Mini4

Headless 4 string

One day...

I was the only pasenger on the bus heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.

so I started chatting with the driver

He was more than willing
After a few pleasantries, he looked in the mirror again to see what I was holding. After a glance, he asked, "What have you got on that guitar, is it a drive-in-movie speaker?" (It was the bulky Harmony Bass in the picture to the left) I said, "No, but that's a really good idea!" After that, I was on eBay every day, searching for drive-in-movie speakers from the 1940s and 1950s. They are beautiful in every way. The first guitar that I made with one was sold to a European traveller less than a week after it went on consignment at Rogue Music.
image

When I had time...

I made more of them
But none of them are quite as pleasing to look at as the headless Mini4 is. One of the finer aspects of it is the way that the tuning machines are hidden inside the enclosure. Normally on headless guitars, there is some sort of pully wheel system where the strings wrap around to go back to the tuners, but I like the way the speaker is shaped so I used it as a path for the strings to slide on for tuning.

out of many, one.

E Pluribus Unum was once the motto of the United States of America and references the fact that the cohesive single nation was formed as the result of the thirteen smaller colonies joining together.

Materials:

  • Neck

    16" scale
    Toy guitar neck I never had the guitar this was on. I scored it on eBay. It needed frets.
  • Body

    Cast Aluminum
    1940s drive-in movie speaker enclosure.
  • Bridge

    floating
    trapeze style
  • Pickup

    Hum-bucker
    unknown brand
  • Amplifier

    TEA 2030A
    It's the same circuit as the vintage Harmony PowerPal but it was made recently in China on a compact Printed Circuit Board and sold through eBay. I just love the sound of a Harmony PowerPal to begin with, but when you run them on Lithium rechargeable batteries at 12v. they sound marvelous. The battery is built-in and is charged through a port on the side.

First "test drive" video

#stayhome

May 14, 2020 at 3:25am

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#driveinmoviespeaker #guitar #stayathome

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May 14, 2020 at 3:56pm

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#driveinmoviespeakers

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May 15, 2020 at 2:15pm

May 20, 2020 at 10:49am