Just a quick question or three.... Solder is lead. Won't it tarnishes easily. Kkeeping it shiny will be a chore? Second lead is toxic. The fretboard needs regular oiling. will that not leach lead into the wood over time? If not would it not make it easier for the lead to enter the players fingers over time? Finally how will it wear next to the wood with bends and such? Will it wear faster and create low spots or wear slower and create high spots? EDIT: just got to the part you switched to lead free solder. Disregard all of the above.
Most solder is a tin-silver alloy these days. It's actually quite difficult to get leaded solder these days, at least in my experience. I'm probably jumping the gun at around 18:00 but I hope that he isn't using flux-cored solder.
@@NuclearRobotHamster It's very easy to get as for desoldering in repairs you require leaded solder to drop the melt temp for replacement and cleanup. Unleaded solder is a nightmare.
@@JoannaHammondunleaded solder being a “nightmare” is one of the most harmful myths going around. If you can’t solder with it, lack of lead is not the problem
@@NuclearRobotHamster Leaded solder is easy to get if you are looking specifically for it but you're right everything I find is flux core tin alloy as well.
I never doubted you. The things you've created are successful works of art. If you have an idea, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, I know it'll turn out great. You've built that reputation for yourself.
When I first saw what Ben was going to do I was horrified, but of course I was absolutely wrong and the end result is spectacular. This is perhaps why it is me doing the watching and Ben doing the building. 👍😁
I have learned to trust in the genius of the madman, and his methods. I've learned to wait until it's done to make any judgements about how it will turn out.
I love the technique. I think you could put round dots on the end and actually use a Dremel to cut the slots with a tiny t slot cutter. That would give you the under cut and the dots would allow for the Dremel bit insertion!! Just a thought. Great video!! ✌️🤍
Alec Steel went through a wire inlay phase a while back and did a lot of this type of thing into metal projects. If I remember correctly, he ended up with a set of engraver's tools to cut those dovetail grooves. He was able to do some pretty intricate work with them. Do you think that sealing the fret board with super glue and polishing it, like you did with the Kauri build, would help to keep those inlays in there over time?
Be aware in the future that the stuff you have on hand is probably flux core solder wire, meaning it has an inner core of rosin or resin encapsulated by the metal. You can get a special solder wire without flux, which might be a more sensible choice in this use.
Love that "fight me in the comments", followed sometimes by hiw it's not going to change your decision because you're talking to us in the future. Fun, mind bending stuff.
Love your work Ben! Isn't solder pretty toxic stuff? Wouldn't want that on my fingers when playing. I would really like to see your other building projects come to an end before watching new series.
Beautiful result! It will definitely work harden if you could burnish it in with a stone instead of final finish. This seems to work well with silver in mild steel or even carbon steel, not sure about tin into wood. Or you could also try fire polish like they do on acrylic.
I love it. It looks fantastic. And like so many others here, I never doubted you for a minute. I guess time will tell about its long term viability but I salute your commitment to creativity and curiosity....😎
As soon as you mentioned Tie Fighter inlays, I was sold. Could watch this all day. Looking forward to the next instalment. This build is just like Frankenstein’s laboratory, in a good way. All thunder and lightning, and crazy generators. Maybe I need to get out more or ease off on the coffee.
I bought a Crimson T=Type kit a few years ago, with a REALLY chunky neck. I converted it to a sort of asymmetric flattened C shape using just scrapers in order to solve the massive neck dive problem.
I knew I'd seen you do something similar before but couldn't remember where and it was driving me nuts! After some digging I found it in the Taking a Great Kit Guitar and making it Awesome build, only then it was twisted aluminium foil, which needed a lot of sanding afterwards and wouldn't have been suitable for the more subtle look you're going for now. I really like it.
NGL I totally doubted you when you first hammered in the solder. It’s a great effect, a cool technique, and the type of fine craftsmanship we learned to expect from Mr. Crowe. And yeah I thought you were saying you were going to melt the solder in at first. That would have been interesting to watch you pull off. I can’t help think how expensive you made that neck now though lol. I guess that’s what happens when Ben Crowe touches guitars though. Can’t wait to see the finished product.
