I've seen Steve seasick's hubcap guitar and a few others. The hubcap guitar must be a very difficult instrument to make.
A good friend of mine is interested at the task. I have no idea how one would go about getting the neck on..or in. There are so many very nice hubcaps and very few hubcap guitars...if anyone has made one I'd appreciate hearing your story ...
There seems to be smaller hubcaps that are used...A pair usually somewhat falter and low so the neck comes up to meet the top of the hub.
There's also the type of hubcap guitar that sits in an acoustic guitar body like a dobro...also cool.
The kind I'm interested in hearing about mainly are the metal hubs that join together...but either or..
Seems daunting to get a neck in between the hubs and I've seen round necks...a few square ...hardly fretted. So few. So tough looking and by tough I mean awesome!
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I took the easy way out on my Hubcap build as it was built from a 15" Hudson cap and just made a back out of 3/4" pine that the neck is attached to and screwed the cap to the board.
davey > Thomas "Duck" PetryFebruary 17, 2015 at 1:07pm
Very nice! Does it have any electrics or is it acoustic? How does it sound? I've done similar myself with a gas can guitar - made a wooden 'chassis' which took the neck and slipped inside the can, thus the can didn't need to do anything structural - just had to look nice and sound nice :-)
Hi everyone. Interesting posts - some nice guitars taking shape there!
I'm davey - I made Seasick's first hubcap guitar (the Morris Minor one). It's a rough copy of the original I made for myself. And yes - they were thrown together :-)
The first one was made in my back garden out of bits and pieces I had lying around and didn't know what to do with - mainly car parts, but also my wife's broomstick - she's still not best pleased about that.
When I finished it, I kinda thought Steve might like it too (he's an old friend so I kinda know his likes). So, I made the second one for him - slightly different construction to mine and a little beefed up as I know how he (mis)treats his guitars. I took more care on Steve's one - spent most of a weekend outside in the sun building that one :-) Oh, and I 'borrowed' the wife's replacement broom for it's handle again. She's still not best pleased about that either!
I've often wondered if anyone made anything similar before me, seems so obvious, but I can't find anything out there.
Steve made his own copy of my hubcap guitar a while back when he was in the states and needed an instrument fast. That one uses Hudson hubcaps, one given to him by Jack White.
More recently I've made a couple more hubcap guitars - a spare for Steve, and a copy for a friend. I also made Steve's 'Scrap-o-caster' guitar, which he later modified by switching to old Harmony Rocket electrics and a Dano neck.
Anyways, I love the care spent on the creations here, and I love that the thrown together nature of the originals is appreciated for what it is.
I think it's better to build your own way, using hubcaps that you like, the number of strings you find most comfortable with etc. But if anyone has any questions about Steve's originals do let me know and I'll try and help out :-)
I'm hoping no one minds if I jump in here and ask a question, but this seems like the right venue. I am about to start on a hubcap guitar, and I was wondering if I could leave it open-backed like a banjo. Has anyone tried this? Or would it sound better if I used two hubcaps or built a back? Thanks!
OK, I'll jump in here. I'm behind on my pictures and haven't had a lot of time to get on the site lately, but here's a picture of my hubcap build. We have a good friend that plays Dobro (and many other things) and I always give him a bunch of static about how they were just an acoustic guitar with a hub cap on the front, so as a Christmas present I built him this three string from an old Hudson cap I picked up at the LA Roadster Show & Swap Meet last Father's day. Has a piezo pickup inside and the volume pot has a tire valve cap for the knob. Quiet acoustically but it barks nicely through an amp.
Might give you some ideas. I made a through neck as per usual. The only difference is the amount of relief you need to build in so you can get the fingerboard up over the hubcap. In the last pic in the album you can see that the bottom hubcap is simply bolted into the thru neck from underneath and you can see where the strings feed thru.
Replies
I took the easy way out on my Hubcap build as it was built from a 15" Hudson cap and just made a back out of 3/4" pine that the neck is attached to and screwed the cap to the board.
Very nice! Does it have any electrics or is it acoustic? How does it sound? I've done similar myself with a gas can guitar - made a wooden 'chassis' which took the neck and slipped inside the can, thus the can didn't need to do anything structural - just had to look nice and sound nice :-)
I have a bottle cap Piezo under the bridge and the volume pot uses a brass tire valve cap for the knob.
Hi everyone. Interesting posts - some nice guitars taking shape there!
I'm davey - I made Seasick's first hubcap guitar (the Morris Minor one). It's a rough copy of the original I made for myself. And yes - they were thrown together :-)
The first one was made in my back garden out of bits and pieces I had lying around and didn't know what to do with - mainly car parts, but also my wife's broomstick - she's still not best pleased about that.
When I finished it, I kinda thought Steve might like it too (he's an old friend so I kinda know his likes). So, I made the second one for him - slightly different construction to mine and a little beefed up as I know how he (mis)treats his guitars. I took more care on Steve's one - spent most of a weekend outside in the sun building that one :-) Oh, and I 'borrowed' the wife's replacement broom for it's handle again. She's still not best pleased about that either!
I've often wondered if anyone made anything similar before me, seems so obvious, but I can't find anything out there.
Steve made his own copy of my hubcap guitar a while back when he was in the states and needed an instrument fast. That one uses Hudson hubcaps, one given to him by Jack White.
More recently I've made a couple more hubcap guitars - a spare for Steve, and a copy for a friend. I also made Steve's 'Scrap-o-caster' guitar, which he later modified by switching to old Harmony Rocket electrics and a Dano neck.
Anyways, I love the care spent on the creations here, and I love that the thrown together nature of the originals is appreciated for what it is.
I think it's better to build your own way, using hubcaps that you like, the number of strings you find most comfortable with etc. But if anyone has any questions about Steve's originals do let me know and I'll try and help out :-)
All the best, davey.
I'm hoping no one minds if I jump in here and ask a question, but this seems like the right venue. I am about to start on a hubcap guitar, and I was wondering if I could leave it open-backed like a banjo. Has anyone tried this? Or would it sound better if I used two hubcaps or built a back? Thanks!
OK, I'll jump in here. I'm behind on my pictures and haven't had a lot of time to get on the site lately, but here's a picture of my hubcap build. We have a good friend that plays Dobro (and many other things) and I always give him a bunch of static about how they were just an acoustic guitar with a hub cap on the front, so as a Christmas present I built him this three string from an old Hudson cap I picked up at the LA Roadster Show & Swap Meet last Father's day. Has a piezo pickup inside and the volume pot has a tire valve cap for the knob. Quiet acoustically but it barks nicely through an amp.
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/albums/blind-gee-035-futura
Might give you some ideas. I made a through neck as per usual. The only difference is the amount of relief you need to build in so you can get the fingerboard up over the hubcap. In the last pic in the album you can see that the bottom hubcap is simply bolted into the thru neck from underneath and you can see where the strings feed thru.
You can hear this one here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk2gBEGK9Ug
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