Make a case for 2005 LP Jnr?

[bordonbert]

Hi guys. I have just got my hands on a Junior Special Double Cut from 2005 to complement my 2010 Traditional. Really wanted a single pickup TV but don't we all? Hence, these are plain silly money now, new or used. (New - hahaha!) It's a nice little guitar. P90 sound is very different in a really good way. The neck is awesome, very like my '67 SG Standard but not so wide. It came with a Gibson gig bag. Hmmmmm!

I have looked around a lot online for a sensibly priced LPJ case. The aftermarket boys all seem to just say "we don't do a specific junior, best you could do is to use a standard LP case". Definitely not! The neck angles are all wrong to be able to do that. With the flatter junior neck break (measured at the rear of the neck where it is supported) it would leave the guitar body hanging from its joint if it were placed flat with the lid closed.

Looking at the Gibson LP case my Trad came in, Gibson attempt to match the guitar to the case with a small foam wedge in the area underneath the neck joint. I would think that, as long as the joint has a support close to it on the neck, the head has a support near the nut, the body rear edge is supported firmly and these are all doing there job simultaneously the guitar would be pretty well looked after. Support behind the body along its length would be nicer, which is what Gibson seem to partially offer with their foam wedge.

I have diy plans for both the junior and the Custom from the internet. Putting these into Photoshop, normalising them and then overlaying them you can see there is a difference of 4deg in the angle of the back of the necks. This means a difference in height at the rear of 35mm. With the 4deg difference in body angle it amounts to a 10mm difference 500mm forward from the rear.

So that seems like a sensible design for a foam wedge to fix into a standard LP case to make it fit a Junior. 500mm long, 35mm thick at the rear, 10mm thick at the front. Anyone done this exercise in the past or, better, has anyone a source of sensible LPJ cases (in the UK)?

 

[MrAnderson]

My 2011 Junior fits perfectly snug in the regular Gibson USA cases with the white interior production models. Take your guitar to a shop selling the cases and try one for yourself.

 

[Colnago1]

My 2011 Junior fits perfectly snug in the regular Gibson USA cases with the white interior production models. Take your guitar to a shop selling the cases and try one for yourself.

My single cut Junior and my Special do not fit in a standard LP case. The body is too thin which causes the neck to stick up at an angle. The only way I've been able to deal with it is too fold up a piece of fabric(t-shirt) and stuff it under the body. Junior cases are few and far between. TKL makes one, but it's never in stock as I've been looking for one for over a year now.

 

[bordonbert]

Yeah, I know, I have one for my Traditional. The LPJ fits snug as a bug as far as shape is concerned, but I'm talking about the side view, that is vertically. You can't get at least the rear body and both of the neck supports in contact at the same time and that is essential. When the case is flat on the floor and you close it that pushes the neck into its supports. The body of the guitar is held up in mid air inside the case by the neck joint. I certainly wouldn't want to transport my Junior like that. You'd be better off with just a cheap gig bag.

If you put your junior in the case and push it down so the rear grounds on the case bottom, is the headstock not sticking up out of the top support? The attachment shows mine is, and you can see the nut area actually projects from the case by about an inch. When I close that lid and wander off with it... :

If yours is the same you have a problem. Many headstock breaks occur when the guitar is dropped flat in the case and just the momentum of the headstock and tuners snaps it clean off when the body and neck stop suddenly. Imagine what would happen if the same thing were done at the other end with the weight of the entire body!

The idea I had was to make a simple supporting pad to take care of this gap and I wanted to know if anyone else had the same measurements as me. Looks as though my originals taken from tech drawings of the 2 models were too big now if the original case is right.

Remember, some people use the old trick of putting a rolled up towel under the body to pack it, so the need is definitely there. Or am I just being a worry wart?




Haha! We passed in the post Colnago. Looks like you and I see it the same way.

 

[bordonbert]

Greetings from the other side of the pond by the way.

That would be TKL-8824 I suppose. I'm trying to track one down over here but if you can't get one in Canadee I'm sure as heck not going to manage in UK. If this is a genuine problem which a few people suffer from then maybe working out accurate dimensions for a foam insert would be really helpful.

 

[truckermde]

I use the folded shirt method, myself...

 

[bordonbert]

I've just done some measuring with calipers of the guitar in the case and it ties up with my calculations from the drawings.

I'll need about a 45cm x 33cm square of foam that's 35mm thick, then some velour lining to cover it when it's cut. I plan to use the guitar as a template and cut to the whole body shape. When it's been chamfered and covered it should just push into place behind the guitar and stay there under its own steam. That way I don't have to glue things in place and the case can always be used for other guitars.

Anyone know of a source of lining material in the UK to match the Gibson case in white or maybe a more generic case in black??

