080909

Tuesday 8th September 2009

an ugly duckling starts the week..

first off the sides are rough sanded with Fred the random orbital sander

the final shaping of the front is completed with thumb planes

and then it’s on to a few necks.. the purfling here is sealed again..

and the fret ends on Daves neck are trimmed and filed at an angle to the fretboard..

after rounding over the ends of the frets the first coats of wax are applied..

then the sealer over these inlays is filed flush..

and a few bits are re-sealed and left to dry

Ben Bennets fretboard is sanded through the grits..

and the fret slots are prepared.. taking the edges off the slot with a small triangular file helps stop the fret tangs from ripping wood away during a refret..

measure, measure… cut as they say… preperation is key..

each fret is glued and hammered in place

and left to cure..

back to the 45rpm.. the cutaway is shaped to look like a standard les paul but be much more comfortable.. it’s amazing what 5 degrees will give you!

here you see the sexy rake back of the headstock sides..

rough sand the front to get the absolute final shaping..

before the interior of the cavity is routed down to within several mm of the top..

the fret ends on Bens neck are filed flush and the fretboard recieves the first of many coats of oil..

slots are recut through the purfling

and the rest of the binding glued in place

and final sanding begins on Stuarts 45rpm..

while Aki oils various other guitars

I stain and blackburst Stuarts guitar

the binding is scraped clean.. carefully..

and the first coat of oil is applied

and left to cure for 15 minutes

and here she is after it has been polished off

though the logo needs a bit of etching..

everything else is coming together quite nicely!

all my best, Ben – crimson guitars HQ