Wednesday 22nd April ’09

the one holiday snap that I thought you would all enjoy is this.. someone has an amazing mind to put this together..

and to work.. this neck has been on my bench, and thus in the back of my mind, all week.. I begin by putting the compound radius on the fretboard..

the fret slots are marked out and cut using a combination of saws

and finally the frets are glued and hammered in..

on to this sheet of laminated abalone..

the 12th fret inlays are cut out and then the cavities recessed

and she’s then left to cure

on to Nimrod’s two sister guitars.. the rosewood and wenge tops need preparing.. 

and the bandsaw comes into play as the two tops are bookmatched

the glueing surfaces are planed perfectly flat

prior to clamping and glueing.. they will be an interesting pair..

back to Jason’s custom guitar neck, the fret ends are snipped off and profiled for comfort

and the side dots are installed..

a piece of flame maple is split and carefully planed flat..

here’s what the bespoke 8 string guitar will look like in the end..

once she’s unclamped of course..

Joshua’s padouk fretboard was inlaid before the break and here I remove the excess glue

and then polish up the entire thing through various grits of wet and dry paper..

this nautilus shell could well play a featuring roll in a custom guitar.. unfortunately for my back though the next day or so is to be spent inlaying…

the original mother of pearl cross inlays looked a little big.. so each one of the 20 is cut down a bit..

and slowly but surely each cross is receed into the ebony fretboards.. by hand this time.. using a chisel and a knife is really sometimes quicker than using a mini-router!! 

and these two are also left to cure..

Nimrods two caps are flattened with the other love of my life.. my No 7 plane..

the outlines of the guitars are marked out and then we wait.. these beauties will have deep set neck tenons and I now have to finish the necks before moving forward..

excess maple is removed from the 8 string..

the end piece is mitred and glued in place

prior to cleaning out each slot with this modified handsaw..

some tools you can buy.. and this fret tang nipper (that really is what it’s called!!) is very useful.. each frets tang is nipped and the frets are installed..

and the fanned frets look pretty damn cool from here..

Steinar’s Extended Range Bass neck is ready for a body.. and the body design has finally been confirmed

she will be built from solid flamed maple..

the thumb rests are routed in the top body section..

prior to glueing the whole beast together..

and back to Jason’s bespoke guitar.. the side dots are trimmed flush with the neck..

and I begin begining a day of routing and template making

the neck pocket is routed.. carefully..

and more templates started.. it’s funny, this saw has been under the bench for years and having brought it out for one job I find loads more that it can do..

she is routed in entirety for a flyd rose trem (I can hear your gasp of astonishment from here!!) I know I often rant about how much I hate these trems.. but I also have a responsibility to back that up with experiment and experience..

halfway through the carving process..

and here we end the day.., dusty but happy.. I really have returned from this week off feeling invigorated and raring to go.. much fun will be had over the coming weeks!

All my best, Ben

Crimson bespoke Guitars HQ