A Phoenix From The Tame

Well, Geoff's OCD One is finally done, bar a little high volume testing, so I thought I'd get going on the prep for our second Katy's killer custom - the J-Bird One.

I know I repeat the names a lot, and it isn't an attempt at brand awareness, just that I forget them otherwise.

As I picked up a quite beautiful neck for t'Bird the other day, I thought I'd sort out what I'm going to do about turning a leftie Strat headstock into a Firebird kind of shape.

Well, first of all, I haven't got a Firebird to copy, and though it would help (if somebody wants to send me one please shout out ;) as the headstock sizes are different and therefore I figured I'm kinda on my own anyway.

What I've done then is find some fotos of a FB headstock and play with them in Photoshop to get them sized sort of close. There is no point trying trace them on as basically they don't fit, but they are a good reference point.

Next, I drew around the Strat headstock onto a piece of paper.

After that, I've used my quite awful sketching skills to draw a Firebird shape onto the Strat picture. Which is the crummy picture over there.

As it hasn't scanned too well, I'll explain that the hatched areas are wood that will be removed and the shaded are the parts that will be thinner to give the right shape and depth.

Next, I guess I keep repeating the exercise until I actually get a bit closer (the sonnet writing simian that I am) and then I'll do a cardboard cut out, draw it onto the headstock and reach for the sharp things.

Gulp.

So there we are. Hopefully you'll agree it looks somewhere close to where we want to be, and that maybe I should go to nightschool or get my 4-year-old to draw it next time...

Game on, methinks...