more that I just felt like taking a good vacation from the blog.

I'm back, but no guarantees as to when I'll post next, so soak it up now.

Here are some quick updates:
- I bought a Nikon D90.
- I bought a nice 70-200mm lens to go with that Nikon.
- I'm studying more classical guitar at my lessons and am starting to like it more, except that I still kinda suck at it.
- We announced iPhone OS 3.0 last Tuesday!
- Alaska is getting really close, down to 5 weeks and 6 days.
- I finally became a Californian, meaning I got my drivers license by barely passing the written test.
- With a couple other people, I've been playing a lot of electric guitar.  It's easier when you have somebody playing bass and drums.  I subject them to my need for blues.  Cindy, you'd love our jam sessions.
- I finished reading The Brothers Karamazov and Into Thin Air, both great books to read.

That's really about all I can think of right now.  Life is good, I'm enjoying what I'm doing and feel I made the right decision to move to the Bay even though I'd love to be close to my nieces and nephew in Seattle!