Matt Wicks RS Build

RS Mrk III - December 2004 - July 2006

Build Diary..

Red Special - Library.co.uk

All photos, and writing belong to RS-Library, unless
otherwise stated, do not copy without permission.

Brief
In this part December 2004 - January 2005, Plans will be traced on to the wood of the body, and shape cut.
Chambers will be hollowed out, and the body sanded. January the Neck will be started.

Note:
There was a problem with the original neck, when built there was an upward bow. The neck / fingerboard should be
flat or have a slight relief in the middle of the neck. The problem was found in January 2006, and a new neck made.
The New neck is featured in this section of January 2005.

- December 2004 -
This is wood for the main body of the guitar, pine core block-board (May have a different name depending on
location) which the original was made out of. Block-board is a relatively cheap material, although now it's getting
quite difficult to get hold of especially pine core. Block-board is basically bock of pine, glued to a sheet of ply with
another sheet on top with the pine sandwiched in-between. We need 18mm thick board, the original was just over
19mm.

As block-board is weak, an oak core will be inserted for mounting the tremolo and neck on to.

This picture shows the plans laid out on the piece of block-board. (Pic 2)

When the chambers are routed, the two half's of 18 mm block board will be screwed and glued together, creating
the resonance chambers.

(Left: Plans drawn out on to paper. Right: Transfered on to the block-board.)

This is the material for the centre of the body,

The Oak (A) will provide the body with stability, to mount the tremolo and neck on to. The bottom oak runs from
where the neck joins the body to the front of the tremolo cavity.

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The top oak is where the knife edge is screwed on to. The oak runs from the front of the tremolo chamber to under
the bridge.

(Above:Top of the image is the oak used for the top and bottom layers 18mm thick,
Lower piece is for the fingerboard 6mm thick.)

-Top Oak-
95 mm wide, 50 mm long, 18 mm thick.

-Bottom Oak-
120 mm wide, 260 mm long, 18 mm deep

- See Tutorials - Oak Placement on RS.

(Oak placement drawings showing, bottom and top layers)

This neck timber purchased from David Dyke, Mahogany is used for the neck of the guitar, Brian's was made out of
the same but out of an old fireplace, hence the guitars nickname, plus a number of match sticks to fill woodworm
holes.
90 mm wide, 40 mm deep, and 800 length, cost at time of writing (2005) £70.

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 End of December, on a cold morning, I cut out the two half's of the body. I used a standard hand jigsaw to cut the
body out; this roughly took around 30 minutes. I would suggest a band-saw if you have one.

This was the result after the two sections the upper and the lower was cut out. These two sections were ready for
routing.

At the end of the day, the top section of the body has been routed out , the next day the bottom section was routed.
After the Oak will be fitted to the middle section, to give the body strength.

(Left: Block-board being cut out. Middle: The body shape upper and lower sections. Right: Neck and chamber cut out)

- January 2005 -

Now in January, the guitar body is almost done, only the tremolo cavity is left to rout and cut, but this has been left till
the tremolo unit arrives.

Over this past month, my good friend Jon delivered the rest of the parts, which were useful as I could continue on the
next stage.

Whilst waiting for the tremolo, the building of the neck will start along with the finger board!

The neck is made from a single piece of mahogany, 40 mm deep, 780 mm long, 90 mm wide.

This is the start of the neck, roughly drawn up on to the wood block. Then cut the headstock shape out with a coping
saw. I also planned a 4 degree angle in to the headstock. The rest of the timber remained un-cut.

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 Add - 02.10.08
You can also make a jig to do the headstock angle, as I only had a router. It speeds up the
process, and also if you make another, you can repeat the process.

(Left: Neck blank ready for work. Right: Headstock shape cut with coping saw, then angled using the jig above.)

The next step while the sides are still straight (parallel), the router was used with the guide to route the channel for
the truss rod, which is sloped down towards the neck joint so that the truss rod comes out in the neck joint and
wraps round the bolt.

The truss rod channel is 5 mm wide, nearest the headstock the channel depth starts at 10 mm.

