Ep 4 - Beginning to bring it together - How to Build a P-style Bass Guitar

Welcome to Crimson Guitars and welcome to Ben's workshop where he is finally building a P-style Bass Guitar. This is Episode 4 of 5 and here It is time to install the frets, which means a level, crown, and polish. As well as deciding just what kind of finish to use - stains maybe?
This will be a straightforward Bass guitar build, but let's see how Ben puts his spin on things..
Chapters -
0:00 Introduction
0:44 Wood dust and glue natural filler
1:40 Sharpening a chisel
2:16 Starting work on the fretboard, nut slot first
3:00 Preparing neck for frets
3:19 Sidetracked to play with Crimson stains!
4:34 Template to mark and drill holes for tuners
5:16 Cutting and installing frets with Crimson's tools
7:06 Headstock veneer or Crimson logo?
8:23 Thicknesser and CNC machine come into play
8:46 PPE on to sand the neck
9:22 Checking frets. Marking/placing side dots
11:34 On to the headstock inlay
13:50 Decision time for the body
14:43 Out come the chisels to add texture
15:56 Into the spray-booth
17:01 Fret level, crown, and polish
25:16 A satisfactory Finish
27:12 Conclusion
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We'd like to thank our partners for helping to make this video series possible.
Triton Tools - www.tritontools.com/en-GB
Bosch Professional - www.bosch-professional.com/gb...
Wagner Meters - www.wagnermeters.com/
ISOtunes Bluetooth Hearing Protection - bit.ly/36YmKro
Links: Book your guitar building course at Crimsons workshops here - bit.ly/LuthierySchool
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WEBSITE: www.crimsonguitars.com
Luthier’s Tools & Supplies: bit.ly/LuthTools
Guitar Building Courses: bit.ly/LuthierySchool
Kit Guitars: bit.ly/KitGuitars
SOCIAL
Instagram - / crimsonguitars
Facebook - / crimsoncustomguitars
Patreon - / crimsonguitars
OTHER
Ben’s Vintage Tool Shop - vintagetoolshop.com/
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Thank you again for all your support, we really, really appreciate it! - Ben
Stay tuned and stay awesome!
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[@JackBealeGuitar]

When Ben says "thank you for watching", I cry a little and think how did those 27 minutes fly by so quickly? I could watch hours of this, so relaxing and the anticipation of watching it all come together

[@LRBerry]

I start counting the days until the next video and it's always too long to wait.

[@DavidGuyton]

So glad you decided against the inlays on this one. That fretboard is gorgeous.

[@oldmanzen6682]

The stain test looked like fruit cake. Not certain how I feel about the gouging on the body, but that neck is absolutely divine. Spectacular work, Ben.

[@sass_]

Maybe Ben should tackle his fear/hatred of electronics and try building a pedal! I'd love to see the case he'd design. A simple three-knob overdrive would be easy enough and the plans are out there!

[@DrummClem]

Man that fretboard is GORGEOUS

[@justobserving7045]

That's a Badass building a bass. Of course it will be a badass bass..

[@wilfredjbrimley]

21:28 "Hello I'd like to order some background music, something like Foo Fighters?" "How much like Foo Fighters?" "How much can I get?"

[@billkaroly]

It's all about that bass... No problem for Ben.

[@gEtar87]

"Always sharpen your tools. Stones for the blades. Coffee for the mind." - Crimson 2020

[@LRBerry]

That should be put onto a Crimson Guitars t-shirt.

[@gEtar87]

@@LRBerry I'd buy that

[@LRBerry]

@@gEtar87 Me too.

[@gwarrenster]

I was wondering about there variety of watches I had seen you wear and so I did not miss it when you mentioned your love of fine watches. In your 2018 cyber punk build (holy 19 episodes batman!) You mentioned perhaps a steam punk or diesel punk build on the horizon. I think the steam punk theme with copper and gears could have some strong watch ideas in it too. Oh Oh OH, what about a matching pair of guitar and bass with inverted colors but in the same style?!? Like copper hardware and accents one one with black, then black hardware and accents on the other with copper foil (or paint) base on the other! Yeah, you should totally do that... and if you don't then I will, one day.

[@tomheynemann8768]

Beautifull build, and bass too... Of course we slap like now. However, I remember back when you‘d painstakingly stain and oil and sand and oil repeatedly... I see how the spray booth is a godsend for production, but still...

