Booked a Crimson Guitars course

davros

Managed to get the wife's approval and today I booked one of their 6-day courses for December - very excited. Wanted to go on one, either this or Bailey for years, but Dorchester's a hell of a lot nearer. Been watching the what's on the bench videos for a while and now working on a design and looking at parts.

Anyone on here been on one? Couldn't find much in the search. Any tips?

Philtre

> Any tips?

Tattoo your head.

davros

Think that might be a poor life choice

lysander

Congrats, I’m very envious.
Would love to myself.

skunkwerx

I've not been on one myself, but I think if you're doing a full build while you're there, unless you've done guitar building and luthiery(?) before, don't make it too complex! I imagine you'd want the last day free as possible for set up and general finishing touches y'kno. 

davros

I've got some experience which will hopefully allow me to build something a little more complex. I've built a body from a blank, routed for pickups, done rattlecan and oil finishes and plenty of fretjobs. Necks are the area I've never tackled before and I'm hoping I'll have enough time to make it chambered with a separate top and f-holes. Worst case scenario I can do all the wiring and an oil finish when i get back home.

Vintage-T

I did the 1 day maintenance course last year, was quite disappointed to be honest. Not enough guys on hand to help out and an assumption that everyone knows what they're doing. Felt like I'd paid for 5 hours of levelling frets. For £250 I'd have expected more hands on expertise from their staff, felt a bit like a pitch at the end just to buy their tools.

I'm sure the building course is different though.

davros

Hmm, that's interesting. It does look like they've got quite a lot of students in at any point in time with only 1 or 2 tutors. Seems like they have all 5 day students in 1 week then 6 day students in the next, so assumed they'd show how to do each stage with the group as a whole, e.g. routing for truss rod, neck carving as everyone progresses at a similar speed.

I can see why a student on a single day course might not get a full day of 1 to 1 tuition but you'd expect more for 250 quid.

Maybe they're getting more business than they can handle again?

ArchtopDave

I've made 3 guitars with Mark Bailey. Loved doing it. I've made an Archtop, a "Les Paul" (my homage to early style Les Paul with some personal customisation), and an Acoustic. They all turned out really well. I'm able to concentrate for long periods of time and enjoy precision, both of which I found are valuable assets when guitar making.

ThePrettyDamned

Can’t wait to see the 7 string thin bodied thru neck multi scale beast

stonevibe

Don't do this...

Ever!

crunchman

I did it in April.  It's a lot to do in 6 days, and I lost 2 or 3 hours having to fix a mistake I made.  You've got more experience than me so you might be a bit quicker, but I did end up having to do the wiring at home.

Their flashcoat finish options are very quick, so you could do that rather than an oil finish.  Mine's got a stained top, and then a flashcoat finish on top.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/155986/ngd-crimson-build-content#latest

davros

Thanks for the link crunchman, I hadn't seen that thread. Gives me some more confidence that what I want to build is achievable. 

Care to share what your mishap was? Did you drill to far when creating the control cavity?

Stonevibe - no, never, that is appalling.

I'll try and keep a bit of a diary so I can post it 9n here from my B&B. Where did you stay crunchman?

crunchman

davros said:

Thanks for the link crunchman, I hadn't seen that thread. Gives me some more confidence that what I want to build is achievable. 

Care to share what your mishap was? Did you drill to far when creating the control cavity?

Stonevibe - no, never, that is appalling.

I'll try and keep a bit of a diary so I can post it 9n here from my B&B. Where did you stay crunchman?

I went through the top when routing the cavity.  The depth stop on the router wasn't very robust, and it gave way.   I think they have got new routers with an updated design for the new workshop, but in the future I'd be a lot more careful about checking the depth I'm routing to.

I made a poker chip out of a little bit of maple and we put that in the hole with a Gibson style toggle switch, after making the hole circular.  There is a dark veneer around the poker chip to make it a bit of a feature, and to mask the slight change in grain.

I was originally intending to reuse the original 3 way blade switch from my Strat. It should have gone under the volume control.

With hindsight, I'd have put the volume control a centimetre further away from the strings.  I don't like the standard Tele control layout, and I wanted the volume a bit closer.  It's not as close as a Strat volume is, but it does get in the way a little bit.