200809

Thursday 20th August ’09

Welcome to the Crimson custom guitar workshop diary.. a short one today as most of the week has been spent working on the website.. check out the forum and the new gallery!!

so.. as ever the first job is some finishing.. oil is applied to Mikes custom slimline..

and Gary’s variax loaded PAF guitar

the excess oil is soon rubbed off and the guitar hung up out of the way to cure for the rest of the day..

now.. I’ve been working on these inlays for way too long now.. the uneven surface of the stainless shapes mean a clear filler needs to be put in place.. emaphasis being on clear.. the last coat ended up with a few ebony chips in it which take a while to remove.. in the end she too is left in a corner with the next coat in place..

Now.. this is an eight string, headless, version of 05Rics extended range bass..

to start the edges have to be smoothed into shape… due to the method I used to build her no template was used for the edging.. hence this job!

forunately made a bit easier by having a bobbin sander..

the recessed cavity for the backplate is .. well.. recessed..

the next stage is sanding the entire instrument down with the random orbital (another essential tool!!)

the final edges etc are sanded down by hand..

now.. some messing around with stains to produce..

this.. starts out a bit matt..

all over this time.. it’ll help to bring out the figuring in the pearwood sections of the multi-ply

and the oil really does bring things to life! (notice my ernie ball tatoo.. from the days before I even considered being in competition with them!!)

and in a spot of evening sun here she is, after a good rubbing down of course!
All my best, Ben
Crimson Guitars HQ