Thursday 24th May '07
The day dawns and I have a vague premonition that before it ends I will be both covered in dust and exhaling it.. this can't be particularly healthy?? anyway, the first few pics are a selection of bookmatched pieces of maple for Fred to peruse..
2..
3... we have more but these are pretty nice pieces...
here is a lovely piece of English Elm, this is one of the options for Amit's Robert Fripp Slimline model...
and here is a bit of English Walnut with some lovely flaming... this will be the cap of thew Mode Imodel being built for Graham..
the tables saw is dredged out from underneath a pile of templates and old coffee cups... the Walnut plank is tricected...
the elm is cut roughly to the size of the RF Slim model prior to planing it flat by hand.. tomorrow
here we have several blanks of Spalted Beech being transected (new words for cut.. I got bored!) on the bandsaw..
and all squared off prior to
planing each bit flat on the planer.. this oes for every piece you've seen so far as well as this chunk of mahogany which is the beginings of Fred's RF Hollow..
a fair bit of timber...
the two blanks for the RF Hollow are carefully jointed by hand..
and glued ... this process takes anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes.. depends on what sort of day I'm having!
a piece of Spalted Beech is bookmatched.. using an inch thick bandsaw blade
the Walnut blank for the Mode I has been bookmatched and here i set it out and double-check that it'll all fit
the spalted beech is jointed and glued.. this is another option for Amit's RF Slim
the Walnut jointed and glued...
and on to a real almost-guitar... this Vee Mark II is almost there.. the template is fastened in place and a bearing router cutter run around the edge to get a perfect shape..
the pickup positions and orientation are carefully marked out
and then routed... I sometimes think that my job description should have the words 'Dust Production Executive' included in it somewhere
here you see the gentle 'drop-top' curve to the belly..
and after a few hours and some sanding disks we have a rough-draft of this almost guitar..
She'll be ready for the chameleon finish soon!
And here are the two options available to Amit for his RF model..
We're now off to see the new Pirates of the Carribean movie... it has to be done..
All my best,
Ben
redefining custom - crimson guitars | 
