Wednesday 10th September ’08

Jasper and Bud.. very happy now that the suns out for a minute or two..

the backplates for Fred’s custom slimline guitar are bandsawed roughly to size

and fitted..I don’t know why I haven’t made a template to rout these out yet..

everything is carved to match the curvature of the back comfort carves

the all-access neck joint (it took me weeks to come up with a catchy name for this!) is rasped in and tested..

and then we go through the sanding processes again….

..pretty!

 because of the use of the standard through-body trem system this beastie has a slightly different belly-carve to my usual.. pretty though..  sanding comences..

 ..one of the five remaining puppies.. this one decided to remove a few pounds of soil from my sage pot so that he could sleep below the wind line.. GRR!

 on to Nevio’s guitar.. a padouk ‘Crimson’ inlay is cut out

 and recessed into the headstock..

 after sanding the whole guitar through the grits all of the binding is scraped clean, a rather painstaking and slow job, but worth it in the end!!

 ..masking tape applied where needed..

 the screw holes are drilled and ready..

and the burst is sprayed in and left to dry..

 Nevio’s headstock inlay is chiseled flush with the headstock and that guitar is now ready for sanding etc etc.. a process I’m getting a little bored with now!!

any excess paint is scraped off the binding.. and she starts to show her face!!

 the first of many coats of wax is applied

 throughout.. I really am looking forward to seeing this beast conplete!!  She’s a beauty!

 ..what more can I say!?

backplates for both Nevio and Marks guitars are marked out on pieces of flamed maple, matching the figured maple tops..

 after they are all cut to size on the bandsaw each piece is rasped and filed to fit..

Giles and  Rosy..

 Marks back plates..

 carved and a tribal pattern worked out..

 each piece of the inlay is drawn out on paper, taped to a piece of scratchplate material and cut out with a jewelers saw..

 when they’re all cut out I mark around each piece with a sharp knife

 the recesses are all routed out freehand..

 and then the plastic pieces are glued in..

 end result.. the headstock..

 the front..

 and the back! .. I’m justifiably proud of this guitar-in-progress!

 back to the sanding process..

 the whole guitar goes through it..

 a blue stain is applied for starters..

 the fake binding area is masked off

 and a metalic blue burst is applied.. the back plates had to be in place so that they match in with the whole.. this is a far cry from when i used to use plain black plastic back plates..

 more masking and a bit of staining

and we end up with a rather attractive beastie.. what do you think of the fake binding?

Anyway, more on Friday..

Ben

Crimson Custom Guitars UK