Also I made a sloping jig to do this made out of the off cuts of mahogany. This was made using 2 strips of wood
either side of the neck in parallel angled to downwards towards the neck joint. The neck joint also has an angle built
in to it, giving what is known as neck pitch. The neck joint has 2 degree built in, this was achieved in the same way as
the truss rod channel.

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 With the sides trimmed off, the neck is now taking shape, or in a rough neck shape anyway...

The next step is to shape the back of the neck and headstock, which is the messy and also delicate part of the job.
Obviously Brian's guitar neck is very thick, but remember your playing it so make something that is comfortable to
you the owner and player. Otherwise you can purchase a neck shape guide which is quite close to Brian's neck
profile - Can purchase these from G&W

The underside of the neck is shaped with the router. The neck originally was shaped using a penknife, and was a
possible reason why it's quite large. The image below shows the neck after the start of shaping and the router piece
used to make this shape. I use a router bit to take most of the material off and then shape the rest by hand.

After the routing, the excess wood is filed off in the final shape.

The tuning key holes are 10 mm in diameter.

Top tip - Neck shaping - 2.10.08

I used a special curved router bit, the radius was around 7.5 inches. I used this just to
removed most of the material to make shaping easier.
- I use a surform plain to remove the material after and a sander to do the rest of the neck.
- The rear of the headstock I use chisels and files, along with sand paper.

(Left: Neck sides trimmed. Middle: Start of neck shaping using a profiling router bit. Right: After hand finishing, just holes for the tuners to go.)

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The fingerboard is then glued on to the neck, after leaving it 24 hours to dry and set, the sides where then trimmed
off. The fingerboard is marked out for inlays to be fitted and also the fret positions which are then cut, and then the
inlay markers drilled, then radiused to 7.25 inches after the inlay.

This is the final result after slots are cut with a fret saw. And the 6 mm MOP inlays are glued in with super glue. The
finger board is the painted with Black plastic based spray paint, after around 5 - 10 coats and left to harden a few
days the paint is scraped from the inlays.

The stain is then applied and left to dry for 5 days.

Lacquer is then applied to the neck around 20-30 coats and is wet and dry sanded every 4 - 5 coats and left to
harden and dry for 10 days. You can read more on applying Rustins on the Tutorials page.

The final part is to fret it, Make sure u scrap any excess paint is removed from the fret slot or else the fret will not
seat properly. I pre bend the fret a bit more than the radius and put a dab of super glue on each end of the fret
and tap the ends in the slot. Then tap the middle in, putting super glue on each end stops the fret popping out when
tapping the middle in.

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 (Left: Neck ready to be fretted, Right: The neck and frets complete)

February 05 - April 05.

During the February to April time work continues and focuses on the body of the guitar. Switch plates will be made
from aluminium, and also work will start on the pick guard. Electronics will be ordered, pickups were chosen and I
went for Adeson Tri-sonics. These I believe is the best on the market to date.

....................................

This month, the neck has been levelled and when needed, ready to play.

A few days ago, it was my birthday and I received some switch craft 2 way double pole switches, 220 k pots, and the
new Spec Adeson pick-ups with a new rubber insert, to stop the sound of the sixpence hitting the cover.
(Adeson are a one man band operation, and there can be a long waiting list, at this time July 2016, there is a 6 month wait and not taking any
more orders)

As seen in this picture, not a lot has happened. The electronic cavity has been painted black. I have located some
Black 3 mm Perspex for the pick-guard and tremolo cover; all made by hand. The 2 mm pickup surrounds are being
made by Jon Underhill and his mate on a CnC machine.
Tim (Queen II) is making the tremolo unit in the USA, parts have proved difficult to get hold off, and the search is
now on for a roller bridge. Most of the electronic parts have now arrived as the wait continues for parts to continue
the body.

(Left: Electrical parts and aluminium shelf in place, Middle: CNC laser cutter, Right: all the electrics arrived)
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This month I started work on the scratch plate this was cut out with a hand jigsaw, and looked pretty good when
finished.

.............................................................................

TIP
After chamfering the edges, used wet and dry sand paper and a knife to scrape any
unevenness away. To polish the edges, use a drop of Brasso

(Left: Perspex marked out with paper guide, Right: Cut out with a jigsaw edges require bevelling)

Some internal work also took place with the mounting of the switches to the switch plate. This metal plate is made
of Aluminium, and was bent using a vice and a tap hammer. 2 small screws hold this plate in position.

