Front Garden - Driveway steps

A break from the back garden to build steps down from the drive. A job I'd been meaning to do for about a year since we had the drive put in!

Garden-Phase2 Complete

Finally got the fence finished, took a bit longer than planned but pleased with end result. Cheers to Rich for giving up his saturdays to help, see ya on fri to get your kitchen finished. Next job is to get the raised bed cleared and lay a concrete base ready for the workshop.

MetallicA

Oh Yeah, Wembley here we come! Ordered my tickets to see the MetallicA boys today! How excited am I! Roll on July 8th.

Garden-Phase2B

Well Saturday was here, and so was Rich, bit later than planned due to running round after some phantom parcel (that was his excuse anyway;). Although the weather could have been better after a cup of coffee we were raring to go and things started off much better. Although it was annoying last week spending time trying to decide the best way to go about things, at least now we had a plan and we could get straight into it. We got the first panel between the posts we managed to get done last week just to give us some added enthusiasm, and set about the next hole and post. I had borrowed a big hammer drill with a chisel from my dad which made it much easier to get through the path. Things were going pretty well, untill we got to the last post! Rich had got about a foot down with the hole when he decided that there was a root in the way that he couldn't get through with the spade. When we had a closer look though it turns out that it was not a root but some kind of cable! What it's for we're not sure but we think it may be a mains supply, so we don't really want to mess with it (although I did try an get Rich to poke it with a metal pole while standing in a puddle!) but it's right where the post has to go! By now it was gettin darker again and the weather was damp and so were our spirits so we decided to sleep on it and decide what we're going to do! Overall it was a much better day and if it wasn't for the damn cable we would have got finished. Oh well, Least we didn't go through it like we did in Richs kitchen!

Garden-Phase2a

As you can see Rich did come back and we set about gettin on with it. We marked all our positions out and started digging the next post. We had the same problem as before with the path and when we realised the post was in slightly the wrong place and we had to move it, it didn't really help our moods but we did it. Then we had the problem that the garden is on a slight slope (which isn't really noticeable to the eye) and we couldn't agree what was the best thing to do about it and kept confusing each other with our ideas. In the end we sorted it out but by then it was dark and cold so we decided to call it a day and try again on sat. So after our day of hard work we had the grand total of two posts in place which was a little dissapointing but hopefully things should go better this sat. Good job were not working for someone else or I think we would be looking for new jobs buddy!

Garden-Phase2

Rich came over early on sat and we made a start on the fence posts. Due to me being ill we had to start by clearing the rest of the area, but that didn't take too long. So we were off to a good start and feeling pretty good, but not for long! Why is it when you think that a job is going to be pretty straightforward and go relatively well it always turns into problems?! Thats exactly wot happened, we had got the area nicely cleared and went about deciding where to put our first post, and thats when our problems began. We started digging an after what must of only been about two inches we hit the tarmac. Turns out there used to be a path there which is now so overgrown it just looked like mud and weeds. Anyway we used a metal spike kindly donated by a neighbour and managed to break through the tarmac and hardcore and finished the job off. We put the post in and levelled it up then concreted it in. Our spirits were slightly dampened but at least we had a post in. Unfortunately it was 12o'clock by then and Richy had to go off for a bit but promised he would be back!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICH

Happy Birthday buddy have a good one. Only another year to the big four 0!!!;)

Garden-Phase 1

Made a bit of progress. The old greenhouse is now gone, it took a while as it was very old (30 years according to my neighbour) and the nuts and bolts were well stuck together and the glass was very brittle. Managed to get it down in a day without breaking too many panes and dug its foundations out. Another problem that I had was at the back of our garden is a disused path which is well overgrown with vicious brambles that slowed my progress as I had to cut them down as I went along but its all clear now. Got rid of the old plastic mesh fence and had a general tidy up of the area. Then a trip to the dump on sun,(thanks dad for the help) to get rid of the old greenhouse and other rubbish. On sat Rich and I went an got the fence posts and gravel boards. I had underestimated the weight and length of them but we managed. Cheers buddy. Got the other side to clear now and then Rich is gonna come back and help get the fence up!.

Pics to follow.

Change Of Plan!!

