141009

Wednesday 14th October 2009

I’ll begin with a bit of a disclaimer, the unpleasant effect of having contact with other humans (if booth-monkeys can be called such) is that colds and suchlike spread like.. well, colds.. anyway, everything feels like it’s moving through treakle for both of us and the computer screen is not the easiest thing to be staring at.. I will get on top of emails and the posts of the forum over the next few days,.. you are not forgotten!!

anyway, enough of the self-pitying and on to the real stuff.. the ebony board on Nick’s custom guitar has been glued in place

the excess ebony is bandsawed away and kept for binding/nut making..

after a quick honing on the wet stones the fretboard is planed flush with the neck

and the mini router table is brought out and the bearing changed to the right size for the cream and black binding Nick wants..

given the amount of shavings produced you’ll see why protection is a must!

next up she goes through the fretboard radiusing process.. this job takes a fraction of the time it used to now I use a hand plane instead of the radiused sanding blocks that people love so much..

after sanding the fret positions are carefully marked out

and the binding is glued in place and left to cure

now.. on to Ben’s Vanquish guitar.. the template is fixed to each wing and the outline is routed (note the liquid sustenace in the background.. without tea the Crimson Guitars empire would swiftly come to ruin!!)

the cutaways are sanded a bit to make life easier at a later stage

and then the basic carving is marked out..

and performed

the wings are planed square and they are ready for a neck.. (ps.. I must be sick.. as I write this I’m listening to some Bon Jovi belonging to my wife.. and I can’t be bothered to cross the room and change to something more.. um.. fulfilling?!?!)

anyway, the excess binding is planed away

and scraped flush with the compound radius of the fretboard

and then the depth guage and pillar drill come into play again.. each hole stops 5mm from the back

and the dust flies!

as do the shavings when the gouge comes out

finally she ends up with a couple of giant tone chambers!!

the excess mahogany from the multi-laminate through neck is removed

everything checked prior to glueing

and three become one!

after installing the end bit of binding the position dots are marked and drilled

and installed.. each fret slot has it’s edges filed at an angle to help prevent damage to the fretboard when she has a refret

..jumbos this time..

while Aki applies finish to the left-handed paf hollowbody

I hammer in each fret..

with a bit of glue filling the gaps and providing the ounce more stability we have a completed neck ready for her body..

All my best to you and yours!
Ben
the bespoke guitar company