sanding the v guitar

Body before and after sanding and scrap of painted mahogany.

Will the sanding ever end? Session No. 3 on the Flying V kit involved a palm sized power sander to flatten wood plugs on the body. Two holes remain for the bridge. Now you can’t feel the plugs. You can see them, but they’ll be hidden when the guitar is finished. Kevin, of TNV Custom Guitars, tells me the body came with grain sealer so the next step was to sand the body – 400, then 1200 grit sandpaper to make it smooth for painting. I pushed the paper all over the V to make it smooth. It will eventually be army green. We tested paint on a scrap of mahogany. Next session, we’ll spray clear coat on the scrap to make sure it’ll work and mock up the guitar before we paint the body.

my aussie tenor

I have never been to Jupiter Creek, Australia, but I own the guitar, a tenor guitar. I bought it about 10 years ago on Ebay. One of the attractions was the large Australian penny embedded in the body. I’ve always been intrigued by tenors – four strings, sometimes tuned like the high four of a six-string but there are many tunings. Vintage ones are expensive and rare, like the Gibson played by Neko Case. The one I bought was relatively cheap. I recently had it cleaned and set up. It plays like a charm. I finally learned its origin story. It was handmade by Rob Dick which makes me love it even more. If memory serves, the seller said it was the first tenor Rob made. I wish I could ask him.  

amp in my pocket

It may not look like it, but this is a guitar amp, a Fender Mustang Micro. You plug it into your instrument, attach headphones, the kind with a cord, and play. There’s more. The four switches on the side provide a plethora of tones – classic amp characteristics plus effects such as distortion and tremolo. It’s tiny. It fits in your pocket. Am I impressed? You bet. I had a Pavlov’s dog response when I saw a demo on YouTube. I began to salivate and ran out and bought one. Fender didn’t pay me to write this. They got to me through their influencers. Fender and their competitors typically distribute free stuff to content hungry YouTubers. In turn, they spew forth generally positive endorsements. In this case, well deserved.