180510

Tuesday the 18th day of May 2010

now, the followers of twitpic will already know that the past few weeks have been taken up, almost exclusively, with teaching.. you customers out there will be pleased to know this is the last time.. This course has had two students and our two apprentices acting as students and the experience has been incredibly valuable!..  both Caroline and the igor have a much broader knowledge of what is required of them over the coming months and their skill levels are such that from now we will be catching up on some of the backlog of orders much more rapidly!  The upshot is that while the courses have been fun and succesful our core business is building guitars and I can’t justify spending time on something else when there is such a large backlog of work to be done!

good morning all.. as you know in a workshop safety is of prime importance (after quality of course!) ..my new, sexier, dust mask has arrived… Darth Crowe anyone?

the igor starts off by using our waterwheel grinder to ready some plane blades for sharpening.. obviously sharp tools are a must!

 the main aim this week is to give igor and caroline a general overview of most tools and proccesses they will encounter day to day in a guitar workshop.. here Caroline starts getting to grip with the router!  Dusty!

 igor, being igor, has decided to build himself a Baritone.. here he routs the truss rod access cavity.. carefully..

 now, I have some time, Nick’s 45pm needs a nut.. bone in this case..

it is marked out to match the curvature of the fretboard

 the igor bandsaws away the excess from his neck.. this is a tool that he is very familiar with!

 and I finish the nut.. the scalloping is not really neccessary but I like the ‘bespoke’ look..

 meet Callum.. he’s here for the course.. a plagiarist model is on the cards..

 the igor enjoys usin his number seven plane to work on his through neck..

 and I fit the nut in Nick’s guitar..

 next up a mixture of gold and black locking Sperzel tuners are installed..

 and she is string up.. I love the look now, I was worried that the natural finish would lend her an air of the ‘drab and boring’ but it is the perfect ofset for the gold hardware! Stunning choices Nick!

 the black nuts and washers also add something unique and interesting to the mix..

 the pigtail tunematic is fitted so the intonation adjustment screws are out of the way of the strings coming off the bigsby

 and she is left to settle for a week!

 meet James, a long term customer and first time builder..

 a lecture on fretting and the rules of marking slots out.. even Carolines puppy is entranced!

 and thus it begins.. neck building!

 James has elected to make a multi-laminate neck from padouk and flamed sycamour

 and while i talk, a lot, I spend some time sanding down Kirk’s hardware

 straight?… almost..

 the igor, being himself, decides to come up with a new method for marking out the fret slots.. and quickly reverts back to mine.. good boy!

 the fun begins for James now, his neck is glued up..

 and the igors baritone is ready for dots.. abalone..

 now, I’ve had this chunk of timber for years and neve used it but Goncalo Alves makes a stunningly stunning fretboard!!  I love it!

 Callum making a new template for his plagiarist.. templates are at the soul of every guitar!

 clamps ahoy!

 eventually Callum gets to cutting his headstock shape on the bandsaw

 I need to work on the final design element on this 45rpm..

 while igor makes his headstock.. no straight string pull here!!

 the scratchplate.. template..

 fretted.. just the ends need profiling and making comfortable..

 does he look just a little wary of this beast.. good!!  treat routers with respect!!!

 I cut the scratchplate out by hand

 and get a few coats of primer on the stuff in the spray booth..

 the igor is using part of an ash tree that he rescued from the local stately home.. smug..?

 and callum finishes routing the outline of his guitar.. one piece body and one piece maple top..

 for an eighteen year old I’m amazed!! ..hell, to be honest for any novice I’m amazed, this is coming along very nicely!

 next up Callum appropriates my workbench for the carving

 a very long and dusty process..

 but he has the eye!!

 final pieces, the wiring channels

 and bridge, control and through-body holes are drilled..

 then she is stained.. he’s obviously inspired by the left handed blue beast in the gallery,..

 finally the set neck is clamped up and she’s done.. for now, he will take her home and finish the finishing processes etc over the next month or so..

and just a teaser.. here’s the new Crimson Guitars headstock.. I felt after this long it needed a definitive tweak!

All our best to you and yours!

Ben

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