sidysm Posted February 15, 2005 Report Posted February 15, 2005 K first off first post so I should say thanks to everyone for all the advice and tutorials on this borad it's amazing all the info and has finally motivated to attempt to do something I've always wanted to. I've done the basic plan for the guitar I want to build and now know exactly what I plan to acheive It's going to be a hybrid of a les paul dc stanard plus, les paul custom and PRS McCarty. here's roughly what it'll look like when finished.... so here's the flood of commonly asked newbie questions....I honestly did search and have been reading loads of the site. 1. What is the body thickness for a les paul and typical wood depths ie total thickness, mahogany thickness and maple thickness? 2. I am drawing my plans based primarily to the specs on the gibson site for a dc standard plus here and was unsure whether the neck thickness specs include the fret board? 3. I notice on the gibson site that all the DC models use a 17° headstock angle though most people here recommend a 13° angle, and I always thought the steeper angle was weaker. Is there any benefeit to the steeper headstock angle on a DC. 4. I aint got wood working skills for ****, seriously...so rather than destroy some stunning wood I was considering trying to build the guitar from mdf, then getting a copy carver built to recreate the carve top and routing cavities, thus allowing me full bondo use and barvery to go nuts when making the guitar. Is anyone currently using a copy carver for this purpose, would it be a good idea? I figure better to spend £200 on a copy carver if it would do than continualy destroy £150 pieces of maple. there's probably loads more I need to ask but that'll get me moving with the cad drawings for now, so thanks for any help you can offer. Quote
ToneMonkey Posted February 15, 2005 Report Posted February 15, 2005 Ahah, another brit Can you open up any CAD drawings? If you can I'll email you across my double cut LP plans. Has thickness etc. As it apperars that youhave been lurking around for a while reading, before asking questions then you have probably read this bit 100 times.... ....Buy a book and , I recommend Melvin Hiscocks book, Build your own electric guitar. Either way, reply to this or send me a PM with your email address and I'll send it right over. Where are you BTW? Quote
sidysm Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Posted February 15, 2005 Hi tonemonkey, Thanks for help, I've got autocad so should be able to open most files, I've pm'd my addy. I saw setch recommend that book as well in his les paul tutorial I was gonna order it off amazon. And I'm in Glasgow. Quote
ToneMonkey Posted February 15, 2005 Report Posted February 15, 2005 The Scots are taking over, there's quite a few on here at the minute. Plans on their way, I've saved them down as AutoCAD R12.dxf documents as I use AutoCAD 2004 and unless you've got that version you wont be able to open it. Kaj Quote
sidysm Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Posted February 15, 2005 got them cheers, I actually already had the Les Paul Junior plans, but as it's a flat top I was looking for standard les paul carve top dimensions. I am working at the planning with a 1" mahogany piece and 1" maple piece, 1/2" depth for carve and 1/4" route for binding but wondered if anyone new specifics of les paul? Quote
ToneMonkey Posted February 15, 2005 Report Posted February 15, 2005 I think there are some over at MIMF. I'll see if I can find them and then I'll email them over. Quote
sidysm Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Posted February 15, 2005 (edited) that's awsome, thanks a lot for your help. Edited February 15, 2005 by sidysm Quote
ToneMonkey Posted February 15, 2005 Report Posted February 15, 2005 Couldn't find them Check your email though as I did find a contor map, it's not very good but it should give you an idea. Hopefully there is someone here that can help. There's a bloke around called Setch, he's the double cut LP king around these parts. I'm sure it was him who put me on to the drawings in the first place so hopefully he can help out. Good luck dude. Kaj Quote
Setch Posted February 15, 2005 Report Posted February 15, 2005 F&*$%$!ing browser, I composed a long reply, then it tanked and lost it all. Aaaaaahh! First, thanks for the nod Kaj, much appreciated. Les Paul dimensions are: - 3/4" maple top, carved down to 1/4" at the edges. - 1 3/4" mahogany body with 1/4" roundover and 1/4" binding. The mahogany and maple dimensions can be fiddled a bit, since the binding hides the joint. I've used a 3/4" maple top on a 1 1/4" mahogany body, and I found it trod the line of looking a little thin - as such I'd consider getting a thicker bit of mahogany for aesthetic reasons. If you do use the thinner back, I found using a 3/8" roundover helped the looks. I've also used a 1 3/4" back with a top just shy of 1/2". I carved the maple down to virtually nothing at the edges, then bound over the join. The shallow carve looks fine, though I prefer the deeper top, since you can curve the entire top, whereas the shallower carve has a flat section for the bridge and pickups. I can up pics of the thinner top if you want, but fullserve is down (has been for a few days) so it may take a while. The guitar looks very much like your design, but with less inlay. Quote
sidysm Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Posted February 15, 2005 Thanks setch that's what I need I can start doing the cad drawings now, I'm gonna go full thickness just didn't know quite how thick it was, I had a les paul a long time ago, swapping it for my rg3120 is one of my biggest regrets. Oh well fingers crossed this'll end up even better. Quote
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