I have been building furniture for 30 years and playing guitar longer than that. Thanks to you both sides of my brain shall meet. Great Vids. I totally understand your addiction to hand tools. They're beautiful and their use is meditative and healing. I can't tell you the number of times I stared at my thickness planer while thicknessing a board with a hand plane. Keep up the great work.
I came here to find out how you'd route binding channels onto a carved top. I didn't even think of routing the binding channels before carving the top. This makes so much more sense.
Hi Ben, bench cookies are the dog's things. Love them as a joiner and was a part time guitar builder I use to hand work all my guitars, yes therapeutic working the wood.
I do all my carve tops this way, I personally find it much more pleasing to both myself and the aesthetics of the instrument, and you can feel the curve a lot more accurately than even using contour gauges by rubbing them with my hand (oooer... and that's why I love my work!!), much the same way as carving the curve and recurve on a violin style instrument.
This is very interesting to watch. I spent a few years at Gibson here in Kalamazoo , befire during snd throughout t h e move to Nashville,(78 - 84) we had a few guys who handcarved tops, but it was mostly machine. They used a combination of small p k anes and file blocks. This gives me a different view of how it can be done. Thanks for this
Fantastic video, ben. Not just the demonstration, but the competent demonstration along with the discussion. The former can be a crapshoot. When you do it the way you do it, it's instructive and memorable.
Ben; Thanks you again for your videos. This one is especially meaningful because you introduced me to the Ashley Iles line of tools, and the proper sharpening technique that can be used on all my edged tools. In fact thanks to your great tutorial I have been able to become adept at using my violin planes. In turn they turned my LP top carving from an immense struggle into a lot of fun! And I especially agree with a previous poster that said; "and tools that give me that odd tingly feeling". Couldn't agree more, I now have two, and the third is on it's way(but already won't get here soon enough!).
Nice! I made my own with just hand carving tools..and a motorized Foredom carver. You really have to have a set of super sharp gouges and watch for tear out on 'the flame maple where the grain changes direction on you. Mine turned out pretty good, but had to use the orange drops instead of bumblebees. But I glued the binding after carving and sanding. used a special router bit holder from Stew-Mac that fit my dremel. Why the big rectangular hole in the middle?
Thank you, part 2 out soon.. It has some stop motion so may take a bit more editing.. I think it will be a three parter series ending with using a scraper for an almost final finish. Thanks for watching!
In the Netherlands you can find old tools from the Brand Nooitgedacht, made in Sneek, Holland. This is very high quality tools ment for the professional market. They are quite expensive becouse they are very, very, very wanted.
I used to have a set of Henry Taylor (UK) hand carving tooks, but I was not impressed with the smaller detailed chisels as they just didn't keep a good edge. I ended up with some Swiss carving tools that had better steel. I did my own custom LP top, using a blueprint and most of the bulk carving done with a Foredom carving motor with a flexi shaft and using large carving burrs. It was much faster than using hand chisels and with no risk of tearouts or deep gouges from the chisels on figured maple top.
Thanks for the wonderful videos, Ben. I have certainly learned more about guitar building watching this podcast than by the countless books I've managed to track down. Here is a question for the show: I want to start my first build, but I am VERY afraid of things such as band saws and router tables. I am a guitar player and I rather enjoy my fingers in their current state and position (ie: connected to my hands). Like you, I would much rather be holding the scary, finger-cutting appliances. Is there any part of guitar building that absolutely has to be done on a router table? Or can I actually build the whole thing holding the router in between my hands? Would you be so kind as to demonstrate how to do it (if it's even possible to do so, I mean)? Thank you very much and keep up the great work!
Love your series. I'm an amateur builder, and your tips and techniques are fantastic. Could you dig into sandblasted finishes? I'm wanting to give that a shot, but am unsure of the process.
Hand carving is so much fun :-) I don't really get the idea of routing the banks first. Is that supposed to help with the shape or reduce the amount of material you need to gouge away? Seems like awful lot of work to save a little bit of work, which would be much more fun anyway.
