Terry Farmer's "Homebuilt"

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 14 Aug 2005 4:55 am

Terry's Shorty ...

This is how I remember it ...

Danny James · Post by **Danny James** » 14 Aug 2005 5:25 am

Wow! Terry & Rick thats some fine looking workmanship. The two sets of rollers look like thy should solve any string breakage problems. It's amazing what a person can do once they set their minds to it. Keep up the good work guys.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 14 Aug 2005 7:15 am

Now THAT's a steel!

Jan Hess · Post by **Jan Hess** » 14 Aug 2005 7:22 am

Rick &Terry! Beautiful, as well as easy stowing!

Looks both retro & modern.Very nice...Sorry, I had to stop & wipe the drool off my chin....The tuning head setup is an excellent solution for the size reduction needed. A LOOKER too!!

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<pre>Soundhound</pre>

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 14 Aug 2005 7:26 am

Just stunning, guys.
Is that MOTS on the top?
What did you use for the fret markers?

Where's the sound clip???

Jay

Terry Farmer · Post by **Terry Farmer** » 14 Aug 2005 7:31 am

Hi Folks,
First I want to offer some thanks. Thanbks to B0B for making this wonderful forum possible so we can share things like this. I'm sending him a $10 contribution and I challenge all forumites to do the same. thanks to Rick Aiello for posting these pics and offering support throughout the process. Thanks to my good friend Joe Delaronde for being a friend and offering ideas and support always. Ok now the steel.

It started out as an idea for an air travel steel, something that would be easy to put in the overhead bin and not worry about. Mission accomplished. It's 22.5" scale, Grover mini rotomatics, fretboard is imitation pearl with hematite fretmarkers, pickup is a solid mounted Lollar/Aiello H-Shoe. I can't praise this pickup enough! It weighs 16 lbs. It tunes easily. I furnished Rick Aiello a mother of the design and he cast the body for me. Thanks again!

The big question was whether or not the tuners would be in the way of the bar hand. The answer is no. They are far enough below the strings that there is no interference at all. It plays and sounds better than any of my other steels. I'm really happy with the results. Two wooden models of the design are in the works.

Kris Oka · Post by **Kris Oka** » 14 Aug 2005 7:32 am

Terry and Rick. Absolutely beautiful design and workmanship. Polished aluminum sides too. And compact enough to put in airline overhead compartments. Throw in a Roland MicroCube and will travel. Sound clips Please.

Terry Farmer · Post by **Terry Farmer** » 14 Aug 2005 7:40 am

Jay, I worked on a sound clip but I just couldn't get happy with the results. You'll just have to take my word that it sounds great. Good string seperation. Crisp. Sustains forever. You can't go wrong with a Lollar/Aiello pickup. The horseshoes are mild to HOT, (I used the hot one for this project) and he's working on a new version as we speak!

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 14 Aug 2005 8:13 am

Terry and Rick ...

That rascal's "all Terry" ...

All I did was Pack ...

And Pour ...

Just tryin' to "expunge my debt" ...

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Aiello's House of Gauss


My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

Stephan Miller · Post by **Stephan Miller** » 14 Aug 2005 9:29 am

Terry-- wow! Very impressive design and appearance. How short is this little guy? --Steve

Jon Moen · Post by **Jon Moen** » 14 Aug 2005 11:58 am

Are there any photos or info on how the machine head cavity was milled or routed out?

Jon

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 14 Aug 2005 2:52 pm

Jon ... since I'm workin' on the "Boobpan" as we speak ... I snapped a few pictures.

Terry has the same milling machine as me ... he was instrumental in me gettin' mine. He didn't want to see any more "missin digits" ...

Here were my first two "deep cuts" ...

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Aiello's House of Gauss


My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

Denny Turner · Post by **Denny Turner** » 14 Aug 2005 3:18 pm

Absolutely stunning. A trophy of the spirit and being of ingenuity, perserverance, finesse, craftsmanship / art and execution. (*bows deeply*).