(Switch plate, with switches installed, G&W sell switch plates cut from our own plans.)

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 Some good news was finally given to me mid way through April; the tremolo was going really well and hopefully
would be with me in a month or so. With the dimensions in hand, I stared work on the tremolo cavity.

The semi circular hole is cut, and then it is under cut and routed further back for the ease of removing the tremolo.

(Tremolo cavity cut out, and routed back under the top ply layer of the board, giving more room for tremolo adjustment)

May - July 2005

During May - July 2005, Building of the tremolo system commenced, I went with a friend and a fellow forum member
in the USA, Tim (Queen II). He followed some plans I made, and Tim decided on the type of metal to make the
tremolo out of. During this time I sourced the other parts of the tremolo so I could continue work.

I received pictures of the tremolo being made by Tim in the USA. The tremolos are made of a slightly different
metal, called Tool steel - light weight but very durable!

This metal has been heat treated with carbon, ground down and polished.

(Rocker unit / string holder awaiting final cutting, and awaiting an M5 thread to be added to the tremolo arm mount.)

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 (Rocker block complete, with knife edge, and bolt retainer plate)

Through June and July, certain parts arrived from Tim which prompted progress. First, the knife edge was installed
by routing down 4 - 5 mm. The knife edge is secured with 6 screws 25mm in length and mounted to the oak.

(Left: Tremolo unit assembled, Right: Exploded parts of the tremolo, 2x bolts and springs and a knife edge)

(Left: Routing out knife edge recess, Right: Cross section of the knife edge tremolo by Matt Hutchison)

This guitar was a bit of an experiment, and was a big step forward compared to the first one built, Having visited
Andrew Guyton's workshop back in 2004/05 I had quite a bit of information I wasn't sadly allowed to show, but
some of which was put in to this guitar.
One of the big things was the top oak core completely different to a square section that most people were using at
this time, I was told, the top oak was a semi circle shape, possibly to align the tremolo, it's just about viewable on an
old plan I have, and also the X-Ray.

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 As some of you may think being a semi circle the oak wouldn't have much surface area to be glued or fixed down,
which I later found out and you will see later on. Now writing this in 2016 I realized the error, I believe there was a
semi circular piece of oak with in the square piece of oak. I also believe this oak was recessed by 2 - 2.5mm in to the
lower piece, creating sandwich and more surface area to be stuck down as the top layer was undercut to hide the
top oak core leaving a level surface to veneer over. Again this came about later on another copy.
I believe the top oak is clamped in place using 2 screws and penny washers mounted from the back, you can see this
on the x-rays, looking like the knife edge has 2 ears.

(Left: A possible original sketch with some measurements found on Google, Right: The X-ray you can see the penny washers)

(Left: The underside of the semi circle of oak, cutting out bolt channels and bolt retainer. Right: Retainer fitted in bottom layer)

(Left: Penny washers these clap the top oak to the bottom, these will be filled over. Right: Tremolo installed and tested)
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 (Above: A drawing of how the semi-circle of oak in my view is attached, 10 years on I know it's surround by more oak)

September - October 2005

A lot of work happened in September, most of it was very difficult. At this stage the main tremolo pieces where in,
and Veneer could be applied. Veneer was ordered, end of July, it was very thin 0.9 mm, and very flexible, this was
useful for the sides of the guitar, but was very difficult for the front and back, as its prone to get air bubbles.

Another technical part was applying the binding on the guitar, it was very hard to do with having to hold it and
letting the glue dry.

One this was complete, October saw colour being applied to the body. The next step was then the lacquer

..................................................

More progress was made in September. The body was levelled off ready for the 0.7mm mahogany veneer, surface
of the body was cleaned of dust.

The glue used to stick down the veneer was contact adhesive. To make sure the veneer lays flat, a warm iron is run
over the surface to remove air bubbles. This process is repeated for the back of the guitar. This picture shows the
finished top veneer.

