Ray Carlton Guitars - The Worksop - guitar and amplifier cabinet building information

Here I have collated information and pictorials on some of the processes used in my workshop. I will be adding build logs etc over time and hope you get a few pieces of info that will contribute towards the completion of your project

I don't have a big workshop but for me it is a cosy and well equipped haven. I keep a nice stash of wood and there are always a few projects in various stages of completion. Most delicious of all is the wide range of tools available for me to play with. I live and work here in the shadow of Mount Dandenong which is on the South Eastern fringe of the vast Melbourne [Australia] metropolitan plain.

Hopefully this area will be of some use as a contribution to the pool of documented handskills available on the Internet. If it were left to the economic powers that rule our planet, these handskills, painfully acquired over past milennia, would be left in the dusty cupboards of history and forgotten about.

It is a horrifying to realise that most of the handskills learned by humans in the past few millenia have been largely lost to the general community in the past fifty or so years. When I was a boy, the skill set of the average man included a working knowledge of basic tools and their use. Regretably these days a large proportion of men would have no idea what a ring spanner is.

If it were not for a handfull of dedicated artists, hobbyists, amatuer and professional craftworkers studiously documenting and disseminating their workshop processes and knowledge via the Internet, much of this pool of knowledge would be lost forever.

This is my humble contribution which will hopefully increase in size over time

Amplifier Cabinets Many custom built one off cabinets were built to order in my workshop. The practise was discontinued due to the ever increasing workload of guitar building and repairs.

The building of guitar number 43 From rough sawn boards to a finished set neck instrument

The building of guitar number 37 From rough sawn boards to a finished set neck instrument

The building of number 47
A build from boards to neck through instrument

The building of guitar number 19 Body build Bridge and pocket layout Finishing Part of the neck carve

A 5e3 combo cabinet build Tools Materials Cabinetry build basics Finishing

Mesa Boogie mark1V gets a new home Head shell and Thiele cabinet build Build to design Material selection and matching Tools & Material processing Cabinetry build basics Design adaption

Building Thinline style bodies Chambering blanks Joining tops Machining bodies

Building Necks Part 1 - Part 2 Construct from blank Fit truss rod Carve headstock shape sides Ready for frets

Cutting a standard tele body Cut from blank machine Cavities Holes

Cutting the telstar body Profiles Oil finish Shielding Cutting a custom pickguard Wiring

Stretching grill cloth onto a baffle