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Tuesday 29th May '07
Why is it that on bank holiday weekends every red blooded male ends up putting up pictures and moving odd bits of furniture around? Anway, some work has been done at odd hours over the weekend and it's all here..
the pickup cavities on the Mode I are routed out..
and the top rough-carved and sanded.
the neck is placed in it's socket and the angle checked with the tune-o-matic bridge in place
the joint is chopped down to the bottom of the pickup cavity
and the neck glued in once everything has been triple-checked
the neck of the RF Slim has been glued and here the excess is planed flush with the top
the English Elm cap is marked out
and cut to to fit around the fingerboard
after half an hour of fine-fitting the cap is glued in place
back to the Mode I... the bridge is in place to check the positioning for the volume, tone and 3-way switch
the control cavity template is cut to shape
and then the cavity is pre-drilled to make routing easier.. both on me and the router
and here it is...
the control positions are drilled and the top roughly sanded...
the neck carved, rasped and filed to shape.. fast and thin..
the back is carved and sanded
and ends up with a pretty comfortable shape
the excess wood aroud the cap is bandsawed flush with the body..
and then routed flush with a bearing cutter
all the cavities are marked out and then pre-drilled out..
and routed... see the dust in the air? that's why I go through so many cameras!
the ridge on the RF Slim is put in place and the scale length etc checked out.. the guitar currently weighs in at 10lbs!!!
the control cavity is routed out using a bit that follows 6mm inside the template..
then a bearing cutter is used to recess the cavity for the control plate
the neck is rasped to shape
the body carved and rough-sanded
the controls are marked and drilled out
the wiring channels are drilled prior to fine sanding.. there's nothing worse than finishing a guitar and realising that there's one thing to be done that can damage the perfect finish..
the veneer soon-to-be belonging to the RF Slim is cut to size..
and glued in place. the white foam is used between a clamping caul and the veneer to ease out any bubbles of air in the glue..
and the final phase in a dusty series of phases.. the Mode I is sanded... roughly.. all three guitars are now ready to be fine sanded.. nearly there...
All my best,
Ben
redefining custom - crimson guitars | 
