1,5 years behind schedule

[Orpheo]

But nevertheless, it rocks!

What am I talking about?! Well... I'm talking about the 'coming to life' progress of my 2 crimson guitars-guitars.

specs?

purpleheart back, Rosewood top, pau ferro / bubinga neck (9 ply) with ebony board with snakewood binding, with maple purfling, with 7ply wood binding on the headstock and body, with easy access heel, 3 humbuckers, ToM-bridge (custom-made, steel with steel saddles, or aluminium casing with brass saddles, have to figure it out though).

Padouk back, wenge top, bocote/wenge neck, and all the specs of the first one.

Superspecial features which make these guitars truly unique, besides my woodchoices:

the backplates are cut from the actual back.
the headstock is MY design
the neckshape is my design
the way the backplates were cut, is my design
the wiring is my design
the trussrodcover is recessed
the outputjackplate is recessed
the knobs are wood
the pickuprings are wood
wood headstock-veneers
deep set necks
easy access heel, my design
my pickup-designs, again, as usual
non-weight relieved
special topcarve (deeper and more scooped than on anything I've seen before).

It took me just 3 months to figure out the basic specs, aka: which woods. but it took me 18 months to figure out the tiny details!

but, here we are. the guitars are far from being finished, but the tops are carved, and all the major woodwork is done.

The Rosewood top.

The top started out just fine, but later, after planing it down, the top had a crack underneath the first millimeters of wood. But the luthier repaired it. I dont know what he did, cause you can't even see the cracks or the fillers (if there are any!). but I'm glad we sticked with this top!

Both guitars, their backs. me like!

Just after being planed, some weeks ago. The Luthier will superfine-sand them again to get the colors super-vibrant, just as you see it here.

The tops. I really like the woods its starting to look like 2 guitars!

Victory! the 2 headstocks seem to be a bit like a gibson-head if you look at them with first glance, but if you look better, you see what it really is.

The headstocks still have to get binding and inlay, the bodies have to be bound on the top and back, and then? laquer! the bodies are going to get nitro-coats. We wanted to do some oil at first, but it won't work with the wenge top that well. I want a slightly glossy look, and thats something you can't do with oil. More importantly, we're going with a lacquer that has a UV filter in it, so the woods won't discolor over time.

 

[shanejw]

Looks great!  Wish I had the space to set up a shop and do some scratch building.  I'll have to stick to my buddy water jetting my bodies out for now.

 

[Doughboy]

:headbang1: Those two look like they're dying to be tuned down to C & played through a Rectifier.  :headbang1:

 

[Orpheo]

:headbang1: Those two look like they're dying to be tuned down to C & played through a Rectifier.  :headbang1:

absolutely nothing of the kind I play old-school rock, blues, bit of jazz, and old-school metal like priest, maiden, and hair metal.

 

[mgaut051]

Great work. I love your shop ... um ... I mean tarp tent pic - it's like a guitar genocide, with parts all over the place.
I'm jealous - I've been trying to find the time to finish a bass I started 11 years ago...

Looking forward to seeing how these evolve.

 

[m4rk0]

I especially love the rosewood top on that! would love to see closeup pics of the wenge!
as you know all the 200 ply purlfling and binding is a bit over the top for my taste, but as a fan of exotic woods, I am sure it will turn out spectacular.

is Crimson making the pickups or are you having them made by Jon Moore again?

 

[m4rk0]

Great work. I love your shop ... um ... I mean tarp tent pic - it's like a guitar genocide, with parts all over the place.
I'm jealous - I've been trying to find the time to finish a bass I started 11 years ago...

Looking forward to seeing how these evolve.

I don't think that is Orpheo's Shop or tent I think it is Crimson's in Engerland.

 

[mgaut051]

Wish I could go to Engerland.

 

[Cagey]

Those are some absolutely beautiful pieces of work, and I can't wait to see the finished instruments. I'm curious, though, what you expect them to sound like. I have a friend who had a guitar built with similar woods using similar construction techniques and design, and the thing ended up sounding really dead. All those laminations look nice, but they remove any hope of any resonance in the body/neck whatsoever. For as hard as those woods are, the instrument ends up sounding as if it's made of soft, wet clay.