No work has been done on the project for a while mainly due to the weather and time. I have now turned my attentions to our garden. It has got very tatty and had an unused greenhouse at the bottom which has got into a delapidated state with broken glass(not the ideal garden when we have baby Layla). Anyway the plan now is that i'm going to fence along the back of the garden and up the side and build a workshop at the bottom in place of the old greenhouse. I will then be able to pick up the guitar project again along with other projects with somewhere dry and warm to work. I know this is soundng like the end of the guitar thing (and some people I know will be thinking they knew I wouldn't see it through) but it won't be and I hope to pick it back up sooner rather than later, especially as Rich has offered his help. (no getting out of it now mate its in print haha!) Anyway i will post my progress an hope to make a big start this weekend. fingers x'd!

Found this scratchplate on the net which I think is pretty cool although its a bit pricey but could maybe do a design for the guitar that would fit with this?!

Guitar Project-Day4

Happy New Year!

Finally got round to doing some more, its been quite a while now. I had two weeks off over christmas and had all these plans of what I was going to get up to. Would of probably needed two years to do it all and as usual with these great ideas I did pretty much none of them, although I did manage to get the kitchen doors done finally which hopefully got me in the good books with Rach! Apart from that I had a nice chilled out time instead so Im not complaining. Anyway back to the guitar I have now stripped all the paint off and given it a rough sand over. It was a right pain getting the paint off round the horns for some reason but a bit of swearing and elbow grease got the job done. Im really not keen on the look of the wood, its got a lot of black in it so I think that unless I go for a dark stain it wont look any good, but now Im at the stage where I need to come up with ideas for the finish or once again the project will come to a stand still.

Happy 30th To Me

It was my 30th on Sat so Happy Birthday to me and a big thankyou to Rach, Mum&Dad for organising my party, Ma-in-law & Martin for blowing up all the balloons! Also thanks to all family and mates for coming and making it a cracking day.

Guitar Project-Day3

Not much time so just done a little bit, gotta keep the motivation or it will never get finished! Made a start on the front. Paint was coming off a bit easier or maybe just because I was expectin hard work this time it seemed it.

Guitar Project-Day 2

Ok made a start on the paint stripping. I used nitromors and started on the back just in case it didn't work too well but it seems to have done the job. I don't know why because I knew that the finish was hard wearing but it took a bit more elbow grease than I was hoping, I had this stupid idea that the stripper would go on and the paint would blister and peel straight off! (wishful thinkin). Now that the worst of it is off I will move onto the front and then the give the whole body a sand down. The wood is not lookin too great on the back an I imagine it will be the same all the way thru to the front so may need to start thinkin bout a paint finish.

Today is my daughter Layla's 1 month birthday.

Happy 1 month Baby L.

Love Mum & Dad

Guitar Project-Day 1

I have made a small start on the project. I have not decided yet what look or finish I am going to go for but I have a few ideas. I am going to strip the body of all its original paint so I can see what the wood is like underneath. I imagine that it will be shocking due to the price I paid for it but you never know(yeah rite). If its decent I may consider staining it but will wait and see. What I have done so far is strip the guitar of all its parts and separate the neck ready for paint stripping which I have a feeling is going to be a pain to get off. Not a great deal done but better than nothing.

Guitar Project - Before

Guitar Project - Intro

The title gives it away but I am finally getting round to start a project I've been thinking about for some time. About 15 years ago I bought my first guitar, (I had dreams of being the next James Hetfield) unfortunately as I was only about 14 I didn't have any money so the ESP Explorer I wanted was just gonna have to wait. It turned out that the only way I was gonna be able to get a guitar and set on my way to rock and roll stardom was to buy one out of my mums catalogue and pay monthly (very rock and roll!) so what I ended up with was a bright red Sunn Mustang which was a Fender Strat copy, but it was cool and I finally had a guitar and it wasn't long before me and my mates were thrashing it out in a band, well kind of but at that time none of us could actually play an just spent most of our time posing.

I eventually got myself some lessons and over the years gradually improved and saved up an bought myself a new guitar a black Gibson Explorer,still my favourite. I now have several guitars an although the dream of being the next Hetfield was never achieved I still enjoy playing.

Anyway the point of this blog is that I wanted to get a cheap guitar and try my hand at refurbishing it and I really wanted to do a Les Paul shape but so far have not found a suitable specimen for the price I wanted to pay. I still have my original Strat copy an over the years it has taken a bit of a battering and some cosmetic customizing so thought I would give it a spruce up and see what happens. I don't know how long it will take an whether I will even ever finish it but it seems a good idea and a bit of fun. I am gonna try and post pics and put down what I am doing as I do it. I have never done anything like this before so I will be learning as I go along.