the Outlaw

 here is a semi-hollow-acoustic-electric-guitar-mandolin-archtop-doubleneck (the Outlaw for short) i made in 2009 for brian of the Knotwells.

 

 this instrument is called "the outlaw" because the original guitar body was used to smash the security camera in a pawn shop robbery. the head was broken off and the lower bout of the bass side was busted out.

this turned out to be perfect for my purposes. i would need to cut away the entire bass side anyway, and i wanted both headstocks to be of my own design.

 i started by removing the bass side and back almost to the edge of the blocks, and by cutting a scarf joint for the new guitar head. i saved as much of the binding as i could.

the mandolin portion is mostly solidbody. i glued in stacked pine boards with holes drilled through to lower weight. the neck block itself is mahogany. the four sticks inside the body are for gluing in linings. the top patch is oak, not a match but the grain lined up decently.

 the guitar fingerboard is the original. i inlayed the mando fingerboard to match. both are rosewood, as are the bridges. the mando bridge has a piezo under-saddle pickup going to a pre-amp.

 the necks and bass side and back are all mahogany. the rest of the body is the original plywood.

 

 i was hoping the new wood and laquer would darken up over time. i also didn't get to take photos until after it got nice and dinged up.

 the headcaps are bookmatched cherry i picked from a scrap bin while visiting seattle. the guitar tuners are from an old electra.

i also built a case since one wasn't available in this shape anywhere. walking into a club with a case like this always gets people wondering what's inside.

 this is the main guitar used on our recording "the highway won't hide you".  the mandolin parts were recorded with a gibson 1910's a-style.