A Pair Of Gibby Tribute Builds.

[ScottR]

Excellent detail work and craftsmanship BD. This is going to be an awesome instrument.

SR

[WezV]

looking great!

good use of the plec - i have a few of those around here, although i dont get the box candy with my BKP's very often

[Blackdog]

Thank you WezV and Scott, you're very kind.

I got to advance the build a bit more tonight.

The neck was brought to the width of the fingerboard, and the cutaway area was adjusted to flow nicely into the neck heel.

And I did a preliminary carving of the neck. It is not finished by any means, but most of the unnecessary wood has already been removed, the transition into the headstock has been roughed in and the same was done with the heel.

I couldn't resist taking some pics side by side with the real Gibson reissue. I am really very excited with the results so far !

[Blackdog]

Report of the progress made during the weekend.

Like I said in a past post, I made a mistake when cutting the neck blank for the 355.

The mistake was started way back, in the plan I drew, in which I placed the neck-to-body joint at the 20th fret instead of the 19th.

From the plan I made the template, and from the template I cut the blank. And though I normally cut the blanks with some slack, the correction of the neck/body junction back to the 19th fret left me with a rather marginal amount of wood for the heel.

Before commiting to use this neck or to build a new one I had no other chance than to work a bit more on it.

I had a good feeling, so I went on with the neck carving.

First I cut the headstock outline, so that I could shape the neck-to-headstock transition too. Template went on, bandsawed the rough shape and the table router did the rest. This wider headstock will be the multi-bound Custom style.

Then I broke out my trusty rasps and rough shaped the neck.

[Blackdog]

After a bit of sanding, the neck is now rough carved.

And I have a the best possible heel with the available material.

As you can see, the heel is rather short, and a bit more abrupt than I had expected. It is still a bit deeper than necessary (as in body depth), so the final heel will look just a tad longer. All in all I thing it's workable and don't see enough justification for scrapping this neck and starting over. What do you think.

[Blackdog]

Now it was time to advance the fretboard a bit more. Drilling for the side dots after scraping:

Tortoise side dots in place. The fretboard is now ready for gluing to the neck.

[westhemann]

It looks like you have plenty.

[Blackdog]

It looks like you have plenty.

Thanks Wes, I'm not completely happy with it, but I too believe that it will work just fine.

[Blackdog]

Now a bit about headstock overlays.

The blackface of the Gibson headstocks bearing the logo and other cosmetic appointments, has always been an overlay.

Back in the day Gibson was using a thin holly wood headsock veneer (less than 1/16" - 1.5mm) on Standard grade guitars, and a somewhat thicker (3/32" - 2.4mm) holly overlay on the Custom grade ones.

The latter one got the multi-ply binding, while the former one was plain.

Around the 70s they switched to some kind of synthetic black fiber, but the holly overlays returned for the reissues.

The pearl logo was inlaid on those in an oversized recess roughly following the outer limits of the logo, using black stained fish glue as filler. After application to the headstock face it was sprayed black, including the scoop for the TR adjustment nut. Then the pearl inlays (and the binding when applicable) were scraped clean, and it was ready for clearcoating.

I commissioned the overlays, using my own logo, to a German supplier. Just the holly ractangles with the inlaid pearl. But it's going to take still a few weeks for them to deliver. Since I had a logo already cut (albeit a slightly bigger one, that I previously bought from DePaule), I decided to give it a try at making my own overlay for the LP build.

I do not have holly, but I had a very nice 1.6mm thick maple veneer. Since it's going to be painted black anyway, and the only visible part will be the whitish edges on the sides of the headstock, I decided that maple was just as good (and whitish enough) for the purposes.

First step was to scribe the outline of the inlay, and draw the opening for the TR access scoop.

Using the dremel and the routing base I routed the recess for the inlay and cut the opening for the TR adjustment access. The first operation was rather critical, as the plate is 1.6mm thick and the recess is 1.2mm deep (for a 1.5mm thick pearl inlay).

I did not use fish glue ( early on I decided not to use the "vintage correct" glues for this build), just plain epoxy colored with ferrite powder.

Some hours later it could be sanded flat, and the headstock overlay plate is ready.

[Blackdog]

I rough cut it to shape and carefully aligned it to the headstock. Using a piece of binding adhesive tape (very strong) as a hinge at the nut end, I applied the glue. Folded it back in place and fixed the other end with some more tape to keep it from moving around, and clamped it.

When the glue dried, it was cut flush with the headstock sides using the table router, and then the tuner holes were drilled.

The rest of the evening was spent fine carving the neck and finessing the top carve. I believe that both will be ready with just one more carving session.

