gluing in a set neck and first fun with letter-cutting

090413

Welcome to the first workshop diary from Crimson Guitars in way too long!  I apologise, but there are a few good (enough) reasons for my distraction.. watch the video below to get the full low-down in person!

so.. everything is changing and in the short term I’m going to be spending a little more time than I would like in meetings and looking at potential workshops but the end result will be a much more streamlined production at Crimson Guitars.. finally :)

1 strengthening up the side of the control cavity

A few veneers and some copper is glued inside the control cavity wall of the Claro walnut guitar.

2 the jack and MIDI sockets are mounted directly into the sides of the guitar

The jack and MIDI outputs are mounted directly into the wood of the cavity, hence the strengthening, but the end result will look very much better than having nuts hanging out over the edge..

3 time to attempt letter cutting for the first time

Now after more than a decade of building bespoke guitars you wouldn’t think… Continue reading

let the Claro Walnut dust fly.. and we have some new guitar building tools

040313

Welcome to the Crimson Guitars luthiery blog, here you will be able to watch each and every process that goes into making a custom guitar and we are now also developing our own comprehensive range of guitar builders tools and jigs, for far too long we in the UK have had to rely on improvising or importing our specialist luthiery tools and that is now coming to an end.

the new luthiers three corner fret crowning file from Crimson Guitars

This weeks new addition to our range of fretwork tools is this traditional triangular fret crowning file, a top quality file that is precision ground with safe edges so that you do not damage your fret-board as you profile your frets.  These are now available to buy here in our store.

The Claro Walnut les paul build is nearing completion

Now, the custom guitar that is currently on my bench (and has been for far too long since we’re also filming the entire build!) is the Claro… Continue reading

a brass inlay, add some ebony and you’re golden

Welcome to the Crimson Guitars workshop blog where you can watch every boutique guitar that we build from start to finish.

040313
 the custom guitar we are currently building is this Claro walnut Robert Fripp model

We create our custom guitars one at a time and our current build is this stunning Claro Walnut Robert Fripp signature

Sometimes a piece of string is all you need and these make for a good measuring device

The client has asked for something that requires more than a little mathematics.. not my strongest suit as many of you will know (numerical dyslexia can be a real bitch!)  Anyhow, the do say that every boy should have a piece of string in his pocket and it comes in handy when I measure the circumference of the body.

I mark 44 dots around the edge of this boutique guitar

I want 22 dots evenly spaced around each side of the guitar with the strap buttons being the centre points.

the final inlays will match those on the side of the fretboard

They will end up looking similar to the side dot inlays on the neck, although with ebony centres.

the time has come to play around with acid and electricity

I have a plan for our range of… Continue reading

fret levelling files, some inlay and some sawdust

240213

Welcome to the Crimson Guitars luthiery blog, a few new guitar building tools are finally ready for sale and the current custom guitar we’re building is starting to come together with the headstock logo inlay in place and looking all 3d.

A new finish for our range of fret levelling and fret cambering files

The first batch of fret and fretboard levelling files were finished in raw shellac.. but we are getting a much better feel with a coat of Renaissance Wax on top of the lacquer.

The Rosewood topped Dissident guitar is ready for photos and will be for sale soon

Speaking of shellac, this Dissident guitar with the rosewood top has the same finish and is nearly ready for sale.. it just needs cleaning up and photo’s taking.

an ebony headstock veneer is cut to size

A new ebony head stock veneer is cut roughly to the shape of our 3 aside headstock with the straight string pull.

we draw the truss rod cover in place

The truss rod cover is marked out

I use a jewelers saw to cut out the truss rod cover

and cut from the ebony using a jewellers saw to get the tightest fit

a final test to check positioning

I… Continue reading

Enter your email address to get notifications of new posts.