Some assembly required

 

These three diptychs were made from the source images found in The Proper Tool for the Job. This collection of images was taken over several month with both a DSLR and Android phone. They were different sizes, resolutions and most had a shallow depth of field; everything that makes them decent individual images but something that makes composites especially difficult. I used ten of the thirty images from last weeks post to make the three composites shown here.

 

The Proper Tool For The Job

The photo shoot for this assignment took place over several months using different cameras to document the fabrication of this Cigar Box guitar.

Cigar box guitars have been around since the 1800s and were originally built using scraps. Cigar box guitars were used in jug bands alongside washboards, harmonicas and jugs, they were a primitive instrument for those living in poverty. There has been a modern revival in the art of making Cigar Box guitars and a quick Google search will reveal a number of sites dedicated to the craft.

This particular cigar box guitar is more of a cheater cigar box as it’s not a cigar box at all but a Craftsman router bit box. The neck, internal structure, electronics and hardware all came from an old Epiphone Les Paul. These features make it great to play with solid tune and long sustain with a tone somewhere between acoustic and electric. This pictorial gives a little insight into how such a instrument would be created.

 

 

MiJ Fender Stratocaster HRR

I bought this guitar not knowing much about it other than the price looked good, it had a nice tone and held tune well. When it comes right down to it, as far as I am concerned that is really all that matters. I looked up the SN with my phone right in the store and knew it was a “Fuji-gen Plant (for Fender Japan), Japan in the Year(s): 1990 – 1991″ but as for exact specs, I thought it might be an altered HM. I went home and did some research but without it being right in front of me, it was still a mystery. When I went back the next day to buy it, every guy in the store had something to say about how odd it was: “It has an american body”,”no way it came with that bridge” and “it never would have come with that pickup”. From what I have seen on the web, the guitar is completely stock except for an aluminum brace under the bridge, probably placed there to repair a crack in the bridge post hole. After doing some research I discovered this is actually a MiJ Fender Stratocaster 60s HRR  (60s Hot Rod Reissue). You can see the 50s version and more info on this thread here (notice how every body has an opinion about its correctness over there too) and for more information go here and here. In this thread here, axeman417 has a nice write up concerning value and quality of these guitars.

Some of the features of this guitar are:

Made In Japan K018xxx serial number on the neck right above the comfort radius neck plate that says Fender USA.
Original Floyd Rose bridge and locking nut.
DiMarzio humbucker pickup with coil split on the middle tone knob.
500k volume and 500k center tone and 250k TBX with a detent on the outside knob.
Headstock says Fender Stratocaster with synchronized tremolo and Original Custom Body.
Flush tremolo spring cover.