In/around October/November 2005 I had just moved to the Seattle area (Everett) and spent a lot of my weekends buying guitar parts and guitar projects from the now defunct "Hot Lixx Music". This was the kind of shop most *serious* guitar players would shy away from because it really looked like the Sanford and Sons of guitar shops. Random stuff all over the place, a madman in the back room building guitars and pedals for sale, and lost of cool stuff everywhere if you really paid attention and looked. I bought pretty much a lot of their parts out, including an entire stack of bodies for $50 - many of which I still have. One of these purchases was this red Rogue (Harmony) H804 for $25.

The original plan was to keep the guitar stock, and make a "Viral Video" with it called the "Testybum Signature Guitar" - a play on the then well known (and often ridiculed) "Esteban Signature Guitar" - a series of cheap acoustic and solidbody electric guitars being hocked by a white American man passing himself off as a Spanish Flamenco Guitar Wizard. And while he could play really really well, every single commercial was the same cheesy and cheeky stuff when he stepped outside his wheelhouse (flamenco)...."This is a rock guitar" (proceeds to play the worlds most generic G-C-D-C 1-3-5 chord progression with the alternating 5th/6th). So anyway, I wanted to parody it because i'd been a bit annoyed by people asking me about them, and I knew they were crap, but I also knew there was a chance they'd be turning up in my midst at some point - like these old Harmony H802/803/804s did.

Over the course of 2005-2010 the guitar was a subject of many odd experiments and modifications. Later on in 2006 it got a Lawrence XL500 humbucker (same one as in the Van-Halen II Jaguar) put in the bridge position, and it was made switchable between the original H804 2-single coil configuration, and the XL500, or a combination of all three. THis guitar was used to play "outlands" on my 2006 demo, and was also used for a YouTube video called "Junk Guitar Jammin'" which was another early demo done in WA. The guitar was later used for "Chemical Imbalance" as well in 2009. Eventually it was taken apart with plans to rebuild yet again, this time in 2016 as a modified version of the H802. in that time, it changed from the original neck (which had a bad upbow the Truss Rod could not fix), to a Arbor strat neck (which the headstock got smacked off of), and later, it got the neck on my Memphis 302HB strat I got as a wedding gift.

In 2016, the guitar was stripped down, and had a pair of Harmony H802 pickups put in it (Anti-foils as I call them), and a 3-way switch, put on a Paul-Dean-Style anti-scratch pickguard made by me. Later on, after moving to another state, the pickguard and pickups were put on the ill-fated 2183, and the 2183 electronics were installed on this one. Later on, the H802 pickup was pulled out and a B.C. Rich Bronze Series Warlock Humbucker was put in the bridge position, it was used for my 2021 BandLab record in this incarnation. I can't tell too much of the story as to what happened next but the 2183 had to be replaced as it was my wife's favorite and this guitar is basically the same instrument. The problem was, the 2183 was a little bit lighter, but I knew of ways I could lighten this one up even more. And that's where the basis of this build begins.

The first thing that was done was the entire guitar was taken apart, the body stripped of most of the Magic Marker experimental finish. Then a router was used to cut the humbucker cavity into a big square, where a piece of oak, fir, or whatever wood that was, would fill the pickup cavity. I did not even need to do more than sand the edges and it almost fit perfectly with just enough room to use some toothpicks to fill in the gaps. Also, the divider between the original 2 pickup routs was knocked out to reduce weight, and some of the routing was cleaned up. Then a small section on the upper treble side was cut to make way for the phase and series/parallel switches - which were a set of incorrect size slide switches from my Jagmaster project. The body was then sanded to 320 grit, and wood filler used to fill as much grain, dents, and divots as possible after letting the filler-block for the humbucker cavity dry for 24 hours (I used Titebond II for that - as usual). Then we started the heavy coating process of Krylon Colormaxx Navy Blue. I also had a can of Royal Blue, originally thinking of doing a blue version of the old Danelectro black starfield-like paintjob as seen on the U2, 1449, Pro-1, and others. But My wife liked the color so much, I deemed to keep it the Navy blue. The B*** of the matter though was finding another can of that color during the work week, so I waited until the weekend, and then Lowes had it on sale for $2.71 a can, so I snagged 2 cans.

My refin process was basically this. Sand the body with 80 grit to remove all the unwanted finish and smooth out edges, and even do some impromptu body sculpting. Then use 320 grit to smoothing things out and level them out and prepare for the first coats. Then fill with wood filler, occasionally using TiteBond II and toothpicks to fill in excess holes and other problem areas, let all that dry 24 hours. Cut the toothpicks, sand one more time, fill in any more found gaps post-glue-dry with wood filler, then sand flat using sandpaper or a sanding block by hand, 320 grit usually. Then we start with the paint after I attach a stick into the neck pocket to use to hold the guitar lazy-suzan style on the patio ledge with a clamp. The quick release on the clamp is used to flip the guitar over after each coat. Krylon Colormaxx says 1 minute between coats - or 15 minutes between IIRC. So I just coat it every minute, because by the time I'm done with one side, the other one is ready for the next coat. Once I've used up the whole can - I recycle the can and let the body dry for a week!

Once the body is dry, I sand, fill in any more gaps with wood-filler, and do the same paint process again. I find each time, the quality and gloss of the finish gets substantially better and better. After all three cans are used up, I'll likely let it sit yet another week, and then wet sand up to 4000 grit, then use automotive polishes to finish the finish out. In between coats, any drips or runs are sanded out as well.

The finishing touches were the pickups from the broken 2813 guitar, ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic my Jaguar originally came with, plexiglass pickguard, strat knobs, and stock-ish wiring. I have provisions for two more slide switches on the upper corner of the pickguard, which were originally going to be for Phase and Series/Parallel, but I have since dumped that idea but might bring it back.

My wife's biggest critique was the neck, which to her just does not match the looks of the guitar. This has me considering replacing the neck with something quite a bit better...the same Chinese neck my Jagmaster has, since they're still being made right now. A blocks and Binding Mustang/Jaguar neck. So then that pointy neck will go to something else, not sure what yet, but I'm sure I can come up with something. I also think the Shortscale is better.