RGGR Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 (edited) As I have piece of Korina left from my JS-7 build. My mind quickly wondered what to do with this. I have always liked the LP body shape, but neck and headstock have always put me off. The short scale length and the thick 'baseball bat' size neck have always feel odd to me. Read interesting article about scale length the other day. As things with JS-7 build are going pretty much according plan. Taking my time, making sure I'm learning from my own mistakes......I kinda can't wait to start new Les Paul project. Why not finish JS-7 first. Hmmmm....donno......Simply have to turn that big chunk of Korina into LP body. So this is the plan: LP body shape Ibanez Wizard II style neck 24 frets, 25.5" scale length. (similar to Gibson BluesHawk) Korina body & neck AANJ type neck Body contour Ebony fretboard Maple top. In limbo about quilted top, as nice black LP with chrome hardware looks appealing. White fake binding. Don't see the point of putting strip of plastic on the side. Routing binding is b*tch anyway. SD JB(br)/Duncan Custom(br) and 59(neck) pups Set through neck construction. Inverted McNaught style headstock. Getting rid of Gibson style jack in favor of Ibanez style jack. Edited October 28, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 that sounds good... i also thought on doing a kind of "super les paul" on my the ebony topped guitar. did you think of slightly changeing the outline which will be important for an acceptable upper fret acces, as Les Pauls ust to have only 22 frets. i would suggest on sarpening the edge of the cutaway to make it a true super les paul, as super strats also have sharper edges.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt76 Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 Hi RGGR I have the same idea, who knows, maybe in the future... This is my idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 be careful...the longer scale length will make it neck heavy....there is no upper horn obviously to balance it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 (edited) did you think of slightly changeing the outline which will be important for an acceptable upper fret acces, as Les Pauls ust to have only 22 frets. I was thinking leaving the back of the neck pretty much in same spot. Maybe move it back 1/4-1/2" or so. With the AANJ heel design I will get rid of lump of wood in way of proper upper access. Leaving the body shape pretty much like the '59 LP. So with the extended scale, from 24 3/4".....to 25.5" I will have longer neck with more of it sticking in front of body. Result will be that I have to move the bridge a little. Whole guitar will have longer overall look. be careful...the longer scale length will make it neck heavy I was thinking using nice solid Korina body. I guess that will balance the guitar nicely. Gibson itself made some 28" scale Baritones. They work out okay. Baritone Les Paul Edited October 28, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiKi Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 looks like a nice deal. i like that body contour but not in favor of the headstock. i would actually put a rickenbacker headstock on my dream guitar, something about it looks cool. cheers and good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted October 29, 2004 Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 very interesting rggr i remember a similar article on the fanned frets and such when i was growing up. the novak system is quite interesting. i wish however he would have talked about the 26 1/8 " scale length as it was the orginial classical length and i am unsure why it wasn't adopted to the modern electric as its harmonics ring out qutie nicely. looks like a nice guitar to me if you have a bit of balancing trouble a nice little piece of iron in the control cavity can help it balance out nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted October 29, 2004 Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 (edited) you could build the whole guitar to the 25.5 scale, which would mean, not only rise the scale lenght. built the whole guitar bigger, than you will have no problems... the scale for this would be 25.5/24.75 which actually is 1.030303.... well, thats not pretty much... the whole guitar will be only 3% bigger than an original Les Paul, so i don't think this will be a problem at all... Edited October 29, 2004 by Slaughthammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted October 29, 2004 Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 I like this Epi Baritones better! I like your Idea, like the PRS single cut, but with set thru neck, I disslike the angle in the body and neck but it's your taste, I will try to do a carved one but with te neck straight and either set thru or neck thru. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted November 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 (edited) Haha, made start at LP project. This week I had the limba blanks planed. After planing discovered some life in the Limba wood, but nothing to worry about. Cleaned it up, and glued banks together. They are drying as we speak. Heard horror stories about life in limba wood......the little buggers seem to love this particular type of wood. Would be an issue for clear coated or tung-oil finished guitar......but thinking about solid finish....so not really worried. Most visible area would be under top. So no worries!! Read great article about tone wood, and figured Koa (or Australian Blackwood) would make great top on my limba body wood. Haven't decided yet on neck wood yet. Limba, Maple, Mahogany......Love feel of Maple....but would add brightness to guitar, especially with set-through neck, like I'm planning. More later. Didn't shoot pics yet......just plain old clamping and glueing is not much interest to anybody I figured. Edited December 30, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 put the body in microwave at half power for 5 minutes and you won't have to worry about critters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted November 13, 2004 Report Share Posted November 13, 2004 I wanna see pics of the little wood critters! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted November 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2004 (edited) Hi there, With Limba bank glued and clambed together, the next moring I simply couldn't resist taping the LP MDF template on the body and digging in. Found this '59 LP cad drawing on the net somewhere, printed it out and made template out of 5mm MDF. (had done that some weeks ago...) You seriously have to stay concentrated when handling a router......cause next to the occasional tear-off.....I also had the bearing come loose (well actually the little nutty thing that sits on-top of bearing (template bit). Somehow the bearing wasn't following the template anymore, and cutter dug into the wood. ;-( Guitar will be solid color so nothing some Bondo couldn't fix.....but when doing all wood guitar.....with clear finish or tung-oil....I will use Robosander type set-up. Even with staying concentrated and watching out for trouble....these things tend to sneak up me. Still happy with results though. With some more sanding and routing cavity holes and set neck through slot..... I can start hunting down nice Koa peace for top. Carving that will be new adventure. ;-) Oh....and the little critters are actually little flies.......or that's what I understand from experts......the flies lays it's eggs in the wood and the larves eat their way out. You can kill those eggs by putting body in oven at 55 Degrees Celcius for hour or so. I have some sort of spray that kills it. Will use that when done with all routing and ****...... Edited November 13, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted December 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 (edited) Well started search on good piece of Walnut to cover my LP body blank. Read up on possible wood combo to enhance the sound of Korina body blank.....and decided Walnut top might be awesome combo. So specs so far will be: Korina body (finished) Walnut top 3 piece Maple set-thourgh neck (maybe with some carbonfiber laminates) Also was in bit of limbo how to finish the neck of this puppy. I wanted to finish the body with black paint, with white faux binding around body. On other LPs, I see white binding along side the Ebony or Rosewood fretboard.......trouble is ....I don't like the feel of the binding that much. I like the look, don't like the plasticcy feel of it. And then I bumped into the Clonkinguitars site (through link on this site) Yabba. In March he finished this: LP copy. 25.5" scale.......24 frets.......AANJ type neck joint....neck-through design.......;-) WOW!!!! And that neck joint. I could only smile. Except for that MIDI stuff.....this is pretty much as I have dreamed it up before..... Surfing the site some more....I saw this example of a great bass when suddenly I realized how I could solve my neck binding problem. A maple fretboard!!!! Will give whole guitar a very special look. Didn't Picasso say......Good artist copy, great artists steal!!!! Edited December 30, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 I like how this is going so far! Just a couple things I'd like to mention, though. First of all, I'd love to see a clear (or at least translucent) finish on the Limba, no matter how much Wes will berate me for saying so. Also, what about maple binding on an ebony board? I've always preferred the look of ebony in most cases, and the maple binding would look spectacular. Whatever you end up doing, POST MORE PICS!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted December 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 (edited) Whatever you end up doing, POST MORE PICS!!! Hear, hear.... First of all, I'd love to see a clear (or at least translucent) finish on the Limba, no matter how much Wes will berate me for saying so. tongue.gif As you can see on pics......this actually is nice blank of white Korina. When I bought it....(rough unfinished 2x 2.5 yards blank) I knew there was some "life" in the Korina. Only after shaving the real damage could be seen, so with that knowledge and good deal on it, I loaded up the Korina. (on pic you can see worm holes near bottom 1/3 of blank......I have filled it up with bondo, already so on pic it shows as white-ish lines....) Figuring I would finish Korina LP in solid black color, I wasn't too worried about little critters. One blank I used for Korina JS-7...there wasn't hardly any life in it.....this one actually could have been left unfinished (well...clear finished so to say). Won't though......Candy Apple red will cover this. The LP korina blank had more "life" in it. This pretty much eliminated the option leaving it clear. Wasn't my intention to begin with, so nothing to worry here. And yes.....actually like the look of unfinished Korina. And maple binding could be option, but just don't want to mess with routing of it. I see my self f*cking up a almost complete finished neck while doing it. Call it fear of the unknown, or not much confidence in own abilities yet. ;-) Edited December 31, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccbryan Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 And maple binding could be option, but just don't want to mess with routing of it. I see my self f*cking up a almost complete finished neck while doing it. You could do it the way I did, which I realize now was pretty much bass-ackwards, but it worked. I glued the (already slotted, inlaid, and tapered) freboard to my neck blank before any shaping of the neck. Then I trimmed the neck blank to 5/16 of the fretboard or so, which left a lovely little ledge onto which to glue my binding. Unshaped neck with fretboard and binding I then radiused the fretboard and fretted it with the neck still in this shape. Only afterwards did I wonder if I should have left radiusing and fretting until I had shaped the neck almost completely because when it came time for the shaping I couldn't set the thing down! I was forced to use this setup, with the heel clamped in my bench vise and a scrap piece supporting the peghead: Neck Shaping Except for the concern about mashing my neck tenon heel in the vise, this actually worked out pretty well, giving me full access for spokeshave, rasp and file. Shaped Neck Point being, it's an alternative to unleashing a router on your beautiful neck! Chandler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 RGGR, The Maple binding is not a problem. The method CCBRYAN describes is the same way I did my binding. I know you posted a message on the thread I started about my neck-through LP, and I had a couple of pics showing how I did it. The big trick is to make sure to get your radius started (close but not finished) then check those slots at the edges and make sure the depth is going to be enough after final radius. Then when you glue the binding place some thin wood or cardboard in the slots (I used veneer). So that you don't get glue in the slots. Then let you glue set up a bit (not too much). Then pull the material back out of the slots before the glue sets. Then you can attach the board and finish you radius and leveling then fret. It's really not too difficult and I am really liking the Flamed Maple binding. Peace, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted January 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 The processes you guys describe, make a lot of sense..........I just don't think I will add a binding to my LP neck yet. Just not comfortable with my skill level yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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