Red Special build

[Mr K]

The RS is a guitar that was built by Brian and his father with no previous experience of how a guitar should be built . It was also built with what ever could be scrounged to do the job . The materials used may not have been ideal or well suited to the job but what was clear is that they took a skilled and meticulous approach to the build.

This is my second RS build and I've tried to get as close as I can to the original in materials and all the little details so often missed when a luthier decides they can build it better , I did this the first time.

I'll start with the X-rays of the original

There is so much information here.
It is well known that the original body was built from what is termed "blockboard" which is basically scraps of pine sandwiched between to layers of thin ply with a total thickness of 3/4" . The body is made of two layers of this hollowed and joined , and a thin veneer of mahogany glued over the top.
However , the x-rays to me didn't show the type of board that is used today. It has fine contrasting lines that are consistent in width and parrallel.
I interpreted this as perhaps ply on edge as seen in this type of blockboard

I have since changed my mind a little and it is possibly 2-3mm wide stripes glued together .

As I couldn't buy any I decided to make my own which lead to a slightly different approach but one that will end in the same final product.
I cut up a lot of ply and glued it together to form the body material


Here I've added one layer of ply , and to the other layer of ply I added a thin layer of mahogany that will become the top and back faces



With routing templates made the top and bottom layers were shaped .




You can see the Oak insert that runs down the majority of the bottom layer , the neck will sit on top of this .
the top layer has a small oak block which houses the retaining block for the tremelo



and the trem in place , this is permanently glued in.


And the trem unit itself


I'll stop there and continue later for should there be any questions so far .

Cheers Mark

[lamanoditrento]

This is fantastic thread! Can't wait for the rest

[DarwinStrings]

Certainly a bit of a challenge in this one Mark, love the trem but had to phone a friend to get a grip on how it worked, think I have it now.

[Mr K]

Certainly a bit of a challenge in this one Mark, love the trem but had to phone a friend to get a grip on how it worked, think I have it now.

Yer it does look a bit daunting at first but if you think of it as a normal trem and then take the springs that are normally in tension, and put them on the other side in compression you have it .
The tapped threaded block in the body is for tensioning the springs or should I say compressing. The holes through the trem block are large an allow movement without hitting the bolts . There is a "v" machined into the trem block to take the sharpened blade , which is hardened steel.
Hope that explains it .

Cheers Mark

[Mr K]

A bit more of the build, With the top oak block in place it sits proud of the other layers , this is because the pivot point has to sit just under the top veneer layer to be in the correct spot . The layer of ply was routed away from the area and only leaves the veneer



The top was then glued on

So we now have the very same layers as on the original but done in a more controlled process.
Cheers Mark

[Mr K]

The fret board and neck were also being done .
Fret board is made from Oak


This was shaped and radiused in the usual manner and the painted black


Carefully relevelled and the slots cut and inlays added


Neck blank started, The RS has a very shallow headstock angle of only 4 degrees.
A more normal truss rod was used along with carbon rods


The head stock being shaped



Board on and the rest of the neck shaped




Cheer Mark

[Mr K]

So the body top was trimmed, A veneer was added to the sides with the grain in the vertical direction .
The white binding done and the neck pocket routed.




Neck fitted with a 2 degree angle cut into the back of the neck.


The sides of the fretboard were re painted black and the side markers added


The neck bolt was added by tapping a piece of threaded rod into the neck and adding a nut for securing


Cavities for Pickups routed


With just a sand all timber work is done and ready for the spraying.

Cheers Mark

[slowlearner]

This build is amazing!

[Mr K]

Thanks Pete ,

Been away on holidays . Time for the continuation .
This is a close copy of the original bridge . six aluminium blocks machined at different heights to cater for the 7.25" radius , and the slots for the intonation.




And the pick ups. These are made by Adeson in England who carries out the repair work on the original RS pickups and are as close a copy as possible


Note that the backing plate is removed from the neck pick up as was a modification that Brian carried out.


With the paint work finished it was time for the fret work, I made a well fitting bed for the neck to press the frets in

I taped up the board as I didn't want to scratch the finish at all

Frets cut and ready for pressing


and pressed


Tape removed and ends leveled


Body also painted


And the assembly started

Pickguard done also


Wiring done


And that raps it up , the final pic are in the gallery .

Cheers Mark