Guitar Of The Month – October, 2020
Congratulations goes out to Jacob Lawrence for his guitar build, to earn him Guitar of the Month for October 2020.
Jacob used our STK-1M DIY kit as the basis to create his guitar.
“One day I found my roommate watching a guy build a guitar on Youtube out of popsicle sticks. I thought, “If he can construct a guitar out of popsicle sticks, I can definitely build a guitar with standard materials.” I had been playing the acoustic for about a year, but I also wanted to experiment with a Stratocaster so I could play some of David Gilmour’s sick guitar solos. When the virus arrived, I suddenly had a lot of freetime on my hands, so I ordered a Stratocaster guitar kit from Solo Guitars and started brainstorming ideas.
At first I had no idea what I was gonna do to the body of the guitar, but I eventually decided I would carve the body rather than paint it just so the project could last a bit longer. With a Dremel tool, I first smoothened all the edges and made the shape of the body look much more organic than a typical Strat. After rounding the edges, I continued to carve all the decorative aspects one at a time. I didn’t plan out what these shapes would be, but after carving each one I’d think about what would look cool and what would fit in the spaces remaining. I wanted the designs to be unique and simpler so they wouldn’t distract too much from the overall design of the Stratocaster.
Once the carving part was complete, I sanded the body and applied mineral spirits to clean all the dust. I also applied a pre-stain so the wood would take in the stain better. It took me a while to decide on what stain to use but I finally settled on Sun Bleached to give the guitar an aged look. After applying the stain, me and my Dad slowly sprayed 15 coats of spray can polyurethane to give the body a thick protective layer. We made sure to hang the guitar to dry in a dust-free environment to make the coatings as smooth as possible.
Once all the parts were finished, I spent an entire day eagerly assembling all the components and I was very happy with the results. This guitar is super fun to play and the chrome components matched the Sun Bleached stain very well.
I’d like to say thank you to Solo Guitars for giving me a fun outlet during the quarantine!”
– Jacob Lawrence
One response to “Guitar Of The Month – October, 2020”
I love what you have done with this project, Jacob. The end product has a personal touch to it. These DIY kits that SOLO offers are a wonderful learning experience. I have done three so far and have enjoyed each one of them. Your project has given me some ideas. Thanks.