Guitar In Progres P90 Les Paul Jr Type

[Guest AlexVDL]

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[Setch]

No scratchplate! That guitar is gagging for the absolute minimum of furniture on top - 2 knobs, a toggle, and 2 P90s is plenty.

[thirdstone]

No scratchplate! That guitar is gagging for the absolute minimum of furniture on top - 2 knobs, a toggle, and 2 P90s is plenty.

UHM See I didn't put a scratch plate on my last one , When it was new it looked realy good but after a year the pick damage aint pretty. Also the pick guard adds to the LP Jr vibe.

[oz tradie]

You obviously want the pickguard .

It looks better without (IMO), with all that wood worth looking at underneath

If you gotta stick one on, try a clear perspex one first.

That way, you get the protection, but still see the grain.

[Mickguard]

What, a little bit of black plastic and you guys can't see anything anymore? It's not like he's putting a nice set breasts on there--then I'd understand why you'd have trouble seeing the wood. Well, the wood on the guitar, I mean.

Of course, you knew I'd chime in here. You're just baiting me, eh?

I said it before, I'll say it again: a good pickguard highlights the wood, it doesn't hide it.

I say if you want that LP Jr. vibe then you have to go with a pickguard --looks silly without it. And as you point out, it's functional --although I like the scuffed up guitar look too.

But if you're going with the pickguard, then I'd go closer to the Jr guard but thin it out a bit--the rounded lines of the LP Jr guard really work well with the body style.

The thing about the guard is that you can shape one and put it on top of the guitar without drilling holes or anything and live with it for a day or two to help you decide.

PS: I like dog ears too, but I don't know about mixing a dog ear with a soapbar.

[rokeros]

Mickguard, you're starting to sound from all your posts, that you love pickguards more than women? You married? If so, don't divorce and remarry to 3-ply. lol. Repaying from last time.

Edited May 30, 2006 by rokeros

[Mickguard]

Mickguard, you're starting to sound from all your posts, that you love pickguards more than women? You married? If so, don't divorce and remarry to 3-ply. lol. Repaying from last time.

My wife IS three-ply.

Think about that one for a second.

[Ben]

I vote for no scratchplate too

[Dan Salter]

I agree....I would go with the pick guard...but i would opt for a more trad style lp junior one.

And i agree with mickguard.....either both soapbar or both dogear...never mix styles...

Same with mixing styles of knobs on one guitar? it looks wrong.

Guitar is looking beautiful though ;-)

[tirapop]

+ pickguard

The pickguard isn't hiding grain, it's adding visual interest. Sort of what Sally Rand did with ostrich feathers.

[thirdstone]

Finally its finished, Without wanting to sound biased its good. Very good infact. I am very pleased with it. The Lollar pup’s are very musical not at all over the top. I was able to play this guitar side by side with a 50’s LP special double cut.To my ears mine had a sweeter tone ,with more upper mids and a smooth top end compared with the chimmy mids slightly harsh top end.of the older guitar.

Thats just the bridge pup. The neck pup sounds great real fluty with a piano like honk and the combined is very useful. Combined they are supposed to be hum canciling but it don't seem to make much differance.

Some Guitars I have made have been quite narrow focused in their use but this is one of those guitars that does everything except for the extreme styles.

So what went right and what could have been done better

The good....

The general construction went smoothly with no major mistakes.

The decision to make the neck first and make the body to fit was good.

Putting the neck angle on the neck tenon was also good.

The body wasn’t cut out until later; this allowed a more stable area for the router when I did the neck pocket. Much better than routing the pocket after cutting out the body.

I made up a neck binding with some off cuts from the fretboard; this gave me an inconspicuous bound neck. Not my idea but a good one all the same.

An oil based stain was used on the burst which proved to be super easy to apply. The secret being to use very little stain keeping the application rag quite dry. Locking in the stain by spraying on an oil based sealer was the trick to stoping the oil finish from pulling out the stain pigment.

What caused problems......

The finish was done twice due to the first burst not being contrasty enough.

It still could have been a bit stronger but I am happy with it as it is.

I wated until it was time to fit the bridge before I drilled the post holes, this wasn’t necessary in fact it may have made it a bit harder as I had to be careful marking out the hole locations.

Oil finish on the neck is great, On the body I think its not quite so good. Ultimately I need to find a better method. Something other than Nitro that gives a thin hard coat. On the plus side the oil finish is incredibly easy to fix up minor damage. If your guitar is for home only then the oil will be okay , If you are going to gig it then nitro or similar would be needed .

Stew Mac recommends the tone pro posts with the pigtail bridge, whilst they work the fit could be closer .

I forgot to put the side dots on. They are on now but it was a hassle.

The guitar looked too woody with out the scratch plate so it got fitted. I think it adds interest apart from protecting the guitar from errant picks.

I didn’t know that P90’s were so electrically noisy , I have got it to noisy strat levels but I intend to star ground it and apply shielding paint in the pup cavities as per guitar nuts web site.

Full Frontal

Side On

Headstock

Back

Thanks for all the intrest, I'll try and get some sound clips linked if I can work out how.