[@glennhynes5263]

Awesome build. Guitarists love their instruments, but we bassists love everything about the bass - build, components, history, etc. Great work sir. PS that headstock is gorgeous. 😍

[@imccrae]

Loved watching every minute of it, thankyou !

[@LivingtheHumanExperience]

Beautiful 😍

[@jamesh5460]

Cool choice with the texture! Love that...

[@markdyer387]

Absolutely gorgeous! A thing of beauty!

[@1982Grrr]

Beautiful looking so far

[@richardgreenway8826]

Loving this bass build

[@bntaft5133]

Thank you, Ben.

[@markushummel8042]

Realy coming​ together​ Ben cant wait for the finish​ed result.. stay safe 🙏🙏😷

[@aipsong]

Good entertainment, as always! Thanks, Ben. Stay healthy!!!

[@MrMikkiFunk]

OMG, love the idea of gouging out the knotting, really making the best out of something potentially problemative, so creative, looks sick!

[@E.T.musics]

incredible job , lovely passion, great videos .

[@jonlavigne3270]

Been watching for years now, these videos are so meditative.

[@kevindraw314]

that headstock inlay is wonderful.. beautiful bass, i can't wait to see it all done..

[@Ibaneddie76]

That's a really nice bass, love how you carved into the spalted areas of the body.

[@p1rz666]

Lovely work every time! Allways a joy to watch with my morning coffee... Keep it up! :)

[@cruzedude1]

the body of this bass is beautiful,i love it.

[@Narpets2112]

I love that fretboard.

[@bobby9727]

Incredible work Ben,you are not just a guitar builder you are an Artist ,true works of art.

[@vincelupone]

Watching this guy build instruments is damn relaxing. Great videos!

[@Smegness]

That is a thing of enormous beauty - as is the Bass, sir! 😎

[@MrRobbish]

Love the sound track 🎵💽🎶🎵!

[@stechapo4009]

Great stuff, a craftsman at work. Artisan luthier. The attention to detail. I'd love to play a Crimson, they just look like they'd play and feel great.

[@AndrewAHayes]

I love a freshly sharpened tool!

[@davidweaver4702]

No matter how many vids of yours I watch, I never fail to be amazed at the care and precision you take with the the neck, fretboard and frets themselves. That neck looks amazing. Also the decision to carve and wax brought out the Spalding in the body beautifully. Cant wait to see the finished instrument. Thanks for the content Ben 😊

[@raymontella2251]

Wow. Just wow on that fret job 👍

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Thank you 😀

[@markkramer2444]

That is looking awesome! Happy belated birthday dude,CHEERS!

[@DanPeacock]

I'm in love, Ben. That is a stunning looking bass.

[@Kweesh]

I dont even play bass but Im thoroughly enjoying seeing it come together. The wood combination looks so good.

[@fullsizedwarf]

Finally got round to making my kit guitar this week. Used a brown stunning stain and guitar finishing oil from Crimson. Must say they are brilliant products. Guitar looks awesome...Thanks Ben and team.

[@stevewalker2962]

I love what you've done with the carving in the spalt, it looks great!

[@SgtSteel1]

hmmm...I think he should have left it natural :(

[@greatwhite61967]

I just happened to find this brilliant KZbin Channel as it showed up on my KZbin page earlier tonight, as I like to watch craftsmen & women at work & it's obviously giving me similar links to watch... I enjoy watching these kind of upload, whether it's about specialist surgeons in an operating theatre/car builder & restorers or luthiers building instruments... Though the music industry is but a pale shadow of itself it's great to see these instruments being built by hand & not just mass produced & without any true honour in what their building as both Fender & Gibson have had some really bad years in mass producing their line of guitars... I prefer " Independent Luthiers " as they put more heart & soul into what they are building & most of the one's I know delibaretly keep their workload down to as low as possible to insure their instruments aren't rushed during the building process... I think that the musicians all around the world who actually play instruments but moan about the retail price of guitars & other indtruments should watch uploads like this, so they can see what is actually put into the build of just one guitar... I made sure to watch this from the first part & I always enjoy the fact that at the end of each upload you like to look on your work proudly & look pleased & even though it's not finished it's great to see someone show pride & passion for what they do... I've Subscribed, Liked & will watch all the back dated builds you've done on KZbin... Now bsck to watching this part of the build... In light of the still ongoing coronavirus outbreak stay safe and healthy wherever you are in the world... .....

