Good or bad, I for one am extremely grateful that this series has been posted for me to learn. Every step, every error, every correction, plan, method, and execution has been documented. Inlays are scary, scary for me. Watching a pro work his way through the issues is encouraging for me. It take guts to put this out there for everyone to see, knowing full well that many would most certainly pick it apart; yet following through because others can benefit from watching the process. Thanks, man.
My only problem with the bear is the silver filler used between the pieces, I think a darker one would have poped the bear a lot more. But it's just personal taste, nothing that takes away anything form the great craftsmanship involved in the process.
What I really gained from this, apart from an excellent tutorial on inlays, is to not be overly precious about getting everything bank on first time. I gained some confidence about making a mistake and being able to fix it afterwards. Great job, Ben.
thoroughly enjoyed this absolutely awesome tutorial - I can't think of a single question that it left unanswered. It's removed a lot of my apprehension about tackling inlays. Thanks, Ben!
the edges look a bit sloppy caused by the way he routed the channels between the pieces. At least that is the thing I least like about it, well at least he fixed some of it in the end.
Behemothokun I think that's because of the color that was chosen. Had it been the same color as the fret board it would have looked very different. I also would have preferred a thinner outline .
I think we all jumped the gun a bit in part 3 lol. Me included. :D Once the Silver outline was cleaned up, and the fret board was completed, its looks absolutely fine. A beautiful job Master Ben.
I really REALLY appreciate that u showed the whole fret job. I have always wondered about some parts of the process, and u just showed me them all...you are so awesome...
A lot of negativity on this one, personally I would have preferred fine black inlay carving between the MOP, however I think once it was finished with the jumbo frets the outlining matches the fretting and looks fine. Also need to remember that inlays are not viewed as closely in 'real life' as they are on a youtube video!
Maybe it's in another video series..., but how do you cut a "radius-ed" fret slot with a straight saw? (As they generally are) Seems like to get the outside edge deep enough, the center of the board would be cut too deep. Or possibly, since there's not THAT much of a radius, it doesn't make a difference? (Thinking out loud)
Woody H doesn't really matter as long as you don't go through to the neck. The fret will follow the radius when hammered in, and it'll stay as long as the channel is tight enough irrelevant of depth
Theres actually a very simple triclk for that. Say you want a 4mm deep fret slot (4mm deep from every point of the radius not just the centre). Take your saw and stick a strip pf masking tape and tape it along the blade leaving deep 4mm section of blade showing, then as long as the tape reaches but never dips below the level of the board at any point around the radius while cutting you are set.
it seems ben did a little retouching in between last part 3 and 4, some of the silver powder inlay looks sharper and better. now, I would be happier with a sharper silver powder inlay (I got convinced in silver looks great) made with an engraving bit (round or pointy), that would had yielded a better control over inlay thickness, but that's goes withing a subjective matter of taste. I've done a bit of inlay work before but nothing as complex as this, overall this tutorial series were great and showed me a new way on how to inlay (I normally inlay each piece one by one and overlap the "joints" so the latter piece installed would cover the edges of the previous inlay already installed, so I could for example inlay 5 flower petals and finally the center, not very fun for a multipiece inlay like this of course)
seems like he's missing his nose!;o but really awesome job though! I think i'd prefer a different filling powder, a darker one. As long as the customer's happy though!
Hope this was a custom order because otherwise, putting a polar bear inlay on a black guitar with a burnt neck was woefully misguided. You do a flame inlay for this, or put the bear inlay in a white/cream stained guitar. Each to their own of course, but this whole burnt thing just looks terrible.
i know,. but part of the detail in tutorial work is the synchronisation of sound and action. when filing fret ends the sound changes with each stroke and is vital to the luthier as a sign to stop filing. beginners can learn so much by listening intently to the changes a tool makes, i would have throught this would be considered important in a TUTORIAL video. As it stands it's distracting, giving the whole segment a cartoon feel.
I say just CNC that shit, CNC inlay are SO awesome and ben has access to that, sadly he has that "mastercraft is handmade" mentality, I mean, damn, CNC inlay are so perfect that they will give you a small channel so the fret will be hold in wood and not inlay material.
Did you watch the whole video series? Filling up the gaps with aluminium powder was planned to give it a different look, the only other way would either have been to inlay strips of wood or other material around it or inlaying every single piece individually, which would have taken a lot longer. Also maybe the look he got was the look he was after.
