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Monday the 28th of February 2011

The custom Delta guitar is on my bench first, the experiments with grain filler have cured and the excess has to be sanded flush with the body

The whole guitar is rubbed down with 320 grit paper, removing the thin film left by the filler.. Lovely curve here!!

On to Davids beautiful paf hollow/rf hollow cross breed.. This guitar is also nearing completion..

The carving of the top of this custom guitar is finalised now that the mulit-ply binding is in place..

The final shaping of the front is done with the small random orbital sander.. The inner guitar is starting to appear!!

Now to the headstock.. It starts as a rectangular blank

The required straight string pull is marked out on the headstock blank using our standard 3-aside headstock shape

after bobbin sandig the final shape of the headstock in, the ebony veneer is prepared and glue applied..

Finally the new headstock veneer is clamped up and we leave this guitar to cure..

I need a change of pace, or at least concentration level, so it’s back to making templates for the stock range..

Robert wants 24 frets on his new guitar so I’m changing the cutaway to give more access..

A combination of routers and the bobbin sander are used to finalise the new Robert Fripp guitar outline..

The pickup cavities are routed into the new template

The biggest job of any guitar this complex electronically is to find a control layout that makes sense.. I think I have it?

A rather large control cavity but it will work for both roland GK and ghost MIDI system equiped models..

The third, and final, new template is for the two recessed control cavities. After lunch we’ll get stuck in with some real wood!

Now this will be an interesting afternoon.. 20 odd body blanks in varied tonewoods.. Much dust shall fly!

The first of the new RF guitars is a solid, one piece, bubinga beast.. The outline is routed and the cavities marked out

I start the same process with a padouk blank.. My least favourite dust, this is..

I now fully appreciate the temptations of cnc routing.. This is knackering!!

The pre-drilling begins.. This makes routing much easier and helps preserve router bits..

The first cavity to be routed out is the neck pocket.. The order is important as this cavity pushes into the pickup cavity..

Look at the stunning colour this padouk body is spilling forth.. it’s almost un-natural!

The first bubinga blank has its pickup cavities routed out and is starting to look rather nice..

Next I make a start on routing out the tremolo cavities, on the guitars that will have them..

What a dusty day! Dagnamit I need a shower!!

more pillar-drill action as I pre-drill the control cavities..

The cavities and recessed control plate cover routs are.. routed.. This is a bubinga body..

I’ll be using the new, sexy as hell, wilkinson trems on the 24 fret Robert Fripp models..

The body blanks, including two destined for figured tops, are put through the drum sander.

Now, since everything I build is a one off and hand made the fun bit is the carving.. I mark out my plans for this body

This sapele bodied guitar will have MIDI but no sustainer and will have a tunematic and stop tailpiece combination..

The control layout is drilled in..

I now use the Holy Galahad and angle grinder to carve the ergonomic back carves..

The carving of the top begins.. The galahad tool is a little rougher than the sanding disks I’m used to, but effective!

The final shape of the top is achieved with the random orbital sander and a rough sanding disk..

The same process on the back and this body is very nearly ready..

A move to the next guitar on the list.. or at least in the pile… A padouk one piece has its control layout drilled..

There is less carving to be done on the back of this padouk RF guitar.. flat back in the middle because of the trem..

The front, however, is perfecly flat.. and thus boring, for now :)

A truly ‘crimson’ guitar.. The padouk will look stunning!

The first padouk top is rough sanded and the carving finalised..

The second padouk is next to be carved.. Dust!!

A very good days work, these three are a niced start for our stock ranges..