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 Once the veneer has settled, the side veneer is applied. I cut strips of veneer 38mm wide; comparable to the
thickness of the body. Before gluing, the sides of the guitar must be flat and level, or it will not glue correctly.

When levelled, contact adhesive is applied to the surface and the Veneer. It is held in place with masking tape for
24 hours and the tape is removed.

After the tape is removed, it should look like this. It will need general sanding to make sure it's level. After the
veneer has settled and glue has dried, the binding is next to be applied.

(Left: Top 0.7mm veneer applied, Middle: Side veneer strips held in place with masking tape. Right: Body completely veneered)

A router is used to cut the grove around the edge. It has a ball bearing guide on the underside to follow the body,
but has a bigger cutter to make the grove. These router components are available from Stewart Mac.

The router should be set to cut around 3 - 4 mm deep, I went a little bit deeper, but the original RS binding is 3 mm
deep.

Hints & Tip's

When routing the channel for the binding it's important to go CLOCK WISE around
the body, If you do not, it will rip the veneer off.

(Left: Binding channel cutter 0.060" with ball bearing guide. Right: Channels cut on the body awaiting binding)

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When I proceed with my binding, I pre-bend it before gluing. I use an old hair drier to heat the binding up to bend it
in to shape around the horns. The binding is held in place while it cools.

After removing the binding, I dampen the wood with a damp cloth and apply the glue. The glue I use for binding I
super glue. Again, the binding is held in place with masking tape and left to dry for 24 hours

After both upper and lower binding have been applied, I use a flush router part to make sure the binding is level with
the sides of the guitar.

(Left: Binding heated and shaped. Middle: Glued in place with super glue wood is dampened slightly prior to glue. Right: Binding complete)

October saw hints of colour as the main body received its first stain. Before staining the body, I recommend you test
it on a scrap piece of veneer so then you can get the colour you would like.
When you have decided on your ideal colour, apply it with a cloth. To obtain my colour, I first applied five coats of
Colron Red Mahogany Dye I left this to dry for over 24 hours. I found that the red mahogany dye gives an orange
colour when bright light is applied and catches the grain. I then applied a single coat of Mahogany stain . This gave it
a very dark brown colour but with a flash, it still showed as orange.

After letting it dry for 48 hours, I scraped the stain off the binding. This was the final result and was left to dry for
around a month before lacquer was applied.

(Left: Test piece, Red Mahogany applied, Mahogany Red stain applied, Right: Binding being scraped clean)

Around this time, the neck was sent off to get professionally lacquered. A few months later, it came back looking like
a Guyton, well almost... Many thanks to Mark Pressling.

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 The main body of the Guitar is being lacquered with brush on Rustins plastic coating. You have to apply Rustin's
evenly and one coat every 24 hours in a warm room. If it falls below a certain temperature, the lacquer will crack or
react.

I applied around 25 - 30 coats to the body, rubbing it down with wet and dry sand paper every 4 - 5 coats, it's best to
put multiple layers on and then sand / flat it back. You can read more on this on the tutorial page.

TIP
To ensure the lacquer is level, I used a wooden block to wet and dry the body so each
coat it would fill in the dips.

I wet and dry sanded with a very fine grit, the final coat of lacquer and left it ten days to go hard before polishing.
You can polish / buff the body with the brushing cream supplied with Rustins. Other alternatives include Brasso or
T-cut.

NEW PICK-GUARD

I took the decision to make a new pick-guard as I was unhappy with the other. I made a paper template and laid it
on the body. I made the new pick guard in a different way. When I cut this new one, I stuck the paper template on
the plastic. I then stuck the plastic on to some ply wood and cut the main shape out with the wood.

This shape of the pick guard was stuck on to a big sheet of ply wood so it could be worked on.

The plywood in the shape of the pick-guard acts as a jig. If I make a mistake, I can just redo the process by following
the template with a flush router cutter so it's the same as the other.

This jig also acts as a guide to do the bevelling on the edges of the pick guard.

Pickup holes and switch holes are roughly routed and cleaned up with files, holes for the screws were drilled and
counter-suck.

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 (Paper template checking the fit, transferred to the Perspex cut and routed, then test fitted to the body.)

