191109

Thursday 19th November 2009

Well, those of you enlightened folk who follow us daily through the wonderful medium of twitter et al already know that I’ve been working at about half speed this week.. man flu has laid me low and anything requiring a modicum of inteligence or concentration has had to be ignored.. but never has a man more stoically stuck at his guns through adversity.. and here we are.. some work has actually occured!

As ever the bulk of our work is in religiously applying finish.. teak oil in this case.. two coats a day for as long as it takes!

the masonic inlay is ready and the fret slots are re-cut..

and the original frets re-installed

it is then on to the spray booth.. an hour a day is spent in this delightful sun-lit chamber.. engulfed in a full chem suit of course, but it’s the thought that counts..

my new variax arrives.. and we promptly find a major electrical fault.. it plays for about 2 seconds and then dies.. no matter what power source I’m using.. very very annoying!!

next up the paf whose just had the new masonic inlay requires a new colour..

cherry red back and sides..

and an amber top with fake binding left clear…

now.. one of the two guitars currently on the ‘active’ list is Nick’s 45rpm.. the top is bookmatched and jointed by hand

and left to cure for a few hours

a gratuitious shot of the spray booth with some actual sunlight for a change!

this RF Slim is rubbed down by Igor in preperation for some more sunbursting..

on to Kirk’s Moonshine guitar.. the single piece Elm top is brought out..

Nick’s top is planed flat in preperation for glueing

and I finish up the new moonshine template, I love my bobbin sander, it’s one of those tools that only comes in handy once in a while.. but that once in a while it is very very useful!!

Ben’s Vanquish has had a few coats of lacquer now and is ready for a rub down..

she also needs some backplates!!

the little disk sander is used to shape things up

and there they are.. perfectly fitted..

the screw holes are drilled and they’re stained and ready for finishing as well..

Back to Nick’s top.. everything has been roughed out and the neck pocket is rasped and filed to fit..

carefully..

a nice morning view from the workshop..

the final stage of matters here is to get the neck pocket down to the level of the neck binding..

another gratuitous shot.. the perfect deep set neck tenon joint is a thing of beauty!

finally the top is glued in place

the green 45rpm is looking good now.. the lacquer needs rubbing down a bit

the exotics are really brought out very well though!

and so..

back to Kirk’s ‘Moonshine’ guitar.. the fanned fret beauty!

the headstock dimensions are worked out making sure there’s straight string pull

and excess timber is removed.. carefully

the dimensions of the through neck are planed in

and i take a break and have a play with the pin router.. excess maple from Nick’s top is removed

a lovely chunk of mahogany is bookmatched for the wings of Kirks Moonshine

..a jig..

the side dots of the moonshine are installed

while Igor moves on to this, as yet un-named, custom guitar.. she’s ready for her final rub down and polish..

the jig.. she keeps the backplates off the wood so that the lacquer doesn’t stick around the edges..

the mahogany wings of the moonshine are routed to shape

checked for fit..

Igor continues the never-ending job of oiling guitars

they spend most of their time hanging up out of the way..

we end up with the moonshine looking.. well, like a guitar!
Have a good one!
Ben