Seeing Ben take delivery of that incredibly precious wood then immediately balance it on what looks like a wobbly giant Ming vase is what anxiety is made of.
Kauri was one New Zealand's first (and most important) international exports. The trees were highly prized for ship masts. Good to see some of our wood is still being appreciated back in the UK :)
Not quite. Tanekaha was the choice for masts. However, Kauri was used for every other part of boat building. Frames, planking, etc. It was also used for pattern making, and extensively used for rebuilding San Francisco after the earthquake. That's what all the fancy carving on the outside of the houses is from. That said, what Ben is using is not the same. Being swamp kauri, the lignum has broken down, making it much more brittle than timber Kauri, without the same structural integrity. It will be interesting to see how it ends up sounding. I have built a thinline guitar (including neck) out of real NZ Kauri (not swamp) which has seasoned for about 165 years. The sounds is quite different from traditional guitar building woods. But does look stunning. And the swamp stuff does have an enhanced visual appeal.
And hopefully in New Zealand as well as have seen a 2018 article saying Kauri trees are listed as endangered. Hundreds of trees and plants are under threat from farming, and other land use, introduced animals etc in the land of the long white cloud.
@@stringrip I worked planting kauri trees in the Waipoua forest ten-odd years ago and went to see some of the mature forest and trees (the largest being Tane Mahuta). They are indeed endangered, with a lot of different issues to contend with, which is why it has to be so tightly controlled.
It's endangered and should no longer be appreciated anywhere else but New Zealand. The world has enough of our precious ancient kauri, and the world will not care if our great kauri becomes extinct. Just a lil something to think about.
My mind is not capable of wrapping around the look of the curl in that wood. Its absolutely stunning and I can't wait to see what this build looks like. Thanks for taking us on this journey.
This is going to be amazing!!!! Couple of things though... 4:10 *Jazzmaster. Also forgetting about the blend knob... huge part of the glory of the thing is the voices.
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I'm in the middle of an acoustasonic inspired build at the moment, so thank you for showing the inside of this one. The brass earth plate is just what I needed to see! For the remnants of your Fender acoustasonic, I think you should convert it to a Nylon stringed guitar with an inbuilt delay and reverb! Oh and I'm very glad to see that you make the same bandsaw face as I do when resawing a big expensive piece!!
The grain is absolutely stunning and would imagine every single piece of this wood is precious. I would think an instrument made from this kind of stock would have quite an increased value.
Ben my good man, IMHO you should turn that 42,000 y/o BEAUTIFUL piece of wood into a Real Tele! I’m sure Keith would would come knocking!! Hell, he’s the same age!!
I own a New Zealand luthier built Tenor ukulele made of this wood, and I believe that it was pulled from a bog and carbon dated at around 30,000 years old. It's brilliant tone wood, and falls somewhere between Redwood, and African Mahogany in tone - at least to my ear. Great stuff!
that woods a beaut! I like guitars that can do a lot, and although it's not an acoustasonic, I've modded a cheap, fully laminate acoustic to have a neck tele pickup, bridge p90 and a piezo disc for acoustic disc. for grounding purpose, I learned that the baseplate from the bridge pickup of a squier bullet tele aligns perfectly with the string hole and used it. One thing I didn't know then was that I should have replaced the pickup wires with shielded cable to remove noise, but still, it sounds like a jazz box with the neck, rock and roll with bridge, flattop with the piezo and unplugged. I can't wait for your next video.
You should cut the Acoustasonic open to see what bracing (if any) is being used, as well as the thickness of the top. Not to copy it, just because I want to see it being cut open! 😁
Ben, that wood is gorgeous!!! Can't wait to see how it turns out. I also wanted to see if you can give Todd from Sweet T Guitars a shout out. He is an incredible guy just starting out his custom guitar business, also entered in the GGBO this year, but could definitely use the subscribers and support. He will be doing a custom guitar giveaway beginning in January as well. All the best!
Hammer N3800 - i like mine very much. Powerful bandsaw and not too big for a basement workshop. Delivery-guy wrenched it down the stairs, tying a chain around my appletree :)
One more awesome Guitar build coming up. On the Fender Guitar 🎸 use all Crimson parts and leave the finish the Same. Good luck on the new wood build Guitar and try to get it Done under the time you Set.👍🏻👌
Oh this is going to be cool! I own the American made Acoustasonic Telecaster. It is a nice guitar. It sounds great, with no piezo quack or tinniness. The electric pickup sounds like a classic tele. But what I really love is that sounds great just acoustically. You can just pick up for home playing. It's not full dreadnought sound, but it's good. I think Ben should take the old guitar (the Fender) and put in a great humbucker, (maybe a Wiggins brand, which have custom wood bobbins for a great look, Phillip McKnight has used them before.) and a nice piezo system, and add some gloss laquer all over, maybe a new top with a custom stunning stain? And raffle it off? Just a thought. And BE CAREFUL with that saw Ben!!! Don't give us heart attacks, we watch your builds to relax!! Haha..
17:45 is the most interesting part to me as I want to build my own replica Acoustasonic and I have no idea what's going on inside them. thank you for taking one apart 20:00 maybe they're planning on making a jaguar as well?
I'd like to see what one of your pickup guys can do with that Acoustisonics remnants. Custom Peizos? Body Mics? Let them go a little bit nuts! That wood is shockingly gorgeous, a very special build is coming from it indeed. Thanks!
