Wednesday

31 Jan 2007

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Wednesday 31st January 2007

21.40

Another month over.. another month closer to the London Guitar Show... less time to make more guitars.. reality kicks in and I realise I'm not a god and can't build guitars 20 hours a day and play them for the other four.. somethings got to give.. .. . (much contemplation..) the social life... gone for good!!! NOOOOO!!

breakdown over... I love my job, I really do, I just wish I could find someone who's willing to become an indentured apprentice for seven years for room and board.. and maybe £5 a week pocket money... too bad my yet-to-be sons aren't even concieved yet!!

It's funny, I stand up in the workshop all day and then sit down in front of the computer for an hour a night doing this journal.. I find myself wanting to type standing up... even though my feet hurt like hell.. I'm complaining a lot today.. sorry, to much caffein methinks.. oh the joys of bad habits..

The day begins rather auspiciously with me rising from my bed,like a behemoth from a prehistoric tar pit, two hours earlier than planned... it may have been something to do with my over-riding desire to get to work.. or, more likely, have been caused by the futile flustered flutterings emiting from the prey of our otherwise pleasant cats... not a good way to begin the day.... guts...

anyway, we start by spending five hours putting together and then setting up Tony's LP type guitar.. first off is the fret-leveling, profiling process..

Inserting the string ferrules, I've ground down an old drill bit to use as a punch which sits in the middle of the ferrule so as not to marr the finish with a hammer..

Forgetting to insert the ground wire underneath the bridge is, quite simply, a pain in the proverbial... therefore I don't forget.. often..

My favourite bit of the days work, for some unquantifiable reason, is the shaping of the graphite nut.. I really and truly enjoy this.. and I find myself wondering why??

still, it comes out looking rather pretty..

the truss rod cover will be shaped from a sheet of ebony..

I then, at the customers behest, carve my signature into it with a sharp blade. The cuts are filled with very fine pearlescent powder.. in other words some of my wifes makeup... and sealed with superglue. After sanding down the signature is visible and slightly prettier than if I'd just used a pen..

the finished article ready for wiring and more revibrating on the morrow..

the rear.. a slightly less pronounced 'belly-carve' still much more comfortable than a standard flat back..

prepping the veneer for the headstock of the PAF DC model being built for the show.

and glueing... in the background you see several soon-to-be guitars...

this is the veneering process on a much larger scale.. I'm glueing veneers of maple to two large boards of mahogany, tomorrow I'll sandwhich them around another piece and will then have timber prepared for several one-piece necks..

this is the pin-stripe x-symbol being built for Dominic.. I'm rounding over the fret-ends prior to sanding her down for finish. This is a one-piece many-piece guitar.. should have bags of sustain even though she currently only weighs around 4lbs!