Friday 20th February ’09

a begining is begun with our new fun toy.. I prefer making the prototype of a design rather than just drawing ot out..

in the process I inevitably find flaws that need addressing much quicker.. this will eventually be our single string bridge design.. or something rather like it!

on to the eight string.. the aesthetics of the angled pickups and fretboard end have been grating on the eyes of Andrew.. the progenitor of this guitar, so we’ve decided to build him another one with straight pickups.. this leaves this guitar as a stock instrument for anyone who wants her??

as ever I feel the need to improve on the colour scheme.. she is stripped down (again!)

the edges are masked off..

and various stains mixed up to get the desired effect..

..the binding etc is all stained

the first coats of wax are applied

and buffed a bit..

Giles.. and a few guitars in training..

the planer is brought into service to create a bit of dust.. and the by product of this is a lovely flat piece of birdseye maple..

..

this is cut into three on the bandsaw

re-planed by hand to achieve a much better finish..

eventually the three pieces are joined and left to cure..

the next stage of Jason’s next guitar is the figured beech body..

after roughing her out on the bandsaw the two halves are jointed

and glued..

and then we move on to Tim’s custom 45rpm.. the excess maple is removed..

..and the same goes for Nimrod’s two bespoke guitars..

here we are…

next up the top for Jason’s guitar is ripped down on the bandsaw

and jointed while..

the body is prepared..

the edges of each of these bodies is prepared..

and, eventually, glue is applied to Jasons (particularly beautiful!!) top..

which is then clamped up and left to cure..

on to Steinar’s 8 string tap guitar.. the bookmatched neck is prepared.. the dimensions are all drawn out prior to the bandsawing

her rosewood fretboard is ripped off the plank..

while the rest of the neck is planed.. making sure that all the edges are at perfect 90 degree angles..

the fretboard is glued on.. while I think about tone chambers and dual action truss rods.. after clamping her up I reached for the router.. and realised I had jumped the gun somewhat!!..

the fingerboard came straight off again while I felt like a bit of a prat..  the still wet glue is cleaned off and the routing begins.. the dual action truss rod first..

followed by two tone chambers on either side.. the extra strength from the multi-laminate construction cancels out any loss of strength from the chambers.. but the benefit is in the extra sustain and sound quality you gain!!

the headstock joint is angled and planed flat

and finally the fretboard is glued in place… again!!!

the last little job is another few coats of wax on the eight string..

she’s coming along nicely now..

Have a great weekend!!

Ben – Crimson Bespoke Guitars UK