Honestly I am not sure I would ever be capable of taking responsibility for something so valuable. Ben has always walked the tightrope of confidence and lunacy which is why I admire him so much.
Once the guitar is painted black and the Floyd Rose is installed, this is going to be a Metal shredder! I'm worried about the feedback, though. Maybe you could take the sawdust, mix it with some of that saw dust, and then fill it back in the cavity.
I could never have routed that out. I would have cut it out and glued a bottom on the same as the top and kept all the wood from the middle for something else.
@@naphackDT Resaw the front off. CNC the outline of the sides with a ¼" bit. not quite all the way through. resaw the back off. take the leftover inside and resaw it up and make guitars that don't cost quite as much with kauri just for the top.
Hi Ben I’m not a guitar builder I’m a retired goldsmith with 50 plus years under my belt. Don’t forget you also have off cuts of Kauri you can use as well. You could thinly slice it to make lattice work filling with the dust or cut blocks. The options are endless and exciting!! I love your channel by the way.
@@hyperlovesyou I personally think that'd be brilliant! Plant some trees. Or better yet, grassland restoration, since we're gettin' rid of trees here. 🤔
@@donniebrookins6215 Well the tree itself was never 42k years old, the log is. The tree was 1700 or so years old before it fell and was preserved in the swamp.
Love New Zealand Kauri. When I started my pattern making apprenticeship in New Zealand (1970's) we would make our master patterns from it, very stable knot free timber lovely to work. Our timber rack had a section of secondhand Kauri, old boat masts, bits of keel, table tops etc, even then you could not cut the tree's down anymore. I still have and play the LH Strat style guitar I made using a single piece of Kauri for the body, it has front loading pickups (no pick guard), a carved in input socket and a few ergonomic tweaks round the neck joint and a home made from brass Tele inspired bridge. Finish on the body is shellac, really brings out the golden colour of the wood, and it wears nicely. I haven't seen the swamp variety before , very nice. I can tell my bit of timber was from an enormous old tree, growth rings are about 1.5mm apart on average with a barely perceptible curve in the end grain. Its my prize possession.
Heart stopping. I want to cry. I am building my first electric guitar from a slab of ancient Huon pine. It was a given to me after being left outside in a heap mixed with old greasy car parts so a lot of it was destroyed. I have been sitting on it for two years but finally decided that I had better do something with it.I have made the best use of what was salvageable but the amount of necessary waste has hurt me to the soul. Ian am using as much of the off cuts as I can, it will have a tailpiece and I’m going to make use it for the machine heads buttons as well. This is great Ben. I am on the edge of my seat.
Is there actually a better Sunday morning than watching this with a strong real coffee in hand 👍🏻😁. One question I have is balance on the finished guitar so it’s not neck heavy given the softness of the wood. 🤔
I have never seen anything like this way of building a guitar Ben and love the concept of matching the grain all the way around , the grain and figuring on that wood is amazing cant wait for the finished product
There had to be a way to do this using a separate top and back that would have preserved a fair chunk of the middle. Kind of distressed that you didn't insist on it.
You should turn the off cuts into 2 wooden ball bracelets. 1 for yourself and one for me for coming up with the idea. All hand crafted by yourself of course and documented on a video.
It looks very nice as it always do when Ben does things. And I think the idea of using the shavings and dust to make a guitar for fund raising is great. Putting value back into something that lost it. And of course, the f-hole. The back carving was so nice and as you said made all the difference in appearance. A very nice detail.
I'm glad the most expensive shavings in the world will be used for a good cause. I've been racking my brain to come up with another way of achieving a hollow body, but short of the back & sides having a glue joint between them I got nowhere. I love the attention to detail in the bevelled edge to the f-hole!
Can't wait to see the final product! I also love the idea of using the dust in a resin guitar. I think that is a must sir. BTW, I've sent several emails over the last week to Crimson regarding an order I had placed with no response. Would appreciate it if you could have them get back to me.
A joy to watch. I have to admit to have been bricking it when Ben was cutting the guitar shape on that bandsaw - so much equity at stake. I am loving this build.
