Friday 28th September '07

the day begins with the plans drawn up with Steve yesterday and a pair of scissors..

then the template is drawn out on some MDF

the template is for the entire guitar as it will be carved out of a solid bit of acrylic!

On to the NST Acoustic (we now have Robert Fripps official permission to use the name!)  the top needs refinishing with a more durable finish and I want to pretty her up a bit.

all hardware etc is removed

I make a few small templates for the new inlays

cut the shapes out of some thin padouk to match the fingerboard and bridge/tailpiece

once the inlays are shaped and filed even I run a sharp knife around the padouk and then

excavate the cavity.. the inlay fits perfectly..

and are glued in..

and then the excess is removed with a very sharp chisel

on to the soundhole rossette... ish

the sun motif takes a lot of back-aching concentration and obviously I just go through the processes described earlier..

once everything is glued in place the excess is removed

sanded flat... and looking cool!

and then finally sealed with very thin superglue... at this point I nearly pass out, superglue is actualy cyanoacrylate glue and has a cyanide gas which is nasty stuff in these quantites!  my own stupid fault!

but in the end I am very happy with the way she is turning out!

I'm featuring the soft-top star here today, basically because you will be seeing another one coming together over the next few weeks.. semi-hollow construction, f-hole, set neck with a spruce top and you have an amazing sounding guitar... she looks pretty cool too.  Next along will have a camoflauge finish and a different.. much cooler, symbol!

THE WEEKEND'S HERE!!!!!  HAVE A GREAT ONE!!!!

B