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Les Paul Style Build


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So it's been almost a year since I last touched on this build. Lots of stuff has been going on in life with finding a house, getting a reliable vehicle, bands, deciding which branch of public service I would like to choose a career in, etc. Lots of stuff!

I don't have any pictures right now, but I am starting back up on the project.

The original glue joint on the body blank was a perfect glue joint. However, due to a natural curve in the original plank, I have to level it down flat. Unfortunately, I do not have any access to a planer, but I did get ahold of a 20x20" granite tile, which is pretty flat. Reflections on it aren't warped, so to me it's flat enough. It might not be true flat, but whatever. I will be able to join my top using it.

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<!--quoteo(post=465196:date=Jun 1 2010, 06:25 AM:name=verhoevenc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (verhoevenc @ Jun 1 2010, 06:25 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=465196"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Wait... who cut these?

Chris<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

this is what happens every time I let anyone do anything for me. It comes back wrong. I cut the initial body blank with my jigsaw, and that came out perfect. Maybe I'll just get some new blades and use the jigsaw until I get a bandsaw setup next year... Or maybe I'll just hold off on my builds till I get my own tools.

Shame dude. I cut my LP neck with a handsaw and got better results.
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Good to see you getting back in to it Chris. When you think you are getting close to flat with your granite tile, take a soft pencil and lightly scribble all over the surface that you are leveling. When the last of the graphite disappears you should be good to go. I have also picked up a 24" aluminum carpenter's level and glued sandpaper to the flat edge of that. You can drag it all the way across the face of your piece and inspect the scratches. If you have the same coverage of single direction scratches across the face of your piece you're good to go.

SR

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Its a good way of doing things, Scott!

Joining side marked up:

P2230115.jpg

Leveling it out on the sandpaper covered granite tile results:

P2230116.jpg

Final result:

P2230123.jpg

After seeing the LP body blank sitting in the front of my body blank pile for a year, it looks really strange to me being completely flat with a slightly different grain pattern due to the layers of color in black limba. But it is completely flat, and it has a suction when I try to pick it up off of my kitchen table, which is what I was looking for!

I sanded up the back a little bit too, but I kept it a little convex for my comfort. Lots of wormholes to fill in! I'll be using clear epoxy, instead of mixing it with sawdust, as sawdust mixed in just looks like an ugly black dot of plastic in the middle of my beautiful wood.

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So yeah, remember that beautiful maple burl that I bought online, and was so happy about, but so reluctant to work on?

P7220018.jpg

Well, that's the picture you look at when you view the product you want to buy online. However, what isn't explained (and i'm assuming this is true for any website that sells burl or figured woods) is that there is a "show" side," which is the side you see online, and there is a "raw side" which is the side they don't show you:

P2230124.jpg

Basically, that's the side that they sliced with the saw, and the other side was sent through a planer I'm assuming... and somehow they planed it without tearout... Anyway, I don't trust a planer with my expensive awesome looking burl, so I went at it with a hand plane for a bit, and threw the plane aside because it seemed pointless if I wasn't going to get a true flat surface, but a bunch of different flat surfaces in the end. So I marked it up and threw it on the leveling tile.

As a reference, this is how much it warped over the course of a year:

P2230125.jpg

Its not bad, but its certainly curved enough to where if I level it, I won't be able to do as dramatic of a top carve as I want.

After a few hours of leveling, I discovered that burls warp differently than normal quartersawn lumber, over the course of a year:

P2230126.jpg

You can see in the pic that the lower left is flat, as is most of the center, and part of the upper right. The rest is marked and not level. Also, let it be known that maple is a bitch to sand to shape. Hopefully I'll be done leveling this by the end of the week, and my wife won't be too pissed at the amount of time I'm spending hunched over a tile scraping a loud piece of wood back and forth during commercials.

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If you were to decide to bind that you could let the binding just barely cover the top to body join and get almost the full thickness of the top to carve. I had the exact same thing happen with a burl myrtle top and still got a pretty dramatic carve by doing this.

Hopefully I'll be done leveling this by the end of the week, and my wife won't be too pissed at the amount of time I'm spending hunched over a tile scraping a loud piece of wood back and forth during commercials.

You've got to get a place with a garage and start building your man cave. (You could also toss Amiee's cats in there if that ever happens again). :D

SR

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You have no idea how much I want a shop! I have money saved up for it and everything. I'm seeing a ton of deals at work, too and I can't act on any of them because I don't have the room in this apartment!

You're still welcome to my shop! (My new and improved shop!)

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  • 8 months later...

Hey all!

Just a little life update:

Failed at being a cop. I have a big mouth, and I found myself unable to hold my tongue when it comes to dumbasses. So I discontinued my efforts and went and got my EMT! I stick tubes in people's orafaces now. Then I get them to a nurse before they puke or crap, that way I don't have to clean it up. Good times! Seriously though, the job is the most rewarding job I've ever had, and I plan on doing it for a very long time. I plan on getting certification for firefighter 1 in the 2nd half of this year :D

That said, where am I with this build? Well, I work 100+ hours a week now (it's not all work... Half of it is waiting for someone to call 911). So I don't get too much time to sit down and sand. The top is almost flat enough to join to the body now. I don't know how long it'll be before progress happens, but I wanted to let you know that this project is still in progress, and pics will be up... Sometime lol

P.S.

Amiee is a crazy person.

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You need to find someone with a drum sander for the top.

They are basically a thicknesser but has sandpaper, it's the only way to do figured timber. I wish I had one myself. When I need to use one I throw a few bucks at a local luthier and borrow his but I have a feeling that arrangement is won't last forever

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Hey Chris is still alive! Good to hear from you again. Your story reminds me of the Ron White line: I had the right to remind silent.......but I didn't have the ability.

Congrats on the firefighter EMT deal. I have a couple of friends doing the same thing and a brother in law that just retired frrom the fire dept. That's a worthwhile profession, be proud.

We'll look forward to seeing more of this build.....some day.

SR

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