I have been looking forward to this build for so long Ben. I just know it's going to be a beautiful guitar. What should you do with the remnants of the "Fender"? There is a part in your intro where you say, "Burn it".
The challenge with this build is getting that size of flame to work within the confines of guitar body. it looks great as a slab but can it look good in smaller form? Good luck with the build.
I bought a black finish Fender Acoustasonic from Peach guitars in a sale a while back.I absolutely love it.If you want to hear one actually live cutting through a mix during a live show Go watch a few Live Garbage shows 👍It really stands out 👌
Built 3 thinlines from swamp kauri over about 12 years. Finished the last one about 3 years ago. One went went home to NZ and I have the other two. It is highly resonant, unplugged they are surprisingly loud. Bought a nice piece back about 5 years ago that I picked up in Keri; split it into 3 tops. Cannot see the waste value here with hollowing it out. For the 3 tops I got I used mahogany for the bodies and routed those. Careful round those F holes, this stuff is brittle and it will move and crack, ask me how I know.... May have some fun with finishes too. Found Truoil worked well.
I have worked with small pieces of Kauri. It was very, very unstable. We had to impregnate the pieces with epoxy, which turned out not pretty enough to use.
Just had an Acoustasonic show up last week. In my case it's a Telecaster, but the same Steel Blue colour. So far I love it, it's a very strange hybrid experience. I do feel like the raw wood could have used some sort of better finish, though, along with several other things you noted. So, for the remains of your Jazzmaster, I'd really like to see you just do a "pretty up" of what's there. Nothing drastic, just kinda bring it up to what you might have expected Fender to have done that they didn't. At any rate, very interested to see what you make of this guitar style.
Suggestions for the fender carcass. There is a video of a Godin Ultra A6 that has been updated with a Seymour Duncan Prail. I think that a good Fishman under saddle with the prail would be a great way to update the fender. Especially if you could add a stereo out to separate the electric and the accoustic pickups. My A6 Ultra sounds spectacular through an accoustic amp and an electric amp together.
The thing about watching the making of the wolds most expensive sawdust is a bit thrilling. Or if not worlds most expensive, at leas among the worlds most expensive. And the wood is just beautiful. You have got me to look at wood in a different way than before watching your videos. But to make the body of the guitar of one massive piece and then use a router to dig it out to get it hollow seems to me a bit like a waste. Would it be possible to do thin strips and do as you do when you build an acoustic with the difference that you laminate several pieces to create the outer frame of the body. Then you ought to get a robust frame for the sides (and nice looking) and can also make a recess for the top and the bottom and thereby not need traditional binding. Or even put in a wood block for the body carve . Saves a lot of expensive wood, is a bit more tricky and maybe a lot more crazy. And you can use a bright maple or something else for the sides or for a visible layer in between to get a contrast too. Or use veneer between the layers that build up the sides of the guitar. I have an idea of trying that when I at some point get the time to build myself a guitar. But it is of course better for me if someone else use that way of building first and make a nice and well produced video on RUclips about it, so I can learn about what to do or not without doing the mistakes by myself. As usual, I look forward for the continuation, learning techniques useful for not only taking care about my guitars but also for everyday woodworking. Although your videos have made my list of wanted tools both longer and more expensive.
wow, errors not allowed with the cut of this incredibly beautiful wood 😅 i bet all the build stages will be a little bit stressful for ben with this wood 😉
Hmmm.... I'm in NZ & I have a piece of that (supposedly 50k years old) - the stuff is incredibly heavy, resinous & brittle - at least the piece I have is. I was told by a luthier It's also too unstable to try building an instrument from without a lot of work. The piece you have looks waaaaayyyyyy nicer ;) I decided to use mine for much smaller projects that don't require a lot of integrity - and save myself some headaches.....
I was told the same thing. I had two pieces that I thought would make a nice book matched electric but was warned against it. I ended up getting a beautiful coffee table made from them instead.
You should remove the top of the Fender to see how it's constructed and then put in a patina copper top instead! Also, that slab is one of the nicest woods ever!
BUN, I NEED THE OFFCUTS!!! I mean...if there is any of that timber your not using... I'd be happy to re-purpose it for you.... I'll even make you a couple of composite fret boards from it 😀
The black and white photos of that wood are art in themselves. It looks like scalloped sand dunes. Interesting to see what you come up with for the husk of the acoustasonic too, and how viable the sounds are without the PCB trickery. It's too good to go to waste (same with the offcut live edge)
I've been wondering when you were going to use this wood. I would have used the wavey side as the bottom of the guitar, instead of a traditional round bottom, but then I also wouldn't want to make the first cut on that beautiful wood.
I call wood like that, "Inspiration Wood." It's the rare piece of wood you find that is so beautiful, it makes you want to just sit and stare at it. You could imagine building a million things in your mind and just absorb the inspiration from it. P.S. Yes, send the remnants of the Fender to me. I had no idea Fender even made a guitar without a pickguard. I can't stand pickguards.
I find the colour contrast between the top and the sides to be key to the style of the acoustasonics - I'd make the sides out of cheaper, sturdy, dark grey material and use the nice wood for as many pretty tops and necks as possible. I also think the original guitar would make a rather pretty weight-relieved, purely electric guitar.
u should make some pick cases, pickup sourrounds or engrave the CCG logo into them and make them christmas gifts or something. that wood is far too beautiful for not every possible inch of it to be turned into something gloriously stunning
Personally, I actually prefer a satin aesthetic on this particular guitar and on my guitars in general. In fact, I usually don't really fancy the traditional jazzmaster shape, but in this finish I really like how clean it looks!