If he had used a CNC it wouldn't have looked as good. We humans perceive small imperfections as beautifull, that is the reason why many very expensive things are handmade. This for example also holds true for humans, faces that are not quite symetrical are perceived as beeing more beautifull than perfectly symetrical faces.
ashbow archer Of course I did, he used no precision to cut the channel that the inlay sits in and used super glue and wood dust to cover the complete balls up, I never mentioned the aluminium dust? Its shoddy and far from master built, while i can give some leeway for an inexperienced builder this is beyond excusable, be an apologist all you like this is not worth the money charged for it. And as others have pointed out the dot markers don't even line up. And your CNC comment complete tosh !
the problem is that really good craftmanship has less mistakes in it, to the point it looks almost identical to the CNC one, specially for the untrained eye but takes twice as much time and at least 5 years of training. so it's a bit sad that an amateur work would be more appealing to a true mastercraft because it has so many mistakes and was done in a rush.
It's just not good. Your work isn't clean enough. The idea is good, it's just left lacking in application. Also you never reply to any of the videos that have negative comments about your work. Why not engage? This inlay series has had a fair amount of criticism as did the Kelly SG refret. Surely you want to defend your work or explain the issues?
Geared Vegan did you even wait till the end of the video before writing this dumb comment or is it just a case of 'oh, look at me being a critic and writing something negative because I'm entitled to voice my jumped up little opinion and I want attention!' The end result was beautiful and I'd love to see you do something anywhere near what this amazing craftsman has created.
I'm sorry that my opinion has upset you so much. I'm not really sure why? Yes I watched the end. It is pretty clear that the work needed touch ups to look presentable but not perfect. These guitars aren't sold as cheap Asian imports. They are sold as made by a 'master craftsman' and therefore should be a better standard than this. I'm not claiming to be a 'master' but inlay work by other manufacturer is an awful lot better than this. Mostly I'd just like Ben to respond as he has had a lot of criticism through this series and the Kelly SG refret.
Andrew winch this entire channel is marketing for crimson guitars. I play and own several guitars therefore I am a potential customer am I not? I am far from the only person that is not impressed by the workmanship sometimes shown on this channel. Ben only comments on the positive videos, would be nice to have his reaction to the negative ones.
i dunno who handles the channel but afaik it hasn't been Ben for a long time, but yeah. the channel is here to impress customers, both of the guitars and the luthier's tools they make, and even the building courses, they're not that capitalist though, they take a less extreme and more relaxed way of doing it, rather than tailoring everything specifically with the sole intention of making money, they do a bit more for the community, and generally just have fun and take it less seriously. this isn't about their customers though, Ben has said before that nobody stops learning and everyone makes mistakes, he should be as open to criticism as he used to be, that's what everyone is up in arms about.
Good or bad, I for one am extremely grateful that this series has been posted for me to learn. Every step, every error, every correction, plan, method, and execution has been documented. Inlays are scary, scary for me. Watching a pro work his way through the issues is encouraging for me.
It take guts to put this out there for everyone to see, knowing full well that many would most certainly pick it apart; yet following through because others can benefit from watching the process. Thanks, man.
You would be better with The Art of Inlay & Expanded: Design & Technique for Fine Woodworking by Larry Robinson IMHO
My only problem with the bear is the silver filler used between the pieces, I think a darker one would have poped the bear a lot more. But it's just personal taste, nothing that takes away anything form the great craftsmanship involved in the process.
What I really gained from this, apart from an excellent tutorial on inlays, is to not be overly precious about getting everything bank on first time. I gained some confidence about making a mistake and being able to fix it afterwards. Great job, Ben.
thoroughly enjoyed this absolutely awesome tutorial - I can't think of a single question that it left unanswered. It's removed a lot of my apprehension about tackling inlays. Thanks, Ben!
Why do so many people hate this. It looks beautiful. I want a polar bear on my guitar now!
the edges look a bit sloppy caused by the way he routed the channels between the pieces. At least that is the thing I least like about it, well at least he fixed some of it in the end.
Well anyway. It doesn't matter what we think as long as the customer is happy.
Behemothokun I think that's because of the color that was chosen. Had it been the same color as the fret board it would have looked very different. I also would have preferred a thinner outline .
I think we all jumped the gun a bit in part 3 lol. Me included. :D Once the Silver outline was cleaned up, and the fret board was completed, its looks absolutely fine. A beautiful job Master Ben.
