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Octo-Fish​

Four fleeing catfish and a clam-shell eyed flounder in the arms of the red octopus.

Model 008-91

• Weight:  7.25 lbs.
• Scale Length:  25 1/2 in.
• Hardware:  Gotoh sealed tuners; 3-way pickup selector; master tone/volume controls; Telecaster-style pickups.
• Materials:  2 piece catalpa body; maple neck with ebony fingerboard; inlayed clamshell fish eyes; acrylic paint under clear lacquer. 
• Completed in 1995

  The clamshell eyes are echoed by the abalone-capped control knobs.

Deep sea headstock

Jay Hostettler at Stewart-Macdonald gave me some catalpa they'd been working with. It's a nice light wood, mostly easy to carve, and very musical. I cut the shell for the eyes from clams I got out of Lake Erie.  A nice set up for a real twang king.
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This is my first guitar made from catalpa. It’s a tree that’s easy to ID in Ohio and thereabouts because it has large seed pods that look like giant green beans. It’s a very lightweight and tone-full wood. Carving is a bit tricky as it has bands of dense and softer wood so sometimes the details break down. It’s worth it though, as it makes a good sounding instrument and you can give it a thick body without it becoming too heavy.

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