Rustbuckets and Relics
These guitars are lightweight, fun to make and lose nothing in tone to their more “sophisticated” brothers
Rustbuckets and Relics
These guitars are lightweight, fun to make and lose nothing in tone to their more “sophisticated” brothers
I make these guitars from old galvanised corrugated iron sheets found in sheds and farms. Some of it can be about 100 years old.
I roll the sheets flat and , because the steel is stiffer and thinner than other types, the guitars are very light weight for a metal body. For instance the single cone weighs just 3.3 kilos (7.2 pounds)
The guitar on the right is actually a tricone which weighs just a bit more.
You can have both single cones and tricones with traditional “F”holes, 3 slots per side or grilles and my special domed tricone coverplate.
A Rustbucket Tricone (yes, there is three cones under the cover!) with an experimental short scale of 635mm (24 27/32").
All other tricones that I know of have a scale around 25.5" or 648mm.
The result?
Well, it's definitely easier to play and the sound is not very different at all. Maybe a bit "softer" or less steely. I'm keen to make more but it means a fair bit of messing with my existing tooling so there is a bit more work involved.
pics by Andy Rasheed