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Build 2 - Dan's LP JR Double Cut


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This is my second build, which should be a bit more simple than my first on. At the moment it's very much a "back burner" project while I finish up on my previous build:

http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/48292-first-build-the-nozcaster/

This one is a fairly basic Les Paul Junior Double Cut copy for my guitarist Dan. It will be slightly "customised"

The spec (so far):

  • Mahogany neck
  • Single piece khaya body (African mahogany)
  • Ebony fretboard
  • Ebony headstock plate
  • Twin P90 pickups
  • Custom control layout - he likes the volume control right under his pinkie
  • MOP dot markers & monogram inlay at 12th fret
  • Luminlay side dots
  • Solid colour (not quite decided which colour yet!)

This will have a few "firsts" for me:

  • Using mahogany or ebony
  • Set neck
  • Having a neck angle
  • Scarfing joint
  • Inlay work

 

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Even though this is a back burner project, there has been a little bit of progress.

We have wood...

20170424_191012_zpsvnerqyim.thumb.jpg.7762fafd4e57c859fd260aa2173058cb.jpg

A close up of the ebony...

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The body was slightly too slim by about 10mm top & bottom, so I hacked off a couple of pieces and joined them (forgot to take a photo), then last night planed the body to thickness & rough cut it on the bandsaw...

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Next up will be a couple of hours on my sanding table to take it close to final thickness

I have also started preparing the neck blank by planing a straight "reference" edge

Edited by Norris
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Looks great.  That's a beautiful piece of mahogany for the body.

Do you have a planer/thicknesser, or do you use another method for thickness planing?  I ask because I don't have a planer and am thinking about how to get various pieces of my current project down to finished dimensions.  Right now the likely approach will be a router sled with a planing bit - I'm not confident I can hand plane a flat surface.

-- se

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On 2017-5-16 at 3:05 PM, ScottR said:

This will be fun. And I can already tell it's going to sound great. what P-90s are you going to use?

SR

I'll leave that to my guitarist. Any sort of low profile dog ear style will do - as long as I don't have to rip too much out of the neck tenon

On 2017-5-16 at 3:50 PM, eubie said:

Looks great.  That's a beautiful piece of mahogany for the body.

Do you have a planer/thicknesser, or do you use another method for thickness planing?  I ask because I don't have a planer and am thinking about how to get various pieces of my current project down to finished dimensions.  Right now the likely approach will be a router sled with a planing bit - I'm not confident I can hand plane a flat surface.

-- se

A number 5 jack plane, a decent straight edge, a 6-sheet 120 grit sanding table... and time. Old school :D

A planer/thicknesser would be nice, or better still a sanding thicknesser. However they are luxuries that I can't really justify at the rate that I build guitars

On 2017-5-16 at 5:00 PM, Andyjr1515 said:

Hooray!!!!! :peace

Having seen Norris's first in-progress build in the flesh on Saturday, I can tell you - this one is going to be superb too....

Thanks for the compliment. I wouldn't get over excited just yet though :D

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Woohoo! Good to see another build started.

I'm moving to the other side of the pacific to a land where I no longer have access to a massive $1/hour wood shop. For my next build, I will likely be joining you in the old school land of hand tools. 

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Having previously squared up the neck blank, we went for the scarf joint last night. I haven't got a huge amount spare on the neck blank, so had to measure and cut carefully

Having marked out, I cut the angle on the bandsaw, then used a block plane to get the surface flat

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Then having done so, glued and clamped it, using a panel pin to stop it sliding apart

20170522_204944_zpsagmpkifc.thumb.jpg.b3b57816feaf3e38c5377afb0e5f04ef.jpg

The single-acting truss rod is on order, but I won't get it for a couple of weeks due to the public holiday next Monday. Still, that's plenty of time to get the body flat sanded and maybe even routed to shape if I have time. I'm trying to keep this build to the Monday night sessions for now to appease the good lady wife - who wants things doing to the camper, painting & decorating the house, sorting out the garden, etc. :D

Edited by Norris
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13 hours ago, Norris said:

 I'm trying to keep this build to the Monday night sessions for now to appease the good lady wife - who wants things doing to the camper, painting & decorating the house, sorting out the garden, etc. :D

Well that's mighty odd.  My good lady wife wants similar things doing!  You don't suppose they are related, do you?

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Unclamped

20170524_080919_zps3mookdip.thumb.jpg.2c868e848a7a74b27969ebb684f2b41d.jpg

Edit:

Oh - and we've had a slight change of plan. It's going to be a little more conventional with just a single pickup now, and probably a scratch plate. The knobs will be repositioned still

Edited by Norris
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  • 2 weeks later...

