Thursday 12th March ’09

..so I’m sitting here trying to form coherant thoughts in a brain laid low with the worst case of man flu ever.. the fact that my four month old daughter has the same thing and seems to be functioning alright does not change the fact that I’m at deaths door! 

..so anyway.. work begins again on the PAF Hollowbody.. last week she was a stock guitar.. she is now spoken for.. but of course I’ll build you another if you want?  I mark out the humbucker positions

and they are cut out by hand.. because of the fact that Ive already carved the top routing them would not be such a straight-forward proposition.. 

next up a selection of chisels and knives have to be sharpened.  I use Japanese water stones of three different grits to gradually polish up the surfaces of each blade.. turning the burr on the edge over and over

until you can shave, easily, with each tool..

the top is some 3mm thick and in order to make her look more delicate and sexy the interior is carved away around the f-holes..

the end result looks like you have a top just 1mm thick..

the whole inside of the guitar is sanded through the grits (not strictly nccessary given that you’ll not see most of it..) and prepared for finish..

a few coats of oil are applied on all surfaces that will not be glued..  the resoning behind this (and there is some reasoning!) is that timber breathes from every pore and if the outside of the hollow guitar is covered in coats of oil the interior needs to react to atmospheric onditions like heat and moisture at the same rate as the outside.. this will minimise the risk of cracking etc.. though on reading this back I do think that I may be being a little too anal about this…??

anyway.. I sign the interior of the back under one of the f-holes

and add glue to the edges and tone bars..

and she is clamped up and left to cure.. we’ve decided to change the fingerboard over etc so next week she will be becoming a rather gorgeous piece of guitar!

speaking of a gorgeous guitar.. this stock 8 string (who is still waiting for an owner ..hint, hint!) is undergoing a new finishing process..

I’m builing up the oil finish very slowly by applying a coat, leaving it to cure for half an hour or so

and then polishing off the excess. this gives you a smooth finish (which is difficult with oils) but one that will hopefully be more durable than what we’ve been using so far..  I must say that one of the best things about this job is that as a luthier I am constantly having to learn and relearn how to do everything!!  It sure does keep me on my toes!!

various neck blanks have been glued up over the past weeks.. here I use a newly sharpened chisel to remove excess maple veneer.. and glue..

excess wood is bandsawed away from this zebrano and purpleheart example

and eventually everything is planed flat on the planer/thicknesser.. these three necks comnprise of Bocote, Wenge, Pau Ferro, purpleheart, zebrano and bubinga… just a bit exotic then…

Archie’s next instrument (ordered even before his last one has been completed!.. just the sort of client I love!!) is a touch guitar.. we’ve ben playing around with the design for several weeks and I think the final change is the shortening of the horns..

and here is the particularly stunning burl amboyna top that will be gracing this tap guitar.. she will end up as an example of what is possible from our workshop!

..I’ve been trying to catch this horse on camera for months..

it does provide some amusement out of the window every now and then!.. we also get hundreds of little birds that follow the horses around eating the insects that have been disturbed.. better than sitting in front of a bloody computer all day for damn sure!

anyway… this piece of farm grown Indian Rosewood is prepared by hand..

and a fretboard depth is slivered off on the bandsaw

at which point I realise that my spec lists all need updating.. it does get a bit confusing when bulding thirty or so guitars and for the first time in my life I’m slowly becoming truly organised!

the dimensions of the 8 string fanned fretboard are marked out and planed in..

the compound radius is planed in, another job which really does have to be done by hand.. note how I use the angle of the fretboard to wedge it inbetween the timber clamps that are screwed to the bench..

the final stage is using the large random orbital sander to get a lovely smooth finish

and then the fanned fret slots are marked out..

and cut..

this is a sheet of reconstituted abalone shells (the spam of the inlay world?) .. basically slivers of shell are glued together an then cut into sheets like this.. much easier to work with than the raw shell.. though, of course,  I do have a large bag of raw abalone as well.. 

after cutting out the abalone each piece is recessed into the fretboard..

and finally here she is… from plank to an almost fretboard in one diary..  hopfully next week I’ll get more actuall work done!!

All my best,

Ben

Crimson Bespoke Guitars UK