I'm sure there could've been a way to save a chunk of the wood in middle, for example making a rout around the edges and sawing the middle off with some kind of hansaw. Also probably not worth the effort on a normal piece of wood, but maybe on pieces like this?
Ben that’s just given me an idea! Hog out the central section like you did here, then take all the shavings, with resin and put back in to make the top. Granted maybe not on expensive wood, but that’s gotta be a cool look right? I’m sure it’s been done before, everything usually has.
You could have routed the material in strips and broke them out sideways, and then routed away the waste. The strips you removed from the middle could have been cut down into gorgeous binding !
Love the concept and the look of the wood, but I hesitate about the hollow Jazzmaster shape, for me the body type really need heavy contours to work, and the "original" fender semi look very slabby, will have to see if any of the local Guitarshops have one on display to see if it looks better IRL.... 🤔
Ben, I'm not a guitar builder but find your YT channel both creative and entertaining. I do play a bit of guitar so have great admiration of fine players but also in the craftsmanship of a luthier. Anyway just thought I would mention it. Keep up the builds and humour. S
Absolutely brilliant! To use such a rare stock would initially come off as decadent, but then to use what many would just call waste, and create yet another work of art for which the proceeds are to go to an important and deserving charity... an inspired challenge for you, the master artist, and a tribute to the vision of your client. Again, well done, Ben!
This is a wonderful build! I can wait to see that wood finished... hopefully with a oil varnish 🙂 I have as well an advice: Considering the wood is quite soft... I will say it is a good idea to protect the interior of the guitar with minerals like we do on violins. You can use Rubio mineral ground (not sponsored but I find it a quite good mixt) with potassium silicat. Or even Casein, same with potassium silicat. It will "crisp" the wood little bit, given (I believe) a better sound... and protected against humidity exchanges and why not ...wood worms.
P.S. Would you ever consider making a video to show how to make a template of any guitar? I would love to know how to make a template of several (all the same kind) of my guitars.
Sir Ben. Maybe you should have made Twins 🎸🎸Guitars because you need One for the Vintage Guitar Store. My hat goes off to You Sir Ben. What a Master Guitar Builder you ARE. 👍🏻
cheers from Texas! i always like when a builder makes something similar to a classic brand, but updates and customization make it better! Rock on Ben! peace
Man surely you could cut the access panels out and use put a black bead you're gonna use on the front to go around the panels either on the panel or the body. Then you keep more of that beautiful grain
It’s tempting to consider using this template system, although I would need it in my own custom body shape. But I’m fairly certain CNC makes more sense for me. You made the routing look very easy but if I’ve learned anything this year it’s that routing large cavities is a step I’d rather avoid.
Id love nothing more than to build myself a guitar like you do but my near blind self doesnt stand a chance haha, love watching you work man, keep it up!
The idea of the top with a veneered edge is so cool. Couldn’t the back been made the same way? Then the bulk of the block could have been sawed out and been put to use. That is if there isn’t going to be any comfort carves made at the back of the body…
Forgive what might be a really ignorant question but would it not have been possible to make this similar to an acoustic and then put blocks in similar to a centre block guitar? My (probably flawed) logic would be that it would waste as much wood?
The idea to create a resin guitar is brilliant. Ben as someone who teaches us to be better wood workers you should be setting an example with proper PPE. A dust mask during the routing.. Who knows whats in that ancient wood.
As ever, I’m loving your work. There’s something that doesn’t quite sit right with using a bit of wood that expensive that I can’t quite put my finger on, and I have to say the Acoustasonic range from Fender leave me cold, BUT…. This is a really interesting build, I’m enjoying what you’re doing and can’t wait for the next episode!
Next, before gluing the top on, fine sand and apply a finish on the inside where it will be seen through the F hole. No doubt that's already part of your plan.
hey Ben. Im a kiwi and am loving watching the kauri take shape. just had a thought tho while watching you make the braces. How would it be if carbon fibre rods were used as bracing instead of wood? Do u think it would cause some sort of tonal impairment or does it sound feasible to do? Cant wait for this series next video. rock on dude. regards Phil
Carbon fibre has a similar grain to that of wood and works very very well as braces, I have seen braces made with cf laminated between pretty wood veneer in thr past as well to get the best of both worlds too
So how utterly nerve wracking was routing out that body, Ben? What were you listening to to steel your resolve on that first plunge of the router? This looks to be an absolutely amazing build and instrument and I'm going to try and enjoy every second of it!! Cheers from Canada - Dave
With just some of the shavings you could make clear keyrings and sell them for charity and still have enough for anything else. Similarly with any offcuts, you could cut them really thin and add a Crimson logo to them and sell them.
