xtjdx Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 (edited) This being my first project, I have re-evaluated the kind of guitar I want to build. At first it was a double cutaway LP with three humbuckers, a Floyd Rose, and other unnecessities. Now it is going to be a standard LP, plain and simple. The body is mahogany, the neck is purpleheart. The fingerboard will most likely be indian rosewood or ebony. It has a 24 3/4" scale on the bass side, 24 9/16" on the treble side. Two volume pots, two tone pots, one 3-way switch. I am using an LP Studio Lite as my model. It is, at this point, not going to have a maple top and will just be a flat top with some light contouring. I might do a headstock veneer, but probably not since the purpleheart is very beautiful. I will edit this post with updates from now on instead of adding useless posts to the thread. Wood selection (and confused cat) Model guitar A paper test fit Template rough cut Pickup cavity rough cut (freehand routed) Test fit, seems good Bridge holes drilled (the drill slipped a bit, so the post holes are about 2 mm farther apart than they should be. I'm going to find someone with a drill press Pointless test fit The project as it stands: Right here, too big to post I have to do the cavity/tenon template next. I'm still not sure about the tenon length, but right now I'm feeling pretty confident about 125mm. Advice? Edited March 1, 2006 by xtjdx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitefly SA Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not put a floyd rose on it, also PLEEEAAASE dont put any single coils on it, these just dont "fit" with the les paul, other than that, sound good, good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Beer Man Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 ive seen floyds on les pauls such as this one. I dont think they look bad, i saw if u want a floyd then go for it. He is prollly building a les paul with a floyd in it cause he cant get one with it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 Nitefly: I am not going to do single coils. I've decided on plain ol' two humbuckers. Which ones is a different question. Duff: That looks really cool. I just don't know if it would look alright on the double cutaway body. I love the feel and sound of Les Pauls, but don't like that almost all of them are fixed bridge. On occasion I play some metal, so trems are really useful. Plus it'd be a one of a kind guitar! A tune-o-matic would be much easier to do, and I'd probably have to add a cap if I wanted to do the Floyd Rose to keep the thickness in check, so I'll likely go the easier/tried and true route this time around. Next build is going to be a Warlock, so I can get some trem experience with that. Thanks for that link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I'm doing a mockup on cheap wood before I get the real stuff just so I'll know what kind of stuff I'm bound to run into. Quick question: would it be alright to make a neck out of poplar or oak? These two woods are readily available for dirt cheap so I'm just wondering if they'd work, or if it'd be a waste of effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 I'm doing a mockup on cheap wood before I get the real stuff just so I'll know what kind of stuff I'm bound to run into. Quick question: would it be alright to make a neck out of poplar or oak? These two woods are readily available for dirt cheap so I'm just wondering if they'd work, or if it'd be a waste of effort. I'm not positive about Oak, it's a nice hard wood, I would imagine it working. I wouldn't use poplar, it scratches pretty easily and it's not a very strong wood for something like a neck. Possibly if you used 2 carbon rods with a truss rod it would work, but I would suggest going to another store other than Home Depot or Lowes for your woods. Purpleheart and Maple aren't expensive at all and would make great neck woods. Just because a popular store has readily available wood doesn't mean it's usable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughes Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Ever watch the show Mythbusters? they showed the strength of poplar...had around a 600lbs presure limit. Its by all means strong. Id just buy some maple, it isnt to bad for prices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Well, like I said, this is only a mockup. Cheap and convenient woods are all that I need. I just built the back and top of the body from poplar and tomorrow (today?) am going to start on the neck. So far the poplar is very easy to work with and seems to actually have a decent tone to it (weren't early Fenders built from poplar?). I should be getting my real woods early next week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarGuy Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Straight up OAK=CRAP ..... It splits and is open grained, Id take the poplar over it any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 So, I successfully made my first body and routed the neck pocket free-hand. I routed a trem cavity, but then realized that the body is much too thin for the trem, so I'm filling it with more poplar tonight. Tomorrow begins the search for inexpensive maple which will serve as my neck. So far, it hasn't been as hard as I thought it was going to be (I've learned that taking it slow is the best way to go). What's a good method for figuring out if I need to angle the neck or not (I'm going to be putting on a tune-o-matic bridge)/how much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughes Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 i wouldnt recommend routing anything free hand let alone the neck pocket, you dont want any gaps in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 (edited) There aren't any. I tested it with a Wizard neck and it was tighter than... well... something that's tight. When I get my real wood, I'm going to build jigs for all the parts. Practice wood, not a big deal if there are mistakes. This is more about experimentation with my router and shaping than anything since I have no real woodworking experience. Edited February 23, 2006 by xtjdx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humbuckr Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Straight up OAK=CRAP ..... It splits and is open grained, Id take the poplar over it any day. the neck angle for the tune-a-matics is 1.5 to 3 degrees. Warmoth uses 1.5. i asked them. simply slant your neck pocket jig up at the back with some shims. you'll have to do a bit of match to figure out the right height to get the 1.5 degree angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Straight up OAK=CRAP ..... It splits and is open grained, Id take the poplar over it any day. the neck angle for the tune-a-matics is 1.5 to 3 degrees. Warmoth uses 1.5. i asked them. simply slant your neck pocket jig up at the back with some shims. you'll have to do a bit of match to figure out the right height to get the 1.5 degree angle. Can't you recess the TOM? I've seen the Godin LGX's and other LG series guitars have a recessed TOM and there is no neck angle.