Jump to content

59 Les Paul Guitar Build. My 1st Build


Recommended Posts

Hello Everyone!! I have just joined the site and looks to be a great resource! My name is Chris and I am attempting my first guitar build. I have no experience with wood working or guitar building, so I will be flying by seat of my pants. I do have some resources that I can use to help me through the process. My Grandfather is a Master Wood worker and pretty much can build anything out of wood or other materials. I have a friend that does all the furniture repairs for the Hotel I work at and last but not least there is a custom wood and milling shop a few miles away from my house. I got my wood there and going to have them do some small milling work for me.

I decided to build a Les Paul for my first build, because they are one of my all-time favorites. I have done some small work so far, but still waiting to get a few more tools (IE a band saw). I plan to have this build done before the summer ends. I know that seems like a long time, but will one get to work on the guitar one or two days a week. The wife and kids take up most of my spare time. I would be much appreciated if you all would give me tips and ideals through my build.

Here are some pictures of the wood and progress.

Here is the wood I got from the custom wood shop. The wood is African Mahogany and Flame Maple. The shop did some prep work on the wood like get the wood ready to join the body and bookmatched the maple top. I paid around 100 for the wood and milling work.

Wood.jpg?dl=0

Here are the plans I got from the web. If anyone needs a copy I would be happy to email them.

Plans.jpg?dl=0

Here is some of the templets I made. They still need some work but thought I would link them.

Templet.jpg?dl=0

I have glued and clamped the Mahogany.

Body%20Blank.jpg?dl=0

body%20Blank%203.jpg?dl=0

Here is the glued body. I still need to take a 1/4 of inch of the wood and clean up the glue marks. I did make my first mistake and will not be the last. Can you spot out my mistake? Do you think it will cause a problem?

Body%20Blank%205.jpg?dl=0

Here are some pics of the flamed maple top.

Maple%20top%201.jpg?dl=0

Maple%20top%204.jpg?dl=0

This will be a challenging project, but looking forward to every minute.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome, and congratulations on beginning your first build. giving yourself till the end of summer is a good plan. I usually confine me building to weekends myself; you have set a realistic goal. Setting an arbitrary deadline that creates an artificial need to rush is a bad idea, so that is already one trap you have avoided. You are going to get excited when it starts looking and feeling like a guitar, the desire to hurry at that point will be strong enough. Take your time, enjoy the process and thanks for sharing it with us. we'll do all we can to help.

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is what the site has set up:

I personally use Photobucket, because the pics are bigger. There you just upload, go to your library and hover over the icon in the upper right hand corner of your pic and pick share links from the resulting drop down menu. go to the bottom choice on the new menu and click on "img." it will change to read "copied" briefly. Then paste that into your post.

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are the plans for the Guitar.

Plans_zpse79cabe4.jpg

Here are the temples (still needs work)

Plans_zpse79cabe4.jpg

Here is the Flamed Maple Top.

Mapletop1_zps711f6495.jpg

Mapletop4_zps13a88a5d.jpg

Mapletop3_zps6e6a39ba.jpg

Here is the body blank getting glued and clamped.

BodyBlank_zps8681e847.jpg

bodyBlank3_zps42866a34.jpg

I did make a mistake on the body blank. Here is the finished blank for the two half together.

BodyBlank5_zpsf91f8968.jpg

I have more progress in a week or two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mistake is I glued the boards backwards. One side the grain is running up and the other the grain is running down. I talked to one of my resources and he thinks it should not be a problem. Since the guitar is going to have the maple cap it should be fine I hope. He also said since the grain is so fine it will be hard to tell anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry hit the wrong button and posted the last one before I finish. I was asking about scarf joint necks. I know the les paul neck construction is week around the headstock and the scarf joint fixes that issue and helps from bending and twisting. I know there is a few way of doing the scarf joint, but which one would be best and the less visible?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for tips for beginners, we all pretty much agree this book is one of the best places to begin: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0953104907/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=3482612920&ref=pd_sl_7acm9cfelw_b although I promise I didn't pay near that much for my copy 7 or 8 years ago.