Many years ago, I was chatting with Larry Robinson about the silver wire inlays he did on the fretboards of a few Alembic guitars while he was there. He, of course, bent out the wire design and then inlaid that into the board. I asked if it would be easier to route the inlay and then form the wire into the troughs. He said that he didn't like how that came out when he tried it. Well, I had already done the routing while awaiting his response. whoops. I ended up using silver solder and it seems fine and not prone to wear if it is thin lines. I used a tiny dovetail type bit in a dremel router since I was also concerned about the inlay just popping out. These guitars are in the first few pages of his book on inlay if anyone wants to see them.
I did a similar thing for a piece of jewlery once and it worked rather well. I really like the look of tin its not so shiny and has a kind of grounded feeling to it also it's cheap and the softness gives it a organic vibe. Works well with wood in my Opinion. You have to be sure to get led-free stuff though
I'm curious why you didn't use a solder iron after setting the wire in? I would think that would ensure the metal filled the dovetail cavity? Looks fabulous, though.
When the title mentioned solder I thought you were going to melt the stuff into the slots 😂. I’d be very interested to see how this lasts after a year of playing?
I drop filled solder on a fret that was gouged to holy hell. Obviously not a permanent fix but it worked for about 6 until I finally had that fret replaced
I'd love to see this inlay technique applied to script or kanji or something. The slight inconsistency in line thickness lends itself to a brush stroke kind of style.
Also an even easier way to do this would have been to glue in some metal powder in to the slot with epoxy or super glue. At least we got to see the hand build only or travel guitar hanging up on the wall behind Ben. It would be nice to finally see the thing finished.
I like that WAAAY better than I thought I would. You got that vision Ben. I had to fast forward through the screechy chalkboard sound tho. Made my teeth itch 🤢
I used your metal inlay powder to make fret markers in my bass project. Seems like a good solution but solder works as well. Did you think of melting it into the slot?
Liked the idea but solder has a tendency to oxidise and the current shine will deteriorate in use due to oils, sweat etc from finger tips. Keep up wotj tje out of the box stuff and hopefully this will be a guitar to marvel at.
If you want to create a Guitar looking like a medieval weapon. You might want to look at the work of _Tod's Workshop_ here on TH-cam. I really dig your Idea with the solder Inlay in the Fretboard. But yeah you're making your own life rather difficult with these design decisions 😅
A few simple questions: Is this lead free solder?, is this non rosin core solder? Also how are you going to protect it? Solder can be scratched and dented by just a finger nail. EDIT: I never doubted you get could get it to fit in, it's super soft. I have those other questions. EDIT2: OK, after listening back, you said lead free. But Rosin free?
Gold might be an easier wire to inlay. Then again, most metal inlay is in other metals, not wood. Alec Steele has done some fine gold metal inlay. Maybe a collaboration???
![ILLSLICK - WINTER IS COMING [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dwTMeM1zIhQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Just a quick question or three.... Solder is lead. Won't it tarnishes easily. Kkeeping it shiny will be a chore? Second lead is toxic. The fretboard needs regular oiling. will that not leach lead into the wood over time? If not would it not make it easier for the lead to enter the players fingers over time? Finally how will it wear next to the wood with bends and such? Will it wear faster and create low spots or wear slower and create high spots?
EDIT: just got to the part you switched to lead free solder. Disregard all of the above.
Most solder is a tin-silver alloy these days. It's actually quite difficult to get leaded solder these days, at least in my experience. I'm probably jumping the gun at around 18:00 but I hope that he isn't using flux-cored solder.
@@NuclearRobotHamster It's very easy to get as for desoldering in repairs you require leaded solder to drop the melt temp for replacement and cleanup. Unleaded solder is a nightmare.
@@JoannaHammondunleaded solder being a “nightmare” is one of the most harmful myths going around. If you can’t solder with it, lack of lead is not the problem
@@NuclearRobotHamster Leaded solder is easy to get if you are looking specifically for it but you're right everything I find is flux core tin alloy as well.
