Car-themed guitar build

My road trip buddy Denny is a "MoPar or No Car" guy- he has a 1972 Dodge 340 Challenger that he races and is slowly restoring. He is the king of camping chefs on our road trips (he brings all the food and does all the cooking), so I thought I'd build him a MoPar-themed guitar that he can hang in his shop or man cave as thanks.



It'll have a basswood body with an older MoPar parts & accessories logo applied to the front, a StewMac 'lipstick' pickup, Fender Duo-Sonic bridge, and a roasted maple neck.




I've ordered a dash emblem insert for the headstock, and printed a small "340 FOUR BARREL" sticker for the neck plate on the back.



Should be a fun project and hopefully a big surprise.

 

Hey, if there's any knobs that go on this one, maybe kinda neat to have the knobs sticking through the center of the 340 stickers

 

GENIUS! I love it! And I just happen to have a set of knobs that fit perfectly:



Thanks for the inspiration buddy.

 

Crap, you've got more inspiration than I'll ever have. I only had a thought. Just one. Any more and I get dangerous.

 

A little progress today:

 

Controls & cable routes done, and edges rounded over:

 

Neck and bridge mounted to check scale length and string alignment:

 

Applied Zinnser primer/sealer to body and Arm-R-Seal oil/poly on neck. The Challenger logo also arrived for the headstock:

 

The Challenger plate finishes it off nicely

 

Neck is done. Finished with Arm-R-Seal oil/poly and buffed with 0000 steel wool. Body painted Hemi orange:

 

I don't see any "0000"s from the steel wool - did you lose them?

 

Mocking up a couple things; full face pickguard with print is next:

 

Great friendly message on the bolt on neck plate.

 

Thanks. My buddy Denny & I worked together for 20 years, and have been on several road trips over the years; around 10,000 miles total.

 

Pickguard cut out and routed:

 

Print applied to pickguard:

 

Mocked up with a few parts. Wiring the electronics and final assembly next:

 

All done. I'm delivering it on Sunday when I go down to watch the NASCAR Richmond race.; hope he likes it.

 

Richmond? Virginia?

 

That would be a hell of a road trip! I should have said "when I go down to watch the race at his place". He's about 60 miles from me, with a big screen TV and a bar in his shop.