 

[slapshot]

I have a lot of Jrs and find the cheaper aftermarket ones work best.probably why people say they suck for les pauls I dunno?
will they fit an SG case?never had one never tried ...
there's always this sort of option
Gibson Les Paul Guitar Flight Case
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/gibson-les-pauls/81737-these-tkl-les-pauk-junior-cases.html
there's also the used japanese les paul case option.they were made very flat.useless for an LP really
RARE Gibson Epiphone Les Paul Junior Case '11 Alnico P90 Melody Maker Special | eBay
did they make any others with a flat top design?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TKL-Les-Paul-Guitar-Case-Hardshell-Hard-Case-Gibson-LP-/221412781417

 

[icantbuyafender]

Welcome to world of woes that melody maker players are plagued with

It's even thinner than a LPjr

My chainsaw case works like a charm and fits snug. It's got so much damn padding, it'll hold a steinberger I bet

The tkl case is so hard to track down.

Till I used to use this foam pad I made to put inside an LP case


Some thin generic electric cases fit great. The only issue would be some sideways body movent. They're meant for teles and strats, but the neck holds ok in my experience.

 

[MrAnderson]

Just a thought, see if you can find one of the Billie Joe Armstrong leopard print cases. That is a Junior case.

And for some reason my Junior does not look like that in its case. It's perfectly level at the neck.

 

[bordonbert]

The SG case is a definite nono Slapshot. I have a classic Gibson SG case and the body shape is nowhere near a match, won't even go near squeezing in. The SG is much "hippier" than a LP with a squatter rear end. They're really "Big Bootie" guitars!

Looks like icantbuyafender got it the same as me in fact. How many had you downed when you cut that out Icbaf? It's a bit of a chainsawfest in an abbatoir isn't it? That's why I planned to glue some lining over the foam, I definitely won't be able to do much better!

I've sourced some crushed velour type material cheaply now and I plan to use that. Icbaf's version proves the principle I think and the rest is in the design. It should match the rest of the interior as much as possible and fit into the case all round so it holds itself in place without the guitar. A bit like a new base but not glued in in fact.

I just found this in an old review of the 2007 LPJ on Music Radar:

But be warned - not long ago, there was an unfortunate incident here at MusicRadar where a Junior was dropped in transit. Despite being in a hard case and a cardboard box, the impact was sufficient to fracture the back-angled neck and leave us with some explaining to do.

I wonder which case it was in at the time? Anyway. it proves the need to do everything you can to cushion it correctly.

 

[bordonbert]

Well, here it is!

I finished the insert I was planning and it works a treat. Build took an afternoon plus drying time. I'll show the stages. I'm afraid this will take a long post but for those who want to try it it should be useful. Because of the limit in picture uploads per post I'll have to split it across 2 posts. I wouldn't upload this many pics usually but I am sure people will understand why I have to in this case. Hope that's alright. Ok, let's get things together

Here is the case I went for. It's a generic Les Paul case from Spider / Flight Case Warehouse. It was on special and I have a hankering for Tweed! Like the Gibson case it already has a small foam pad a couple of cms high under the neck joint to support it. Of course its too low to do anything for a junior in the bare case but once we're finished it'll help a lot.

I got some rather stiff foam which was around 40mm thick. As you can see, mine has a seam down the middle. This is purely because I could only get it locally in two pieces and had to join them to make a big enough block. The better idea would have been to source a single piece but this was cheap and easy.

I used contact adhesive for strength on anything which I rated 'critical'. I tested this first on a scrap of foam and material to make sure there was no interaction. Some glues may simply dissolve some foams or discolour some fabrics from beneath, test yours first! It's a b**ch to work with though. It strings and sticks to anything that comes within a foot of it. I used long beads of it and spread them with a plastic spreader I made. I only stuck along edges and in key spots on larger areas with the contact adhesive.

For ease of working on anything which would be tucked away and out of sight and would be held in place when fitted I just used PVA adhesive as I have loads of it on hand. I wasn't sure about that but, surprisingly, it worked much better than I expected. I'll monitor it over time and correct it if it shows any weakness but I don't anticipate any problems.

I marked out the foam around the guitar giving a couple of mm oversize to ensure a snug fit. With the fabric covering it would make sure the insert is held in place firmly without the guitar in there. I used a sharp carving knife to cut it. Make sure to hold the blade edge vertically and saw gently. It works like a knife through butter. Really this is going to be covered anyway so it isn't desperately important to be perfect.

So here is the guitar body fitted onto the foam to show the fit. You can see the marking lines from a thick tip felt tip marker, and the resulting slightly raw edge of the foam, (it's actually less rough than it looks). This degree of overlap goes all the way around.

Now for the bare foam block fitted to the guitar case. I had anticipated needing to cut the foam into a wedge shape when viewed from the side. In fact, the low break/rake angle of the junior neck and the existing foam pad in the base of the case meant that when I tried it with the guitar in place it was a perfect fit at both the neck joint and back end. Result! So foam around 35-40mm was fine. It's easy enough to check the thickness needed for your own case anyway. I took the line that I would ignore the thickness of cloth providing I could get a near perfect fit without, in order to be a little undersize and have a neat pinching effect all over. That approach seemed to work a treat.

