I need to make life easier. to

kevinpaul said:
Robert are you going to be making the beautiful Von Herndon guitars to sell to people like me?
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Well, Kevin, you know with OCD/ODD you never get a short answer....right??? :)

Funny thing about the Von Herndon guitars. I never really intended to sell them at all. I started by building a 24.75" Strat-style for myself and I had B.Hefner put the Von Herndon lettering on it. I let a guy play it. He liked it and asked me to make him one. That's how the entire Von Herndon thing started. I made 25 guitars total under that name - the double neck was number 26 - and all were built and purchased by local studio guitarists and players in and around So Cal.

Now the Telecaster style guitars were a story in and unto themselves. I know a studio guitarist who was complaining one day about the "razor thin" neck on a studio rental Telecaster. I remember he said, "When these guitars (Telecasters) came out, they had a real neck. They have become a joke with these kid's size necks. Wish they would have made a Tele crossed with a Les Paul." I did some research and realized that he was referring to the early fender 'U' profile, which was around 1" all the way from the 12th to the 1st fret. So, I cooked up a design, based on the 'U' profile neck, using a Les Paul style set neck with 12" radius and 24.75" scale. That became what I call a StageCrafter, of which 8 were produced.

I had most of the raw material work done under contract by B.Hefner in Whittier, California, some work done by Halo Guitars in Nor Cal, some work done by a private Luthier and I put the finishing touches on all of them here in my home workshop. Before I send one to its home, I play it quite a bit, double check intonation, action, relief, etc., to make sure it arrives 100% ready to play - in my experience, studio musicians absolutely demand this level of accuracy.

Now, all of the Von Herndon's have been sold except for the last 3 StageCratfers. One is being built as a gift for Marty Stuart and the remaining two still need some fretwork and the coil taps wired in....
 
BlackSG91 said:
They are great Blues Session 5!:wink: I really like the auto-trim feature which is a bonus. The high gear ratio gives you better tolerance when tuning to correct pitch. I would imagine they make tuners for Gibson style head stocks as well. Planet Waves have an assortment of real useful guitar related products...just Google it when you get the chance. I bet your Godin Progression Strat is dying for a set like these. It just makes changing strings so much easier and quicker especially if you're on stage and need a quick fix real bad.


;>)/
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Session 5 said:
(y)


I have now heard about these a couple of times now, I like what I see from the video. Something to consider for sure. I like Planet Waves , they make descent guitar products, I believe they have the D'Addario line as well. I use the Planet Wave cables.
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I have a Planet Waves Basketweave Strap for my Gibson SG. Nice stuff. Planet Waves cables are good too, but check out Monoprice cables. I paid $14 for a 10 footer with 90° gold plated ends, duwl conductors with shields and heavy, 8mm jackets,

I like wide (slow) ratio tuning keys. I used a Grover version of the Gibson Green Keys on my Double Neck, but when I built the Von Herndon's for others, I used things I would never use on my own guitars, like locking tuners and Schaller straplocks.
 
syscokid said:
You actually mean a "high ratio", right?

The higher the ratio, the slower the string post will rotate compared to the rotation off the tuner button.
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I guess from my background in cars and aviation, we always referred to a "slow" Gearbox/Jackshaft/Control Cable Yoke as having a "wide ratio," and a rear end gear with a high numerical ratio being a "low ratio." For example, in the old front engine Top Fuel cars, like the Tim Beebe/Jim "The Zookeeper" Mulligan's "Fighting Irish" they preferred a "loose" steering gear (lots of turns of the D-ring to few degrees of wheel movement) which we all called a "wide ratio" steering gear, but I believe you are correct.

I like lots of turns of the knob to give me very few turns of the string post....that way I can sneak up on pitch...
 
Robert Herndon said:
I guess from my background in cars and aviation, we always referred to a "slow" Gearbox/Jackshaft/Control Cable Yoke as having a "wide ratio," and a rear end gear with a high numerical ratio being a "low ratio." For example, in the old front engine Top Fuel cars, like the Tim Beebe/Jim "The Zookeeper" Mulligan's "Fighting Irish" they preferred a "loose" steering gear (lots of turns of the D-ring to few degrees of wheel movement) which we all called a "wide ratio" steering gear, but I believe you are correct.

I like lots of turns of the knob to give me very few turns of the string post....that way I can sneak up on pitch...
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That is why I use DIN 960 and 961 10.9 hex head bolts and DIN 912 12.9 SHCS on my motorcycle repairs. I can't tap from a coarse to a fine thread. I do a bit of gas welding. I has the weird tread on my old Jaguars and Mini's . Like a 1/2-12 and not 1/2-13. One place has them in Shanon Ireland. They know they are the only show in any town.
 
Robert Herndon said:
I have a Planet Waves Basketweave Strap for my Gibson SG. Nice stuff. Planet Waves cables are good too, but check out Monoprice cables. I paid $14 for a 10 footer with 90° gold plated ends, duwl conductors with shields and heavy, 8mm jackets,

I like wide (slow) ratio tuning keys. I used a Grover version of the Gibson Green Keys on my Double Neck, but when I built the Von Herndon's for others, I used things I would never use on my own guitars, like locking tuners and Schaller straplocks.
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Yes , I know some guys that use Grover tuners. I will look into the Monoprice cables, not sure if they carry that Brand here in Canada. I have a Planet Waves locking strap on my Strat works well.
 
Session 5 said:
Yes , I know some guys that use Grover tuners. I will look into the Monoprice cables, not sure if they carry that Brand here in Canada. I have a Planet Waves locking strap on my Strat works well.
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I have a Monoprice 15 watt amp. I love it and I sold my Vox AC 15 because I only need one amp in that power range. I fixed it up but nothing more than I would do to any amp that is a keeper.
 
kevinpaul said:
That is why I use DIN 960 and 961 10.9 hex head bolts and DIN 912 12.9 SHCS on my motorcycle repairs. I can't tap from a coarse to a fine thread. I do a bit of gas welding. I has the weird tread on my old Jaguars and Mini's . Like a 1/2-12 and not 1/2-13. One place has them in Shanon Ireland. They know they are the only show in any town.
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I still have Whitworth wrenches from my Austin-Healy days!
 
British car days had the high points when the tow truck came and low ones too. Like when it started to rain you would have to sleep in the car overnight.
 
Session 5 said:
Yes , I know some guys that use Grover tuners. I will look into the Monoprice cables, not sure if they carry that Brand here in Canada. I have a Planet Waves locking strap on my Strat works well.
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Session 5 said:
Yes , I know some guys that use Grover tuners. I will look into the Monoprice cables, not sure if they carry that Brand here in Canada. I have a Planet Waves locking strap on my Strat works well.
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For the Von Herndon Tele's I bought 8 sets of locking tuners from Art of Tone in Ventura, California.

Stagecrafter Tuners.jpg

They came in a bulk box imprinted 0974-010 Schaller Made in Germany with some Schaller paperwork inside.

Very good quality and seem to hold tuning well.

I got a great deal on 8 sets of Schaller Straplocks from them at the same time...
 
Robert Herndon said:
For the Von Herndon Tele's I bought 8 sets of locking tuners from Art of Tone in Ventura, California.

View attachment 11910

They came in a bulk box imprinted 0974-010 Schaller Made in Germany with some Schaller paperwork inside.

Very good quality and seem to hold tuning well.

I got a great deal on 8 sets of Schaller Straplocks from them at the same time...
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Those are nice looking tuners, for sure top notch Quality.
 
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