All Tomorrow's Guitars

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All Tomorrow's Guitars All Tomorrow's Guitars is where I share my love of guitars. I am not a luthier.

I'm just a guy who likes to make pretty things, and how much better when they are not only functional, but fill the heart with song, and the soul with joy as well!

Having fully scratched the itch with the old Japanese electrics, I briefly caught the curiosity bug over vintage MIJ aco...
09/04/2026

Having fully scratched the itch with the old Japanese electrics, I briefly caught the curiosity bug over vintage MIJ acoustics. A little digging turned up a Morris WD30 from the early '70s, a Dove copy. It was in good shape overall, just needed cleaning. Dreadnaughts are a bit big for me to play all the time, but it sounds super sweet, and being so different than my other acoustics, it inspires me to play differently. I just love it. The gorgeous polished bone saddle was cracking and I bought a replacement, but it was too wide front-to-back for the slot. I could lower a saddle, or reduce side-to-side width, but I couldn't imagine my old hands evenly reducing the saddle all the way across for the slot without screwing up the intonation, so shout out to Gillian at LoCo Guitar Works on 3rd who fit it for me.

Early in 2026, I was wanting to build another guitar. Then I fell in lust with a partscaster and got it cheap, probably ...
08/10/2026

Early in 2026, I was wanting to build another guitar. Then I fell in lust with a partscaster and got it cheap, probably 'cause the neck was utter garbage. I bought a roasted maple neck from a veterans group here in the US, and proceeded to strip the poly finish and restain it, and finish it with shellac. Just doing that bit of sanding showed me why I don't need to make any more guitars, though that was the urge that had me looking in the first place. But it turned out beautifully, and I'm really happy with it. It's a basic Fender C-shape, and I ordered a 9.5" radius and 42mm nut, which is what's on the old Teisco and feels so good. Good choice here as well; this is the best playing neck I've ever done. I think the rest of the guitar is mostly Guitar Fe**sh parts. The pickups are really nice, and they are the best coil-splits I've heard. Very versatile, with no volume drop-off. I have clear/abalone strat-style k***s on it now; these pics were taken prior.

The aforementioned Teisco. This is the crown jewel, the grand prize for my the fruitless flipping. It dates to early-mid...
08/10/2026

The aforementioned Teisco. This is the crown jewel, the grand prize for my the fruitless flipping. It dates to early-mid sixties, before Kawai bought Teisco. No truss rod, just three strips of maple make the neck, and it's rock solid. Holds tune for days. Slightest bit of back-bow starting, but not deadly yet. Brazilian rosewood fretboard. Body is solid Honduran mahogany. The small body makes it feel small, but it's a full 25 1/2" scale length, and best of all, unlike so many of these old guitars, you can intonate with the adjustable bridge.
But it's greater than the sum of the parts. There is just something about it that is magic. It sustains forever, and grundges out with the best of oil-stained garage floors. It has the soul of the sixties, and the heart of rock and roll, still beating sixty-plus years later. I'm amazed every time I play it.

Last November, Retail Therapy was part of a fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees, and an old Teisco Tulip came in, and it w...
07/25/2026

Last November, Retail Therapy was part of a fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees, and an old Teisco Tulip came in, and it was shot. The electronics were bad and it was crusty dusty. But it cleaned right up, fixed right up, and tuned right up, ready to rock and roll. I thought I had a rarity; I couldn't find any record of a white version. Finally realized, duh, it was a refin, and a really old one at that, and now had a nice sun-yellowed patina. Not a treasure, but still cool, and with a really great sounding pickup.
Well, that started a sleigh ride all winter long. I lost count how many old and filthy Japanese guitars I bought, fixed up, and flipped, but it was at least six, maybe seven or eight, counting the two I kept and the one that's still up on Reverb.
I finally scratched that itch, I'm done, but I did find the dream Teisco. It's an early one, no truss rod, solid mahogany body and rosewood fretboard, sunburst finish. It actually intonates, which most of them don't, and it stinking rocks. Apparently, I don't have pics of that one, so, stay tuned, more to come sometime soon.

By the summer of '24, there was a profound twist in the neck and a radically shrunken fretboard on the Purple LP. That's...
07/25/2026

By the summer of '24, there was a profound twist in the neck and a radically shrunken fretboard on the Purple LP. That's what a forty dollar neck from China would get ya circa 2000. The body was problematic to begin with, which I guess is why it had been on clearance, and no neck on the market actually fit them. . . and I had bought three of them. What deal.
So, after deep meditation, I got out the saw and started hacking away at it. Cutting the neck off was easy, but cutting the glued heel out of the pocket was another matter. I did have pics, but they are gone now, I guess. Took a week or so cutting and filing to restore the pocket, and my shoulders and wrists were not happy. But it felt good to see progress.
Got another cheap Chinese neck, they are eighty bucks now. It fit just as poorly; these bodies have mis-aligned veneer, so you have to create your own center line. Then, the bridge placement is wonky, which is my doing. In the end, I got a neck fitted, but it's as off-kilter as they come. I should have reshaped the neck pocket. Best use scenario now is to ditch the low E, and just play it in open G. Sure is purty, though. Maybe I'll turn it into a clock.

The green strat-shaped object was finished around March of '24. My third build's finish (the orange strat-shaped object ...
07/01/2026

The green strat-shaped object was finished around March of '24. My third build's finish (the orange strat-shaped object ATG 003) was starting to wear thin, as it was pretty thin to begin with. I took it apart and sanded it lightly, then refinished it for real with shellac under poly. Turned out super-nice; kinda hard to show in pics, but here's a few.
That was so fun, some time that summer, I think, I took the archtop ATG 002 apart and refinished it as well. I didn't think to take pics until I went to sell it this year, and forgot to shoot the sides, which is a drag, 'cause they were gorgeous, but you get the idea. . . The archtop sold, the strat-thing is now available in my booth at Retail Therapy.

Holy cat gut strings, it's only been five years and a few days since I last posted here. I took a break from socially me...
06/28/2026

Holy cat gut strings, it's only been five years and a few days since I last posted here. I took a break from socially mediating digitally speaking, had a failed spinal fusion and near-death experience followed by multiple save-my-life surgeries in 2022, fun stuff like liver failure and pancreatitis from massive antibiotics, broken ribs and the requisite pneumonia, a successful though touchy full spinal fusion in 2023, and then fu***ng blood pressure meds I didn't need like to killed me. Anyway, I'm back now.
I have continued to do occasional guitar work, though not at my previous pace, and decided it was time to bring this post up to date. One at a time, from time to time.
I bought this at a pawn-shop in the fall of '24, just a basic black POS notastratocaster. Finished sometime that winter. It actually was a failed Squire, rebuilt by MRIC music recyclers. It seemed really good, had a great neck, though the fretboard was full of cracks. I couldn't figure out why it had been recycled. Later, during the refinishing, I discovered why: the interior had been totally punched through at the factory, and MRIC used Flex Tape and Flex Seal to patch it up!
Anyway, photos don't capture how bright the paint job is. It was gorgeous, and I thought with the mirror pickguard and chrome k***s it was hot. Played great.
It sold at my booth at Retail Therapy Vendor Market; a fine young man saved every penny he had to get his first guitar. I was happy to make him an awesome deal.

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