This is a cool idea, next time can you rip the guts out of a Yamaha transacoustic for an acoustic build? They overbuild just a bit and I think it'd be cool to see what you do with it.
Did you ban everyone from the woodshed when you were prepping that incredible and no doubt expensive piece of wood. You looked incredibly focused. There was no room for errors? Love this series, just picked it up and really looking forward to how it pans out.
What do you have against matt varnish? With gloss paint, a large part of the light is reflected and often you only see reflections of some lights on the surface. With matt lacquer there are no reflections, the light penetrates more into the lacquer and makes the wood surface shine much more naturally. I like that much better.
I loved this video. I don’t know how you aren’t terrified with every cut you make. As to what to do with the hollowed out acoustasonic - I guess trying to rebuild it with odds and sods would just make a less good quality version of itself. That seems a shame,. Better to go completely for broke with the electronics and something very experimental. I’ve really enjoyed watching videos where a player is holding a pickup in his picking hand and adapting the tone on the fly. The big downside is that it looks quite cumbersome. Could you take one or two coils rather than a whole pick up and link them to a ring or a plectrum somehow to make holding the pickup more natural? Could the recessed front of the guitar have some ornate art done to it? Graffiti or a full on painting? Whack effects in. Absolutely go over the top and make a mess since you can’t really rebuild what it was meant to be.
Umm, Josh, the switching is a little more involved than that (hence the blend knob and all the circuitry...). You could put an old DeArmond soundhole pickup in that Kauri and we'd still all be lusting for the result.
So, the Wow bit, well, everything about this video. I've been watching this magical channel for a few years, but have also dipped way back into the past videos. I'm just amazed at the work ethic, the sheer love, the drive! - from a little workshop, to seeing Ben walking about in a shop full of incredible equipment. Really, a kid in a sweet shop, but it's HIS sweet shop - he built it all, sweated, strived, grafted. And this build - hell, if I had just half of the skill and drive Ben has, I'd be a happy man. Oh - yeah - and this build - man alive, taking some fender stuff and saying "Well, that's clever, but the build quality? I can do better." I guess the caveat is indeed, as Ben as said in other videos, they are building to a price point - but there's no limits for a master craftsman - using 42 thousand year old swamp kauri ... er, yeah, what he said - swamp WHAT? - and watching that huge block of wood being cut up, jesus, don't try this at home indeed! - I mean, I'd like to still be able to play guitar, with all my 10 fingers, so I won't. I guess it's probably not possible to find out, but Ben, are you able to ask Fender how they came up with this guitar - and whether there was indeed, a "master" build using far better materials and workmanship? - I mean, there _must_ have been, right? - it's not like they are going to just "cheap out" on it, during the original design process and concept, surely? I guess we'll never know - trade secrets and all that.
Put some respect on Langcaster guitars out in NZ, dunno if old mate is still alive but his guitars are some of the nicest I've played, his pickups aren't too shabby either.
If you do end up selling that offcut from the start of the video for knife handles, please make it a public sale. Would love to get hold of a block or 2
The remains of the Fender? Hmm... With the mat finish of the inlay, you really need to keep the satin finish on the wood. With the black control knobs, I would replace the tuners with matching black. Maybe black stings, just for fun. I would almost say take it back to the basics, electronically. The single exposed pickup would be a high-grade humbucker, maybe a split-coil? And leave it at that. A single coil guitar. Just to keep the switch functional, maybe turn it into a power switch for an amber LED ring in the sound hole?
I suddenly see a need for Ben to get a new tool. I know I've seen something, but essentially all the bandsaw shenanigans pointed out just how dangerous veneer work is. And as for the Acoustisonic husk: The real issue will be the preamp. LR Baggs comes to mind (warning, those can be harsh and ice-picky in my experience without a massive amp to tame it.) It's a tidy arrangement though. Fiddly to assemble, but tidy. RMC comes to mind. Godin uses this system to great success after all. Support here in the States leaves much to be desired (one distributor, fine fellow, but ONE distributor.) Little appreciated, but nonetheless true: EMG has a piezo system. This would have the virtue of a homogeneous source for the inputs. My experience with K&K piezos is very good. It's tying it into an integrated whole that concerns me. And there's Fishman. The Powerchip system is very tidy. They might have an updated system I'm unaware of. Plus the Fluence pickups should tie in nicely to the output. Is there this sort of hybrid system in Europe I'm unaware of? Hughes & Kettner comes to mind.
Cheers from Texas! 🤘😺🤘 Super cool idea! Amazing wood but 4 years waiting on permits? Bonkers!! What to do with any Fender parts? Toss into the bin ;) Shred rules at Crimson Guitars! Peace
I think the old fender body could be tidied up modified to be really nice with some proper finishing and maybe some extra etching, inlays and carving as a departure from the minimalist styling to something more artistic and premium.