Ben, despite the negative comments, thank you for the tutorial. Makes me believe I can tackle this on my own.
I really REALLY appreciate that u showed the whole fret job. I have always wondered about some parts of the process, and u just showed me them all...you are so awesome...
Thank you, I'm glad I could help. B
It takes someone with a lot of patience and attention to detail to pull this off. I could never do this. Well done!
You have become one of us winder folk :-) That bear looks great.
thank you Ben this stuff you put out helps me as i have never done any of it again thank you
By the way...I built a burnt cigar box guitar after watching one of your videos of u burning a guitar!! Thank you!!!!
My pleasure, two of my favourite things, guitars and fire! What can go wrong? B
A lot of negativity on this one, personally I would have preferred fine black inlay carving between the MOP, however I think once it was finished with the jumbo frets the outlining matches the fretting and looks fine. Also need to remember that inlays are not viewed as closely in 'real life' as they are on a youtube video!
I like how you use fire in your woodworking
Wonderful work!
Ha, ha, the speeded up video hammering the fret markers in reminds me of a Benny Hill skit.
Great video, awesome series. Great inlay tips
Maybe it's in another video series..., but how do you cut a "radius-ed" fret slot with a straight saw? (As they generally are) Seems like to get the outside edge deep enough, the center of the board would be cut too deep. Or possibly, since there's not THAT much of a radius, it doesn't make a difference? (Thinking out loud)
Woody H doesn't really matter as long as you don't go through to the neck. The fret will follow the radius when hammered in, and it'll stay as long as the channel is tight enough irrelevant of depth
Theres actually a very simple triclk for that. Say you want a 4mm deep fret slot (4mm deep from every point of the radius not just the centre). Take your saw and stick a strip pf masking tape and tape it along the blade leaving deep 4mm section of blade showing, then as long as the tape reaches but never dips below the level of the board at any point around the radius while cutting you are set.
Ben, have you ever thought of building yourself a moxon vise to hold the whole length of the neck during fretting?
tip request, making round inlay dots from shells. I have access to raw Paua shells but have trouble making them into dots.
so soothing. wonderful thanks.
U wearing a mask?That stuff never leaves your lungs !
it seems ben did a little retouching in between last part 3 and 4, some of the silver powder inlay looks sharper and better.
now, I would be happier with a sharper silver powder inlay (I got convinced in silver looks great) made with an engraving bit (round or pointy), that would had yielded a better control over inlay thickness, but that's goes withing a subjective matter of taste.
I've done a bit of inlay work before but nothing as complex as this, overall this tutorial series were great and showed me a new way on how to inlay (I normally inlay each piece one by one and overlap the "joints" so the latter piece installed would cover the edges of the previous inlay already installed, so I could for example inlay 5 flower petals and finally the center, not very fun for a multipiece inlay like this of course)
nice. I like your style.
Amazing!
How much does it hurt your soul to take a saw to that inlay for the frets?
Loved this video series and I really loved the music in this video. Do you make your own music for your videos?
Beautiful work Ben. I used to know a guy who was in a band called 'the Polar Bears', Hefin was his name. Been wondering if this is his instrument?
The owner left a comment on the pt. 1 video, I think
It's mine! I'm not in a band called the Polar Bears :D
You are a fortunate person, would love to own one of these!
Regardless of whether it's Brilliant or Shit in peoples opinion ,I found it educational.
So ,thanks ..
seems like he's missing his nose!;o but really awesome job though! I think i'd prefer a different filling powder, a darker one. As long as the customer's happy though!
The text on the bottom of the screen at the beginning of the video says it's Part 3. Just a copy/paste/typo error, but you might want to fix it.
Why did you super glue the frets around the inlay but not the others?
David Reynolds Frets will hold to wood just fine, but not to mother of pearl
Lovely work Ben. When you get a moment, check out my Milliput inlay work, it would work well on guitars. All the best, Jim.
Hi Jimson's Stuff. Would love to. Drop me an email: guild@crimsonguitars.com
Is this a baryton?
First! Your inlay work is gorgeous. Do you ever have issues with frets sticking to inlay material or being a problem in case of a future refret?
Slick rig
way too into this. caught myself blowing the dust off of the board when he was cutting the slot.
i like the inla, but the silver lines have killed the design for me. In my opinion it looked best in part 2
Hope this was a custom order because otherwise, putting a polar bear inlay on a black guitar with a burnt neck was woefully misguided. You do a flame inlay for this, or put the bear inlay in a white/cream stained guitar. Each to their own of course, but this whole burnt thing just looks terrible.