I don't use scarf joints so I'll let someone else answer that question. I do agree a Les Paul with no volute does need one. You can do a search for scarf joints and you'll get a ton of hits to wade through. RestorationAD has demoed it several times in his threads and has some of the best explanations and methods.

SR

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry hit the wrong button and posted the last one before I finish. I was asking about scarf joint necks. I know the les paul neck construction is week around the headstock and the scarf joint fixes that issue and helps from bending and twisting. I know there is a few way of doing the scarf joint, but which one would be best and the less visible?

I think different people will have different ideas on which type of scarf joint is best, but the plans to make some simple jigs and do a scarf joint that is in the headstock are at my post starting here

if you put veneer on either side of the headstock the joint will be close to invisible, good luck with it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the tips guys! Muzz your project is coming along nicely. I have another questions. I just got done gluing my flame top together. I glued on a flat surface but I got a small bow in where the glue joint is, so its now not a flat surface. Is there a way to fix that? Can it be planed down to a flat surface? The top is thicker and will need to be planed down before it can be joined to the body. What are my options and have any of you all had the same problem?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That happens to me just about every time. And I don't have a thickness sander or planer wide enough to hand the full body width so I always make a sanding table by glue 4 sheets of 60 grit to a flat surface and sand her flat the old fashion powered by elbow grease way. In fact check this out.

Here I'm cleaning up the glueing surfaces after the two halves are joined together and a little further down you'll see that my top bowed so much it looked like it wanted to be a boat. Not having the big tools does not mean it cannot be done and done well.

SR

Edit: I tested that link and it took me to page one instead of page 8 which is where the info I was trying to show you is at. Just jump over to it if you don't want to wade your way through that many pages.

Scott

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic Guitar in that post!! I'm not worthy! Seems you like IPA as much as I do. Lucky I got the wood and milling shop a few miles away. He's got a 30in planer, so I do not have to spend 4 hours . How much did you did you have to take off? My bow is not that bad. I only have about .45cm that can be taken off. That will leave me with about 1.75cm to work with on the carve. The finish carve will leave the highest point at 1.57 I think. I need to look at the plans again. Are you working on any other guitars now? I have been looking around but not that deep into the forms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry hit the wrong button and posted the last one before I finish. I was asking about scarf joint necks. I know the les paul neck construction is week around the headstock and the scarf joint fixes that issue and helps from bending and twisting. I know there is a few way of doing the scarf joint, but which one would be best and the less visible?

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the madness !!

It's not an easy one you've chosen as your first build. You're in for a few challenges with the Les Paul, but it's such a great design !

I wanted to chime in with respect to the infamous weak Les Paul headstock thing.

Yes, it is weaker than other designs, but unless you are planning on banging the headstock against hard things in a consistent manner it will not break by itself. I'm not a fan of scarf joints, I dislike the way they look. So let me help you explore other options.

One first consideration is the truss rod you plan to use. One thing that makes the Gibson design specially weak is the huge opening on the face of the headstock four the truss rod access. If you use a modern 2-way rod and make the opening on the headstock only as big as needed you'll be already a couple of steps ahead in terms of strength.

How deep is your neck blank ? You will need something like 65mm deep for a classic LP headstock tilted at 17* if you intend to do a one-piece, but you could also tilt the headstock less than 17*.

Classic PRS guitars used 11* and it works just fine. I have used 13* many times on one-piece necks and it is a great compromise. 14* was even by Gibson at some point.

Another classic is the volute on the back of the headstock. Placed correctly, it does't need to be huge to provide some more strength.

A laminated neck (length-wise) is also going to be more stable than a one piece. And if you add some harder wood in the laminations, like maple, it will be even stronger.

So you can see, many possibilities are available, unless you're going the historic-correct route, in which case you would not be considering a scarf anyway...

