Les Paul Templates

[cold95]

i know you can buy some at guitarbuildtemplates.com but im trying to keep cost down. anyone know any place that has templates/drawings of a les paul. body/ neck/head/ all the good stuff?

[Jera Woden]

im messing around here but......

take a ruler and a digital camera to your local shop and take the pics you need.

it might work.

[GregP]

No need for a ruler or a camera, just an appropriate art program on the puter. Find a straight-on shot of a Les Paul on the web. You know that the distance from the nut to the 12th fret is 12.375", so just scale the drawing up.

I'm sure there's a scientific way to do it, but I just click and drag until it's in the right ballpark based on the rulers on the sides of the draw area (not all programs have the rulers visible by default, though most should).

I want to do an LP, too, and I've been looking at those guitarbuilding.com templates. I know I don't really need them, but they'd save some time and aggravation in the long run, you know? If I think I'm going to do more than one LP I'll probably go for it, but as of right now I'm only planning the one.

Greg

[cold95]

i guess stew mac has full size blue prints of a 50s LP i guess we could make templates off that just like guitarbuildingtemplates.com's and its only 12$ not 50$ http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plans/P...es.html#details

[reamer]

By the time you buy the wood to make your own templates, and invest your time in making them, you could just buy them for $50. And I am sure your time is worth more than $50 an hour, you you know making your own is going to take more than an hour! The pre-made templates are well worth it. Especially if you have never made a guitar before!

[cold95]

well i have built a guitar before, and for me thats part of the fun, doing everything yourself.

[reamer]

Then that's the way for you. Personally I don't like making templates. I want to dive right into the actual project! The templates are great though. It takes a lot fo the guess work out of things. Pickup placement, holes, etc, are all where they should be, so it makes the end product much more accurate, and there is less room for measuring error.

Each to their own however...my way is definately not "The Way", not by any means.

Hopefully you'll take some pics of the project.

[Setch]

MIMF. Library. Plans and Templates section. You'll need to be a member to see the library, but membership is free.

... oh and BTW 'search function'. This has been cevered many, many times before.

[Maiden69]

I made my templates for the last 2 guitars that I build, and I think that buying them is a good choice. I think that 2/3 of the time it took me to build the guitar from start to finish was making the templates straight.

The templates at Guitar build are laser cut, so this will garantee a straight guitar, not to mention all the hasle of measuring and seting up.

You don't need them but they do come in handy.

[mledbetter]

I made my templates for the last 2 guitars that I build, and I think that buying them is a good choice.  I think that 2/3 of the time it took me to build the guitar from start to finish was making the templates straight.

The templates at Guitar build are laser cut, so this will garantee a straight guitar, not to mention all the hasle of measuring and seting up.

You don't need them but they do come in handy.

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I have a tele template from him. Very nice. Made a few copies of it as soon as I got it so I don't ruin the original, but it's nice to know that your neck taper is straight and true, and your pockets are all dead on perfect. Saves countless jigs and workarounds. An excellent use of 50 bucks.

If you're just going to make a one off guitar, then get some MDF, sketch on it, bandsaw it otu and use a spindle sander to clean it up for template purposes. Making your own though you'll have to do all your neck calculations and such. Make sure the taper is right for the scale, etc. Certainly doable. I made my own double cut templates.. but having the laser cut one to start with came in very handy.

[Devon Headen]

If it's a one off custom design, there's no way to make templates. I know a few people that 'build guitars' that wouldn't know where to start without having their premade templates. I think it's nice to be able to tweak stuff halfway through the build and not have to worry about making new templates.

[mledbetter]

If it's a one off custom design, there's no way to make templates. I know a few people that 'build guitars' that wouldn't know where to start without having their premade templates. I think it's nice to be able to tweak stuff halfway through the build and not have to worry about making new templates.

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Even for a one-off I like to make thet template. It's a whole lot cheaper to tweak a shape on MDF than on a nice glueup. But that's just me..

[Maiden69]

If it's a one off custom design, there's no way to make templates. I know a few people that 'build guitars' that wouldn't know where to start without having their premade templates. I think it's nice to be able to tweak stuff halfway through the build and not have to worry about making new templates.

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All my 3 guitars are one off (well kinda, because they are a breed between other guitars)1, 2 , 3 And I made templates of all in order to make the bodies nice and true. Just made the body shape like this one and then routed the shape into the actual guitar blank. If I had not done this it would have been a nightmare if I had cut too deep with the bandsaw.

I will suggest if you want to do a true to the original shape, to get the template, even if you are not going to, you can get several different templates from one set from guitar build. Humbuckers, neck profile, control cavity and cover shape, neck pocket, and body shape. Just the templates for the neck pocket, humbuckers, and control cavity with cover templates can run you about 50 dollars from Stew Mac.