Name: John Haigis
Hometown: Tolland, Connecticut
Guitar: Beheaded Deacon
A collaboration at my friend’s well-equipped workshop was nixed immediately, mainly due to my health, but also because his free time became limited, since his schedule was occupied with his full-time job and his project of building a house. As a result, the teamwork/consulting was going to have to take place via email.
My friend started me off with a very nice neck-blank sandwich of walnut and maple (from a tree that fell across one of our mountain-bike trails—bonus!) and a severely warped neck that was the donor for the fretboard and truss rod.
Ready for some headless hammer-ons.
I planned to copy a Traveler Ultra-Light Edge, which has an ingeniously designed tuning configuration and two-layer plywood body. But, by the time I finished carving the neck, I had decided that I would not be happy with a guitar body as small as the Traveler. I needed something more shapely and comfortable. The Ovation Breadwinner/Deacon shape won over a Klein Headless or Abasi Larada, both close runners-up.
The body took much longer to make than I anticipated. The in-body tuner arrangement is ideal for CNC fabrication, but it required a lot of planning and skill to make by hand. The body consists of two ¾″-thick pieces of plywood, so it was very convenient to chamber the insides before gluing them together. I mixed my own wipe-on polyurethane and added artist oil paint for a translucent tint. The finish was delayed by a month of frustration with inferior solvents due to new state VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) laws. My health limits my driving to only a few miles at a time, so I had to wait a couple of weeks until an anonymous helper could do a “moonshiner run” to a neighboring state for the good stuff (cue “Red Barchetta,” or more like “Blue Honda Fit!”).
“The body is lightweight, resonant, well-balanced, and very comfortable in both casual and classical playing positions.”
The circuit consists of a volume pot with a treble-bleed filter and a flush-mounted toggle switch for selecting single-, series-, or parallel-coils. The bare aluminum pieces (string-anchor headpiece, humbucker surround, string-roller mounts, and engine-turned neck plate and cavity covers) were made by hand using aluminum scraps. The volume knob is aluminum and zebra wood.
I am very happy with the result. The body is lightweight, resonant, well-balanced, and very comfortable in both casual and classical playing positions. It sounds great, and I love the translucent red color that accentuates the plywood contours. Although I didn’t get to make sawdust with my friend, he gave me plenty of advice during the process, and the neck is made from materials that he contributed, so I consider that a success.
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Guitar: Alameda Clam Shack
I've always been the kind of guy who likes to put existing things together in unique ways. Take, for instance, my band, Meshugga Beach Party—we play traditional Jewish melodies in the instrumental-surf-music style. Who knew surf and yiddishe melodies would go together like bagel and lox? Needless to say, we’re the world’s premier Jewish surf music act—which is easy to say when you’re the only one doing it!
I started modding guitars in the early ’90s, with some mods coming out successfully and others, monstrosities. Two highlights are a Kay Upbeat hollowbody with a Tele neck, three P-90s, and a Jazzmaster tremolo; and my Jazzmaster with a middle pickup and a Jaguar mute. After decades of modding, I decided to try my hand at all-original guitar and pickup designs. I named my little business after the town I lived in at the time—Alameda, California.
Enter the Alameda Clam Shack guitar! I've always liked the pitch travel of a Strat tremolo but have never been able to get along with Strats, between having difficulty palm-muting and rolling the volume down constantly. So, I decided to use a Strat trem, but with a separate bridge. I use a Vega-Trem tremolo because they’re awesome, have a really smooth feel, and return to pitch even on my goofy guitar. I also designed my own pickups, which I call Off Kiltertrons. It’s an asymmetrical, dual-bobbin, multi-coil design, which, in conjunction with a 6-position rotary switch, gives the pickups six unique voices—three single-coil and three humbucking. The voices are produced by turning on and off different parts of the pickup coils; no fancy schmancy tricks here. Finally, I also create my own “tortoid” pickguards which have depth to the tort to give a more vintage look than modern tortoise-shell guards. I also make left-handed versions, because, while I’m a lefty who plays right-handed, I feel for my fellow southpaws. And why “Clam Shack?” Well, you try and come up with a name for a guitar that hasn’t already been used. Besides, I’ve never been accused of being cool, so why even bother with a cool name? Also, what’s not to love about a clam shack?
I’ve never been accused of being cool, so why even bother with a cool name? Also, what’s not to love about a clam shack?
As for my Off Kiltertrons, I started by putting them in Gretsch guitars, hence the name. I wanted to make a pickup that could sound like a Filtertron and a Dynasonic. The wiring and switching required to accomplish that led to the four other voices in there. I now make them in several formats, including Jazzmaster, Gibby HBs, and P-90, with others underway. I’m also working on a version for bass.
While making guitars and pickups that I like, I really enjoy seeing how players with drastically different styles use my guitars and pickups in ways I wouldn’t have even dreamed up. I guess my creativity in designing opens up creativity in the player’s mind. So, my life has meaning. At least that’s what I tell myself.
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