150111
Saturday the 15th of January 2011
the week starts with Mike’s custom Robert Fripp slim guitar, her lacquer finish is finally buffed
to the perfect glass-like gloss finish.. I’m very proud of how our finishing is coming along!
next up the paf hollow is ready for more of the same
my my..
this is my favourite Crimson guitar, so far at least!
now, speaking of the paf Hollowbody, here is the left-handed hollow we built last year..
believe it or not she sounds ‘too hollow’! Six rods of stainless steel are cut to length
polished
and glued betwen the front and the back.. thus solidifying the whole guitar and improving the tone, rather like the sound post of a member of the violin family. The first plan was to insert a timber wedge in this area but the internals have been, very skillfuly ;) .., carved to match the curves of the back, and there are many many curves!
Our facebook followers asked for another photo of the red paf hollows three piece figured maple neck
expensive indeed, this blade was made by stewmac for cutting fret slots but I’ve just had to pay a man £15 to grind an extra 10th of a millimeter off it.. it’s a rather precise business after all!
however, when all is said and done, this is a major improvement over cutting the slots by hand!
the left-handed hollow also needs a a slight change in pickups..
another quick pic to show the carving..
finally she is wired up and sounds much much better.. subjectively of course!
my favourite feature of this instrument is the trem plate that was cut directly from the back..
I do love flip flop paint finishes.. if you have to have paint that is, and this will provide hours and hours of fun!
Fred’s slimline is de-cased
and a cheat sheet is prepared.. the ghost MIDI and piezo systems are superb, the piezo in particular adds a completely new element to the guitar and even helps the sustainer along!
now. one case that can take 500kg of weight is not quite enough, several tens of meters of bubblewrap
and some ‘fragile’ tape complete matters nicely!
the paf blackburst, with another great finish, is taken outside for some photo’s..
as is the 24 hour.. plus a bit, guitar… it’s surprising how much is involved in keeping a business like Crimson Guitars running.. and most of it isn’t anything to do with chisels and sawdust more’s the pity!
now,.. there is absolutely nothing ‘fragile’ about a 25 kilogram bag of sandblasting media!!??
I feel the need to get some ‘actual’ work done so Archies elm top comes out
and is bound.. to think multi-ply binding used to scare the hell out of me!!
some pure silver surfaces, and passes the test.. this will feature in some inlays soon enough!
in the meantime the eight string Scorpion guitar is on my bench
the lathe shakes off the dust and a padouk blank is turned
and fills the hole where the guitar had a bass tuner.. she was originally set up for touch work and needed a heftier bass tuner..
she is now being re-strung with a more conventional output in mind
the multi-scale fretboard is masked and each fret re-polished
the rosewood is then oiled again.. and again!
this custom bridge system, while gorgeous, is also prohibitively expensive to make by hand.. a pity indeed!
strings..
and a lovely Peterson tuner!
now, back to Mike’s slim.. a multi-laminate neck in need of tuners..
US made locking sperzels in this case.. a superb choice!
the strap buttons are bolted into the body using machine bolts and threaded inserts.. there’s no such thing as too much stability!!
next up the lathe again, this time a stainless steel rod is drilled out
then threaded
after checking the alignment of the tremolo
the new, slim, and highly polished inserts are installed!
and the bridge looks bloody good in place.. the fun is starting, I can’t wait to hear this beauty sing!
All my best,
Ben
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