Friday 17th July ’09

we left off last time after getting some strings on Jason’s blue 45rpm..

..I pre-empted matters somewhat by putting the back plates in place.. (I love the contrast with the beech body!!)

anyway, everything is shielded and ready to wire up

whicj doesn’t take too long as it is wired to the same spec as a standard les paul.. we finish off by adding the custom wenge knobs and giving her a final setup.

I have the lathe to myself right now so get on with some maple..

we turn a round..

and, eventually, with much mess

make a bunch of maple recessed jack plates.  Those who want them can have them stained to match the front of their guitar, giving the same contrast as th back plates create.. for a small fee of course!

anyway, Jason’s other guitar is the first Moonshine model.  She had come back in for a rewire but is now pretty much ready.. with some new knobs though.. pretty much the only similarity with the 45rpm, of the two the simpler model is by far my favourite!

now, on to Joshua’s left-handed PAF Hollowbody.. the first of many I hope!  the neck blank is planed and prepared to meet the pearwood wings

with are also planed square and flat..

before a final clamping!

Gary’s lightweight paf model has her final shape routed in

and on to yet anopther instrument.. one of the few that have been specced with a flat back!.. anyway, that is prepared in preperation (i love the english language!) for routing the binding channels..

happy and happy collect some guitars!!

though in the process of things we turned a replacement knob for the kahler trem arm..

now, binding channels.. a bit of scrap is cut into quite succesfully.. this is the first time I’ve used the overhead router in anger and it turns out that the mounting plate will get in the way on a guitar..

so the entire router gets ripped to pieces… again!

with the legs removed we have enough clearance to do pretty much anything we want

..after some messing around I’m getting the hang of the machine.. finally!

..these are quite interesting.. linear 500k volumew or tone pots.. I’m not sure how good they are yet but will have some fun playing with them soon.

now.. as ever there are several guitars undergoing finishing.. oil in the case of this eight string guitar..

the pores in the mahogany body have sucked in the oil and then, after I’ve wiped it down of course, it has reapeared creating some miniscule bubbles of unwanted finish.. easy to sort out though..

with the added bonus of a much shinier finish!

though much more fresh oil is applied and the process begins again!

..the lathe comes into action again and I carry on prototyping one of the several headless guitar tuning systems..

the shavings fly and progress is made..  I love my job but I remember musing on the sad fact that all my machines drown out any music I happen to be trying to enjoy!

ho hum.. the excess pearwood from the body is bandsawed away.. I don’t know why I’m doing this with the template in place but it’s a good way to screw up a good template if you slip!!

the wings are planed flat

and, a figured maple blank is brought out..

and bandsawed in half.. another top tip.. always check that the dust extractor is doing it’s job.. in this case I didn’t do that and the dust built up in the base of the bandsaw, the friction caused heat.. and smoke.. at this point I fixed the problem and simultaneaously kicked myself!!!  No flame though.. so all good in the end!

more planes come out (my number 7 is a beauty!!) and the bookmatched blank is prepared

and clamped up..

back to Gary’s PAF.. the body is prepared

the quilted top too..

and finally the neck pocket is marked out

cut and fit..

and clamped.. goodnight!

Ben