Pretty sure it was for storage and shipping if I remember right. He did a video when he received the timber from the customer if you look back through the channel.
as to what should be done with the gutted Acoustasonic guitar.....You should use that body as a test bed for a Crimson version of the same thing. Develop your own pickup switching system, use your own piezo-electric pickups ( or try several different pickup combinations (undersaddle, magnetic, microphone and standard piezo-electric discs placed in various parts of the guitar....Potentially consider adding on-board effects by scavenging the innards of small effects pedals (reverb/delay, rotary speaker effects, possibly distortion, etc. We already know what Fender has done with their design.....WHat can Crimson do the the same starting point of the functioning guitar body to design a system of their own. maybe get in contact with other manufacturers of pickups and guitars, and see if anyone else is working on an "Acoustasonic-like" guitar of their own, or if, for example, Bare Knuckle, or Dimarzio is working on an "upgraded pickup suite package for the Fender model that would replace the original Fender system, perhaps as an upgrade? On a side note, I always liked the Stratacoustic and the Telecoustic more, because of the different models of acoustic instruments, and the "distorted strat tones" available in those models, instead of being able to switch between the three different pickup/microphone options that the "offset/Jazzmaster" design The other guitars in the acoustasonic line seem more versatile for that very simple reason. I seem to recall, possibly back in the mid-80's to early 90's, that Fender made another line of Stratocoustic (Stratacoustic) and Tele-shaped thin-line acoustics with piezo-electric pickups for playing acoustic guitars that felt like electric guitars for live playing...Think RIchie Sambora during the Bon Jovi days. Imagine putting a high-end microphone recording quality, phantom powered, etc. into the body of the "cored" Fender acoustasonic Jazzmaster to make a "studio recording guitar" Now that you essentially have full access to the gutted guitar to modify as you see fit, you could add as many, or as few bells and whistles you'd like, a built-in tuner with the display inlaid into the soundhole, facing the player, for discrete tuning in between songs, or some complicated on-board effects harvested from a micro multi-effects unit, similar to the old ZOOM units from the late 80's, early 90's (remember the original ZOOM device that clipped onto the guitar strap, and had all those effects?) or perhaps build-in an on board Rocktron "Ace" headphone amp for effects. Something like that would be interesting to see done, especially since the acousasonic line of guitars are so expensive, that it seems nobody wants to mess with them, and modify them very much, but you're going you have a fully operational shell of a guitar that will be a blank canvas as far as electronics, which would be a perfect platform for experimentation. Or, you can make every guitar player in the world angry by retrofitting robotuners on it!
You have to finish off the Fender to your high standards and show just how good looking it could have been. Remove excess glue, finish the woodwork properly, etc...
I have used the Crimson Guitars Penetrating Finishing Oil on a few bodies with happy results. My current guitar build I just want to use it on the neck which is Mahogany. I am fine with Natural but protective finish. How many coats/applications in this case ?
I wasn't impressed by the Fender ads featuring the Acoustasonic- I could still make out the slightly plasticky Ovation sort of sound from the piezo, but the sounds Josh got seemed a lot better. I wouldn't be tempted though- I've got a Variax. As always, it's going to be an interesting build and will look rather stunning.
Seeing Ben take delivery of that incredibly precious wood then immediately balance it on what looks like a wobbly giant Ming vase is what anxiety is made of.
Why,do you think the woods gonna shatter😏
Kauri was one New Zealand's first (and most important) international exports. The trees were highly prized for ship masts.
Good to see some of our wood is still being appreciated back in the UK :)
Not quite. Tanekaha was the choice for masts. However, Kauri was used for every other part of boat building. Frames, planking, etc. It was also used for pattern making, and extensively used for rebuilding San Francisco after the earthquake. That's what all the fancy carving on the outside of the houses is from.
That said, what Ben is using is not the same. Being swamp kauri, the lignum has broken down, making it much more brittle than timber Kauri, without the same structural integrity. It will be interesting to see how it ends up sounding. I have built a thinline guitar (including neck) out of real NZ Kauri (not swamp) which has seasoned for about 165 years. The sounds is quite different from traditional guitar building woods. But does look stunning. And the swamp stuff does have an enhanced visual appeal.
And hopefully in New Zealand as well as have seen a 2018 article saying Kauri trees are listed as endangered. Hundreds of trees and plants are under threat from farming, and other land use, introduced animals etc in the land of the long white cloud.
@@stringrip I worked planting kauri trees in the Waipoua forest ten-odd years ago and went to see some of the mature forest and trees (the largest being Tane Mahuta). They are indeed endangered, with a lot of different issues to contend with, which is why it has to be so tightly controlled.
It's endangered and should no longer be appreciated anywhere else but New Zealand. The world has enough of our precious ancient kauri, and the world will not care if our great kauri becomes extinct. Just a lil something to think about.
@@tepouogle969 Sorry to hear that. I hitchhiked to and camped in the Kauri park area near Dargaville in 1980.
Where can I get some of those invisible safety glasses?
As a kiwi I’ve always been surprised that more people don’t make guitars out of Kauri, I’ll be looking forward to the build!
Perhaps coz it's endangered. And... there are better reasonating timbers here in NZ known for their acoustic properties
The Jansan Fender knockoffs were kauri apparently. Pulled out of old building being torn down around Auckland in the day.
Can't wait to watch this. Your builds are relaxing and quite fun to watch. Good luck!
My mind is not capable of wrapping around the look of the curl in that wood. Its absolutely stunning and I can't wait to see what this build looks like.
Thanks for taking us on this journey.
Ur right Been, I never could stand the looks of that Fender !! Can't wait to see your version with that Awesome wood !!
