by Rees Shad | Feb 16, 2021 | Big Ideas, Guitars, Videos
Roeboy Ampersand Guitar One SM
So in 2019 I found an old arch top guitar hanging BY A HOOK in an old junk shop. The back and face split in several places, the back coming off and the sides misshapen. That hook through the headstock and deep pits in the ebony fretboard should have told me to walk away. But the inlay in the fretboard was unique, and I’m a fan of English history… so the name, while unfamiliar as a brand name made me wonder… $35 later and it came home with me. The neck was the width of a baseball bat’s business end, and mysteries clattering came from its inner depths.
I hung it on my office wall and promised I would have a go at gluing it back together. I did a bit of research and discovered this guitar was a 1930s Cromwell. It was a “house guitar” made for merchant shops by Gibson. Cheaper and less refined then their more expensive Gibson brethren, house guitars filled out stock and made for attainable starter guitars.
They often shared designs and materials, but had less time spent on them in refining those materials.
Anyway, then I took Nick Lenski’s luthier class, and figured maybe I could do more than simply glue the guitar together again. Showing it to Nick and fellow Luthier Steve Sauve got some great ideas and inspired me to open the Cromwell up and see about a rebuild…
But then I really got a wild hair and decided to rebuild it into something more than a luthier practice project….
I have built several amps and electrics over the years. Always slapping or branding the name “Roeboy!” on the final product as my signature. But what if I started making an effort to rework unplayable and destroyed instruments into new and wonderful instruments? Thus was born the “&” project. The ampersand signifying a combining of things new and old to reuse, repurpose, and most importantly make music with.
So here is the guitar from before to now… it’s been a fun challenge!
More Ampersands are in my future for sure.
by Rees Shad | Jan 18, 2019 | Electronics, Guitars
Joe Cunningham’s Roeboy Customized Gibson LP “Zoso”
In 2008 When I first started teaching at Hostos, The then dean of facilities Steve Delgado introduced me to an outbuilding full of interesting tools and people, none more interesting than my friend Joe Cunningham. Over the years Joe has been the guy I could call up and ask for help finding the right tool for a job, who to most effectively beg for LED bulbs when we wanted to reduce heat build-up in studio rooms, and where to get the best BBQ in Putnam county where we both lived. I even brought him an old Alamo amp that the laminate birch was falling off of, and he replaced the laminate entirely, turning an old harmonica amp into a piece of art. As thanks, I found an old 2nd Gibson Robot Les Paul online that had been stripped for parts, and I renovated it into a heavy-duty rock and roll guitar with vintage 60s electronics.
The wiring template I built along with some Pickups that were donated by my pal Scott Marcus when I rewired his Melody Maker
I always sign my work under the cover plate
The autotune tuners had been harvested before I got the axe, but the serial number is for real, and I put in the cool vintage grovers. Hefty for extra sustain!
Snake wood accents give the plain matt finish some class
Re-fret job with fatter 70s era frets and added a micro-tuning saddle for primo intonation
Joe and his new guitar
by Rees Shad | Jan 2, 2019 | Electronics, Guitars, Music, Videos
After the 2016 Earthquakes in Ecuador some Hostos colleagues and I organized a concert to raise relief funds for the victims. Here’s a snippet of my set that night, playing with the magnificent John Arrucci and his band.
Oh, by the way, that’s a Roeboy! telecaster style build I’m playing going through a Roeboy! Deluxe… loving the tone that night.
I also built a stratocaster style axe called the Roeboy! Palamino Shad-o-caster which we raffled off that night. Here’s a picture of that guitar:
The Roeyboy! Palamino Shad-o-Caster
