More or les a '59 les paul build

[backfromcali.]

Wow dude. Wow. That is just awesome.
I am sure it will be a great playing guitar

[The Thruth]

Originally Posted by FlyingPig

I start of by thickness sanding the back of the neck so it is nice and flat for the scarf joint. I tried using a regular drill sandingdisk in the drill press and it worked fine!

nice thread, can you tell me where can i buy this sanding disc?

[FlyingPig]

Thanks guys, I'm hoping this one will turn out great as well!

Originally Posted by The Thruth

nice thread, can you tell me where can i buy this sanding disc?

Thanks, you can probably buy it in a general hardware store, that's were I got mine. It's just a normal sanding disk made for use in an electric hand drill. But it worked for this too. Nice and cheap! Hope that helps you in finding it!

[jonas 335]

It's a pleasure to watch you build, Simon. The thread is also well done - clear with great pictures - easy to follow and understand. My grandpa Jonas came from Sweden to homestead on the Canadian prairies in 1905 - I hope I've got a bit of his resourcefulness...

[FlyingPig]

Originally Posted by jonas 335

It's a pleasure to watch you build, Simon. The thread is also well done - clear with great pictures - easy to follow and understand. My grandpa Jonas came from Sweden to homestead on the Canadian prairies in 1905 - I hope I've got a bit of his resourcefulness...

Thank you, I do my best That's cool, I'm sure you have, just jump in at it, it's great fun and make sure to do a build thread!

My binding arrived so it is fretboard binding time!


First I glue the bottom. I use CA glue, it's fast and makes a pretty strong bond, i wiped the glueing surface with some acetone to remove any rosewood oils. Not sure if it makes a big difference, but it just takes a second so...


Then i snip the ends of pretty close. I then file them flush along the side of the board, I found that filing the binding makes it very smooth in comparison to sanding, depending on what grit you use of course.



The side is prepared for binding. I just went up the board with superglue working in small sections and overlapped with glue. I worked pretty fast so couldn't take any pictures along the way.


The same process with the other side and I had a nice package
I let it dry for a little while. So meanwhile i made a new headstock with the Bartlett update sheet. Good stuff.



Nice.


The board is unwrapped and voila!



Some trimming.


And I scrape and file the bottom of the binding flush!



Tomorrow I will do the nibs

[Bruiser74]

Nice work!

[FlyingPig]

Originally Posted by Bruiser74

Nice work!

Thank you!

Okay it's time for the nibs!


I used the router to remove the bulk of binding, it is a bit scary to hold that thin board against the router, but with a steady hand it goes nice and fast.


I then thinned down the binding to 1mm.



I also roughed out the nibs, I stopped just when I started to sand the fret ends. The rest will be done later. This leaves very little to be shaved between the frets.


Scrape away! I really thought the scraping process would take a lot of time, but it went a lot faster than I thought.


I then filed down the binding on the end of the board.


Almost forgot to sand it to the correct thickness.
And we're back to the neck!



I put the neck between two straight pieces of wood with the nut end elevated for the correct angle.
I originally planned to rout the truss rod channel, but I couldn't find any appropriate router bits so it was on to the table saw.


Since the blade is thinner than the truss rod I first cut a channel In the middle of the neck. I then moved the fence slightly increasing the size of the channel in small passes until the rod had a perfect fit.



Should look something like this.


The saw did however not leave a perfectly flat slot, so it was time for some high tech tooling...



Did a good job!

That's all for today folks!

Cheers

[Bruiser74]

Sweet!

[GammyBird]

Great job so far!!!

[FlyingPig]

Thank you very much! I appreaciate it!

Here is some more


Time for some adjustment cavity drilling.



Worked out well, but damn I was sweating that drill. There aren't any 3/4" drill bits here so I had to widen the cavity about a millimeter or so to make it look right.



Truss rod is threaded. And the anchor was locked in place.



The cut it of at the nut end and thread it.


I wax the rod with some beeswax, no glue will lock that rod in place!


I thin the fillerstrip so it fits snugly in the truss rod rout. For you guys interested in the sander I saw something very similiar being sold at Bauhaus (in Sweden at least) under the name kombischleifer. That means that it should be available for at least the german people here.


