220311

Monday the 22nd of March 2011

Some offcuts from the bodies we’ve been building are just big enough to cut down for fretboards.. a good use of excess material indeed!

Each roughly sawn bit of wood is pulled through the thicknesser

and we end up with some padouk and bubinga fretboards for our timber store..

Thisd is an interesting bit of figured English Ash.. the natural variation you get with wood is one of the reasons I love my job so damn much!

On to bookmatching.. birdseye maple

and a stunning piece of burl poplar I’ve had in the shop for at least six years!

The bubinga is so hard it buggered the overworked blade.. worth it though!

A very nice pile of tops ready for glueing later on..

The resultant pile of shavings will make a lovely mulch in my veg patch!  (if we find the time to actually get anything planted!)

the thinner drop tops are jointed with the plane on it’s side like so..

and clamps on either side are used to stop it pinging out under pressure

..hows this for a piece of figured purpleheart.. Dissident anyone?

now.. I’m not sure about this.. maybe we’ll find a use one day? Maybe not?

I’m also looking forward to this highly figured English Ash..

I’m trying to divide my time evenly between the stock guitars and our custom guitar orders.. this Elm topped Robert Fripp guitar has it’s binding masked off

and the sides are painted.. this will bring out the white binding very nicely!

On to the custom ‘Delta’ guitar..

the top is stained and then rubbed back a bit.. once lacquered this will look amazing!

The unique headstock is stained and this guitar is, finally, ready for finishing!

some more jointing, these rosewood boards were originally meant to be fretboards but I couldn’t resist at least one rosewood top..

Much sharpening of tools..

but that is essential for a good joint..

or three..

Now to Davids custom guitar..

the headstock binding channels are carefully routed out

and the strips of binding are glued in place..

Once cured the excess is chiseled away..note the crafty screw!

I spend as muchh time screwing around with computers as I do holding a chisel.. but these cross inlays have been a long time coming!!

The drum sander, my current favourite machine, sands various tops flat

including the poplar drop top.. I haven’t a clue what I’ll be using this on!

Ok.. the cross design is printed out..

and fixed to the abalone sheet with masking tape.

I use a sharp scalpel blade and a ruler to make sure the lines are marked in perfectly!

The jewelers saw then comes in ang cuts each cross out

They are then filed to their final shape

..two guitars worth! and we’re not done yet!

On to my first attempt at silver-smithing..

a square silver section is flattened with a hammer

and carefully bent…

attempt number one actually works rather well, though it will ;not end up on a guitar.. more practice and some solder are required.. fun fun fun!

All my best,

Ben

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