Looks like one of those things that looks scary and messy till the final few steps, i hate things like that haha, nice work :D looking forward to the following parts :)
I know this is a long shot as this video is old and you may not pay attention to the comments, but, when routing the pickup cavities do you have them angled slightly or are they cut parallel to the bottom of the guitar?
Doesn't gouging perpendicular at the edge chip a lot more than at much closer angles? Rolling the gouge will save you a lot of sharpening by using the entire tool to work, as opposed to just wearing one spot constantly.
Hey Ben, I'm currently building my first guitar. It's a start shaped body, sadly I rushed to routing before I had a bit with a baring on it and I used my master template to route and dug a little farther in the neck pocket than I wanted to. How could I fix the neck pocket if I've taken off a bit too much wood? Thanks! Love your videos.
Thanks for your many very helpfull videos! I appriciated the videos about how to bind a Guitar very much at my own build. But now i want to bind my guitarfretboard with a shellstrip and normal white binding but don't know how to do it exactly? Please can you give me a little help with this or make a video about it??? Thanks Frankie
I think this guy is excellent but, and I don't know why, but the head tat thing bothers me. I am not bald headed so I might be missing something but really? was that necessary to do? Sorry please forgive if I have been too forward and really great vids thank you!
Why don't you put a chamfer around the outside of the top right down to just above the binding or with a bullnose plane or a Spokeshave or the such like?....it would prevent the edge tear out from the cross grain gouging...
And this is why I love youtube, I had never considered doing that! I was taught to start with the gouges and that's how I do it.. Well, did it. I've just bought a beautiful travisher that will do this nicely! Thanks for the idea :)
Haha, you can add that little nugget to my tip for using half a pencil on the nut......Yes, if you run a chamfer right around the edge this will drop the hard edge down to near the final surface, but more importantly below the rough gouging surface preventing the tear out from potentially ruining your final surface because the unsupported fibres are above and away from your final depth.
At 11:35 are those bench cookies? my boss has been trying to get the guys at the benches to use those. No one trusts them yet. Any thoughts or recommendations?
Oh no! Acute gear envy.....now I don't know whether to buy a guitar or a set of gouges. Roll on part 2! Is there a market for a guitar with the raw gouge marks left visible?.....just a thought.
+ThePsprout I've never head anyone ask for that. And i guess it could be hard on your hands if they are very rough. But im sure somebody would like it.
I petition that Ben does a challenge, where he HAS to do everything the wrong way, and isn't allowed to fix mistakes. However, the guitar has to be playable anyways. Call it "Raw and Rustic". haha.
:) I was at the yandles woodworking show today, and will be again tomorrow.. Ashley Iles have a room there full of unutterably awesome chisels, gouges and carving tools. I'm hoping they will be our supplier for the rosewood handles of our micro chisels for inlay work too.. It gives me excuses to spend more time at their stand!
Enjoy. :) Mind you I can completely sympathise with your problem . . sorry, appreciation of well made equipment. I was at the Photography Show recently where I may have spent more time than was healthy milling around the Leica Cameras stand.
When it comes to carving a curve top... I cheat. Router and progressively smaller templates. Then sand the layers smooth into one curve. Alot quicker. Good carving skills though
I can do it in 2 to 3 hours with gouges etc if I'm trying, then sanding etc.. but it varies depending on the tools you have and how much tap tap tapping you can take before madness sets in.
I have now purchased a thinline telecaster squier, it is very beautiful. This video has led me to purchase a guitar, and i am well on my way! :D Mohd Khairul
I wish we still made things in the US. You must take pride that your fellow countrymen make quality tools, everything in America is made in china by machines. 🥴
This has arguably become my favorite channel.
Really interesting. I have spend last 3..4 hours just looking Crimsons channel ..highly inspirational, while I don't even play guitar.
I have been building furniture for 30 years and playing guitar longer than that. Thanks to you both sides of my brain shall meet. Great Vids. I totally understand your addiction to hand tools. They're beautiful and their use is meditative and healing. I can't tell you the number of times I stared at my thickness planer while thicknessing a board with a hand plane. Keep up the great work.
