Behold, Bubbles & Bones!

Behold, Bubbles & Bones, a guitar built in celebration of the best grooming shop and doggie bakery on Earth—Bubbles & Bones in Riverdale, NJ!

This guitar was a challenge to build. There were a lot of firsts for me—first set neck, first bridge/tailpiece installation, first three-selector wiring—and there were several missteps and re-dos. The end result is a guitar that sounds great and plays well, but looks a bit funky.

The Good

The humbucking pickups are surprisingly powerful and quiet. (I finally soldered correctly!) The guitar looks pretty good. The dog image (“Otter”) looks great and I like how the inside of his ears are nearly purple. Bubbles & Bones features a red mahogany back and neck, clear headstock (with a sharp signature!), and a robin’s egg-blue stained quilted maple top (The flamed maple top didn’t take the stain very well and I should have sanded it down more in the prep stage.)

The Not-So-Good

The set neck is a teeny bit off, but that counts for a lot in guitar building. The stop tailpiece is crooked (measure twice, drill once!) What did I expect: you set the neck crooked and you get a crooked tailpiece.

There’s a drip in the clear top coat near the selector switch. A drop of water landed on the back upper bout while B&B was drying outside, and caused a blemish. The nut is a bit too wide. I messed up the strap pin install and had to patch the hole. There are dents on the front of the body and chips on the stop tailpiece from shoddy installation.

The End Result

This guitar is heavy, weighing in at 7.5 lbs! This was a difficult yet rewarding build. I learned a lot and look forward to another Les Paul-style build! The next one will be easy-peasy!