Wednesday 12th March ’08

Here’s where i left off Jonathan’s new guitar.. the binding has just been roughly brought down to the fretboard level..

everything is then tidied up and polished through the grits..

and then the frets, after having the ends nipped to go over the binding, are banged and glued in.

the fret ends on Charlies next bass are filed level and beveled over (she was fretted yesterday)

then the fret ends, of both guitars, are carefully rounded over and polished

next up the first coat of lemon oil is applied to the bass neck..

and the acrylic headstock shape is marked out

the binding on the end of Jonathan’s fretboard is cut to size, beveled

and glued in place.. this really should have been dome prior to fretting her.. but nobody’s perfect!!

the bass headstock is (very) rough cut on the bandsaw

and the guitar neck is oiled and buffed to a sheen on the grinder.

next up I need to make the template for the guitar.. a chunk of MDF and the back of the full scale plan have contact adhesive applied (this reminds me of the time my younger sister used contact adhesive, red food dye and flour to create a very realistic open wound on her hand.. I was completely fooled and very nearly rushed her to the hospital!!!  … she is now in the movie industry.. no surprise!)

here are a few options for the rest of the guitar.. this is a chunk of figure English Walnut.. possibly for the back..

and this s a piece of quilted pearwood.. (not the prettiest example I have either!!) again for the back or possibly the front?

this is a bookmatched piece of locally grown Sycamore (ENglish maple…)

and this lovely chunk is quilted maple..American in this case.. I’ve had her in stock for nearly 6 years now!!!

more sycamore… another piece that i had completely forgotten about!

and here is a piece of hard won figured redwood.. this will make a lovely one piece top..

and here’s what she looks like in a different light.. wood never ceases to amaze me!

the template has dried and the excess material is cut away..

an here’s what she will look like in the end.. only left-handed and utilizing some pretty amazing wood!!

Tomorrow there will be no diary… the workshop has had succesive layers of roofing materials removed by the recent gale force winds and ending up in the sheep paddock behind the ‘shop..  I am taking the day out to securely install a properly weather proof (I hope) roof.. so, until Friday.. Ben

Crimson Bespoke Guitars HQ