[@TheConsciousEvolutionchannel]

That has to be one of the prettiest fretboards I have ever seen!

[@hscurt]

I love this guitar and its design. I’d love to see its fretless twin. Any chance of that?

[@JustPlayingBass]

That fingerboard is stunning.

[@JC-bt7io]

The freat board is beautiful 😍

[@SteenTV]

More bass please! Really stunning combination of woods with the body, neck and fingerboard.

[@patbassman8251]

You can't resist can you Ben you got to have a fiddle and start carving , beautiful fretboard and such a fast work rate.

[@natsterjam]

Excellent choice on the headstock Ben! I think that beautiful flame maple will make a nice contrast to the fretboard and body, adding another dimension. Another excellent choice on the carving to the body! It looks great and gives it an extra touch of uniqueness!. I love ALL of your builds, I love watching you and your amazing skills but this is shaping up to be my favourite build so far! Thanks for sharing, as always my friend. Looking forward to the finished instrument.

[@amydpnw]

OMG that fretboard is gorgeous!! I still want this bass!! It looks like leather.

[@scottbehl216]

Damn, that neck looks nice !! And the Logo too !! Simple but oh so Beautiful !!

[@jester3xt720]

As an aspiring Luthier I love watching these videos, however in the first video, of this build series, you said something along the lines of using tools that folks, like me, would be using. Then, you break out the table top pin router, the thousands of dollars spray booth and the like . For such a beautiful "furniture" bass I would have loved to see you do techniques shown on your guitar videos on this bass build..such as the oil or wax finishing techniques rather than the time lapsed spray booth. After being one of those bass players pleading you to do a proper right bass build I feel I been cheated a bit. I love the educational bits, I really appreciate all you do for us aspiring luthiers..It is almost a dream of mine to come to the UK take the longest course available to learn the craft with my brainchild of designs...With a big giant thank you to you Ben ..Thank you for giving me my dream and being the inspiration and hope for my dream to come true...someday.

[@funkyfender1]

Ben! Watching you work on the neck/fretboard and that logo inlay... mesmerising mate! I’ve gotta have a go at this stuff one day soon...

[@aldwinn8824]

i just wanna see the finished product!!!!!!!!!

[@loumonte658]

Impressive free hand drilling for tuners.

[@andrewbarker9773]

geez you make putting frets on look easy Ben

[@C.R.T.mountainhomestead]

Ben, hopefully the excessive time lapse and no voice over is just an experiment on this series. I really miss the instruction and entertaining side comments! Great build, beautiful piece of playable art!

[@markgordon4368]

Spalty goodness 👌

[@mbrsart]

And almost a year later, the paint by circles idea came to fruition with Shred.

[@BrianBeamers]

I don’t think the big custom shops (gibs, fender) put this much detail in there gear. Absolutely stunning

[@markstuart2115]

Just found you and your bass project. Funny how YT works. Since I'm a bass player, I can't wait to see your next episode on this! Killer work on the neck.

[@christophermacier]

These videos help get me through these weird times. I really find nothing more therapeutic than to watch you build these guitars. Have you written a book on how to build electric guitars?

[@andrewbarker9773]

I'm a plasterer by trade mate and I must say you did a nice job filling the fingerboard imperfections , not plastering I know but same principles.

[@CAD_GEEK]

I have to admit, that fretboard is stunning.

[@CAD_GEEK]

I wish we could win this one.

[@arnoldjanssen1803]

Also Nice to see you are a watch fan....😊

[@stuartcarden5402]

Nice Grand Seiko video!

[@juyanine]

23:00 🤯 no more x-acto knife, I wish I knew this before

[@seantes1]

This keeps getting better each episode!! Idea, can you make an acoustic? Would love to see you tackle that!

[@carguy7884]

I like that the logo on the headstock of the bass is a guitar :)

[@kiltymacbagpipe]

Mod Boy NERF it’s a six string bass logo.

[@blazer6248]

Texas Toast Guitars > Crimson 😁 🤣 you guys rock, too! 👍🎸

[@mcswordfish]

Watching this today with my young daughter - we've been doing woodwork together this week for her Brownies inventing badge so she's enjoying seeing some of the tools we used onscreen. She also thought you looked like The Empty Child (from Doctor Who) when you had your dust mask on.

