Wednesday 27th June '07
The day begins... slowly, geneticaly I am not a morning person.. nonetheless I start by giving the new jazzer a good look over and come to the conclusion that I need to replace the tailpiece I put on yesterday.. the short grain where the strings go through it have created a weak area that will not stand up under the tension.. oh well
chunk of my fast diminishing Honduras Rosewood..
the recessed for the tailpiece gut are cut and then the holes drilled.
and then keyhole's are cut for the strings. this gives much more strength than the tailpiece that you saw on yesterdays diary.
both tailpiece and bridge recieve a coat of oil after fine sanding...
and here you have it..
the joy of stringing one of these beasties up for the first time is that not only are the strings stretching out, the tailpiece gut is as well.. it takes an hour or so before it starts staying in tune.. and then the fine adjustments are decided. The tone is a bit muted for my liking and as such I have ordered a metal tailpiece which will add a bit more sparkle and defenition and I will also make a new bridge, this time not using a tunematic.. it's amazing the difference that such small changes can make.
Onto a slightly dusty Fabio Mittino Signature model.. the ground wire and Kahler 2200 trem system are put in place.
these tuners have little levers that pull out
and make tuning a doddle.. at least it speeds up the initial winding bit..
the scratchplate is fine fitted with the judicious use of sandpaper and a fine file
Michael comes down to have play with the still not quite in tune jazzer.. the sound and heavy sunburst are discussed.. solutions are reached and I can't wait to get her playing properly!
Back to the Fabio model.. the frets are all flattened (stoned.. though I don't use a stone)
and the fretboard polished and saturated with lemon oil
a nice bone blank is cut down to form the nut
and I put all my scallops etc in and fine sand it up to 600 grit wet/dry paper.. I really enjoy making nuts!
Thats it for today... more tomorrow
Onto the Gretschesque guitar.. these retro tuners are put in place
the pickups are fitted and I play around with the surrounds for a bit..
the nut is made and glued in place and then I realise that the day is over and if the dog doesn't get his walk he'll actualy catch his tail... and there's no knowing what he'd end up doing!
Till the morrow,
Ben
redefining custom - crimson guitars | 