Wish you the best with your build. You've come to a great place. Lots of talented and experienced builders around here.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Chris,

Blackdog is an excellent source of advice and wisdom. I highly recommend taking advantage of the links to his builds at the bottom of his posts. Very inspiring work there including a vintage correct LP.

Fantastic Guitar in that post!! I'm not worthy! Seems you like IPA as much as I do. Lucky I got the wood and milling shop a few miles away. He's got a 30in planer, so I do not have to spend 4 hours . How much did you did you have to take off? My bow is not that bad. I only have about .45cm that can be taken off. That will leave me with about 1.75cm to work with on the carve. The finish carve will leave the highest point at 1.57 I think. I need to look at the plans again. Are you working on any other guitars now? I have been looking around but not that deep into the forms.

Yeah, I do like IPA. In fact I have a running thread in the Off Topics Chat area dedicated to finding and trying new tasty brews. Feel free to come on over and join in with your two cents worth.

I had to remove a little over a quarter inch from the glue side. It would have taken about that much more from the other side as well to get the top back to perfectly flat, but didn't bother since I was going to carve it anyway. I am not currently working on a build......other than mentally. I have a design percolating in my head that I expect to start on in a few weeks. I'd be happy to post up some links to any of my prior builds if you'd like.

One more question on that build you did. How did you get you glued joints so fine? You can hardly see them in the finish guitar.

The key to getting nearly invisible glue lines is taking the time to make the surfaces you are gluing together mate as close to perfectly as you can. I always set up a sanding surface that is perfectly flat and glue sandpaper to that. Then I set up a fence that is verified square to the sanding surface. I make pencil marks all along the surfaces to be glued together and then sand them until they all disappear. The edges will look very square and sharp when you're done. No fence is needed but the same thing happens to the top and body pieces to be glued together. Place the parts to be glued together in position before you apply glue and look at the gap. You should only see a straight line with no variations in thickness. Then use lots of clamps.

SR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks!! The neck blank is 24inches long, 7 inches wide 2 1/2 inches thick. More I think about it, I am going to just get another piece of wood for the neck. I will use the other for another project. I think the piece neck with a volute on the back will work out good. I will got have my body and maple top milled on Thursday and while I'm there I will get another piece of Mahogany. Thanks for the tip and I will check out your links later this evening. I'm so glade I found this site. I am thankful that I can ask questions and get answers from experienced builders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry been a few days. I in the middle of some server upgrades and it's taking up most of my time. I also got a new toy the other day and took me most of the night after work to pick it up and get it unloaded at my house. I got a Craftsman 12 inch Band Saw. It has a 1hp motor and it cut up to 5 inch thick. I found it Craigslist for 150. Seems to be in great shape and going to set it up this weekend. I also have not made it to the mile yet, but going tomorrow morning. Here is a pic of the saw.

20150211_205452_zpstlczqtx9.jpg

I will check out that form for the beer. I got some great Craft brewery's in my area.

On the top. You left it bowed up on the top side and just sanded it down on the bottom. I think I will do that also that way I don't have to take to much off.

I think my body glue join is pretty seamless. I will follow your tips.

Hopefully I have some progress to come on Sunday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to the wood mill last Saturday to get the body sanded down to the correct thickness and to get the bow out of the maple top. The owner said putting the top through the planer or thickness sander would not help. He said that since the bow is not bad the planer would just push the top down flat when running it through and it would bow back up after it come out. He also said that once you glued and clamp down the top to the body it would be enough to get it flat again.

What do you guys think?

I will probably use the method that ScottR used for his top. I just need to get it little bit flatter before the glue process.

I did get a new pies of Mahogany for the neck. I was able to get a block of Honduras Mahogany for 18.00. I should be able to get two necks out of it. Now my body is African Mahogany, but should not make a difference. The grain makings on the neck and body almost mach exactly.

I have been working on getting my temples finished. I have not worked on anything in a few days because of the bad weather we are getting in TN. I think I will have my body cut out this weekend and maybe do some routing. We will see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...