[@markjobypaintin5222]

The bass is looking great let’s hope you build some more as a bass is a guitar with 4 strings or more any ideas you have for 6 strings can work on a bass as well as inlays great work Ben 😀

[@jawshwaa]

i call the saw dust and glue "wood bondo"... my girl called me a hoarder because i didnt dump out the dust in the collection bag from my sander... i told her "Nooo , i might need that!"

[@Solelova67]

Bring on Part 5!!

[@Kookiebiskit]

I really like the idea of carving in the spalting, it's like an engineered RAW series! I also have a question entirely unrelated to the bass. When building a twelve-string guitar, what should I consider when making the headstock angle? I assume it should be shallower than a standard 6-string because otherwise you'll have too much headstock sticking out too far, but I'm not sure.

[@GreekDude]

Damn I want that bass.

[@WRXBase]

Good looking wood, excellent craftsmanship. Anyone sad he didn't use a Crimson style headstock? (Other than me)

[@patrickellis3205]

Generally I don’t approve of snidey acolyte glue but here I can see the benefits where the fret ends are! Makes good sense...👍🏻

[@fury161]

more basses please!!!!

[@abefroman8202]

StY sage Ben.

[@flucazade]

I will be so jealous of the bass player who ends up owning this, that neck looks superb

[@flucazade]

this would make a fine Birthday present for me on Saturday ha

[@electroKrunch]

It's all about Texas Toast, isn't it!?!? Its ok, you rock bud!

[@asafpelleh7594]

Try putting in some dust first, then glue, then finish up with a little more dust. You'll get more dust inside and better results :)

[@Majo0o0o0r]

That's it! I'll make my own bass

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Excellent, let us know the results 😁👍

[@Majo0o0o0r]

@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Ben, thanks so much for the nudge! I just uploaded the first video to my channel :) It's a fretless neckthrough mini bass and I'm super excited how it's turning out :)

[@santtilagmailcom]

22:20 Grand Seiko Spring Drive commercial

[@nickkowal6537]

It's a watchfinder and co video, not an advert

[@santtilagmailcom]

Nick Kowal Watchfinder and co advert :)

[@DaRefurbisher]

holy pop when you used the wax...

[@edkovac8978]

Nice one. Could you make some kind of apocalyptic guitar of some broken pallets wood and so on...

[@ghengiscohen3858]

More .. MORE MOOOOOOREEEE...more

[@lowrising8130]

The light-sabre swing - i laughed out loud.

[@godzilla1309]

Crazy idea -> luthier wars between two of your workers/apprentices. You give them the same concept and they have to compete to make the best out of it. For example, build a telecaster with regular pickup configuration

[@kylewkendall]

The Crimson BOGO "Bass Of Great Origins"

[@ianthomson9363]

Why do I want a tiny chisel as much as the huge one you have? Love the idea of carving out the pattern of the spalting- that could work well on other woods that need a bit of oomph.

[@danformiga9968]

I wish I could get owesome bass this in a give away!

[@woutervanr]

Thank you for the videos during this time, always nice to see you work though ofcourse :) I apologise for calling you Rob instead of Ben in my order from a while back btw...In my defence, I was really tired.

[@steelwarrior105]

I see Ben is a watchfinder fan, good on you old boy

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

'if you like these videos and want to see more..' :) I love their work and wish I presented with half the panache and humour.. then of course, there are the watches, oh the fantastic things they get to play with! B

[@steelwarrior105]

Ben, I've been here since the shed days, like 10k subs or fewer, and you have grown immensely in your presentation skills. That being said, you should try a baritone voiceover flowing with chocolate every once in a while.

[@remyr5749]

Fantastic work! @25:55 the fretboard wood and Spalted Maple are an odd combo. Seems a bit too busy in my opinion. I would go with Violin Burst for the body.

[@mynx_uk]

Cannot wait to see the build off between you and Texas Toast Guitars Mwahahahaha

[@kylenicholson4665]

Watch finder reviews on the grand seiko, nice bass build by the way

[@trident1314]

Would love to see a modern j type build

[@paulmuxworthy2992]

great video as always and never thought of using autosol on a stone before - in an earlier build episode when you were using masking tape and then glue to hold things down what was the spray you used on the other side of things from the glue?