Traditional Shaker Electric Guitar…?

Ok, yeah, I made that up. While I have no definitive proof that the Shakers didn’t make electric guitars, the weight of evidence would argue that they indeed did not.

So why would I, a guy with a website dedicated solely (so far) to the production of Shaker oval boxes, do an electric guitar build? Several reasons. For one, while I love Shaker boxes, I also love a lot of things handmade in wood. Another reason is that I’ve always considered the luthier craft to be one of the most rarified forms of woodworking, so a chance to visit that world sounded like an exciting prospect. But the best reason is that my son proposed we build a guitar together over Christmas break.

We started with a thick slab of African mahogany and are at the point now of starting the finishing process in a day or two. The finish will be a clear coat of oil poly - the wood is too beautiful to paint. It’s been fun working together, especially when we saw the beauty of the grain as it came off the planer, or after we rounded the edges and it hit us that “holy cow, this is a guitar.”

More to come on this project. Maybe I’ll try to add some copper tacks and toothpicks, though I doubt my son will let me.