My 1st Guitar Build: A Les Paul... (duh)!

[nuance97]

Originally Posted by fatdaddypreacher

now that's what i call a board meeting, nu. great looking stuff.

Originally Posted by Barnaby

Man...I wish my fretting looked that clean.

Beautiful work as usual!

Thanks fellers!!

[Archer]

Where did you get your binding? Seems a little off white, which is what I'm looking for.

Nice build .

[nuance97]

Originally Posted by Archer

Where did you get your binding? Seems a little off white, which is what I'm looking for.

Nice build .

I got the binding from here Binding. I've heard that Allparts has a good off white too.

[Archer]

Originally Posted by nuance97

I got the binding from here Binding. I've heard that Allparts has a good off white too.

Thank you sir!

[Aalina]

guitar making is not so easy . but its very intersting work. i like the information given by you . and pictures are really very nice.

[nuance97]

Originally Posted by Archer

Thank you sir!

You're very welcome.

Originally Posted by Aalina

guitar making is not so easy . but its very intersting work. i like the information given by you . and pictures are really very nice.

I agree. It is very interesting work with lots of little details. I'm glad you like my thread.

[bobo2]

[/QUOTE]

My Templates were designed to be used with template bits that have shank mounted bearings.
[/QUOTE]


What's the router bits diameter, length all of them.?

[nuance97]

The three at the top are all 3/8" diameter, and the shortest one is 1/2" cutter length with the longest being 1.25" cutter length (I did have to get a longer one to get the full depth of the pickup leg routes though).

The red one is 1/2" diameter with a 1" cut.

The big one is 3/4" diameter 2" cutter with I think a 2" long 1/2" shank for a total length of 4", and it was barely long enough to make the angle cut in the control cavity.


I hope to finish these one day...soon...

[bobo2]

Thank you for your information.

All of bits 3/8" with bearing, is it 1/4" shank.? Where can I buy it.?

Originally Posted by nuance97

The three at the top are all 3/8" diameter, and the shortest one is 1/2" cutter length with the longest being 1.25" cutter length (I did have to get a longer one to get the full depth of the pickup leg routes though).

The red one is 1/2" diameter with a 1" cut.

The big one is 3/4" diameter 2" cutter with I think a 2" long 1/2" shank for a total length of 4", and it was barely long enough to make the angle cut in the control cavity.


I hope to finish these one day...soon...

[nuance97]

Yes all 3/8'' bits do have 1/4'' shanks. They are all Amana brand. I just bought straight bits and a whole bunch of replacement 3/8'' bearings.

[bobo2]

I'm again. Can you advise how to make this control carvity route. As you mention, it was confused. The Bartlett does not guide exactly.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by nuance97

Onward!

The control cavity route...This one confuses a lot of folks, but with the Bartlett plan it couldn't be easier. All the info you need to make your template is there! And BTW you'll need a huge router bit to preform this step. Mine was a 3/4" 1/2" shank bit that was over 4 inches long!!

It should end up looking something like this

[nuance97]

First thing I did was glue my plan to my template material. Then I cut the entire body out to make a full body, and mark the center line. I did this with each successive template to help with alignment. Then cut out the dotted lines in the bottom of the control cavity. like so:

After that you need to mark a line that bisects the template at a 15.5* angle relative to the center line. It should start in the cutaway and extend to the opposite lower bout. The last step is to make some 8.4* wedges that angle the template up off the body. They should be attached perpendicular to the 15.5* cut you made earlier. It should look like mine now.

I recommend sticking some sandpaper to your wedges to prevent slippage.

This is what it should look like in action.

[bobo2]

Thank you for your advise and drawing. I got it.

[boogieongtr]

These pics sure look familiar....


I knew by looking at these conversion photos that the deepest part of the P/U routes just kissed into the mahogany on the bridge P/U, and that the second route did not go through the maple (next photo)

I also knew from looking at these shots of the tennon it looked like the deeper part was about 3/16" deeper than the main body of the pickup route, and it also appeared that the shallower route was somewhere in the 1/2-5/8" range.


I settled on 13/16" deep for the first deeper route, and 5/8" for the second route after drawing it out on my plan, and confirming that my measurements still looked about right.

[nuance97]

Originally Posted by boogieongtr

These pics sure look familiar....

