First LP build: Down and Dirty

[bghk6581]

Today, I rough cut the neck and tenon, as well route the pickup cavities. I still have some fine tuning I have to do to both. I first used a drill press and forsner bits to hog out most of the cavity and then used a router to clean it up. I used a forsner bit to freehand the cavity for the ears. I didn't get a chance to route the neck mortise. I'll probably do that tomorrow.

[bghk6581]

I was able to route the neck mortise today just so I can gauge where to start applying the binding. the mortise only goes as deep as the pickup cavity. Once I finish with the neck tenon, I will deepen the mortise to the thickness of the tenon. I haven't glued the binding to the body, I just taped it up and applied a little heat to it. I'm debating on whether to use gel CA glue, or acetone/binding mix to glue the binding on. I have to do some more research on each. So far, gel CA glue has worked well for the neck and headstock overlay so I'm leaning towards that. I will probably use the acetone/binding mix to fill any gaps, especially around the horn where I had to hand chisel the binding channel.

[bghk6581]

Today, I glued the binding to the body. I used gel CA glue for the binding and after it cures, I will use binding/acetone to fill any gaps.

[bghk6581]

I removed the tape and sanded the body flush with the binding. I also sanded the top flush. I used a little mineral spirits on the sides to remove any dust, to reveal any gaps, and to see how the sides will look finished. I noticed there were some gaps where the binding should meet the body on the sides so I used some "binding butter" to fill the gaps.

[Playpunk]

That top looks awesome.

[JRo]

Nice work, no nonsense, power build! Going to be a cool guitar when she's done. What type of finish are you aiming for?

[bghk6581]

Originally Posted by Playpunk

That top looks awesome.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by JRo

Nice work, no nonsense, power build! Going to be a cool guitar when she's done. What type of finish are you aiming for?

Thank you. The guitar will be finished with Tru Oil. I love working with Tru Oil. I haven't finished a guitar with it, but I have finished other projects with it and it works great. A little goes a long way and you can either have a gloss, or satin finish. I'm going for a satin sheen for this guitar.

[bghk6581]

After the "binding butter" dried, I sanded the binding flush and used my exacto knife to scrape any spillout that was on the sides. I also drilled the holes for the pots and switch.

[JRo]

Nice, should look good. Your headstock inlay looks great. How did the Z-Poxy and ebony dust mix end up drying? How long did it take?

[bghk6581]

Originally Posted by JRo

Nice, should look good. Your headstock inlay looks great. How did the Z-Poxy and ebony dust mix end up drying? How long did it take?

Its still drying. Since I added a tiny bit of acetone on the top of the inlay, the cure time takes longer. The top of the inlay is cured, but the back of the inlay has not finished curing. I'm not going to do anything to the headstock until the weekend anyway so it should be cured by then.

[bghk6581]

Today, I worked on the neck tenon and mortise. I routed the neck mortise to the correct depth. I sanded and shaped the tenon so it would fit in the mortise. I then planed down the back of the neck mortise/heel so it would be flush with the top of the body. I still have to sand the sides and back of the neck so it meets the body flush.

[bghk6581]

I received all the hardware for my guitar. I realized that the pots won't fit for top part of the carve. I didn't want to do the angled cavity, so I just ordered some long pots.

You'll notice in a couple of the pics, there is no epoxy in the headstock inlay. The epoxy never fully set, even after a week. I think I degraded it too much in the mix ratio, or added too much acetone. I bought some more epoxy that is supposed to be low viscosity and have a slow set time to allow the bubbles to rise to the top and pop. I will experiment with this epoxy next week.

[bghk6581]

I haven't done much to the guitar lately. I sanded the pickup cavities to fit the pickups and tapped holes for the mounting rings. Today, I glued the fretboard to the neck. In order to make sure the fretboard doesn't move around I drilled pilot holes through the fretboard where the frets would go and tapped nails through to the neck.

[kfowler8]

Great job lefty brother! Love the top.

[emoney]

I like it. I think your choice of woods, inlays and the black binding & hardware are going
to really look sharp when you're done.