I never doubted you. The things you've created are successful works of art. If you have an idea, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, I know it'll turn out great. You've built that reputation for yourself.
Ben, you can't "cliffhanger the hell" out of something when the answer is in the description😁
Luv it. Would it work with copper brass and bronze? Skys the limit with this. Amazing idea.
Ben does no wrong, absolutely a BRILLIANT luthier and my very favorite! You ROCK Ben!!!
When I first saw what Ben was going to do I was horrified, but of course I was absolutely wrong and the end result is spectacular. This is perhaps why it is me doing the watching and Ben doing the building. 👍😁
I have learned to trust in the genius of the madman, and his methods. I've learned to wait until it's done to make any judgements about how it will turn out.
I love the technique. I think you could put round dots on the end and actually use a Dremel to cut the slots with a tiny t slot cutter. That would give you the under cut and the dots would allow for the Dremel bit insertion!! Just a thought. Great video!! ✌️🤍
Alec Steel went through a wire inlay phase a while back and did a lot of this type of thing into metal projects. If I remember correctly, he ended up with a set of engraver's tools to cut those dovetail grooves. He was able to do some pretty intricate work with them.
Do you think that sealing the fret board with super glue and polishing it, like you did with the Kauri build, would help to keep those inlays in there over time?
Yeah I remember that, I was literally going to comment about it until I saw yours
Be aware in the future that the stuff you have on hand is probably flux core solder wire, meaning it has an inner core of rosin or resin encapsulated by the metal. You can get a special solder wire without flux, which might be a more sensible choice in this use.
Props and shout-out to the editor who thought to make the hammer strikes into a lil tune
Love that "fight me in the comments", followed sometimes by hiw it's not going to change your decision because you're talking to us in the future. Fun, mind bending stuff.
Love your work Ben!
Isn't solder pretty toxic stuff? Wouldn't want that on my fingers when playing.
I would really like to see your other building projects come to an end before watching new series.
Beautiful result! It will definitely work harden if you could burnish it in with a stone instead of final finish. This seems to work well with silver in mild steel or even carbon steel, not sure about tin into wood. Or you could also try fire polish like they do on acrylic.
I love it. It looks fantastic. And like so many others here, I never doubted you for a minute. I guess time will tell about its long term viability but I salute your commitment to creativity and curiosity....😎
Such a knowledgeable luthier, and relatively funny... I wish there was time to watch all your videos Ben Crowe.
Yes, Ben, you got me! I doubted you. Really turned out beautiful!
With the double dots connected in that way, it gives it a cool mid-century atomic vibe.
Fantastic job Ben, It looks amazing.. The future uses for this technique are endless... You have an amazing brain!
I like the result. Curiosity : Would it have been easier/feasible to melt it in with a soldering iron/torch?
You'd run the risk of burning the wood I think, especially with lead-free solder.
@Hey Gek that's a good point, I was fully ignoring the actual heat lol.
As soon as you mentioned Tie Fighter inlays, I was sold. Could watch this all day. Looking forward to the next instalment.
This build is just like Frankenstein’s laboratory, in a good way. All thunder and lightning, and crazy generators.
Maybe I need to get out more or ease off on the coffee.
I bought a Crimson T=Type kit a few years ago, with a REALLY chunky neck. I converted it to a sort of asymmetric flattened C shape using just scrapers in order to solve the massive neck dive problem.
I knew I'd seen you do something similar before but couldn't remember where and it was driving me nuts! After some digging I found it in the Taking a Great Kit Guitar and making it Awesome build, only then it was twisted aluminium foil, which needed a lot of sanding afterwards and wouldn't have been suitable for the more subtle look you're going for now. I really like it.
A harder stick of silver solder might be a bit more durable but darn Ben that looks good.
