Wednesday 12th September '07

I start the day off planing the top of the big sister of yesterdays left-handed beauty.. this one will have a solid rosewood neck, trem system and high spec finish..

the tenon bit of the neck is flattened and sized

 these scrap bits of padouk are now a moveable template for deep-set-neck-tenon joints

 and this is the sight that greets me as I shut the workshop door..

 prior to routing... my job dscription should be 'one who makes dust!'

 the fit is double checked

 excess cut off the top of the neck where the cap will end up

 and she is glued.. and is now an almost guitar..

 more of the same.. the neck is prepared for a cavity..

 the postman arrives with some very very interesting pickup from Andy over at Wizard Pickups.. I'm particularly in love with the blue and red 'buckers.. very cool!

 the DSNtenon on the 6 string baritone is marked out with a sharp knife

 and routed to the exact size needed

 and we have a perfect fit.. this process is too labour intensive for mass production, which is a pity as it really makes a big difference to the sound.. basically we have a through neck guitar that doesn't look through neck.. perfect..

 while the glue is drying I do a bit more on the Vox replacement neck.. the nut cavity is cut 

 a lovely bone nut (you get vastly different qualities of bone evenin one pack of them..) is cut and shaped

 and installed behind the zero fret

 next up is a prototype guitar, this will be my take on the s***t.. single coil with trem and bolt on neck.. I think it's about time I addressed this side of the market a bit more comprehensively.. 

 the cap was glued on ages ago and here is rasped and sanded back to match the body shape..

 which is this.. any comments/design ideas are more than welome!

 Wizards test-bed guitar is prepared for wings..

 everything really has to be spot on with these joints, I just can't understand so-called luthiers who do this straight off the planer

 the wings are glued on, I have some interesting ideas for this beastie.. I can't wait..

 I then come to the conclusion that I need to, for the second time in one day, clean the workshop down... much better..

here's one of my earlier basses.. I'd actually forgotten about building this one until I found the photo..

till tomorrow,

B