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- My first custom order was WEIRD
My first custom order was WEIRD
It was the second guitar I was building and it was as far removed from a simple Tele as it could
Simon Padalka
May 23, 2025
THE TWO-HEADED MONSTER
After I finished my first guitar I showed it around in local music stores and being the only guitar maker in town they started sending repair work my way. That was super useful as I learned a lot from working on those guitars. But one day a guy is calling me and asking for a custom build. Obviously I said yes, only to find out that it’s not just a guitar, but a double-neck bass based on a Warwick Corvette. But I was ready for a challenge. I had to model the whole thing in 3D just to get my head around the geometry because he wanted the body curved just like on a Warwick. SPECS:
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THE BEGINNING
I must say, cutting out bubinga with a jigsaw was a nightmare. I didn’t have a bandsaw yet
My first laminated neck. Using Titebond for this wasn’t the best idea - dries too fast
I asked a friend to plane the center lam into a wedge
After the core was glued up and planed, I glued on the Mahogany back
It was time for fretboards
I finally started shaping. The front and back carve
Then roundovers
I made two interchangeable covers
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My favorite part - shaping the neck. Sorry - NECKS 😆
Now everything is ready for finishing
And then it was time to put this all together
I think it weight about 10 kg and was so bulky, I couldn’t get a proper photoshoot 😆
I also made a custom case for it. Really fancy, but it doubled the combined weight 🤦♂️
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