Wednesday 25th June '08

I'm back, the cast comes off tomorrow and hopefully I will be back at full strength soon.. I feel like a total loser but at the moment I can only work about half as much as usual.. nevertheless, here is finally a bit of progress..

the Robert Fripp style wiring usually takes up most of a working day.. in this case three whole days elapsed due to the frequent breaks.. it is impossible to wire a guitar with your broken foot raised on a stool!!

but in the end she is playing quite nicely..

the workshop i in a total state, and in tackling the cleanup I ended up with loads of dust and crap in the bottom of the cast.. but at least my mind is clear!!

on to on of Roberts guitars, this is a Burny, very good quality Les Paul copy.. I have rewired her in the past but since then the spec has changed somewhat..  

firstly the frets are individually polished to give a really smooth action..

and then she is re-insulated

and stuffed full of wires!!

kthe layout isn't as ergonomic as on the RF models, but that's the downside of re-vibrating an old guitar..

on to the workshop... after three weeks this is a great relief!!! the 8 tuner holes are drilled..

and the ebony inlays are cut..

recessed

and glued in.. while this is drying

the dogs all have a sleep.. despite the noise of general workshop-ness they love it down here!!  

the through-body stringing holes are drilled

and, after sanding down, the inlays are sealed with fine superglue..

and then the pickup, and control cavity, templates are cut

and we have some visiters.. Jason (with his boss) and the £200 Charvel guitar he's replacing..

the basic dimensions are taken.. he finds this beastie very comfortable so it is a good starting point!

when designing a new guitar I start with the neck dimensions and build everything around that...

the wiring.. fitting the sstainer switches in amonst the myriad of other controls is not very fun..

but ends up looking relatively cool (I'm still an advocate of total simplicity with guitars!!)

and here she is, complete with carving lines and everything!!

another guitar with masses of controls.. back to Erik's Extended Range Bass

all of this is going in there!!!

the pickup and control cavities are pre-drilled

and then routed.. at this point I call an end to the day.. my foot hurts like buggery and I've now got even more wood shavings in my cast.. like stones in a shoe you can't take off!!! ..

anyway, here she is.. the plan is to complete her in the next few days.. once the cast is off at least!!

.. I will be updating on Friday..

All my best, Ben

Crimson Guitars uk