You can see it's a very snug fit but it isn't so oversized that the sides buckle it upwards. I also cut it short of fitting the whole length. I wanted it to have a fair sized space under the neck where it would have made no contact anyway. Good leather straps can be surprisingly thick and bulky. That is the perfect place to store one rolled up.

Next the covering stage.

While covering it I was up to my elbows in glue and fake fur strands. Honestly I looked like Lon Cheney as the Wolfman! I said that contact adhesive was a b**ch, well with the fur strands that were flaking off cut edges it became Naomi Campbell! I was too busy cursing to take pictures and I didn't fancy a fake fur Fuji so I'll just describe the covering process.

I put a large area of adhesive, maybe 6" across, on the centres of the cloth and foam and layed the foam onto the cloth stretched out flat. Working the edge was awkward. The idea was to simply make cuts around the body shape almost to the upper edge so when the pieces were folded over the side and bottom they would overlap slightly. Leaving the overlap on the sides but trimming it on the lower face where they finished was the idea. Then I realised that it would work on the convex outward curves but on the concave inwards curves it would leave uncovered areas as the wedge shaped strip sections become triangles. Hmm!

Eventually I had to cut it out and start with the concave curves, glueing the triangles in place. I then had to cover them on the sides with a strip of material that would just go under the first strip of the convex curve each way. So each side was done in that order. Concave curve triangles, small covering strips, convex curves and finally the square end cap was put in place with a small flap tucked under each side. You can just about make out the edge of the strip in the inwards curve and you can see there is no edge visible on the outwards curve.

Someone more experienced with upholstering could probably improve on this method a lot, but it produced a strong complete overall covering with no obviously visible seams. The glue might not be but that fur is very forgiving!

Ok, on to reel 2. For your comfort there will be a short intermission, ice creams and hot dogs are on sale in the foyer!

 

[bordonbert]

Back for the finale.

The first pic shows the finished insert in place in the case. It's difficult to see a black insert of indeterminate outline in a black case with furry indeterminate outlines too isn't it? Well I look on that as an indication of how well I've done the job. (Smug git!) With that choice of matching material it really is impossible to see even in real life that there is an aftermarket fitting in there at all.

The fit in the case is tight without any danger of it buckling upwards and the storage space worked out really well too. Result!

So here is the guitar in place. You can see both the neck and the butt are a neat fit. The rear drops down into the case just the right amount to be held stably when the lid is open, and thanks to the existing foam pad the neck joint is firmly in place supported on the foam. The pad ends between the 19th and 20th fret.

You may also see that the top edge of the body gradually comes up above the sides of the case a little. This is unusual compared to a Standard bodied LP but the rear is in fully and it is in no way a problem. The case takes no additional force to close and, once closed, the guitar does not move at all even if I rattle it, (carefully).

Here you can see the neck pocket in closeup with the strap in place and the seating of the neck joint in view.

There we have it. It can be done and fairly simply. I now have a case where my LPJ will neither rattle around nor be exposed to bending forces trying to break it apart. I would urge you other LPJ owners to go ahead and do this, it isn't rocket science, needs no special tools and cost only a few pounds for the basic materials.

This should work with other cases too, including the Gibson one which looks to me to be the same size as this 'more realistically priced' Spider. I do have a Gibson for my LP Trad to compare. And the final point to note, no cases were harmed in the making of this epic! The insert comes out if I need and the case is fit for any other LP with no disfigurement.

Now that must be worthy of a nomination!

 

[bordonbert]

Yikes, what happened to my photos? It's meaningless without them.

Is there a picture limit other than 5 per post?

 

[Colnago1]

Yikes, what happened to my photos? It's meaningless without them.

Is there a picture limit other than 5 per post?

I didn't see even see them yesterday, right after you posted....??

 

[bordonbert]

They were there when I posted yesterday. They were all accepted and listed below the post and they were all in place in the text. I've been in touch with Alex the Mod but I think I may need to repost them. Let's see if it works.

 

[bordonbert]

Well I'm darned. I've just transferred from a laptop to my main PC and the pictures are there! I've logged in fresh and reloaded the page and they are there! What is going on?

 

[bordonbert]

Caching! I cleared my browser cache and the pics went South for the winter. I've reposted them but I think there must be something wrong here. Let's see what Alex says.


Edit: Seems daft to make a new post for this sort of thing so... I've just checked on my laptop which couldn't see the pics before and, with an empty cache this time, they appear to be there. Let's see if they stay put!

 

[icantbuyafender]

Next foam-insert I trace and cut for my case will be done before drinking.

Heh. Good call.