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Thanks for your feedback Robert

Wondering ...

How about a finished removable back held on with Velcro or something like the snap-in door trim panel clips on your car? You could finish the body and back separately, then wire it up and slap the back on.

:D

Dude are you serious or are you being sarcastic? It sounds useful because of what Robert said, and I understand the clip-type things, but im not so sure velcro would hold on very well. :D Can you explain a bit more please?

Edited by eckodanny
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I dunno, dude. If that's what floats your boat, nobody can tell you otherwise. From my perspective, the back of the guitar is the back of the guitar. In the game of tradeoffs, the convenience of an access cavity (and cover) will beat the 'unbroken' surface of the Supreme any day. Seems like a nightmare to install and service. :D

Greg

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not to mention, you said this was your first guitar and a carved top and back is a pretty big undertaking. I'd try to build something fairly normal first.

The whole LP supreme thing is pretty, but doesn't seem very efficient to me. Getting to electronics would be a pain, and building it would be a pain.

Looks to me like they wanted to brign the old-world look of carved back instruments (fiddles, mandos, banjos, etc) to the paul. Doesn't make sense to me though. That's why hollowbody styles exist - with their f-holes and traditional designs, i don't see where the LP supreme fits in except another way for gibson to overcharge for stuff :D

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I would go for a flat back instead of a carved back. Use a scroll saw to cut out a cavity cover from the back (so the grain will match), and big keyhole saw in a drill press for the 3-way cover.

Don't knock the velcro idea...I've been pondering it as a way to attach the cavity covers and do away with those little screws. It'll hold covers just fine...but I wouldn't want to attach an entire back that way.

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If one were really of an engineering mind.. you could figure out a way to make the back fit perfectly with some recesses, etc.. and use embedded rare earth magnets to hold it on. They aren't expensive and you can get little button mags that generate 5-10 lbs of force. 3-4 of those spaced just right and you could effectively have a removeable back that would have no chance of falling off.

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Thanks for your responses guuys!

I'm thinking about what Robert (the damned) said about making the cavity covers wooden aswell. I think that if I decide to do a supreme style LP, I wouldn't carve the back, just the front.

What about attatching the back with about 4 or 5 screws?

Edited by eckodanny
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If one were really of an engineering mind.. you could figure out a way to make the back fit perfectly with some recesses, etc.. and use embedded rare earth magnets to hold it on.  They aren't expensive and you can get little button mags that generate 5-10 lbs of force.  3-4 of those spaced just right and you could effectively have a removeable back that would have no chance of falling off.

What kind of effect would that have on the pickups? The magnets, that is.

I believe GodinSD did something like the LP Supreme with his guitar, didn't he? Just shove all the electronics in through an oversized rectangular jack hole?

Edited by Alarung
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I believe GodinSD did something like the LP Supreme with his guitar, didn't he?  Just shove all the electronics in through an oversized rectangular jack hole?

This was the original idea of the creators of the Supreme on the link i gave. They decided that they couldnt fit all the electronics through their jack hole.

Edited by eckodanny
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If you place the magnets for a 'back' along the edges, and you're conservative and smart in their size and the quantity of magnets you use they shouldn't really have any effect whatsoever on the pickups or strings.

Greg

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You guys are making a good point about the Supreme, however. Now I'm considering making a Regular Les Paul, versus the Supreme. After all, you guys are right, the access to the electronics of the Regular is better than the "unbroken" look of the supreme (thanks for your feedback Greg)... Changing a badly soldered electronic would be pain...

Edited by eckodanny
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No worries! When approaching a situation, I always think of the pluses and negatives, and decide if one outweighs the other. I believe that there ARE some tricky things that are worth the effort-- when I first joined this site, there was a tutorial on a way to fashion your guitar so that you have clean lines around a humbucker without needing a pickup ring. (ie. so that it looks the way a soapbar would-- clean lines all around, with no 'bump' for the ears).

