Blertles, I'm not sure about the thickness of the maple laminate... I'll hazard a guess and say it's as thin as they could possibly make it, as it's mainly for appearances. I suspect that the maple also allowed them to get away with more in the alder part of the body — as far as I can tell the body on mine is made of four (!) sections, judging by the extremely faint depressions running along the body if I hold it angled to the light in a certain way. The fact that I can see any "sinking" along those seams is another reason I think that the maple is quite thin. The join is hidden by the edges of the sunburst — it'll be a solid black around the rim of the body, protected by the bulletproof finish of the day.

And if you peer very, very closely, you will see the visage of the Blessed Virgin gazing upon you with benisons and a special prayer on your behalf for bitchin' riffs.

A lovely story many years ago where I sort of came in contact with Elvis well not directly but as close as it was meant to be. In early 1977 I had a childhood sweetheart, a most beautiful soul being 17 she was only 13 so it was a pure love. She later became a model and fashion designer and we once planned to get married when she was older but .....shes resting in peace now Amen. I got to know her when I was 14 and she was 10, at that age she was always all over me, her brother became my best friend and eventually we formed our band Drops Of Light years later. I loved her a lot and relished going over after school and hanging out with her and her brother and helping her with homework which she hated, anyway in 1977 I went to visit as usual and walked in their door to this amazing screaming match between her and her mother. When I asked what was going on she said Elvis Presely rang 3 times and her mother hung up in his face 3 times. She had entered a contest about 6 months before his death where he would call the winner and she won it. It took days for peace to come back to her home but that is an incredible little true story about my baby and Elvis.

What do you do for a crust mondo, you live near Bondi Beach ? nice, can't wait for summer. I work in a little shed, my office hahahahahaha. Its small 5 x 5 feet and has a little table where I place my guitars on and fiddle. Next to it on a small bench is 2 cases full of tools and bits. Behind the table is stacked with plastic wrappings and folded guitar parts cartons. In the night I turn a candle on in there as there is no electricity and fiddle more hahahahhahaha. Am beginning to like the little aluminium tin shed as all these creative guitar ideas and designs hit me in there. I did my first truss rod tonight and thank God the rod worked and wasn't broken, it straightened the neck perfectly so all I need to do now is raise the saddles a little which isnt easy as the bridge is too low, am not going to attack the body which is one alternative, shaving some wood off the neck pocket or the actual bottom of neck so I have decided to just put some thin steel under the saddles as they have been screwed up to maximum height. Some say loosen strings when adjusting truss rod and others say dont leave them tight. Initially I did loosen them but as it straightened I then tightened the strings and slowly continued to turn to the right as the guitar faces you vertically and saw the neck go arrow straight before my eyes. Do not ever do that with a bass always loosen the bass strings first I believe as the tension is too great. An idiot snapped my truss rod in my ripper bass years ago by not loosening the strings first.

Great pictures Blertles! Thank you for sharing them.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

You look great Blerties and love the car too, that face in picture cvilleira is weirdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd !!!!! aliens have landed.

Do you work for the NZ tourist board? Shots like this make me think you want your country filled with foriegners



Some stunning landscape. LOTR didnt do the place justice. Hobbiton and the shire look like the countryside around north worcestershire near where i grew up. Pretty to the end but nothing like those open vista's of NZ.

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No no and no

Great pics Blertles. Thanks for the welcome Vinny, you say you are on facebook...hunt me up or anyone here for that matter (facebook Jimmie June) (myspace Manjha) if any look up Jimmie June on myspace you will find some songs i wrote and recorded (but before you do a few things 1. I was working with cakewalk and anything on a PC i cant get to work right 2. i cant sing but needed it 3. i did all the guitar work but for drums i used a perset in a zoom707 so i had to make sure any songs i did didnt change beat 4. all the songs suck but my son made the account and put them on there) . Anyhow on the myspace and facebook its like here i dont post much i cant spell or type so i dont do it often. but i do have some pics of two of my strats on there ( i have read what to do here but again if it comes to anything to do on a PC...im lost)