Aloha,
DT~

Terry Farmer · Post by **Terry Farmer** » 14 Aug 2005 4:06 pm

Thanks for all the nice comments, folks. Like Rick said, I cut all the cavities and fret slots with a mill. A picture of my machine can be found here; http://freefilehosting.net/bin/?id=pNz3ka0=
I still haven't been able to figure out how to get it on the forum. I had a bad experience with a router and urged Rick to go the mill route. Joe Delaronde, Canadian steel guitar player/builder, friend and machinest extroidinaire got me started with the mill. they are surprisingly inexpensive these days. Jay, the fretboard material can be found here; http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/pickguards/pickguards.cfm?fuseaction=guitar_pickgua rds_main I used the w/b/w .090 vinyl. I used one sheet but had to do it in two on the guitar. I hid the joint under a fret. The markers are hematite stones. Your local gemstone supplier is a treasure trove for fretmarkers. In fact, the rollers are actually chrome plated brass jewelry beads and can be found at the same jewelry makers supplier. Stephan, the finished length is 24.5". This guitar plays and sounds way better than any of my other steels. In fact, better than any steel I've ever played. My challenge now is to spend more time practicing and less on building so next time I won't be embarrassed to include a soundclip. One of these days I'll retire and have plenty of time for all of these endeavors. God bless you all. [This message was edited by Terry Farmer on 14 August 2005 at 05:10 PM.]

Jesse Pearson · Post by **Jesse Pearson** » 14 Aug 2005 6:20 pm

Wow, just came by for a gander and I just gotta say that this is one nice steel. You guys never cease to amaze me. Great work!

Bill Creller · Post by **Bill Creller** » 14 Aug 2005 6:44 pm

Great job you guys. I know how much effort it takes to build guitars.
BILL

Mike D · Post by **Mike D** » 14 Aug 2005 6:48 pm

Wow! Machined 'arruminum', MOTS and a big 'ol 'Rick' pick-em-up!. What could be sweeter!

Congrats Terry!
You too Rick.

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Half-assed bottleneck and lap slide player. Full-assed Builder of resonator instruments.

Bruno Rasmussen · Post by **Bruno Rasmussen** » 14 Aug 2005 10:46 pm

Terry – I’m equally impressed and inspired. When I see this beautiful little “machine” of yours, I sure wish I had the tools for working with metal. I like your way of thinking. Very innovative and very inspiring! Pearl and shiny aluminium – nice combination.

Bruno

Harry Dietrich · Post by **Harry Dietrich** » 15 Aug 2005 5:19 am

Truly.....the age of the craftsman has not yet passed!

Joel Newman · Post by **Joel Newman** » 15 Aug 2005 6:03 am

Amazing!!!!You guys, wow! See, this is why I love this forum so much. You get to see such yankee ingenuity! Whoa, yeah so I echo the above post . . .sound samples??

Robbie Bossert · Post by **Robbie Bossert** » 15 Aug 2005 7:31 am

That is SOOOOOOOOOOOO cool! Nice job guys!

Robbie Bossert

Kris Oka · Post by **Kris Oka** » 15 Aug 2005 8:04 am

Hey Rick, I don't know if you remembered your last thread: Dustpans, The Next Generation and you mentioned you did most of the work by hand and didn't have a milling machine. I thought, the Man has got great hands and never thought if he might be missing a few fingers. Now, you got the power tools to keep your hands safe. Keep up the good work.

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 15 Aug 2005 8:24 am

and that reminds me of a little story.....but I'll tell the story at Joliet.

Wonderful work and collaboration. This forum is terrific. Many talented folks come together both in building and playing, combining their skills and offering the results to the world.

It's like The Justice League of America where all of the super powers come together.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 15 Aug 2005 8:24 am

Hee hee ...

It's Terry that had a "run-in" with a router ...

To be totaly honest ... I had to get the milling machine.

I cast the Dustpans thicker this time 'round ... and hand held routers that I had used for the first two "batches" ... couldn't get down deep enough to install the pots.

I just got it a week or so ago ...

Terry helped me with things like ... collets vs. end mill holders vs. drill chucks, etc.

Its pretty fun ...

The safety aspect of the Milling Machine was the big buyin' point ... when it was first mentioned to "Da Boss" (my wife) ...

My right hand was crushed playin' high school football ... so I only have use of my thumb and index finger (thats why I only use my thumb and a single finger pick) ...

So if I lost the only good finger of my right hand ... my ability to change diapers would be compromised ...

And she couldn't have that ...

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Aiello's House of Gauss


My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

Joe Delaronde · Post by **Joe Delaronde** » 15 Aug 2005 10:45 am

That's the shortest 22 1/2" steel in the world.
Challenge! Can anyone make a shorter one with the same scale????????
Terry.I got a seeecret!
Joe
[This message was edited by Joe Delaronde on 15 August 2005 at 11:46 AM.]