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 I've been reading up on neck angles and such, looks like I'll probably be going with a two degree angle + maybe a long tenon (might do a standard LP instead of the double cutaway). I'm going to get it all down on paper tomorrow and hopefully have everything exactly figured out. It's hard deciding what style guitar to do for my first. On the one hand, I love LPs and have wanted to own one for years and years. On the other hand, I really like the style and feel of PRS guitars but am not too crazy about their tone. And then of course there's the prospect of doing my own design. Freedom is frustrating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Decided that I'm going to go with a standard Les Paul design. I got my woods today! Woods And I realized that I like my guitarist's Les Paul a whole lot after playing it for a few hours last night, so I'm going to use it for my model guitar. Model guitar So now begins the search for hardware that I like. I might cut the body shape today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer7440 Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 I used to have a blue LP just like that. Mine had a Screamin' Demon Pick up in the bridge postion though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Arg. How'd you like that pickup? In my SG it sounded like nothing short of awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer7440 Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 It was ok, but when I look back now I really didn't have a clue what good tone was. If it was loud and distorted as hell I liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not put a floyd rose on it, also PLEEEAAASE dont put any single coils on it, these just dont "fit" with the les paul, other than that, sound good, good luck I think that a les paul with a floyd is a great idea. EVH had one and I'm sure many others back in the '80s. As for single coils, I believe that a fender sized single coil might look strange. I'd go for P90's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgmorg Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 Your cat is not too sure about the purpleheart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted February 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 (edited) He won't stop sniffing it! Anyway, the purpleheart is way more resonant than I thought it would be. If I tap it, it sounds almost like tapping on metal. I think it's going to be great for the neck. I thought about P90s, but since this guitar is mainly for touring with my current band, they wouldn't work very well. Probably just going to go with zebra Burstbuckers (maybe a 500T in the bridge) and do a P90 SG for my next project. I worked on the full scale sketches last night and got one done, but am having a lot of trouble getting the measurements accurate because of a lack of metric rules, so I'm going out to get one or two at this very moment. Also, what is the difference in scale length between the treble side and the bass side on most Les Pauls? 24 3/4" and/or 24 9/16" don't match up with the guitar I'm taking measurements from (actually, not even close) so I'm a bit confused. Maybe it's just Gibson being sloppy with cheaper models. Maybe it's me being sloppy since it was around 2 AM. Either way, this is turning out to be surprisingly frustrating already. Oh yeah, and here's an pic of the sketch from last night. Sketch Edit #2! I got the metric rules and it's so much easier. Did another sketch and it's accurate to 1/100. I just did 24 3/4" for the bass side and 24 9/16" for the treble side. Compared it to the Les Paul and the differences are the same, so I'm not really worried about that anymore. Going to Kinko's right now to get some copies made for cutting, cavity/pickup guides. Edited February 28, 2006 by xtjdx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humbuckr Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 And then of course there's the prospect of doing my own design. Freedom is frustrating! I went through the same debate as you and figured if I am going to build something from scratch why re-invent a perfectly good wheel. I've designed a tele-prs/lespaul fusion design. you're welcome to use my drawings and mod them any way you like. I use a program called inkscape (open source vector drawing program). you can check out a bitmap of my current design at: http://humbuckr.blogspot.com/ if you want the vector file let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted March 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 (edited) I was seriously contemplating that right at the moment the thought "I'M GOING TO FINALLY BUILD A GUITAR" ran through my head. The next build I do is definitely going to be something like that, but for this one, it's a lot nicer to have all the measurements handy everywhere than to guess on them and get frustrated because I'm not sure how it's going to feel, play, sound, etc. I like the first design a lot. That lower horn's contour is the figurative mack daddy. Edited March 1, 2006 by xtjdx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted March 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Alright, I cut out the body today. I've got a question that I feel dumb for not asking about earlier. Since this guitar is not going to have a top, how am I going to drill wiring holes for the 3-way switch? Would it be to the neck pickup and then down with that wiring? Tomorrow I do some practice mortice/tenon joints! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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