281010

Thursday the 28th of October 2010

I just love the look of this old lacquer

pity the frets are so screwed.. after marking the top of each fret with permanent marker, and checking the truss rod, the whole shebang is filed flat..

then profiled and polished

the neck, while very old, is a super-high tech composite material.. plywood.. and is as stable as it is possible to be!! ..not to mention pretty!

strings and a set-up

now, these split-diamond inlays need fitting.. we mark around each inlay with a sharp scalpel

and then use this gorgeous little router to rough out each cavity

the real labour starts when cutting the edges to right dimensions.. a properly sharp chisel is really essential for this!

now.. this chimera hollow has come back for a very slight adjustment to her neck shape and obviously needed lacquering again

the set-up has taken months to get perfect so we left the strings on and under tension through the whole process

..rubbed down and polished

followed by a cup of tea and a check of the tuning etc.. the acoustic sound of this completely hollow custom guitar is just amazing.. even without sound holes

back to the diamond inlays after fitting each piece of mother of pearl individually

they are glued in place..

now, a trip to see Robert Fripp at DGM HQ is on the cards so this Scorpion 8 string is set-up.. Roberts opinion is always valuable!

now tome for some dust.. Mike’s slim

the trem spring cavity is next to be routed out

then I start making a new template for the recessed back plate for the new control cavity

my bobbin sander is a truly useful bit of kit..

and so… lovely guitar coming together here!

now.. the pin router is set up.. carefully (this tool really does scare me!  I think it’s the large router bit moving at high speed with no guard..)

gradually I rout the binding cavity down to the mahogany body

the headstock has the same treatment but using a small router table

a bit of tidying up with a sharp chisel and she’s starting to look like a real guitar

DGM.. I’m here to do some basic set-up work on all of Roberts main guitars

starting with his original Crimson Signature hollow guitar

much fun was had, it is a truly unique experience having a musical genius playing in the same room as you and it’s even better when it’s on a guitar you designed and built!!

the Scorpion wasn’t really Roberts cup of tea but he did say it would make the perfect touch guitar for someone!  speaking of which we’ve just put this scorpion up on ebay.. just search for 8 string guitar.. ebay’s always a good place to judge peoples opinion of a guitar.. anyway..  good night!

Ben

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