I came here to find out how you'd route binding channels onto a carved top.
I didn't even think of routing the binding channels before carving the top.
This makes so much more sense.
Hi Ben, bench cookies are the dog's things. Love them as a joiner and was a part time guitar builder I use to hand work all my guitars, yes therapeutic working the wood.
I do all my carve tops this way, I personally find it much more pleasing to both myself and the aesthetics of the instrument, and you can feel the curve a lot more accurately than even using contour gauges by rubbing them with my hand (oooer... and that's why I love my work!!), much the same way as carving the curve and recurve on a violin style instrument.
I could watch you do this for days!! Lol something soothing about each carve
This is very interesting to watch. I spent a few years at Gibson here in Kalamazoo , befire during snd throughout t h e move to Nashville,(78 - 84) we had a few guys who handcarved tops, but it was mostly machine. They used a combination of small p k anes and file blocks. This gives me a different view of how it can be done. Thanks for this
I want to build my own guitar one day, but I've no experience of woodworking! These vids give some great insight and tips I can utilise in the future!
Been a lot of yacketty yack recently. Nice to see your beautiful craftsmanship again...and tools that give me an odd tingly feeling!!!
Fantastic video, ben. Not just the demonstration, but the competent demonstration along with the discussion. The former can be a crapshoot. When you do it the way you do it, it's instructive and memorable.
Ben;
Thanks you again for your videos. This one is especially meaningful because you introduced me to the Ashley Iles line of tools, and the proper sharpening technique that can be used on all my edged tools. In fact thanks to your great tutorial I have been able to become adept at using my violin planes. In turn they turned my LP top carving from an immense struggle into a lot of fun! And I especially agree with a previous poster that said; "and tools that give me that odd tingly feeling". Couldn't agree more, I now have two, and the third is on it's way(but already won't get here soon enough!).
Brilliant tools and a great demo. Thanks for being awesome Ben.
Nice!
I made my own with just hand carving tools..and a motorized Foredom carver.
You really have to have a set of super sharp gouges and watch for tear out on
'the flame maple where the grain changes direction on you.
Mine turned out pretty good, but had to use the orange drops instead of bumblebees.
But I glued the binding after carving and sanding. used a special router bit holder
from Stew-Mac that fit my dremel.
Why the big rectangular hole in the middle?
Wow this is uber cool!
I did this with a rasp a various files and it took FOREVER!
Fabulous video! Great job Crimson Custom Guitars. Very high quality work done by hand. That is awesome!!
Hope there's more parts about this, this is very interesting.
Thank you, part 2 out soon.. It has some stop motion so may take a bit more editing.. I think it will be a three parter series ending with using a scraper for an almost final finish. Thanks for watching!
2:27 i was like "wow, is this a grenade?" :D
That sounds the chisel makes as he's carving the wood is sooooooo satisfying. Almost popped a semi
In the Netherlands you can find old tools from the Brand Nooitgedacht, made in Sneek, Holland. This is very high quality tools ment for the professional market. They are quite expensive becouse they are very, very, very wanted.
Bring on part 2 please!
I used to have a set of Henry Taylor (UK) hand carving tooks, but I was not impressed
with the smaller detailed chisels as they just didn't keep a good edge. I ended up
with some Swiss carving tools that had better steel. I did my own custom LP top,
using a blueprint and most of the bulk carving done with a Foredom carving motor with
a flexi shaft and using large carving burrs. It was much faster than using hand chisels
and with no risk of tearouts or deep gouges from the chisels on figured maple top.
Thanks for the wonderful videos, Ben. I have certainly learned more about guitar building watching this podcast than by the countless books I've managed to track down. Here is a question for the show: I want to start my first build, but I am VERY afraid of things such as band saws and router tables. I am a guitar player and I rather enjoy my fingers in their current state and position (ie: connected to my hands). Like you, I would much rather be holding the scary, finger-cutting appliances. Is there any part of guitar building that absolutely has to be done on a router table? Or can I actually build the whole thing holding the router in between my hands? Would you be so kind as to demonstrate how to do it (if it's even possible to do so, I mean)? Thank you very much and keep up the great work!
