Thursday 28th February ’08

Steve woke me up this morning with a text allowing me to fulfill, finally, my dream of doing an infinity symbol inlay

after cutting it out all the edges are filed to the final shape

the aluminium design is held in place with double-sided tape while a sharp knife is used to mark out the channel that needs cutting

this sexy beast of a mini routerhas not been used before.. so I cut a small test piece just to see how she’ll do..

and she does it just fine.. I think I’m in love with a router???

the edges are cleaned up with various sharp knives and chisels

and then she is lightly tapped in and left to dry

the new love of my life is also used to cut the binding channels on Tim’s neck.. (the new bit I’m expecting is not here yet but that means I’ve found an easier way to do the job!! bonus!)

after cutting the binding channels the fret slots are recut to make sure they are deep enough

and then the binding is glued in..

the inlay did not need any filler so the fingerboard is just sanded down through the grits

the fret slots recut and the edges champhered

then the frets are cut to size and set aside

each fret is glued and hammered in (using no more nails glue no less!!!)

the tape is ripped off the binding

and then the excess is planed off with this old violin makers plane

each fret slot is cleaned out with this modified saw

and then this beast of a tool, a fret tang nipper, is used on each fret

and they are, in their turn, glued in place

my new hobby is making tool handles out of guitar materials

and this file, used for rounding the edges of the frets over, gets her new handle too

the side dots are drilled and glued in place

and once dry the excess is all chiseled and scraped away

a new template needs making for the neck joint of Steves guitar

then, very very slowly, I cut through the acrylic.. which gives off nasty fumes so a mask is neccesary

she fits though

so waste is bandsawed off

and the neck it fitted in place.. remember that we’re doing this timber neck as the second option, she originally had an acrylic neck with a low profile body joint.. this is why the tenon here is so long, there isn’t very much of the body left to support the neck..

and she is glued in.. tomorrow I decide whether or not to add a few bolts!! We’ll see..

Till the morrow,

Ben

Crimson Bespoke Guitars HQ