Build in progress- LP Content

[Elias]

A while ago I decided to build some Les Paul style guitars. The first one is a custom build that I'm doing for a friend. For the second and third ones, I couldn't decide if I wanted P-90's or humbuckers; it made sense to me to build both.

The two concepts

The Blacktop:

Inspired by some of the pics shown in GreatDane's epic thread, I decided to build my own, complete with natural back and neck.

The Bloodtop:

Originally I was thinking of putting a bigsby on this, but I'll start with standard bridge and tailpiece and maybe add a bigsby later.

[Elias]

I started working on this a few weeks ago already, so there's some progress to catch up on.

First thing I did was inlay the fretboards.


It was tedious work and probably took me longer than it should have.

On to the wood:


Mahogany for the necks and bodies, maple for the carved tops.

After a quick trip to my neighbor's shop to borrow his jointer, planer, and widebelt sander, the mahogany looks a lot different in color:

[ExquisitDeadGuy]

Sweet!

[Elias]

After gluing up the bodies and sending them through the wide-belt sander again, I rough cut the bodies with a borrowed bandsaw and routed them according to the mdf template I made



A little while and lots of dust later, these three emerged:

[ExquisitDeadGuy]

What's the third one's fate? Junior? John lennon style junior? Special? Another regular LP?
Oh and why no wraparound bridges, or bigsbys?

[dcindc]

in

[Elias]

Working off of the stewmac plans, I fashioned another template for the electronics cavity. I used the AJC method of removing most of the material with a forstner bit before finishing it up with the router.



At this point I put two of the bodies safely away to focus on just one. This is the first time I've done a build like this, so I figure this will be the test guitar.

I was a little unsure of what the weight will be on these when finished, so I decided to go ahead and chamber it a little bit.



I decided on just one chamber about 1" deep. At this point I'm not even concerned about the claims of losing sustain or tone; my goal is to build a guitar that sounds good and doesn't weigh as much as a car. This build is the reference point; if the guitar ends up really light I'll leave the other two solid.

In the last pic you can also see the maple with the body shape penciled on. Another trip to the borrowed bandsaw and they were cut close to the shape of the body before being glued on.

[Tweedledee]

These are going to be great! Thanks for documenting the entire process.

(That bound Tele in your avatar is one that you made, right? Perfection.)

[irishstu]

Subscribed!

[Cassette]

This is going to be good

[IBDBB]

cool

[Elias]

Originally Posted by ExquisitDeadGuy

What's the third one's fate? Junior? John lennon style junior? Special? Another regular LP?
Oh and why no wraparound bridges, or bigsbys?

The third one is going to be this:

Black all over with white binding- it's what the customer (my friend) wants.

I had ordered three sets of bridges / tailpieces before I remembered my desire to put a bigsby on one . I'll just use that hardware for now; I can always add the bigsby later.

I remember a bit of discussion on the wraparound bridges, and for some reason I'm not a big fan of how they look on standard LP's. Also, when you combine the lack of intonation adjustment with my version of "craftsmanship" and I could just imagine running into all sorts of problems!

[hardtdc]

Originally Posted by Cassette

This is going to be good

You just stole my thoughts!

[sxyryan]

In before I miss to much of the awesome!

[Elias]

Originally Posted by Tweedledee

These are going to be great! Thanks for documenting the entire process.

(That bound Tele in your avatar is one that you made, right? Perfection.)

Thanks! The tele in my avatar was my first build and still the only one completed... a second bound tele has been in the finishing stages for the last several months. Hopefully I'll get some of that sorted out and finished in the next few weeks as well.

[Elias]

A couple of more pictures to bring this thread up to date.

The top was glued on and scribbled on for reference.


My progress for today consisted of routing for the pickups and binding and starting to carve the top:




Like I mentioned before, this is the first time I've done this, so I'm probably doing things the hard way. I left a ridge above the binding channel for reference and have started to carve using just a rasp and a few chisels.

It's been slow going, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

That's where everything is at right now. At this point in my life I am happily unemployed, so I've got lots of time to work on these. Now that this thread is up I'll use it as extra motivation to get to work so I have something to update every night.

[wader2k]

cool.....sub'd!

[washburndean]

Awesome.. good work so far man.

[DreamKing]

Awesome! You da man!

[deafinoneear]

Awesome thread man. Thanks! I'm about to start the first of two builds using those same plans so I look forward to any insight you can give. Rawk on.