Love your series. I'm an amateur builder, and your tips and techniques are fantastic. Could you dig into sandblasted finishes? I'm wanting to give that a shot, but am unsure of the process.
Hand carving is so much fun :-) I don't really get the idea of routing the banks first. Is that supposed to help with the shape or reduce the amount of material you need to gouge away? Seems like awful lot of work to save a little bit of work, which would be much more fun anyway.
you looked like a man in heaven....good shout about 'rolling' the gouge.
Best channel, your job is an inspiration, keep up the great work man
Digress all you need my good man, as long as it is to show us some seriously cool tools. Cheers!
That headstock is amazing
Looks like one of those things that looks scary and messy till the final few steps, i hate things like that haha, nice work :D looking forward to the following parts :)
I know this is a long shot as this video is old and you may not pay attention to the comments, but, when routing the pickup cavities do you have them angled slightly or are they cut parallel to the bottom of the guitar?
Doesn't gouging perpendicular at the edge chip a lot more than at much closer angles?
Rolling the gouge will save you a lot of sharpening by using the entire tool to work, as opposed to just wearing one spot constantly.
Hey Ben, I'm currently building my first guitar. It's a start shaped body, sadly I rushed to routing before I had a bit with a baring on it and I used my master template to route and dug a little farther in the neck pocket than I wanted to. How could I fix the neck pocket if I've taken off a bit too much wood? Thanks! Love your videos.
Great Vid ...At 2:29 you introduce the Ashley Isles Gouges .Did you use all of them for the LP top ?Also could you please give the blade widths Thanks
Thanks for your many very helpfull videos!
I appriciated the videos about how to bind a Guitar very much at my own build.
But now i want to bind my guitarfretboard with a shellstrip and normal white binding but don't know how to do it exactly?
Please can you give me a little help with this or make a video about it???
Thanks Frankie
Is That Extremely Large cavity made to store your Cables, Capo, Tuner and extra strings too?!?!
Fantastic and thank you. For all of us who do not have the fancy Sh** this is beautiful. Cheers.
Do you route and add the binding and THEN put on the maple top? The bindings location is confusing me
are we chiseling the wood from the line at an angle towards the binding, to make a slope, or is our goal to make that area flat?
I'm enjoying your channel. Good on you mate!
The binding used is amazing. Wher can it be found in the U.S.A.?
I think this guy is excellent but, and I don't know why, but the head tat thing bothers me. I am not bald headed so I might be missing something but really? was that necessary to do? Sorry please forgive if I have been too forward and really great vids thank you!
Great video, Ben! Thank you very much!
why did you evacuate the body cavity ( if I could use a Viv Stanshallism) before you carved the top?
Great video.
Why don't you put a chamfer around the outside of the top right down to just above the binding or with a bullnose plane or a Spokeshave or the such like?....it would prevent the edge tear out from the cross grain gouging...
And this is why I love youtube, I had never considered doing that! I was taught to start with the gouges and that's how I do it.. Well, did it. I've just bought a beautiful travisher that will do this nicely! Thanks for the idea :)
Haha, you can add that little nugget to my tip for using half a pencil on the nut......Yes, if you run a chamfer right around the edge this will drop the hard edge down to near the final surface, but more importantly below the rough gouging surface preventing the tear out from potentially ruining your final surface because the unsupported fibres are above and away from your final depth.
Looks great - what is the thickness of the maple cap?
At 11:35 are those bench cookies? my boss has been trying to get the guys at the benches to use those. No one trusts them yet.
Any thoughts or recommendations?
Oh no! Acute gear envy.....now I don't know whether to buy a guitar or a set of gouges. Roll on part 2! Is there a market for a guitar with the raw gouge marks left visible?.....just a thought.
