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Permalink Reply by Tim Latham on January 13, 2013 at 2:49pm

I've been staring at the old Ford hubcap that we use to use for a dog bowl a long time thinking it would work.  Thanks for showing how to do it.  Hope you don't mind but this build will make my to do list.  Sounds really good.  Thanks for sharing.

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Permalink Reply by Don Goguen on January 13, 2013 at 3:06pm

I don't mind a bit.  Here is a picture of the neck detail. 

The hardest part of this build was getting the many years of road off of it with a buffing wheel.  If you want more pictures there are some on my site Little Box Guitars Ford

Otherwise it is a pretty dead simple build.  The tail piece uses 3 screws with one on the strap button. They go into the bottom of the neck and are pretty much all that holds the hub cap to the neck.  The hole in the hubcap is a friction fit and pretty much ensures everything stays in place.  The bridge is a mandolin bridge.  To fit it, you just lay some sand paper on the surface of the hub cap where you want it and sand it down to fit.  From there it was just a bunch of ruler calculations for height as to where to cut and how much.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on January 14, 2013 at 3:20am

And when you're done playin', you can flip it over, and make popcorn, or roast a hobo steak (weiner) over the fire! No dishes to clean, if you let yer dawg lick the "bowl."

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 13, 2013 at 4:14pm

yum yum . 

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on January 15, 2013 at 4:03am

Wow, that thing sounds fantastic! Excellent job. Sure don't have to worry about the head getting loose either do you?? NIce playin' as well.

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Permalink Reply by Don Goguen on January 15, 2013 at 4:15am

Thanks Bruce

You are kind but my embarrassing slide playing has prompted me to order Keni's CD.  Not looking to advanced past hack status but would like to figure out slide past the rudimentary form so poorly displayed in the video.

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Permalink Reply by Lou "cubancigar2000" on January 16, 2013 at 3:54am

I am a banjo player so I love the sound of this instrument. Thx for sharing

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Permalink Reply by Swamp Dawg Primal Music on January 16, 2013 at 9:13am

really nice, like the one on google+!

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Permalink Reply by Don Goguen on January 16, 2013 at 9:43am

Hey Swamp Dawg, you know the rule of fight club is we don't talk about fight club.

Thanks,

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Permalink Reply by Cedar Creek Strings on January 16, 2013 at 4:36pm

A piece of art. Not just to the eye, but to the ear. I'm going to add it to my to to list, also.

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Permalink Reply by Don Goguen on January 16, 2013 at 4:48pm

Then just a note about picking a hubcap.  I banged the thunked a bunch of them.  One thing that was of note with this old ford truck cap was the concentric marks.  This was spun much the same way a resonator cone is.  It is heavier but not too heavy.  Rigid enough to hold up to string tension but still ring out.  It was the way this cap was made that made me choose it over the pile I looked through.  Because it came from a truck many of this style were pretty beat up. 

It was a fun build.  Hope you enjoy yours.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Rose on January 17, 2013 at 1:58pm

That sounds great!

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