This is going to be amazing!!!! Couple of things though... 4:10 *Jazzmaster. Also forgetting about the blend knob... huge part of the glory of the thing is the voices.
Really looking forward to seeing this build come to life. Such an amazing piece of wood!
This build is going to be EPIC.
Thank you, I hope so!
Everything he touches ends up epic. Too talented
This is a scam RiGuy, we're sorry, we are trying to keep on top of them. Crimson does not and never will have a Telegram account. When we have giveaways or prizes we will talk about it in a video, never via a message or comment.
Talitha
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars this is why I love you.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing the journey of this lovely looking wood ever since it’s arriving video.😎👌👍
Love the look of the acoustasonics. Looking forward to seeing how you change it up!
I didn't even know there was timber that old! now this goes beyond boutique! these guitars will be archeological relics! :)
I'm in the middle of an acoustasonic inspired build at the moment, so thank you for showing the inside of this one. The brass earth plate is just what I needed to see! For the remnants of your Fender acoustasonic, I think you should convert it to a Nylon stringed guitar with an inbuilt delay and reverb! Oh and I'm very glad to see that you make the same bandsaw face as I do when resawing a big expensive piece!!
The grain is absolutely stunning and would imagine every single piece of this wood is precious. I would think an instrument made from this kind of stock would have quite an increased value.
Ben my good man, IMHO you should turn that 42,000 y/o BEAUTIFUL piece of wood into a Real Tele! I’m sure Keith would would come knocking!! Hell, he’s the same age!!
I own a New Zealand luthier built Tenor ukulele made of this wood, and I believe that it was pulled from a bog and carbon dated at around 30,000 years old. It's brilliant tone wood, and falls somewhere between Redwood, and African Mahogany in tone - at least to my ear. Great stuff!
I'm from and live in New Zealand, and excited to see what you do with our wood Ben 😜
that woods a beaut! I like guitars that can do a lot, and although it's not an acoustasonic, I've modded a cheap, fully laminate acoustic to have a neck tele pickup, bridge p90 and a piezo disc for acoustic disc. for grounding purpose, I learned that the baseplate from the bridge pickup of a squier bullet tele aligns perfectly with the string hole and used it. One thing I didn't know then was that I should have replaced the pickup wires with shielded cable to remove noise, but still, it sounds like a jazz box with the neck, rock and roll with bridge, flattop with the piezo and unplugged. I can't wait for your next video.
As a Kiwi and a fan of previous builds, this is going to be exciting!
thumbs up straight away because I know this is going to be good
This is goin to be a fun one. I’m excited for this build.
You could add a Fishman triple play as well as a new humbucker. Nice electric output plus all the advantages of a wireless midi output.
You should cut the Acoustasonic open to see what bracing (if any) is being used, as well as the thickness of the top. Not to copy it, just because I want to see it being cut open! 😁
Yeah been looking forward to you tackling this Kauri, inspiring
I was a bit concerned about your plans in the beginning there Ben, glad to see where you went and that you still have all of your appendages.
Ben, that wood is gorgeous!!! Can't wait to see how it turns out. I also wanted to see if you can give Todd from Sweet T Guitars a shout out. He is an incredible guy just starting out his custom guitar business, also entered in the GGBO this year, but could definitely use the subscribers and support. He will be doing a custom guitar giveaway beginning in January as well. All the best!
Hammer N3800 - i like mine very much. Powerful bandsaw and not too big for a basement workshop. Delivery-guy wrenched it down the stairs, tying a chain around my appletree :)
Looks like turbocharged figured redwood! Gorgeous!
Lol perks of living in New Zealand, I've got a few large slabs of swamp kauri in my storage right now. Gonna follow this one closely
One more awesome Guitar build coming up. On the Fender Guitar 🎸 use all Crimson parts and leave the finish the Same. Good luck on the new wood build Guitar and try to get it Done under the time you Set.👍🏻👌
Oh this is going to be cool! I own the American made Acoustasonic Telecaster. It is a nice guitar. It sounds great, with no piezo quack or tinniness. The electric pickup sounds like a classic tele. But what I really love is that sounds great just acoustically. You can just pick up for home playing. It's not full dreadnought sound, but it's good. I think Ben should take the old guitar (the Fender) and put in a great humbucker, (maybe a Wiggins brand, which have custom wood bobbins for a great look, Phillip McKnight has used them before.) and a nice piezo system, and add some gloss laquer all over, maybe a new top with a custom stunning stain? And raffle it off? Just a thought. And BE CAREFUL with that saw Ben!!! Don't give us heart attacks, we watch your builds to relax!! Haha..
What a stunning piece of wood.. oh my lord 😳
17:45 is the most interesting part to me as I want to build my own replica Acoustasonic and I have no idea what's going on inside them. thank you for taking one apart
20:00 maybe they're planning on making a jaguar as well?
Insane! 42,000 years old? Incredible. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Ben you need a UHD camera/render output for these videos so we appreciate the wood in it's full glory! Great video!
I'd like to see what one of your pickup guys can do with that Acoustisonics remnants. Custom Peizos? Body Mics? Let them go a little bit nuts! That wood is shockingly gorgeous, a very special build is coming from it indeed. Thanks!
I have been looking forward to this build for so long Ben. I just know it's going to be a beautiful guitar.
What should you do with the remnants of the "Fender"?