Then I have to sand the neck, top and sides up to at least 320 and the neck can be set in place. Only with the neck in place i will drill the holes for the tailpiece, and find (empirically) the proper location for the ABR-1 bridge (i.e. the location that provides the correct intonation with the limited adjustment range of the bridge).

[FireFly]

I absolutely love your builds! The attention to detail in your work is something I try for in every project I do.

I'll get there some day

[Blackdog]

I absolutely love your builds! The attention to detail in your work is something I try for in every project I do.

I'll get there some day

Thanks Firefly. I'm flattered you find inspiring the way I work. I do take my time, but these builds are still not perfect, mind you. I still make mistakes here and there, I try not to repeat them. So far I managed to make all new mistakes every time...

Progress report: after another carving session for the top and the neck, some sanding and a bit of basic fretwork, the neck was ready for setting.

Point of no return. This was last night.

Next task for today was to install the tailpiece. I positioned the posts following John Catto's plan. The bass side post is a couple of mm further back than the treble post. This is how the originals were made, apparently to visually offset the slant of the bridge a bit. This applied to all the STP/TOM equipped guitars, not only Les Pauls. It is one of the details that the current reissues are not implementing yet. Maybe next year's models...

Of course, the treble post bushing was installed after drilling the hole and threading the ground wire into the control cavity.

Positioning the bridge is a interactive task, as I mentioned. Installed the tuners first, and a cheap pre-cut plastic nut loose in it's slot. Stringed the guitar with the bridge just sitting on the top with a couple of veneer spacers to separate the strings from the fretboard.

Tuned to pitch.

Adjusted the high e saddle all the way to the front position, and backed it a couple of turns for margin.

Adjusted the low e saddle all the way to the back iopstion, and backed it a couple of turns for margin.

Then positioned the bridge so that these two strings intonated properly. That's the correct position for the bridge.

With the bridge held in place by the pressure of the strings, it's holes can be used as the guides for drilling the top. This is a metric Faber bridge, the posts are 4mm. I used a 3.5mm drill bit and drilled perpendicular to the neck plane (approximately), deep enough to reach into the mahogany back.

I'm using 40mm long M4 steel screws as posts, the screws themselves can be used for tapping the holes.

[Blackdog]

The screws were cut to length (long enough to reach into the mahogany), and using the thumbwhell locked with an additional M4 nut, the posts were driven into the top.

When just about 12-13 mm of the screws remain exposed, the locking nut was removed and the bridge put in place.

And I think I can call it a day.....

[IPA or death]

Looking really good Dog. You've got me chompin' at the bit to do another LP, one a little more vintage 59-ish. I'm staying tuned to this one.

[eddiewarlock]

I´ve been drooling over this thread. I love it

I sooooo wanna build another les paul custom...but the multiple bound body scares me! hehehe

[Blackdog]

Looking really good Dog. You've got me chompin' at the bit to do another LP, one a little more vintage 59-ish. I'm staying tuned to this one.

Do it man ! Good Les Pauls are hard to beat !

I´ve been drooling over this thread. I love it

I sooooo wanna build another les paul custom...but the multiple bound body scares me! hehehe

What do you mean "another" ?? There is a thread I have missed methinks...

I have to admit that the multi-ply binding is worrying me a bit too, the 355 will have the same binding style as a LP Custom.

Specially worried by the fact that in the 355 you can't afford to do it all as binding (same depth, 1/4"). You have to keep just the outer layer as binding and the inner multi lams have to be applied as purfling (much shallower) to avoid weakening the top to sides joint too much. Means that after finishing the body I'll have to take it to the router to route a two-level stepped channel around... Sounds scary...

[eddiewarlock]

Oh well i don't post my projects here anymore. But what i did was to take a battered Gallan guitar copy of a Les paul custom, removed the plywood body and kept the solid maple top, which fortunately, had multiple binding. I made a spanish cedar body for it and a laminated spanish cedar neck, added ebony fretboard, block inlays and glued the neck.

here's a pic

[Blackdog]

Oh well i don't post my projects here anymore. But what i did was to take a battered Gallan guitar copy of a Les paul custom, removed the plywood body and kept the solid maple top, which fortunately, had multiple binding. I made a spanish cedar body for it and a laminated spanish cedar neck, added ebony fretboard, block inlays and glued the neck.

That is a beautiful Custom, Eddie ! Great job. Must be pretty light with the cedar body.

A black LPC is so elegant...

[Blackdog]

Since I am in the process of defining and procuring my spraying equipment, I decided to advance some of the tasks that I usually do after the finishing.

I did the detailed fretwork yesterday evening.

This morning I woke up early and continued with the headstock.

Like I said before, the first step is to lightly spray it black (rattle cans are perfect for this).

As you can see, the grain of the surface is very notorious. It looked very flat and smooth before the paint. I guess that is why holly is used for this and not maple. Oh well, with a few coats of clear it will eventually level fine.