It was! My choice, the polar bear thing is a long story...
And that is why this is 100% right no matter what the youtube viewers say about it :)
please stop the fake sound fx [tapping/filing] they're really distracting.
kindisc pretty sure they're the real sounds, just not sped up like the video is
i know,. but part of the detail in tutorial work is the synchronisation of sound and action. when filing fret ends the sound changes with each stroke and is vital to the luthier as a sign to stop filing. beginners can learn so much by listening intently to the changes a tool makes, i would have throught this would be considered important in a TUTORIAL video. As it stands it's distracting, giving the whole segment a cartoon feel.
yeah, it feels really weird when the sound is out of sync, particularly when it sometimes is and sometimes isn't.
The amount of i'll just fill that with super glue and wood dust around the inlay is laughable at best, there is no precision in this execution.
I say just CNC that shit, CNC inlay are SO awesome and ben has access to that, sadly he has that "mastercraft is handmade" mentality, I mean, damn, CNC inlay are so perfect that they will give you a small channel so the fret will be hold in wood and not inlay material.
Did you watch the whole video series? Filling up the gaps with aluminium powder was planned to give it a different look, the only other way would either have been to inlay strips of wood or other material around it or inlaying every single piece individually, which would have taken a lot longer. Also maybe the look he got was the look he was after.
If he had used a CNC it wouldn't have looked as good.
We humans perceive small imperfections as beautifull, that is the reason why many very expensive things are handmade. This for example also holds true for humans, faces that are not quite symetrical are perceived as beeing more beautifull than perfectly symetrical faces.
ashbow archer Of course I did, he used no precision to cut the channel that the inlay sits in and used super glue and wood dust to cover the complete balls up, I never mentioned the aluminium dust?
Its shoddy and far from master built, while i can give some leeway for an inexperienced builder this is beyond excusable, be an apologist all you like this is not worth the money charged for it. And as others have pointed out the dot markers don't even line up.
And your CNC comment complete tosh !
the problem is that really good craftmanship has less mistakes in it, to the point it looks almost identical to the CNC one, specially for the untrained eye but takes twice as much time and at least 5 years of training.
so it's a bit sad that an amateur work would be more appealing to a true mastercraft because it has so many mistakes and was done in a rush.
It's just not good. Your work isn't clean enough. The idea is good, it's just left lacking in application. Also you never reply to any of the videos that have negative comments about your work. Why not engage? This inlay series has had a fair amount of criticism as did the Kelly SG refret. Surely you want to defend your work or explain the issues?
Geared Vegan did you even wait till the end of the video before writing this dumb comment or is it just a case of 'oh, look at me being a critic and writing something negative because I'm entitled to voice my jumped up little opinion and I want attention!'
The end result was beautiful and I'd love to see you do something anywhere near what this amazing craftsman has created.
I'm sorry that my opinion has upset you so much. I'm not really sure why? Yes I watched the end. It is pretty clear that the work needed touch ups to look presentable but not perfect. These guitars aren't sold as cheap Asian imports. They are sold as made by a 'master craftsman' and therefore should be a better standard than this. I'm not claiming to be a 'master' but inlay work by other manufacturer is an awful lot better than this. Mostly I'd just like Ben to respond as he has had a lot of criticism through this series and the Kelly SG refret.
Geared Vegan Ben only has to impress his customers, not a bunch of keyboard warriors.
Andrew winch this entire channel is marketing for crimson guitars. I play and own several guitars therefore I am a potential customer am I not? I am far from the only person that is not impressed by the workmanship sometimes shown on this channel. Ben only comments on the positive videos, would be nice to have his reaction to the negative ones.
i dunno who handles the channel but afaik it hasn't been Ben for a long time, but yeah. the channel is here to impress customers, both of the guitars and the luthier's tools they make, and even the building courses, they're not that capitalist though, they take a less extreme and more relaxed way of doing it, rather than tailoring everything specifically with the sole intention of making money, they do a bit more for the community, and generally just have fun and take it less seriously. this isn't about their customers though, Ben has said before that nobody stops learning and everyone makes mistakes, he should be as open to criticism as he used to be, that's what everyone is up in arms about.
The inlay puts the rest of the guitar to shame, in regards to appearance of quality and refinement.