INTERNALS + WIRING

To be as accurate as possible, the electronics, switches and pots are mounted on two aluminium plates. These plates
are held up on supports inside the cavity. The white switches are black, two-way double pole, switches. I made them
white by trimming 3 mm off the top, putting small white squares on hop and filing them into shape.

White Switchcraft switches are now a bit more readily available through a number of guitar part suppliers, Allparts,
A-Strings, and BMG. costing around £19 - 25.

The switch shelf is made from one sheet of aluminium and bent over using a vice and a small hammer. The switch
holes were roughly cut out and filed into shape.

To fix the plate in place, it is secured with two screws on the upper section of the cavity and is held up by supports.

The pot shelf is like a kidney-shape plate where the volume and tone pots are attached so that the two shafts go
through the pick-guard, making it easier to remove. The shelf is secured with a post in the cavity which is screwed
down too.

TIP
Red Special library back in 2009 created a pot shaft extension kit, instead of using the cheap
and cheerful Omeg plastic shaft pots, you can now use better quality mini pots, we believe
Brian has recently changed to a similar style arrangement.
You can still purchase this kit from Guitars & Woods see the full price list here
G&W price list

The overall look of these shelves shows how they all fit in. The cavity is copper-screened to reduce electronic
interference.
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 (Copper screening tape from Allparts, The switch plate made fitted with temporary switches, fitted to the guitar)

November 2005 - January 2006

- Summery -

November time, and things were being finished off, and the final parts arriving. A new part provider, and myself
managed to work together to update my plans even more and to get them closer to the original.

These revisions included a new tremolo swivel, a new curved hood for the strings, some ferrules for the springs to
sit in which were made to improve the tuning. A bridge was also purchased, this was similar to brains' with 3 mm
stainless steel rollers.

- Assembly -

Tremolo

The assembly of the guitar involves putting all the hardware on.

The tremolo (Pic 60) is very easy to install; just dropping the main unit in to the cavity and adjusting the tension of
the two springs with a screwdriver from two access holes either side of the strap button. (Pic 61)

The aim is to set the knife edge to float so you get even pull from the strings and even push with the springs so it
floats.

Thanks to Filipe Sousa of FS guitar parts for the Tremolo unit and Bridge
(Sadly Filipe no longer produces RS parts, we in partnership with Guitars and Woods have our own range of RS parts at
affordable prices view our price list: G&W price list)

(Left: FS tremolo, Middle: Tremolo installed, Right Tremolo spring tension adjuster holes)

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 - Bridge -

The bridge is made up of six individual pieces which are different heights to make the same radius as the
fingerboard. The bridge blocks are held in place with a single screw.
(Recent images released by Greg Fryer on his blog, has shown the bridge blocks a held in place with a single 6BA slot head CSK
screw, this goes though the schims and in to a Brass 6BA hank rivet nut, which is glued in place using epoxy resin / Araldite)

The bridge, depending on the action of the strings, can be mounted on a plate or mounted directly on top of the
pick-guard. If mounted to the pick-guard, it must be mounted to a separate piece so you can easily remove the pick-
guard without taking the strings off.

The bridge is also the main earth point - A piece of copper tape running from under the bridge into the cavity.

TIP / Info
The RS guitar has a 24 inch scale length, so quite short, placement of the bridge can help
intonnation of the guitar, I tend to place the bridge with the line of intonation towards the
front of the bridge so I have more movement backwards.
- See our Scale length and intonation guide -

We also supply RS style bridges, and soon we hope to supply the correct screws and hand rivet
nuts, as well as a schim set, keep an eye on our price list and forums.
G&W price list

(Bridge fitting on the left with earth strip leading back to the cavity, The bridge is now installed with rollers)

- Pickups -

Before the finishing stage of the guitars body, pickup depths were routed roughly.

The depths I chose to route were;

- Neck - 4 mm
- Middle - 2 mm
- Bridge - 1 mm

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When I fitted the pickups, they were fixed directly to the body, increasing sustain and tone qualities. If these pickup
heights are too low, scrim them with veneer/washer. If they are not low enough, just route a bit more out.

The pickups are secured to the body with small screws. I used small machine head screws, which held the pickup to
the body and also the earth tag.