NGL I totally doubted you when you first hammered in the solder. It’s a great effect, a cool technique, and the type of fine craftsmanship we learned to expect from Mr. Crowe. And yeah I thought you were saying you were going to melt the solder in at first. That would have been interesting to watch you pull off. I can’t help think how expensive you made that neck now though lol. I guess that’s what happens when Ben Crowe touches guitars though. Can’t wait to see the finished product.
what about the colophonium inside the solder? That stuff is filled with it as a flux, no?
As long as the solder is lead free, I see no issue with using it for an inlay.
Many years ago, I was chatting with Larry Robinson about the silver wire inlays he did on the fretboards of a few Alembic guitars while he was there. He, of course, bent out the wire design and then inlaid that into the board. I asked if it would be easier to route the inlay and then form the wire into the troughs. He said that he didn't like how that came out when he tried it. Well, I had already done the routing while awaiting his response. whoops. I ended up using silver solder and it seems fine and not prone to wear if it is thin lines. I used a tiny dovetail type bit in a dremel router since I was also concerned about the inlay just popping out. These guitars are in the first few pages of his book on inlay if anyone wants to see them.
I did a similar thing for a piece of jewlery once and it worked rather well. I really like the look of tin its not so shiny and has a kind of grounded feeling to it also it's cheap and the softness gives it a organic vibe. Works well with wood in my Opinion. You have to be sure to get led-free stuff though
Looks great. Turned out better than I was expecting.
looks good, reminds me of the dam-busters (Lancaster bombers) 80th anniversary ?
'I know' says Ben 'I'll replace my boot laces with snakes!'.
Venomous Snakes..cuz…Harder
I'm too excited for all the main builds you're doing right now
Very cool! My concern on a fret board is residue transferring to the players fingers.
Great work, and gives me ideas...
Oh and I have the same wee pin hammer you used which I inherited from my late grandad who was a cabinet maker.
Have tried doing it heat? A light sanding may remove any charred wood while polishing the mdfal.
Now that looks like a NICE fret board !!
I'm curious why you didn't use a solder iron after setting the wire in? I would think that would ensure the metal filled the dovetail cavity?
Looks fabulous, though.
When the title mentioned solder I thought you were going to melt the stuff into the slots 😂. I’d be very interested to see how this lasts after a year of playing?
Thats what I thought as well.
Wouldn't that be a better option (heat it) to make sure it is fastened enough on the fretboard.. it flows into the cut better..
Same, totally thought that's what he'd do. But I was imagining more organic shapes.
I was right there with you. I thought he was going to singe the wood.
Same, and was disappointed when it didn’t happen
I believe once you inlay solder into fine woodworking it becomes pewter. Hopefully that's leadfree pewter.
Interesting solution! No more boring dots 😂 the result looks pretty to me
Given the low melting point of thate solder I was surprised that you didn't melt it into the slots.
For some reason I thought you were gonna melt it into the slot, while wondering about combating discoloration from the heat
Nice. I believe this is the technique (similar at least) used to inscribe the lettering on the tomb of ‘Er Maj QEII.
Looks lovely, but what will happen when the woo shrinks and contracts?
I drop filled solder on a fret that was gouged to holy hell. Obviously not a permanent fix but it worked for about 6 until I finally had that fret replaced
Just curious if you considered melting it in place? I don’t think solder gets hot enough to damage the wood.
Maybe next time you film yourself sawing through marker dots, you can put some music over it for us 😁
I'd love to see this inlay technique applied to script or kanji or something. The slight inconsistency in line thickness lends itself to a brush stroke kind of style.
"make shorter videos"... Still half an hour long. This makes me happy :)
Also an even easier way to do this would have been to glue in some metal powder in to the slot with epoxy or super glue. At least we got to see the hand build only or travel guitar hanging up on the wall behind Ben. It would be nice to finally see the thing finished.
Put the stings on and the bend in the neck will squeeze the solder up and out. Just wondering...
This is cooler than what i thought!
will solder oxidise with sweat from the players fingers and go grey? silver impregnated epoxy resin might be easier
Watching you take the excess solder off with a chisel was oddly satisfying.
24:54 Best double bass beat ever....
