Old News

They say everything old is new; then again, they also say that everything new is just long-forgotten old. Old News is both old and new simultaneously.

It started with the challenge to incorporate more reclaimed woods into my work. The body was originally oak floor planking from old european rail cars. Decades of hard use have infused them with an undeniable mojo, not to mention beetle holes, iron stains, and a surprising amount of gravel. The density of that old white oak necessitated a slim and svelte shape; its enduring strength enabled it.

The neck is Canadian elm rescued from a broken-down old piano. I like to think it still retains a musical soul, so it seemed fitting to be reincarnated as part of another musical instrument. That neck is topped with a short-scale (622mm) fretboard of iron-hard santa-maria wood, recovered from a large plank that washed ashore in Belize, and fitted with stainless steel frets and a two-way truss rod.

But other elements are brand new: Old News utilizes two of my new in-house-made pickups, with laser-cut wood bobbins, alnico bar magnets, and individually adjustable polepieces. A clever switch arrangement allows use of each pickup individually, or both in series. The rest of the hardware is all top-quality Gotoh pieces.