I hide glue the fillerstrip in place.


A day later I cut away the bulk of it.


I then flush it with the neck using a scraper, a chisel and some sandpaper.


I bring the heel a sanding stroke from final thickness.


And I sand the back shape of the neck to the line.

[FlyingPig]

I hide glue one headstock ear at a time. I'm not feeling all confident in my hide glue skills yet so I better not rush it


While waiting for that to dry some I bring out a very big board with a small purpose. It will become the headstock veneer, i think it is maple. can't find any holly around here, but it will be black later on and it is tight grained so I guess it will work.


I flatten a small piece of the board.


And cut it thin enough for some sanding to final thickness.


And now I can glue the other ear.

It is really starting to feel like a neck now, it's coming alive!

Later!

Simon

[Bruiser74]

Again, excellent!
You have a great shop too.
B

[FlyingPig]

Originally Posted by Bruiser74

Again, excellent!
You have a great shop too.
B

Thanks man!
Yeah I am pretty blessed in the way that my dad likes to do some woodworking too, but he works mostly, so I can have the shop all for myself. Can't wait until I can get my own shop though, this one isn't optimized for guitar building... yet

[Claymore]

Excellent thread, great detail!
Love the jig you rigged up for the TR bolt cavity - simple, effective.

Rob

[fatdaddypreacher]

Originally Posted by FlyingPig

Thanks man!
Yeah I am pretty blessed in the way that my dad likes to do some woodworking too, but he works mostly, so I can have the shop all for myself. Can't wait until I can get my own shop though, this one isn't optimized for guitar building... yet

yeah, that shop is really killing your build!

looking great.

[FlyingPig]

Originally Posted by Claymore

Excellent thread, great detail!
Love the jig you rigged up for the TR bolt cavity - simple, effective.

Rob

Thank you, I try!
Yup as simple as it can get, I like those solutions

Didn't get too much work done today, but you gotta have slow days too right?


Needs some cleaning up.


And some sandpaper later. Nice and flat!


Trimmed the back a bit too.


Brought out something that hasn't seen light for a while, I checked the height at the bridge with the fretboard on the body, decided to lower the neck angle slightly. And this is why I had to do that now:



Should be a classic trick by now!


Double check that it looks right with the board on too.


Some sawing.



The neck is robo-sanded to shape.


The tenon is also robo-sanded, this leaves it slightly oversize so i can fine tune it to the body later.


Voila!



Not so much time left until I have to deal with the headstock veener and most importantly the inlay, so I am playing around, trying to make a nice logo. First I thought about making a gibby style logo but with my own name. Then I thought, maybe not? I'm thinking about using something like the one in the middle, maybe a bit fatter though. What do you think?? Gibby or non gibby and how do you think the logo looks? It's my last name btw.

[FlyingPig]

Originally Posted by fatdaddypreacher

yeah, that shop is really killing your build!

looking great.

Okay maybe I made it sound the wrong way... xD I'll blame it on my english... Or maybe not

Thanks Preacher!

[dickjonesify]

This is suuuuuuuuuuuuuch a good thread. Everything's so stinkin' clean! I think you said this is only your second build but this is professional grade stuff right here.

[Freddy G]

Originally Posted by dickjonesify

This is suuuuuuuuuuuuuch a good thread. Everything's so stinkin' clean! I think you said this is only your second build but this is professional grade stuff right here.

Indeed, a great thread. Maybe only his second guitar build but obviously not a newbie woodworker.

[FlyingPig]

Originally Posted by dickjonesify

This is suuuuuuuuuuuuuch a good thread. Everything's so stinkin' clean! I think you said this is only your second build but this is professional grade stuff right here.

Thank you it means a lot to hear that! But if it wasn't for all you guys posting your great build threads I wouldn't be able to do this! I have learned so much here. I just try to be precise

Originally Posted by Freddy G

Indeed, a great thread. Maybe only his second guitar build but obviously not a newbie woodworker.

Thank you, this means a lot coming from you! Your repairs are amazing!
I guess running around my dad in the workshop taught me some, I've had my sanding duties so to say. My first build gave me a lot of confidence and I really learned a lot, so if you say so I guess I am not a newbie anymore

['59_Standard]

Its not just that the build is so damn good, the pics are just as superb!