Great Pics Blertles! Hey Vinny I friended you on facebook now you must do twitter. Also if you want to have your own streaming online show go to ustream.com instant vinnypop fans by the millions.....build it and they will come. I am going to start with a half hour once or twice a week...I'll keep ya updated

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Your Fender HSS Standard Stratocaster in Electron Blue was made at the Fender Ensenada Plant in Mexico in the Year: 2008.
Final Assembly Date: July 30th, 2008
Model Number: 013 4700 587
Serial # MZ8031252

Put your finger on your nose gently and now breathe slowly in and out in and out. Goodmorning world helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Hi to all my friends and newbies around the world and in Australia. Its cold this morning. Big huggs to all my dear friends including Trauma blerties niki hopkins orville frantic manhja,deadahead twelvebarblues ceri mondo87 woody87 cvilleira and all here. I nned to wake up and visit the guitar shed what will we see in there today. Trauma thats fantastic but I doubt the world wants to know me am happy to be here with you and others hahahhahahahaha millions of people in the Vinny Pop Band wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww brb need a coffee.

Hey, vinnypop... I'm an animator by trade; medical stuff for the most part. I spend a lot of my time moving little 3D blobs around and trying to make them behave in aesthetically pleasing yet scientifically accurate ways for biology textbooks in the U.S.

Years ago I was a stop-motion animator in a blacked-out shed with permanently sore knees... I know what can happen in a shed! I wish I could go back to that state, but I have since acquired a family... heh. I liked building the characters and sets, shooting the film and then recording the soundtrack. I prefer old things to new; I'm a little jaded by all the computer work I've been doing in recent years. Good thing I have a guitar!

I haven't felt like posting this before, but here's an old film I made... three minutes, or 100 feet of 16 mm goodness. You may like its theme: None Before Me

I've always loved that Bach Chaconne, and I had planned to make more animations as I learned to play the rest of the piece. That story fit perfectly over the middle movement, which of course I can no longer play... heh. Move that into the extremely long-term goal basket, I guess.

I don't live near Bondi as such, but it'd only be a short drive to any beach in Sydney from Leichhardt (where I do live). You'd know it, it's Sydney's Little Italy! Mrs mondo is as Italian as they come, so we seem to fit in well around here.

That is TOO Cool Mondo!! Great work my friend!

Thanks, fhopkins, you're very kind. I used to be good at quite a few things... I hope I still am, but if so I won't realise it for another ten years!

You are very talented mondo brilliant stuff and we do live close Im situated near Drummoyne. Am waiting for my Custom shop 62 RI USA 2005 Model hahahahhahahaha just the loaded body as soon as it comes will whack the 93 USA neck on it. I can hear all of you drewl and salivate. lol

Hey thanks for the feedback guys- I work for Telecom NZ over here. I think Lotr was filmed around the South Island,- some in North Island- (esp. The Two Towers) though it does look similar around the Central Plateu where I took the shots of the mountains.. Its very beautiful there- I knew it was going to be a nice drive, but I was even amazed at the scenery myself. Another one is The Lion, Witch & the Wadrobe that was filmed here.

It reminded me of a bloke who I met up in Queensland- He was wanting to travel to NZ for a holiday- I asked him why. He said it was because it was beatiful over here.
I told him that Australia has a very big backyard and it was just as beautiful there. You never know what you are going to find in your own country. Im not going to try and tell you not to come here- but you will be surprised at what you will find on your back doorstep. I urge everyone to go exploring in your own countries and also abroad- I say that because I have been to many countries and saw poverty living under corrugated tin and living in slums. But I have never made it to the South Island of gods own. Its great to see your own country- It gives you a sense of national pride and thankfulness you live in a beautiful place.

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I would be pretty angry if my mother hung up on elvis! Congrats on the new guitar vinny.