+ThePsprout I've never head anyone ask for that. And i guess it could be hard on your hands if they are very rough. But im sure somebody would like it.
How thick does the maple top need to be in order to get the right carving depth?
nice work! i was wondering is the neck pocket angled or straight?
Would a series of different size draw knives work?
thank you Ben
Would normal hockey pucks work to hold a guitar you think?
Rolling the gouge creates a slicing cut which, with a sharp gouge with the grain is far easier.
Hi there, Great video...how wide is the No 5 gouge you have there?
sharp tools and wrist action :)
dude, thanks so much for your videos!
power tools vs hand tools. this is when you know your getting old. i feel ya buddy!🤣🤣
Now, can you tell us where to get $3 AAAA spruce tops for archtops? :)
I petition that Ben does a challenge, where he HAS to do everything the wrong way, and isn't allowed to fix mistakes. However, the guitar has to be playable anyways. Call it "Raw and Rustic". haha.
Why not a grinder with a fast sanding disk? Seems it would be more subtle taking wood off the outer edges with less chance of gouging?
Your intro... Its very loooooooong time😁😁
Very old video.. much has changed! B
Where can the binding used on this guitar be obtained?
Hi. How do you sharpen the gouges?
seriously, this is better than any porn
and the satisfaction lasts longer too...
@@53104hookup hotshot
Hand carving is fun. Sharpening on the other hand.....
A necessary evil
so how is zebra wood for a solid body build?
This makes me want to get some ice cream. Toffee ice cream.
I really need to go get some chisels, just looks so fun!
Ben, would you like us to leave you with your chisels a little longer? :D
:) I was at the yandles woodworking show today, and will be again tomorrow.. Ashley Iles have a room there full of unutterably awesome chisels, gouges and carving tools. I'm hoping they will be our supplier for the rosewood handles of our micro chisels for inlay work too.. It gives me excuses to spend more time at their stand!
Enjoy. :)
Mind you I can completely sympathise with your problem . . sorry, appreciation of well made equipment.
I was at the Photography Show recently where I may have spent more time than was healthy milling around the Leica Cameras stand.
Namm. that's the only thing I need to say gentlemen
is the vest to protect the shirt or to give it that 10th grader giving an oral report feel?
Ashley Isles Chisels ?
When it comes to carving a curve top... I cheat. Router and progressively smaller templates. Then sand the layers smooth into one curve. Alot quicker. Good carving skills though
how long does it usually take?
I can do it in 2 to 3 hours with gouges etc if I'm trying, then sanding etc.. but it varies depending on the tools you have and how much tap tap tapping you can take before madness sets in.
"what's with all that tapping and banging noise?!?!"
"SHUT UP MOM"
Leffffty nice :)
You should do a giveaway
cool
Talk about hard work I would rather make a router copier.
Why not just use a power tool and be done with it?
And the rubbers also help to prevent unwanted guitar pregnancies.
Why not use a router?
+Larry Long 6:40
0:12
*Heavy Breathing Intensifies
lol Ben your are truly a male. ohhh shinney tools. most of us do tend to get caught up on em. and yes i do too. thank you again Ben
Why am i watching this? I don't even know how to play a guitar...
+LightningToast Sean Ha Ha Ha! Best comment!!
buy a decent or good guitar and start learning brother.. practise a lot.. 👍 enjoy
I have now purchased a thinline telecaster squier, it is very beautiful. This video has led me to purchase a guitar, and i am well on my way! :D Mohd Khairul
How is the guitar playing going?
TOAN 6 SPIDER
Pretty good, Iron Maiden is so fun to play :D
👍🏽
Better with a belt sander.
You look and sound like Anthony Hopkins.
Uh oh, you cut it backwards
ni en pedo me pongo a pereder tiempo asi...
I will watch your video as long as you DO NOT put a Kaoss pad on this guitar.
Tatoo on head .. my lord
I wish we still made things in the US. You must take pride that your fellow countrymen make quality tools, everything in America is made in china by machines. 🥴
His head looks rediculous
too much talk....!