What if sometime in the future, one decides to warm a fret with a heating iron for some reason wouldn't that melt the soldering inlay?
Would be pretty cool to recycle the fret filings collected from builds to fill the fret markers
I like that WAAAY better than I thought I would. You got that vision Ben.
I had to fast forward through the screechy chalkboard sound tho. Made my teeth itch 🤢
I used your metal inlay powder to make fret markers in my bass project. Seems like a good solution but solder works as well. Did you think of melting it into the slot?
Should have said fretless bass project😂
Can't help but feel over time with a slight bit of wood movement those inlays will start lifting. Looks cool though
they will lift, been there done that
can it oxidize with time ? maybe do you have yet an idea about protecting it...
that looks cool Ben
agree
How will the solder hold up under the heat of stage lighting?
Liked the idea but solder has a tendency to oxidise and the current shine will deteriorate in use due to oils, sweat etc from finger tips. Keep up wotj tje out of the box stuff and hopefully this will be a guitar to marvel at.
How about inlaying the headstock logo in this or similar fashion?
How about packing in a powdered soft metal? Maybe Gold powder.
You know what’s more fun than fretting? Additional mini-frets.
My only concern is that it is so soft? Over time how will it stand up to use?
The effect is sort of like looking at Saturn and it's rings edge on.
What happened to the Vertical lines? No Tie Fighter?
If you want to create a Guitar looking like a medieval weapon. You might want to look at the work of _Tod's Workshop_ here on TH-cam.
I really dig your Idea with the solder Inlay in the Fretboard. But yeah you're making your own life rather difficult with these design decisions 😅
that's great and all but can you make one from petrified wood now that's a challenge , hand tool only
Silver point silver from the art shop ?
It does look nice. Something to keep you busy, huh?
Ep. 4? Did i miss something in between this one and jointing the top?
Here is the link to the playlist th-cam.com/play/PLp6z5fUMeeAaaZzNzwSHGfFxnJl_WBAB8.html
DC
Probably jumping the gun at 18:00, but I hope you're using non-"flux-cored" solder for this.
A few simple questions: Is this lead free solder?, is this non rosin core solder? Also how are you going to protect it? Solder can be scratched and dented by just a finger nail. EDIT: I never doubted you get could get it to fit in, it's super soft. I have those other questions. EDIT2: OK, after listening back, you said lead free. But Rosin free?
priorities priorities!
Looks like a Microtonal guitar! (Next project maybe?)
Do we get to see the finished Kauri build?
It's still in-progress
Exciting!!
Gold might be an easier wire to inlay. Then again, most metal inlay is in other metals, not wood. Alec Steele has done some fine gold metal inlay. Maybe a collaboration???
Should have dove tailed the bottom of your inlay groves to hold the solder
This is the way
I really thought we might see molten solder inlays.
Treble clef for the 12th fret?
I thought melting the solder too!
As you were using solder you could have just used a soldering iron to melt it and drible it in.
I hope that's lead free solder for the sake of whoever wins it !
Would it not been better hammering it flat first before fitting it in the slots
Brilliante 😁
How do I sign up for daily guitar draw there is no section to do so on the site and my crimson account details do not work .
menu - My Account - Register.
Though the website CSS is busted (again) at the moment, so it looks a bit of a mess.
@@PaulCooksStuff sweet I wasn’t pressing the little drop-down arrow on the side Thankyou
@@PaulCooksStuff got me a few tickets now. Fingers crossed .
Hey son, pass daddy his soldering chisel!
Not sure how it would look, maybe too much bling but you could have done it with Gold wire, its soft like lead .
I must be an idiot, when I saw solder I thought he was going to flow it into the slots. Which had me scratching my head.
Great idea, affordable material, and good looking, but we need your skills as well, next time don't use the hammer, use the soldering iron instead😉🤣🤣🤣
Lead and skin contact? My first thought.....
22:35 yeah, no, wholeheartedly agree. Nothing to add. Carry on...
SG - solder guitar?
I usually trust you, but on this the jury is out. 😉
Yeah. Thas cool man