As you may know, I'm building this solely in my 2-hour class on a Monday night. Last night was trimming the ebony headstock cap. I used the bandsaw, shinto rasp & cabinet scrapers to trim the sides down, then started on thicknessing it. I started with a plane, but ebony doesn't seem to like that very much - so I switched a good old bit of hand sanding!

20170620_080159_zps3j7itisc.thumb.jpg.f44c5863d3e8b5bf67c4797cae52beb8.jpg

I've still got about 1/2 mm to go on the thickness

I've not worked with ebony before. It has an almost buttery quality to it - I suppose due to the natural oils in the wood. Pure delight using the cabinet scrapers, but not so the jack plane. What I wasn't expecting was how much it stained my fingers while sanding - even after washing my hands twice. Even after a shower this morning there is still a hint left!

Edited by Norris
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  • 3 weeks later...

Let's drag this up - I've not posted an update for a while. As you may be aware this is my "back burner" project. Anyway having finished getting the ebony headstock cap down to thickness, last night I had a go at routing the truss rod channel. I borrowed a jig from a "class mate" - it leaves a bit to be desired in terms of stability & clamping options, but with some suitable packing was fairly useable

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Fixed to the top runners are two curved fillets to give the bend for my old-school conventional truss rod. Unfortunately the instructor that made those pieces for me while I was aligning and clamping the neck in the jig didn't quite put enough curve in them, meaning I only have a 1.5mm drop rather than the 3mm I need. Anyway, using a 6mm half round bit I at least have a tidy curve to the correct depth at either end.

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I'll now use a 6mm chisel that has been rounded over at the tip, to scrape the centre of the channel to the correct depth. I'll have to get that done this week as I've borrowed it from the class and need to return it. The classes have now finished until September, but one of the instructors lives not far from me. Needless to say, progress on this guitar will slow even more while I get the Nozcaster finished off (which I just noticed has photo-bombed that last picture! :D ).

Edited by Norris
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  • 2 months later...

Just dragged this out for an update and ... damn you Photobucket! I'll have to update it later

Anyway, as you may recall this is my backburner, 2 hours a week project. We've had a little bit of progress since July so...

Having previously routed the truss rod channel, I've now scraped it out to full depth - a mid-deflection of 3.3mm. I've got the anchor points cut out, made the truss nut washer, routed the truss nut access and fitted heatshrink sleeving to the truss rod.

Last night I glued on the heel extension, prepared the rock maple truss rod fillet and cleaned up the truss nut access slot.

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IMG-20171009-WA0004.thumb.jpg.3d540d797db845dca38d4d1318e00638.jpg

Next step is to get the truss rod in place then trim and fit the fretboard

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Very nice! Looking forward to more pics! Could you perhaps comment a bit more on you scraping process for the tr channel? Did you use a template, or just went by the feel, measured the steps? Very interested, as I'm avoiding the classical rods for the same reason. I have seen sled-like router jigs for it, but never took time to make one.

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1 hour ago, gpcustomguitars said:

Very nice! Looking forward to more pics! Could you perhaps comment a bit more on you scraping process for the tr channel? Did you use a template, or just went by the feel, measured the steps? Very interested, as I'm avoiding the classical rods for the same reason. I have seen sled-like router jigs for it, but never took time to make one.

To do the initial routing for the truss rod channel, I used a curved sled jig that belongs to the class I attend, and a 6mm half-round bit. This got me to the correct depth at the ends, but unfortunately the curve on the jig wasn't quite enough to give me a decent bend on the truss rod. So I then used a chisel to scrape out the centre of the channel by hand. I used the depth prong thing on my digital gauge to get to the correct depth relative to the end points, ending up at 3.3mm in the centre and with the curve smoothed out by hand/eye/feel. The 6mm chisel has been ground/sharpened to be half-round - I'll try to grab a photo of it next time I'm there (we have a couple of weeks off for school half-term)

The fillet is then a straight piece of maple about 10mm deep, that will be clamped into place - flexing as it goes. Rather an old school approach, but then my guitarist is after an old school reproduction LPJr

Edited by Norris
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Single-acting rods in a curved channel are something I really want to broach myself. I've got three singlecuts, two of which will have rear-mounted rods. Same as this, only different. :D

I'm unsure whether documenting both ways is best. There's the curved jig as you've used here Norris, then there's the secret cheaters option of the fine height adjuster on your router and doing a stepped slot....

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