Pickups were from Adeson, at the time of re-writing Adeson are no longer taking orders for Brian May pickups due to
volume and backlog of orders, this could take up to 4 - 6 months from reports on the forum
http://www.adeson.co.uk/

TIP / Info
- Pickup heights -

This is quite simple but could affect the output and sound of your guitar, so it's best to take
you time and get this right to achieve the right sound and maximum out put.

Check out our RS pickup height tutorial to achieve the sound.

- RS pickup height tutorial -

Once all of the fixtures and fittings are in place, it is then time to set the guitar up. This includes;

- Intonation
- Truss rod
- Tremolo
- Pickup heights
- Wiring.

Once these key elements are sorted and set up, the guitar should look something like this

(Assembly of the guitar taking place, pickups added, set up, wired up)

- Damage, repairs, and problems -

The guitar had not been together long, and I found there were some issues. The tremolo would not stay in tune, and the veneer
was cracking on the back of the guitar. I seeked some professional advice, and it was suggested that it needed to be re
Veneered.

I couldn't bare to rip my guitar apart so, I asked a friend who I had helped with his RS project to help. He took the body away,
and too it apart.
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 What we found was not good, the knife edge and top oak core had come loose

and was moving. Some of the paint in the chambers had fallen off and was rattling around.

The body was patched up, re-veneered, stained and lacquered.

The guitar body was taken by Ian, a friend of mine who kindly agreed to help, fix my guitar. The neck had already been
refinished and fretted. The body was already showing problem, cracks in the veneer and ripples.

Cracks were appearing around the knife edge area and all was clear that something wasn't correct.

Upon removing the top veneer from around the knife edge area, we found something quite worrying

This shows the veneer removed and knife edge. What Ian had found was for some reason the knife edge had come loose yet the
screws were still tight. We also found that the oak that it was attached to had also come loose.

A hole was made in the hidden chamber to remove Debris as some paint had come loose and was rattling around. The debris
was removed and the hole sealed.

Re - Assembly

The body arrived back in June, Ian had done a wonderful job to repair most of the damage and to match the colour. Whilst
waiting, I commissioned some new parts for the guitar to be made, as well as making some new parts myself.

New Parts:

- New bridge
- New tremolo block
- New control knobs
- New Switch + Pot plate
- New Switchcraft switches
- Re waxed pickups
- New pots
- New strap buttons

All these were to improve the guitars reliability and quality. The guitar was completely re wired to improve some areas. The
switches were also de clicked.

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 - Completion -

The RS mrk III was back in one piece again after 6 - 7 months of work, and new parts which had been thrown at it,
was is it worth it? Answer yes it was, it was a completely different guitar, played a lot better, felt more well built,
stayed in tune and not a single problem.

To this day mrk III is still in one piece and not had a single problem since the body re build.

Nothing has been changed since its rebuild, it's just got better and better!

I hoped to of learnt from this build, and taken a big step forward which I think it has been hence the major problems.

The problems will be investigated and look in to how Brian avoided these, and what to improve on next time as I'm
sure there will always been improvements needed.

I hope people who read this, have learnt something on how to build an RS and not what to do. It does take a lot of
time to build a guitar, and a lot of money, do not go in to it thinking it will be cheap cause it's not.

It's very rewarding, to call something your own and only you know how its built its great.

Also you doing have to go accurate to get that BM tone, you can use different parts, Bridges, and tremolo's will cut
the cost a lot as they are the most expensive items. So you can go cheap and get a good result.

Thank you for reading my build diary, originally written way back in 2005/06, its been updated with new images
photos and something's I was told I wasn't allowed to show, but now most of the information is out there, I see no
harm in showing the build in more detail.

All writing, pictures, are owned by me unless otherwise stated, they are of my own research trying to understand the
construction and the reasons why it was done. This is my own thoughts and feelings of course your opinions my
differ.

RS-Library has been working with Guitars & Woods to produce its own range of Red Special style parts at affordable
prices to allow you who are interested in building to actually build. Visit our forum thread to see more:
Rs-Library and Guitars & Woods - New products
Guitars & Woods - Price list

Red Special - Library 2016 - Matt Wickham

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