The continuous ripple of figuring all the way round is going to look exquisite (unless you have a squirrel moment and paint the whole thing in graphite lol)
True art work right here. Keep up the great work. It's very entertaining to watch and I pick up some good woodworking ideas along the way (not instrument related).
Throw a bunch of epoxy into the shavings, turn it into a blank, maybe even toss in some gold leaf or something. Could be interesting (you could go a step further and design like a structure that runs through all of it, so you see that structure mix in with all the shavings)… just thoughts
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars yeah, book-matching it would look cool. I don’t know that a ton of it will mirror, because of the nature of a bunch of shavings, but probably enough will that it will make it be pretty rad looking
The diamond cutter that made the first cut in the Cullinan diamond fainted immediately due to an overdose of adrenaline. I'm glad to see you didn't succumb to the same fate!
The sound of the bandsaw at 22:50 or so, sound like someone trying to scream with no sound coming out. I feel like it’s the scream the Ben has in his head while cutting the outline
Enjoyed seeing it come together, as for the shavings, you could always take a mold from one of your necks and make an epoxy impregnated / shavings, neck from it for the next build.
Why did you not make a separate back, similar to the top, cut out the middle, leaving the narrow sides and saving a sizable chunk of wood for another project?
I hope I am not too late here, but you mention having to rout out rear access , and I implore you to not hog out a massive hole in that back. Drill a pin hole with the weeniest drill bit you have and cut the cover with a jeweller's saw so you have seemless covers. Also, at 15:30 - Excuse me but that is a goddamn TIE Fighter noise!
I guess Ben hasn't read all the comments on the last episode, that suggested him to cut away the back plate, use a bandsaw to remove the bulk and glue the back plate back on. Very disappointing decision🥺
Doing that would not actually save all that much wood, certainly not enough to make a guitar from.. however, these shavings are going to be the core of a whole guitar being built to raise money for a children's hospital charity.. granted, I'll have to use some resin, but it will still be used
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars yeah, I've noticed this. I wasn't long enough into the video, when I posted my comment. Can't wait for the Resin/Shavings build and the Finish on this Guitar!
@@gustau4764 I just suggested the same thing. He didn't think of that, obviously, which is ironic because a wee little guitar or a ukulele would be perfect, given the charity.
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Might I suggest taking a book out of BurlsArt's playbook for that? If you're going for resin, and only have a limited supply of those shavings at hand, go THIN. Here's something to guide your train of thought on that: (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_IDdGsj1xHo.html) [Attempting to build the thinnest guitar possible]
Then if you have spare spare sawdust and resin after the guitar you could make a few keyrings. With Crimson logo obvs. Or Ben's laughing face laser etched on one side. Or both. More money for the charidee.
Excuse my ignorance Ben, but why not cut out the inner part creating a thic perimeter and then gluing a back panel just like you'll do with the top? That inner part woulbe be enough to build a couple headstock wings, or plate covers or at least, veneers for a few builds embelishments... At least thats what I'd ponder on doing (but as I said, I'm a ignorant on guitar building). Cheers
Hey Ben! Maybe I missed it, but is there a reason why you didn’t cut the back off the guitar like you did with the top? Then you could have cut the entire inside of the guitar out in one piece. Then just glue it back on just like the top, Could have saved all that wood for a future project.
I would have lost another 10mm of thickness at that point and I don't want to loose that much internal capacity.. it is going to be fairly quiet acoustically as it is.
Hope this sounds as pretty as it looks! Now let’s see if you can sell one of these £10k bodies to a non tone wood believer!😊 that would make an interesting video to see if they’d be willing to pay the extra and change their mind set!