There is a part in your intro where you say, "Burn it".
Wow! That must have been a solid 15 minutes or so to resaw that vertical blank of Kauri!
hated every moment of those bandsaw cuts. Thanks for the video!
The challenge with this build is getting that size of flame to work within the confines of guitar body. it looks great as a slab but can it look good in smaller form? Good luck with the build.
I bought a black finish Fender Acoustasonic from Peach guitars in a sale a while back.I absolutely love it.If you want to hear one actually live cutting through a mix during a live show Go watch a few Live Garbage shows 👍It really stands out 👌
This wood... 💕 love the project too! "Supremely cool"
Built 3 thinlines from swamp kauri over about 12 years. Finished the last one about 3 years ago. One went went home to NZ and I have the other two. It is highly resonant, unplugged they are surprisingly loud. Bought a nice piece back about 5 years ago that I picked up in Keri; split it into 3 tops. Cannot see the waste value here with hollowing it out. For the 3 tops I got I used mahogany for the bodies and routed those. Careful round those F holes, this stuff is brittle and it will move and crack, ask me how I know.... May have some fun with finishes too. Found Truoil worked well.
I have worked with small pieces of Kauri. It was very, very unstable. We had to impregnate the pieces with epoxy, which turned out not pretty enough to use.
Just had an Acoustasonic show up last week. In my case it's a Telecaster, but the same Steel Blue colour. So far I love it, it's a very strange hybrid experience. I do feel like the raw wood could have used some sort of better finish, though, along with several other things you noted. So, for the remains of your Jazzmaster, I'd really like to see you just do a "pretty up" of what's there. Nothing drastic, just kinda bring it up to what you might have expected Fender to have done that they didn't.
At any rate, very interested to see what you make of this guitar style.
Suggestions for the fender carcass. There is a video of a Godin Ultra A6 that has been updated with a Seymour Duncan Prail. I think that a good Fishman under saddle with the prail would be a great way to update the fender. Especially if you could add a stereo out to separate the electric and the accoustic pickups. My A6 Ultra sounds spectacular through an accoustic amp and an electric amp together.
Oh please Ben, for the love, put a better pickup in it than that old Meteora one. Dylan makes an amazing pickup that would do this build justice.
The thing about watching the making of the wolds most expensive sawdust is a bit thrilling. Or if not worlds most expensive, at leas among the worlds most expensive. And the wood is just beautiful. You have got me to look at wood in a different way than before watching your videos.
But to make the body of the guitar of one massive piece and then use a router to dig it out to get it hollow seems to me a bit like a waste. Would it be possible to do thin strips and do as you do when you build an acoustic with the difference that you laminate several pieces to create the outer frame of the body. Then you ought to get a robust frame for the sides (and nice looking) and can also make a recess for the top and the bottom and thereby not need traditional binding. Or even put in a wood block for the body carve . Saves a lot of expensive wood, is a bit more tricky and maybe a lot more crazy. And you can use a bright maple or something else for the sides or for a visible layer in between to get a contrast too. Or use veneer between the layers that build up the sides of the guitar.
I have an idea of trying that when I at some point get the time to build myself a guitar. But it is of course better for me if someone else use that way of building first and make a nice and well produced video on RUclips about it, so I can learn about what to do or not without doing the mistakes by myself.
As usual, I look forward for the continuation, learning techniques useful for not only taking care about my guitars but also for everyday woodworking. Although your videos have made my list of wanted tools both longer and more expensive.
wow, errors not allowed with the cut of this incredibly beautiful wood 😅 i bet all the build stages will be a little bit stressful for ben with this wood 😉
Hmmm.... I'm in NZ & I have a piece of that (supposedly 50k years old) - the stuff is incredibly heavy, resinous & brittle - at least the piece I have is. I was told by a luthier It's also too unstable to try building an instrument from without a lot of work. The piece you have looks waaaaayyyyyy nicer ;) I decided to use mine for much smaller projects that don't require a lot of integrity - and save myself some headaches.....
I was told the same thing. I had two pieces that I thought would make a nice book matched electric but was warned against it. I ended up getting a beautiful coffee table made from them instead.
fed up with fendson and gibsder models.... your designs are so beautiful Master Ben ! 😉😅
Finally i the build ive been waiting for!
You should make an Acoustic from this wood alone! The Top, Back and sides, Neck and Finger board! It would be a masterpiece!
like where your content has gone keeps it engaging
That was a whole lot of resawing! Very intense.
You should remove the top of the Fender to see how it's constructed and then put in a patina copper top instead!
Also, that slab is one of the nicest woods ever!
Ben, you are a modern day pirate! Stealing the jewels from an acoustatronic to repurpose them! Good on ya my hearty
BUN, I NEED THE OFFCUTS!!! I mean...if there is any of that timber your not using... I'd be happy to re-purpose it for you.... I'll even make you a couple of composite fret boards from it 😀
Ben, what a beautiful piece of wood.
It's going to be difficult to make the best of the grain as it's so wide! You could make some lovely Acoustic Bodies from it!
The black and white photos of that wood are art in themselves. It looks like scalloped sand dunes.
Interesting to see what you come up with for the husk of the acoustasonic too, and how viable the sounds are without the PCB trickery. It's too good to go to waste (same with the offcut live edge)
I want to see how Ben uses that live edge offcut...
I was thinking the same thing.