 

[Kei]

nice stuff there.. i am looking forward to see how it goes

 

[Orpheo]

@Cagey: you're one of the most pessimistic people I've ever met online... Ben Crowe already has made a guitar for me, using the same construction-methods, and that guitar sounds alive, vibrant, and is really a joy to play. I expect these to be the same. Ben Crowe selects his wood with care, and constructs the guitars with care. I don't believe that multilam necks will make the sound go dead and dull. It will make it more focussed, yes, and more 'even', no dead spots or something like that.

@marko: the binding is just 7 ply, just like on a gibson les paul, and timber too not really that extra ordinary.

you see the guitars in a tent, because it was at a guitarshow in England. Normally, he has a nice shop, with his own sprayingbooth, an assistant, etc etc.

 

[kboman]

I keep track of these builds on Twitpic, it's good to see them getting finished! Pretty funny that it was your indecision that kept them on hold, I wondered about that

Yesterday I sent Ben the specs for a guitar idea I have, asking for a price... I await his answer with dread!

 

[Orpheo]

I keep track of these builds on Twitpic, it's good to see them getting finished! Pretty funny that it was your indecision that kept them on hold, I wondered about that

Yesterday I sent Ben the specs for a guitar idea I have, asking for a price... I await his answer with dread!

amongst other things, my indecision indeed

@cagey: have you ever played an alembic-guitar? or a les paul with more than 3 neckpieces (rather common,actually, by the way, some old special edition customs had 5 piece necks), or those ibanez J-custom RG guitars with 5 piece necks? do they sound dead and dull? I don't think so. Or have you ever played a McNaught? those guitars also have deep set necks, and sound alive and punchy and versatile.

I don't get it why you think they will sound dead, and why you say it so uhm....assured? as if its a fact and it can't be changed.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

There's more?

*Packs Bag, Robs Bank*

I'm gonna crash at your place for a few months, that cool with you?  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Cagey]

@Cagey: you're one of the most pessimistic people I've ever met online... Ben Crowe already has made a guitar for me, using the same construction-methods, and that guitar sounds alive, vibrant, and is really a joy to play. I expect these to be the same. Ben Crowe selects his wood with care, and constructs the guitars with care. I don't believe that multilam necks will make the sound go dead and dull. It will make it more focussed, yes, and more 'even', no dead spots or something like that.

Pessimistic? How so? It seems you're assuming I'm predicting doom and gloom, or shabby work. I'm not trying to disparage Mr. Crowe at all; he clearly does superb work and knows what he's doing. But, since laminates tend to eliminate resonance, I was just curious what the expectations were for these instruments. I've played guitars with multi-laminate construction before, and they're definitely not as lively as their solid counterparts. Quite the opposite. That doesn't make them bad, just different.

Knock on a piece of plywood, then knock on a piece of anything solid, and see which one sounds more lively. Pick up any acoustic with a laminate top, then compare it to a solid top. For that matter, look at any high-end acoustic compared to the mid to low end ones. The high end instruments all have solid tops, while the others use plys. Laminated materials are widely known to deaden sound, and not just in wood. Ford Motor Co. used to nest/laminate two steel firewalls in their Continentals for that very reason - to deaden any sound transfer from the engine compartment.

 

[Orpheo]

Cagey,  you never seem to be enthousiastic except for your own ideas and stuff.

but yeah, laminates CAN deaden the sound, but not neccasarily. The best les pauls I've played, all had 3 or 5 ply necks. My first crimson has a 5 ply neck, and you can say whatever you like, but that guitar is the pinacle of a lively tone, vibrant. The thing is, you have to choose GOOD woods, and different sizes of woodbillets in the neck, for it to be lively. if you have 5 layers of the same thinkness and of the same material, you're bound to get a dull sound. but use different sizes and different materials, and voila, it turnss into a living breathing monster...so to say

thats because 5 similar pieces have similar resonance curves, but 5 different pieces have 5 different resonance curves and those curves 'add up', creating this lively tone.