BA001: finishing the body parts

I have made two identical halves of the body out of MDF board. Now I am filing them to an exact fit. They are joined temporarily by means of two wooden furniture plugs / taps on the "inside" of the body, to hold them in place whilst filing. Later, I will rout out the cavities (sustain, weight) and join them by glueing.

PSA001

I found an old friend in a closet of my former home; it's a PSALTER, a mediaeval instrument typical of the Low Countries. I started it during a 5-week course before I went to study at ILSA. It was never finished, but I still have the parts (some tuning pins, 3 bridges to be placed at different string lengts and 3 sets of 3 unisono strings). It was dirty and dusty, so I decided to sand it and store it somewhere safe for later...

BA001: started work on the body

With the majority of measurements and parts drawn on the plan, and in waiting of the delivery of my tremolo, I started to cut out the rough body shape. As said, the body will be made of masonite / MDF. I made two identical contoured slates of about 3/4 inch thick (22mm). After routing inner chambers, these will be glued together and finished to the actual body shape. The chambers are to reduce weight, but might also improve the sustain and to some extent the overall sound (chambers alter the body's own frequency). All a test phase, as you can never know these things beforehand... The chambers will be quite odd in shape, because they cannot get in the way of the cavities the body will get later, to receive the neck, pickups and electronics... More info and photos of progress soon to come!

Work in progress: the baritone electric

The last few days have been a constant running between the computer to look up valuable information (scarce!) and the drawing board, ever changing details... But the baritone guitar is beginning to take shape (on paper, that is). To give you an idea, I've made a general view of what it will look like, combining the Selmer body shape, a Guild headstock, Gretsch Jet neck, TV Jones pickups and a Bigsby B5 tremolo.