Next the pearl has to be scraped clean. It is a pain !! What in the end worked for me was steel wool.

A couple of clear coats to seal the deal and it looks like this.

[Blackdog]

I though it would be a good idea to fit-test the pickups in these vintage flavoured cavities. If any surprises were awaiting me it is always better to discover them before the finishing.

And I found a very nice one !!

Have a look again at the neck pickup cavity:

Have you wondered where the mounting screws of the P90 will fall ?

EXACTLY !!! Right in the middle of the void between the end of the tenon and the back of the mortise !!

There was no other solution but to plug that void. Out of a piece of mahogany with the proper grain orientation I had to carve a plug to fit in there and glue it in.

In the end it was just a 90 mins job.

This happened because my tenon ended up a good 10mm shorter than what it was specified. I though that it would hardly make any difference, and it woudn't if I were using humbuckers...

It doesn't look vintage correct anymore, but it works ! I guess that is more important...

[Blackdog]

I had the pickups in there already and the fretwork was done, curiosity was killing me !!

Why not assemble the thing, cut a reasonable decent nut and give it a try ??

I don't have the switch yet, so I wired it with the two volumes as a mixer.

Everything fits just fine, and it sounds pretty amazing too.

It plays quite well, and the big surprise is that this Rule of 18 fret spacing seems to intonate just as well, if not better than the usual one all along the neck. I guess they weren't wrong in 1959 after all !!

[Blackdog]

There's not much more to be done to the LP before finishing. Just drill the hole for the toggle switch and adjust the depth of the cavity accordingly, and cut the final bone nut. Switch and nut blank should be arriving some time this week.

So there are no more excuses. This thread enters the second phase and fully becomes Semihollow.

The first decision that has to be made is the thickness of the body.

Officially, Gibson listed these as being 1 3/4" thick at the rims. In reality, the vintage ones were all over the place. Some were indeed 1.75", but many were less.

I want to keep the weight of this one under control, but nothing can be done on anything except for the soft maple center block. I requested a light one, and I will build this one on the thinner side of the spectrum to further keep the weight down.

The centerblock was thinned down to 33mm. The top and back are 5mm thick each, hence the final thickness should be 43mm= 1.70".

Using the template, the curves at the cutaways are drawn. Also the final lenght of the centerblock is marked. The rest will be filled with the mahogany tailblock.

Again using the template, the mold is adjusted so that the tubes follow the curve of the cutaways.

We are looking for around 56.5mm between the parallel tangents of the tubes, i.e. where the curve of the cutaways will merge into the sides of the neck. The width of the neck at the joint point is around the same.

[Blackdog]

The cutaway curves on the centerblock are roughly band-sawed and fine cut with a router following the template.

But this is the external dimension. We need to make space for the width of the rims. The rims are exactly 5mm thick.

This measure is transported with the calipers to the centerblock and scribed lightly.

Again the excess is band-sawed away, and then adjusted with the drum sander.

[Blackdog]

The end result now matches the curve of the inner sides of the rims.

Now is time to remove the excess length of the centerblock. This is first band-sawed, and then fine-cut with the router following a straight edge. This ensures that it is straight and square with the top surface.

So everything is ready for gluing the centerblock to the rims at the neck edge. The centerblock is sitting on a piece of 1.6mm veneer. This is to ensure that the edges of the rims are slightly proud of the surfaces of the centerblock at both sides. These will be sanded down to the centerblock plane later.

Glue is applied and everything is clamped and wedged into the right positions. The two beams across the mold ensure that the rims are well seated on the mold, the same with the two clamps on the horns. The wedge at the tail end is the one actually pushing the centerblock to press the rims against the tubes in the neck area.

The next step will be to trim the rims at the tail end to seat flush one against the other, and adjust and glue the mahogany tailpiece between the rims and the centerblock.

[Blackdog]

Today's update...

The rims were marked at the centerline at the tail end. Then they were cut on the bandsaw for a good end to end match. The inside edge of the cut was filed a bit to get them to close a bit better.

Out of mahogany, with the grain running perpendicular to the centerblock, I cut the tailblock. The curved surface was rough cut with the band saw and smoothed with the belt sander.

The flat side was adjusted on the belt sander until it fitted well between the rims and the centerblock.

Applied the glue and clamped the assembly to press all the parts together.

In all these operations there are a couple of significant differences between the vintage way (like on this build) and the modern reissue way. On the reissues the maple centerblock is a bit wider than 5", and there is no mahogany tailblock (the maple centerblock goes all the way to the tail end against the rims).

The next step, for tomorrow, will be to sand the rims and tailblock flush to the level of the centerblock on both sides.