What magical camera are you using FP?

[GammyBird]

Originally Posted by FlyingPig

Not so much time left until I have to deal with the headstock veener and most importantly the inlay, so I am playing around, trying to make a nice logo. First I thought about making a gibby style logo but with my own name. Then I thought, maybe not? I'm thinking about using something like the one in the middle, maybe a bit fatter though. What do you think?? Gibby or non gibby and how do you think the logo looks? It's my last name btw.

I think that "Gammy" would look great on that headstock done with the Gibby font

[FF_Pedals]

Originally Posted by '59_Standard

Its not just that the build is so damn good, the pics are just as superb!

What magical camera are you using FP?

+1. I like this picture:

[Claymore]

Non-Gibby font for sure - I like the middle one - make it your own!

[FlyingPig]

Originally Posted by '59_Standard

Its not just that the build is so damn good, the pics are just as superb!

What magical camera are you using FP?

Thank you sir, I like taking photos. I don't even wan't to know how many pictures of this build I have on my computer A Canon EOS 1000D, it's called the Rebel XS in the US i think.

Originally Posted by GammyBird

I think that "Gammy" would look great on that headstock done with the Gibby font

Originally Posted by Claymore

Non-Gibby font for sure - I like the middle one - make it your own!

I'm leaning against that too, I'll play around with it a bit and see how it looks!

[FF_Pedals]

What lens do you use?

[jbrybar]

Originally Posted by FlyingPig

Thanks Tom it really means a lot to hear that from a pro like you.

I ended up hide gluing the top and I think it ended up pretty good. So here is some useful tips:

Plan well and have everything organized like nuance97 said.

I mixed my glue thinner than usual, about 1/3 of glue crystals to 2/3 of water (by weight), this extends the work time a bit and since this is such large area I don't think you really need the strength of a thicker mix. Preheating the surfaces will also extend the open time of the glue.

Make sure that your top and body are very flat against each other.

Make sure you have a nice and even glue spread, since the glue is a bit thinner you have more time to spread glue, I think this is one of the most important steps because if you don't have enough glue the joint will not be good even if you do all other things right.

The top will slide easily, next time I will probably just push the top to the body a couple of seconds so the glue grabs it a bit before clamping.

I think this covers most of it, hope it helps.

Here's some updates:


I hide glued the top


The top did slide a maybe 1/16" at the end of the body, but from what I have read the top center joint on bursts is usually a bit of center, so I will add this as a burst feature of the guitar...



After the glue dried I robo-sanded the top and then flush trimmed it with the router.



I made a top carve template and one of those floating router jigs or whatever they are called.
Tomorrow I will start carving the top!

Thanks for looking
Simon

Hi, what are the measurements for this jig if you don't mind me asking ?

[FlyingPig]

Originally Posted by FF_Pedals

What lens do you use?

Canon EFS 18-55

Originally Posted by jbrybar

Hi, what are the measurements for this jig if you don't mind me asking ?

Hi! I don't mind at all. It's made for my router so it doesn't mean that my measurements will work for yours. But The jig has to be about 2 1/2" high (higher than the body with the maple top on). And it has to be deep enough so that the routerbit reaches all the steps. It's a pretty simple jig. Hope that helps!

Okay guys here's a small update

I made the angled cavity routing jig. I based it on the bartlett plans


Cut a bit.


And sand it flat to the line, I'm really getting the hang of sanding straight lines with the belt sander.


I made some shims.


I checked that the angle was right, the plan says 8.4 degrees and it reads 8.3. Good enough for me!


Glued on a little reinforcement strip.

I think I will do the rout tomorrow!

Simon

[FlyingPig]

Okay! The angled control cavity rout!


Used this little tool to center the pot holes with the routing template. And to check that it would make the right routing marks.


And then rout away!


Looks like a 50's rout to me, but I'm not an expert by any means. But I feel great about it anyway!(And yes I routed the switch channel a bit too long, It'll be perfect next time i guess)

Next up is some more template-making...

Simon

[Bruiser74]

Super Job!