Yes they probably do. Thank you for your wonderfully documented threads!! I LOVE your work!!!

[Rozza]

hey mate, nice guitar build looks great. I was just wondering if you would be interested in selling me one of your carved tops? just a plain one.. they look amazing.
cheers mate.

[nuance97]

When this thread gets bumped to the top I feel ashamed...I do intend on finishing these, but real life (lack of 'blow' money) has prevented the completion. Maybe that expensive trip could have waited...NAH! I do have a birthday coming up (May 2) so I hope to put in a $tewMac order, and get what I need to finish.

[nuance97]

Originally Posted by Rozza

hey mate, nice guitar build looks great. I was just wondering if you would be interested in selling me one of your carved tops? just a plain one.. they look amazing.
cheers mate.

I'm really not in any position to sell tops. Check out Eastern Maple Carved Tops.

[dickjonesify]

Hey! Give me more! NOW!!

This is no way to treat someone.

[nuance97]

I have actually been back at it again recently. I will NEVER do 4 at one time again!

It is way expensive, and I've had no money lately (blow money doesn't grow on trees), and doing 4 at once takes all the fun out of it (for me anyway). You do something once you think "cool that was fun" and you have a feeling of accomplishment. Then you do it again you think "okay that was still kinda fun." You still have that sense of accomplishment mixed with a feeling of glad that's over. You do it a third time you think "damn! this is starting to feel like work," and the sense of accomplishment has become dread at the thought of having to do it all over again! The fourth time you think "son-of-a-beotch This is starting to suck!" because you have just worked hours and hours, but you feel no closer to having a finished guitar.

These feelings aren't so bad at something like rough cutting bodies on the bandsaw, but you start (x4) slotting fingerboards cutting inlay pockets, gluing/leveling said inlays, fretting boards, binding boards, doing all the work to make the nibs...it becomes insane after hours and hours and hours....

[nuance97]

Holy necropost Batman...

But seriously I actually did something today.

I've pondered on the most accurate and efficient way to both flatten the back of the headstock and taper its thickness so that it gets thinner toward the end, and here's what I came up with




How it works is pretty self explanatory from the photos...I just slap the neck in the jig face down.




There is a piece of 1.5mm binding under the little platform that the headstock sits in that jacks the end of the HS up so that when I run it under my overhead router fixture it takes just a little off the top. I'm left with a perfectly tapered headstock.





I also got all my tuner holes drilled.

[dickjonesify]

Yeehaaawww! Get back to work :whipcrackin:

This is you coming out of the garage to post...

...then going back in!

[nuance97]

I did get back to work today and got a little accomplished.

Time for side dots. I didn't sweat this too much. I literally eyeballed the placement of the dots. I held the board on edge, used the inlay as a reference, and made a mark where I thought the center of the inlay was.



Then took each board to my drill press and using my fence drilled the dots.




They came out good.




I also made headway on binding the headstock on the 3 P-90s guitar. I've been dreading this...But so far so good.




Had to clean out the point on the mustache.




I did get the binding glued on both sides, but not the very top. That'll be a bitch, and I'll mess with it tomorrow...maybe...

[Lеs Paul]

I love your design for the copy carver. Any chance I could get your plans for it?

[nuance97]

Originally Posted by Lеs Paul

I love your design for the copy carver. Any chance I could get your plans for it?

I downloaded the plans from here. Copy Carver the woodcarvers copy machine

It works pretty good, but I've seen some designs that I like better. If I'd seen Gil's (preeb) Les Paul thread on tdpri.com before I ubuilt my carver I would have built one like his.

[nuance97]

Here is Gil's. I love the simplicity of his. It works off of full extension ball-bearing drawer slides, and his results are smoother than mine



Ive never seen a carver get the kind of results as fletch's, but it is way to complicated for my feeble brain. Plus some of those parts are really expensive.

[nuance97]

Had to fix a little booboo today...

I was a little too aggressive when sizing the tennon for the '56 so I had to add a little shim on one side, and now it is perfect.


Now I gotta finish that headstock binding.

[nuance97]

Finished up the headstock binding. What a PITA! I will not be doing that often.

I still have to sand the headstock face to get everything flat and even, but all in all I'm happy with it.


And here's where we are today.

[Mike K]

All Look wicked!!!!!!

[fatdaddypreacher]

sweetness. that's what that is...pure sweetness