It looked like a lot of work, but since it was the front of the guitar, I thought it seemed like a very worthwhile idea, and the look was great (if I remember correctly-- it's been forever since I've seen it!). So the plus outweighed the negative.

Good luck with it, whatever method you decide to go with!

Greg

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Hello again,

My LP plans call for a 24.5 in. scale length. Would it be wise to buy a 24.75 in. scale length fretboard off Stewmac, and just move the TOM bridge back 1/4 of and inch?

Otherwise I'm going to have to make my own fretboard, because as far as I've seen, 24.5 is not very common.

What do you think?

-Daniel

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24.5, really? Weird. 24.75 is the normal scale.

To answer your question: there's no reason in the world that you couldn't use the 24.75" neck and just adjust the location of the bridge. It will work perfectly as long as you measure it all up properly.

Greg

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Right-- you measure along an imaginary line that's 90 degrees to the nut, as opposed to along the edge of the fretboard. The distance from the nut to the bridge's high E should be 24.75", along this imaginary line.

As mentioned, the high E saddle (when moved all the way forward) should have its contact point at 24.75 ideally. The high E saddle being a little bit closer to the nut is fine (you can always move the saddle back) but you don't want it any further back than 24.75"

Greg

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Hello again,

My LP plans call for a 24.5 in. scale length. Would it be wise to buy a 24.75 in. scale length fretboard off Stewmac, and just move the TOM bridge back 1/4 of and inch?

Otherwise I'm going to have to make my own fretboard, because as far as I've seen, 24.5 is not very common.

If you do that double check how changing that measurement in your plans effects the other measurements such as pickup and control layout.

May not need any altering but it's worth the time to check.

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If you do that double check how changing that measurement in your plans effects the other measurements such as pickup and control layout.

May not need any altering but it's worth the time to check.

Good idea VanKirk. Now I have a question: a fretboard of a long scale length is longer than a fretboard of a shorter scale length, right? If so, the pickups would have to be moved back about 1/8" in order for a fretboard of 24.75"scale length to fit properly.

Now, however, I have encountered a new problem. My guitar plans shows a "soap bar" single coil pickup and a p-90 (I think) single coil pickup aswell. Would it be possible (now that i have to move the neck pickup back 1/8") to put in humbuckers instead (since LP's usually have humbuckers)? If so, how would I know where to place them, and where to route?

I am now a bit confused. :D

Thanks so far guys, :D

-Daniel

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Hey dude,

It's no problem putting in humbuckers instead, but keep in mind that it's a completely different size and shape of rout. There are no 'rules' saying exactly where they need to go, either. If you were nutty enough to want such a thing, you could even just put a lonely single coil in the MIDDLE with NO bridge or neck pickups.

(that's just an extreme example, not a suggestion. :D )

At the end of the day, as long as you measure it all up and plan out your humbucker routing, you can certainly drop 'buckers in there, instead.

Greg

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Stepping back a couple of posts. You asked about the scale length of Stew's boards v.s. your plans.

My LP plans call for a 24.5 in. scale length. Would it be wise to buy a 24.75 in. scale length fretboard off Stewmac, and just move the TOM bridge back 1/4 of and inch?

Otherwise I'm going to have to make my own fretboard, because as far as I've seen, 24.5 is not very common.

What do you think?

Stewmac fretboards are described as below.

Gibson 24-3/4" Scale Fingerboard

Gibson's standard 24-3/4" scale is a compensated length based on a true scale of about 24-9/16". Our fret spacing matches Gibson's most common spacing.

Your drawings and Stews boards may allready be the same. Their fretboards are based on a true scale of 24-9/16". Either way you should check the distance from the 12th fret to the nut. It will be just about dead on 1/2 the true scale length, and that way you will know what you are dealing with. Just don't drill for the studs or route pickups until you check the fretboard.

As far as pickup placement, and type Greg's got it.

Peace, Rich

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