Shots fired for the 3000 year old Driftwood Guitar!! 😂
I've been wondering when you were going to use this wood. I would have used the wavey side as the bottom of the guitar, instead of a traditional round bottom, but then I also wouldn't want to make the first cut on that beautiful wood.
I call wood like that, "Inspiration Wood." It's the rare piece of wood you find that is so beautiful, it makes you want to just sit and stare at it. You could imagine building a million things in your mind and just absorb the inspiration from it.
P.S. Yes, send the remnants of the Fender to me. I had no idea Fender even made a guitar without a pickguard. I can't stand pickguards.
I find the colour contrast between the top and the sides to be key to the style of the acoustasonics - I'd make the sides out of cheaper, sturdy, dark grey material and use the nice wood for as many pretty tops and necks as possible.
I also think the original guitar would make a rather pretty weight-relieved, purely electric guitar.
Takes balls of steel and a great eye to cut that huge block lengthways, on its end, with no gauge 😅
u should make some pick cases, pickup sourrounds or engrave the CCG logo into them and make them christmas gifts or something. that wood is far too beautiful for not every possible inch of it to be turned into something gloriously stunning
the bit cut off at the 5:00 mark
I'd love to get some of those off cuts for knife and chisel handles ;)
Great job !! Keep going 😄
Love to see how this is going to come together. How are you going to do the (Bass reflex)port in the F holes?
New project idea: add arms to the dust collection bag so it looks like one of those wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men!!!
Personally, I actually prefer a satin aesthetic on this particular guitar and on my guitars in general. In fact, I usually don't really fancy the traditional jazzmaster shape, but in this finish I really like how clean it looks!
This is a cool idea, next time can you rip the guts out of a Yamaha transacoustic for an acoustic build? They overbuild just a bit and I think it'd be cool to see what you do with it.
Waw.. I wish this series was on a different RUclips channel just so I could subscribe to it 😍
Did you ban everyone from the woodshed when you were prepping that incredible and no doubt expensive piece of wood. You looked incredibly focused. There was no room for errors? Love this series, just picked it up and really looking forward to how it pans out.
What do you have against matt varnish? With gloss paint, a large part of the light is reflected and often you only see reflections of some lights on the surface. With matt lacquer there are no reflections, the light penetrates more into the lacquer and makes the wood surface shine much more naturally. I like that much better.
I do like matt finishes, in fact, generally prefer them.. in this case the client wants gloss and I do think it will bring the most out of the wood
I loved this video. I don’t know how you aren’t terrified with every cut you make. As to what to do with the hollowed out acoustasonic - I guess trying to rebuild it with odds and sods would just make a less good quality version of itself. That seems a shame,. Better to go completely for broke with the electronics and something very experimental. I’ve really enjoyed watching videos where a player is holding a pickup in his picking hand and adapting the tone on the fly. The big downside is that it looks quite cumbersome. Could you take one or two coils rather than a whole pick up and link them to a ring or a plectrum somehow to make holding the pickup more natural? Could the recessed front of the guitar have some ornate art done to it? Graffiti or a full on painting? Whack effects in. Absolutely go over the top and make a mess since you can’t really rebuild what it was meant to be.
13:45 Change thermalpaste in this guitar to thermal grizzly and it will be better sounding 🙃 and dont forget to update bios
Umm, Josh, the switching is a little more involved than that (hence the blend knob and all the circuitry...).
You could put an old DeArmond soundhole pickup in that Kauri and we'd still all be lusting for the result.
Wow. Just Wow.
So, the Wow bit, well, everything about this video. I've been watching this magical channel for a few years, but have also dipped way back into the past videos.
I'm just amazed at the work ethic, the sheer love, the drive! - from a little workshop, to seeing Ben walking about in a shop full of incredible equipment.
Really, a kid in a sweet shop, but it's HIS sweet shop - he built it all, sweated, strived, grafted.
And this build - hell, if I had just half of the skill and drive Ben has, I'd be a happy man.
Oh - yeah - and this build - man alive, taking some fender stuff and saying "Well, that's clever, but the build quality? I can do better."
I guess the caveat is indeed, as Ben as said in other videos, they are building to a price point - but there's no limits for a master craftsman - using 42 thousand year old swamp kauri ... er, yeah, what he said - swamp WHAT? - and watching that huge block of wood being cut up, jesus, don't try this at home indeed! - I mean, I'd like to still be able to play guitar, with all my 10 fingers, so I won't.
I guess it's probably not possible to find out, but Ben, are you able to ask Fender how they came up with this guitar - and whether there was indeed, a "master" build using far better materials and workmanship? - I mean, there _must_ have been, right? - it's not like they are going to just "cheap out" on it, during the original design process and concept, surely?
I guess we'll never know - trade secrets and all that.
Yes. This is gonna be sweet...I can already tell.
Put some respect on Langcaster guitars out in NZ, dunno if old mate is still alive but his guitars are some of the nicest I've played, his pickups aren't too shabby either.
If you do end up selling that offcut from the start of the video for knife handles, please make it a public sale. Would love to get hold of a block or 2
The remains of the Fender? Hmm... With the mat finish of the inlay, you really need to keep the satin finish on the wood. With the black control knobs, I would replace the tuners with matching black. Maybe black stings, just for fun.
I would almost say take it back to the basics, electronically. The single exposed pickup would be a high-grade humbucker, maybe a split-coil? And leave it at that. A single coil guitar.
