It is starting to look like a guitar now
Rohan came a few weeks ago for a design session which was made into a two minute timelapse film when he chose very detail of the build and even designed his own body and headstock shapes.
I started to make it last week, I am now well into the build and everything is going well.
The body is made from Meranti which is very light weight and the chambers routed into it will make it even lighter. I have to be very careful when gluing the cap on not to leave any dust or chips in the holes or they will rattle about for eternity as there will be no f-holes to vacuum it out from. If the glue runs down into the hole or beads form around the top edge of the hole when the cap is put on, these may one day break free and drive us crazy, so I run my finger around the top of each hole which prevents this from happening.
After the cap is glued there is nothing to stop me making the body. After routing the pickup slots I cut out the body shape with the bandsaw and then profiled the body with the router. I used the same pattern as when I made the chambers, fixing it with double sided tape before copying the shape with the router.
After that I made the slot in the body for the neck to fit into. There are still some jobs to do on the body and the neck angle still needs to be set but I am waiting till the bridge arrives before I do that, and there is always the headstock logo to keep me busy. Rohan has also asked for a custom inlay on the truss rod cover but there is no rush for that just yet.
Now the neck has been fretted and the side dots are installed, apart from the headstock inlay, I cannot do anymore work on the neck until Rohan has visited, as he opted to be here when I carve it.
I have done a little carving just to remove most of the excess bulk but I will wait until he is here before I go any further.
Full Spec and Design Session | Rohan Custom Build Part 1 | Rohan Custom Build Part 2 | Rohan Custom Build Parts 3 | Rohan Custom Build Completed Pictures
Contact us if you would like to commission your own custom guitar or have a look in our online shop for guitars ready to ship | The Bailey Collection