310310

31st March 2010

A dusty start this week, the detritus from carving the backplates last week is still here.. Mmm tidy time..

The backplates are rough sanded to 120 grit on the random orbital sander…

The position holes are drilled and the padouk plates are ready for fine sanding..

The strings need access to the trem, of course.. The slot is marked out..

I much prefer the look of this slot over the usual six holes… Obviously cut out by hand..

The inside of the back plate around the string access slot is carved away to make it look more slim and attractive…

And finally each padouk plate is oiled with lemon oil, they will, in time, match the fretboard perfectly..

The backplates are installed and, other than engraving the serial number, this guitar is finished! Yay!

Finally back to my main job at the moment.. The twins..

After some fun digging in the timber store I came up with the bits needed for the twins’ headstock veneers..

And the end result is two four millimeter thick pieces.. One wenge and one indian rosewood..

The recessed truss rod cover is cut from the rosewood veneer..

The wenge headstock veneer is glued on to the guitar with the rosewood top..

A sneak preview of how the bocote and wenge neck will look under finish.. Glue is applied to the headstock..

The rosewood veneer is glued to the twin with the wenge top and thus they are tied together for life.. Sweet..

The twins have had a cosy night with their headstock veneers curing..

The igor is back after a day off and he starts his day continuing with the tunematic type custom bridge..

My day begins in earnest though in the spray booth..

Coldish morning so the heaters are on in the booth.. Looks like a fire hazard but I’m still here..

This descendant is being converted to our first muse type guitar with x-y pad controller and all!

And the igor has finished the basic machining on the tunematic type.. Bit square still but working well..

We’re spending some time polishing up the hardware, I really need to get the erb strung up!

The igor (job title) does the handwork while I buff up with.. well, the buffer…

The excess headstock veneer is cut away by hand…

The headstocks look roughly as they will in the end..

The igor working on the Descendant.. The neck shape needs adjusting somewhat..

I’m back on polishing up Steiner’s custom headless hardware..

You’re looking at around £600 worth of labour in a few pieces of really shiny, sexy as hell, bits of custom hardware!

Back, on and off at least. Tania’s better and home but I’ll be in and out doing smaller jobs.. And making chicken soup..

The hofner is cleaner and has strings, the ancient wiring needs sorting out.. The kind of job I can stop any time..

The igor sets up this 45rpm.. The floyd rose isn’t working as well as she should!

Ok, the scary wiring system in this paf is never going to get done at this rate.. To arms!

The hardware for the basic guitar wiring is installed.. And it’s not very basic..

Success, a bit of fiddling and the floyd in this 45rpm works as well as it can.. Now she needs a setup! Good igor..

The humbuckers are wired in, both have two four core cables.. Four humbuckers.. Mmm

Volume, tone, three three way switches.. I think that makes 15 different sounds..?

Now it gets more complex, the myriad componants of a variax system are put in..

Looking good at the end of the day, just got to try and make it work next.. Oh, and add MIDI!! Good night all!

Good morning, the clock’s have changed and we’re struggling.. But we in! The new Tunematic is ready for polishing..

Ok, we’ve polished the new bridge up and the igor is now setting up the anodizing acids.. Yum!

While igor plays with acid I get to the last little job on the green 45rpm.. Pretty beast that she is!

A length of stainless steel is turned on the engineering lathe..

The igor prepares each piece of hardware.. Everything is degreased and double checked for quality!

The stainless steel rod is fitted.. But looks a bit.. Well, not trem-armish enough…

Ok, the trem arm is bent, and needs a bit more polishing.. But, I’m never satisfied, more can be done here.. Mmmm

This can be made more comfortable..

We’ve ground a flat onto the trem arm so it is more ergonomic and fits your hand better..

Which is why we’re poor luthiers, this is now a £50 trem arm.. We spend too much time on each guitar getting it right to make a real profit.. hoh hum..

All our best!!
Ben

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