Question A CNC Brian May Red Special Guitar Build by Luke Holwerda

Hi everyone.

Although this post isn't strictly about Stepcraft to make stuff, it does involve CNC and I made some of the items on my Stepcraft 2/840 machine. In 2017, a guy in Phoenix, Arizona called Luke contacted me to ask if I would help him build a replica of Brian May's Red Special guitar. He had access to large footprint ShopBot CNC machines in a makerspace or community workshop in the city. What started off as basically a "can I have your CNC plans" request has culminated in Luke finishing a beautifully made amateur replica guitar and a good friendship. So much so that I'm flying out to Arizona with a mutual friend in early March 2020 to attend an enthusiast meetup that Luke is organising. We're going to go on a short road trip in the five day break.

Luke is a filmmaker and he has produced a SUPERB, professional series of short video montages illustrating the various stages of his build in one place which will certainly be of interest to a number of people on this forum. He has produced but not finalised part 13 yet and in this final video he demonstrates the guitar; he is a decent guitar player having also once been in a band called Smokescreen. He incorporates touches of visual humour in his videos which make them both interesting and entertaining.

Some of you might be interested in his audiovisual production work with his brother Gus; their latest project being recording and producing the Origins podcast series hosted by internationally-renowned theoretical physicist and best-selling author Professor Lawrence Krauss. Luke, Gus, their sound engineer Thomas and Lawrence visited London in April and September 2019 to record podcasts with Ricky Gervais and Brian May, amongst other prominent public figures in the fields of science and culture. Please support their work by downloading and listening to the podcasts which are entertaining and thought-provoking.

Doug

https://www.facebook.com/LukeHGuitar/
https://theoriginspodcast.com/

Red Special Build – Part 1 - Blockboard sandwich


Red Special Build – Part 2 - CNC Body Cuts


Red Special Build – Part 3 - CNC Neck


Red Special Build – Part 4 - Body Glue Up


Red Special Build – Part 5 - Repairs - Router Bearing Marks


Red Special Build – Part 6 - Applying Veneers


Red Special Build – Part 7 - Binding and Stain


Red Special Build – Part 8 - Repair - Veneer Sand Through


Red Special Build – Part 9 - Neck and fingerboard


Red Special Build – Part 10 Neck Finishing


Red Special Build – Part 11 - Frets


Red Special Build - Part 12 - Assembly

Here are three images of the guitar, one after cutting at the workshop and two close ups of the internals. I made the plastic pickguard set and aluminium switch frame and potentiometer/capacitor carrier plate on my Stepcraft 2/840 machine.

There are many more pictures on Luke's Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/LukeHGuitar/

Doug