Just to keep the switch functional, maybe turn it into a power switch for an amber LED ring in the sound hole?
Beautiful
It's so weird seeing Crimson HQ after all this home workshop time. Besides what we've seen in WOTB, the place looks so foreign.
I suddenly see a need for Ben to get a new tool. I know I've seen something, but essentially all the bandsaw shenanigans pointed out just how dangerous veneer work is.
And as for the Acoustisonic husk: The real issue will be the preamp. LR Baggs comes to mind (warning, those can be harsh and ice-picky in my experience without a massive amp to tame it.) It's a tidy arrangement though. Fiddly to assemble, but tidy.
RMC comes to mind. Godin uses this system to great success after all. Support here in the States leaves much to be desired (one distributor, fine fellow, but ONE distributor.)
Little appreciated, but nonetheless true: EMG has a piezo system. This would have the virtue of a homogeneous source for the inputs.
My experience with K&K piezos is very good. It's tying it into an integrated whole that concerns me.
And there's Fishman. The Powerchip system is very tidy. They might have an updated system I'm unaware of. Plus the Fluence pickups should tie in nicely to the output.
Is there this sort of hybrid system in Europe I'm unaware of? Hughes & Kettner comes to mind.
Cheers from Texas!
🤘😺🤘
Super cool idea!
Amazing wood but
4 years waiting on permits?
Bonkers!!
What to do with any Fender parts?
Toss into the bin ;)
Shred rules at Crimson Guitars!
Peace
I think the old fender body could be tidied up modified to be really nice with some proper finishing and maybe some extra etching, inlays and carving as a departure from the minimalist styling to something more artistic and premium.
Did that piece of wood used to be a table or was the shiny finish a protective coating for shipping? Can’t wait to see more!
Pretty sure it was for storage and shipping if I remember right. He did a video when he received the timber from the customer if you look back through the channel.
you could make key rings and/or coasters out of the off-cuts?
as to what should be done with the gutted Acoustasonic guitar.....You should use that body as a test bed for a Crimson version of the same thing. Develop your own pickup switching system, use your own piezo-electric pickups ( or try several different pickup combinations (undersaddle, magnetic, microphone and standard piezo-electric discs placed in various parts of the guitar....Potentially consider adding on-board effects by scavenging the innards of small effects pedals (reverb/delay, rotary speaker effects, possibly distortion, etc. We already know what Fender has done with their design.....WHat can Crimson do the the same starting point of the functioning guitar body to design a system of their own. maybe get in contact with other manufacturers of pickups and guitars, and see if anyone else is working on an "Acoustasonic-like" guitar of their own, or if, for example, Bare Knuckle, or Dimarzio is working on an "upgraded pickup suite package for the Fender model that would replace the original Fender system, perhaps as an upgrade?
On a side note, I always liked the Stratacoustic and the Telecoustic more, because of the different models of acoustic instruments, and the "distorted strat tones" available in those models, instead of being able to switch between the three different pickup/microphone options that the "offset/Jazzmaster" design The other guitars in the acoustasonic line seem more versatile for that very simple reason.
I seem to recall, possibly back in the mid-80's to early 90's, that Fender made another line of Stratocoustic (Stratacoustic) and Tele-shaped thin-line acoustics with piezo-electric pickups for playing acoustic guitars that felt like electric guitars for live playing...Think RIchie Sambora during the Bon Jovi days. Imagine putting a high-end microphone recording quality, phantom powered, etc. into the body of the "cored" Fender acoustasonic Jazzmaster to make a "studio recording guitar"
Now that you essentially have full access to the gutted guitar to modify as you see fit, you could add as many, or as few bells and whistles you'd like, a built-in tuner with the display inlaid into the soundhole, facing the player, for discrete tuning in between songs, or some complicated on-board effects harvested from a micro multi-effects unit, similar to the old ZOOM units from the late 80's, early 90's (remember the original ZOOM device that clipped onto the guitar strap, and had all those effects?) or perhaps build-in an on board Rocktron "Ace" headphone amp for effects. Something like that would be interesting to see done, especially since the acousasonic line of guitars are so expensive, that it seems nobody wants to mess with them, and modify them very much, but you're going you have a fully operational shell of a guitar that will be a blank canvas as far as electronics, which would be a perfect platform for experimentation.
Or, you can make every guitar player in the world angry by retrofitting robotuners on it!
12:52 a crucial step to be enjoyed . 🎉
I got delivery confirmation for the plane that I sent to headquarters. Hope that you find it as interesting as I did.
You have to finish off the Fender to your high standards and show just how good looking it could have been. Remove excess glue, finish the woodwork properly, etc...
I liked the “Don’t try this at home” warning for the two viewers that have bandsaws with a 14” throat
I have used the Crimson Guitars Penetrating Finishing Oil on a few bodies with happy results. My current guitar build I just want to use it on the neck which is Mahogany. I am fine with Natural but protective finish. How many coats/applications in this case ?
I wasn't impressed by the Fender ads featuring the Acoustasonic- I could still make out the slightly plasticky Ovation sort of sound from the piezo, but the sounds Josh got seemed a lot better. I wouldn't be tempted though- I've got a Variax.
As always, it's going to be an interesting build and will look rather stunning.
"Building a 42,000 Year Old Guitar!"....eat that Driftwood. :D