Chippy's origin story goes back to the late 20-teens. One evening I had left this body in a woodworking vise, in my basement shop, lightly clamped as I had just prepped for tolex rim material application by first sizing with a coat of hide glue and would continue the following morning. When I came into the shop the next day the body was standing upright on the cement floor. I did a double take, wondering if I had left it there. When I picked it up, I noticed the chip on the lower bout near the rim. I did not bother to confront either of my elementary school age children about this. Maybe the guitar jumped out of the vise under its own power, did a little dance, and sat itself upright on its rim. I decided to build it out as a test guitar for different pickups. At the time I had a 2-way truss rod neck that was maxed out with just a bit too much relief. I used an accidental guard that was mistakenly cut with satin acrylic and stuck the neck pickup you see in it now. I built it out as much as I could with parts that were not going to be used otherwise. And it was wonderful. Over the years I added a white bridge pickup to keep a bit of the look it had as a single pickup guitar. I've decorated it a bit with extra vinyl flowers from one of my daughter's room decoration ideas. Mailbox lettered name on the back. I made a clear acrylic banjo arm rest so as not to hide its namesake chip. But my oldest child is heading off to college now and every penny counts so I've re-necked Chippy with a lovely new neck and I'm offering it up for sale. Regarding the new neck, I'm no longer doing 2-way truss rods. I prefer the vintage style one way rod and though they are more expensive to make, since they are what I use on my higher end guitars, too, it just makes since to use them on all my instruments. There is a mineral stain on the back of this neck, which suits Chippy just fine. Chippy has developed a bit of its own fanbase so I'm hoping some folks might jump at the opportunity to snag this fun guitar and embrace it for what it is. For those who can't quite embrace the chip I've cut a tolex piece that fits under the clear arm rest. Danelectro did something similar with tolex under clear pickguards. It matches the rims, too, and looks snazzy! Check all photos below.
1-way vintage style truss-rod with spoke wheel heel adjustment
Indian RW fingerboard w/ pearl dots, 25.5" scale, 9.5" radius
Hard Rock Maple neck
Swamp Ash thinline core
High Pressure Laminate top and back, white sand w/ grained texture
Tolex covering on rims
Alnico 3 custom "Formvar '53" style pickup set. Slant neck PU without elevator plate. Straight bridge PU with elevator plate.
Top Loading Descendant Prototype BCB bridge
Vintage style Kluson tuners
Satin Acrylic pickguard
Gig bag