[bghk6581]

Today, I got alot done on this guitar. I tapered the neck, cut the tenon under the neck pickup and positioned the headstock cap on the headstock. I'm still waiting on my epoxy order so I can't glue the cap on. After I positioned the headstock, I drilled small pilot holes and used a few screws to keep it in place. I then tapered the headstock. I also worked on the pickguard, input jack cover, and truss rod cover. I used 1/8" garolite for the material. I also put a 45 degree chamfer using my sander. I still have to finish shaping the TRC but I think overall it came out well. I also drilled the holes for the tailpiece posts and drilled a hole for the the ground wire(not pictured).

[bghk6581]

Just a small update today. I drilled for the side dots today. I think they came out well. I will begin fretting the fretboard and profiling the neck tomorrow.

[bghk6581]

Another small update. I fretted the board today. Here are two pics. One with the frets unfiled and one with the frets filed flush with the board. I still have to dress the frets, and fix some fret ends that are sticking out, but I'll do that later.

[bghk6581]

I've been lazy over the past few days. During those days I pretty much did a little fret dressing and filing. I didn't level/crown the frets. I'll wait until the neck is glued in to do that. Today, I worked on carving the neck profile. I used a large rasp to get the basic shape, and my spindle sander to get the heel and headstock area. Since the headstock cap isn't glued on yet, I didn't finish the area near the headstock. I then used sandpaper to shape the profile further, going up to 220 grit.

[bghk6581]

Today, while working on my colored epoxy experiment, I decided to glue the headstock cap on. Before doing this, I used a dremel and a small drum spindle to create the truss rod access. I tested the access with a allen wrench. I then glued the headstock cap on.

[bghk6581]

After the glue dried, I tapered the headstock and worked on the top of the headstock carve. Here are some pics of the finished(for now) headstock.

[Greenman1976]

This is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I wish i could build a Les Paul like you did. The top looks great. Fave part- top

[bghk6581]

Originally Posted by Greenman1976

This is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I wish i could build a Les Paul like you did. The top looks great. Fave part- top

Thanks. I really like the top too.

[bghk6581]

I decided to drill the holes for the tuners. The tuners are just over 3/8" so I had to widen the holes with a dremel and a sanding drum.

[johnP-90]

This is awsome, I am planing on doing my 1st LP build shortly and was worried it would be all "Hi Tech" on this Forum. Great to see some basic tools & construction along with your skills on this "down & dirty" build. Very creative.

[bghk6581]

Today I worked a little on the inlay. I used slow curing, low viscosity epoxy mixed with powdered RIT dye. I picked this type of epoxy so that any bubbles in the inlay will rise to the top and pop, and also so that the epoxy can seep into the small portions of the inlay. I sifted the dye through some nylon sheer material(pantyhose) so only the fine grain is used. I did some testing and found that the dye in the powder form mixed with epoxy produces a very opaque color, but no bleeding or dying of the surrounding wood. The epoxy takes about 2 hours to harden to the point where I can move it around, and about 24-48 hours to fully cure. I added a couple of layers of tape around the inlay so that the epoxy can pool around the wood and not reach other parts of the headstock. I will sand it flush tomorrow when it cures.

[bghk6581]

Yesterday I added the epoxy to the inlay and let it sit for 24 hours to cure. Once the epoxy cured to the point where I could sand it(24hours), I sanded the headstock flush to remove any surrounding epoxy around the headstock. I used 80-1000 grit. I am very excited with the results. The dark spots on the headstock is where I put mineral spirits on the headstock to remove the dust from the headstock and to see how the final result will look. It dried as I was taking the pictures.

[JRo]

The inlay looks great, nice job.

[bghk6581]

Here is a pic of the whole guitar. I'm debating on how to fill the bug holes on the top. I'm either gonna use the same colored epoxy as the inlay, clear epoxy, or CA glue. What do you guys think?

[bghk6581]

Originally Posted by JRo

The inlay looks great, nice job.

Thanks!