Monday 7th April ’08

The week begins with the inevitable admin.. followed by Chris’ new guitar.. the frets are all marked with permanent marker

the truss rod adjusted for a perfectly straight neck.. using the backlight from the window to be absolutely sure!

and then the frets are filed flat then profiled, sanded through the grits

and polished on the grinder.. after applying quite a lot of lemon oil of course!

One of my proclivities is using ebony as a nut material.. it just adds so much tone to the proceedings!

the nut is fitted, shaped and profiled (another one of my little habits.. this time though there is really no reason.. other than sheer attractiveness.. for the scallops in the nuts..)

the ebony truss rod cover is cut, filed to shape and sanded

and.. after installing the tuners here is where we end up…

the strings are fitted and a basic set up performed.. in a week the full set-up will happen, once the neck has had a chance to get used to the string tension..

switch and knobs are installed and we finally see what she will look like in the end!

This is a guitar just after birth.. when she is played for the first time it is analgous with a babies first cry… once she is electrified and played in anger she is all growed up!!

On to the Baritone.. same sort of process.. the frets are filed, profiled and polished..

the snow comes down… again!! .. this really pisses me off, I’ve spent my evenings and weekends working on the veg patch.. assuming the frost had finished for the season everythings been planted out!! AAAAARRRRGGHH!!!

.. one bonus though is that the snow drove Rocky in to the workshop.. the run to the house obviously looked a bit daunting so he stood outside the workshop door scratching and meowling!!  .. VERY INSISTANT!

each fret is polished individualy with a chrome polish.. normally used on over the top motorbikes etc!!

the compensated nut begins as two pieces of ebony..

with the fingerboard radius cut into the one side prior to glueing them together

and then the whole scalloping process begins again.. an hour to make a nut is not really commercially viable, but it looks great and does improve intonation no end!!!

here she is completed and spot-glued in place

the Sperzel locking tuners are installed

and she is very nearly ready for her birthday!

All my best, Ben.

Crimson Custom Guitars HQ