[GregP]

The pickguard was the right choice. That looks simply awesome. I want one. I LIKE the slightly less contrast for the burst, actually.

Not much else to say other than: I love it.

Greg

[Ben]

The pickguard was the right choice. That looks simply awesome. I want one. biggrin.gif

Yeah, although I voted against it, now that I've seen the finished thing I admit I was wrong

Great guitar!

You going to enter it for GOTM?

You should do

[Dan Salter]

I knew this was gonna turn out sweet, im all for the classy, vintage vibe...not into radical stuff...

The faded burst worked out beautiful and the pickguard rocks.

Nice one mate

Dan

[Daniel Sorbera]

Very very nice.

IMO the square heel looks very out of place in this otherwise curvy guitar. I would have made it follow the contour of the body.

Other than that it looks sweet! keep up the good work!

[Mickguard]

IMO the square heel looks very out of place in this otherwise curvy guitar. I would have made it follow the contour of the body.

I'm with Godin, and since it's an oil finish, it's possible to do.

But it's a minor thing, since it's on the back.

Makes me eager to see my own Junior strung up finally...well, I'm still a few weeks away from that, (grumble grumble)

When everyone's done with their Juniors we ought to have a pageant or something.

[thirdstone]

Very very nice.

IMO the square heel looks very out of place in this otherwise curvy guitar. I would have made it follow the contour of the body.

Other than that it looks sweet! keep up the good work!

Yeah I agree but I will leave it as is as it dosn`t get in the way. I might do it later but now I just want to play it.

[Mickguard]

Thirdstone...when you added the angle to the tenon--did you do that only to the tenon, or did you cut it in along the entire blank?

[hooglebug]

it looks great. love the finish. the only thing i dont like is the 12th fret inlay, but as its your guitar and not mine it doesnt really matter does it.

great job

[erikbojerik]

Looks great, I think the finish and the subtle burst worked very well. Good call on the pickguard too, there's no lack of nice wood grain showing, and it gives it a Junior vibe while still looking original. Well done.

You've also sold me on the Lollar P90s...I will put them into a project in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

[thirdstone]

Thirdstone...when you added the angle to the tenon--did you do that only to the tenon, or did you cut it in along the entire blank?

It was made after the neck was rough cut out. I had a thick piece of wood for the neck blank that allowed me to keep some meat at thet area. I simply marked out a 2 deg angle(after calculating the depth) and cut that with a band saw and then cleaned it up with a plane.

The reason I chose to put the angle on the neck and not in the pocket is that the tennon gets thicker towards the end rather than thinner if the angle was in the pocket. This I thought would slightly increase the strength of the neck and hopefully make for better tone. Also if the angle was in the pocket the end of the tennon under the pup would be quite thin after the pup rout.

One thing that did cause a problem that I didn't mention is that I cut the neck with the normal shape but I chose to stop the increasing width at the point that the fret board ends. From this point I went parellel to the center line . I didn't think it would be hard to do. It was difficult because the transition point where it goes parellel was tricky match up and keep it tight at the same time. Next time I will maintain the fretboard lines through to the end of the tennon.

I hope that makes sense

Kev

[Mickguard]

Next time I will maintain the fretboard lines through to the end of the tennon.

Yep, that's how I did it --it made more sense to me that the tenon should taper out...but I'm using a pickguard, so there's no problem.

I still haven't decided which way to go--do the body or the neck. Since I'm going with a single pickup, that's less of an issue. I'm leaning toward the angled pocket because I'm also thinking of going with a long-tenon bolt-on (using inserts).

[thirdstone]

Next time I will maintain the fretboard lines through to the end of the tennon.

Yep, that's how I did it --it made more sense to me that the tenon should taper out...but I'm using a pickguard, so there's no problem.

I still haven't decided which way to go--do the body or the neck. Since I'm going with a single pickup, that's less of an issue. I'm leaning toward the angled pocket because I'm also thinking of going with a long-tenon bolt-on (using inserts).

For what its worth I think the neck is more critical to get right so I make that first then get the body to fit the neck. You can make small adjustments on the body but not the neck. As for the angle it realy doen`t matter alot which way you go. The differance is minimal.

Just a thought, the Gibson LP Jr neck stops at the end of the fretboard It dosn`t extend ito the pup area if there was one. I am sure you know this. My next project will be another LP Jr single cut single pup,but this time it will be more of a replica. I`m toying with the idea of extending the neck tennon into the area covered by the pickguard or even further into the bridge pup area so the pup sits on it. Have you thought of doing that?

Kev

[Mickguard]

I`m toying with the idea of extending the neck tennon into the area covered by the pickguard or even further into the bridge pup area so the pup sits on it. Have you thought of doing that?

I think that's the way Mattia does his --I think his tenon goes all the way to the bridge itself?

But the wood I'm using isn't long enough for that-- I have enough to extend the tenon about 6 cm past the end of the fretboard...the LP Jr guard I have is 7 cm wide at that point, so it'll be hidden.

I'm going with the longer tenon because the neck joint is a double-cutaway design and I don't want the fretboard to go into the body, so there's not much wood surrounding the neck where the fretboard ends. I'm sure I can get away with a shorter tenon (and I'm thinking of shortening by 10 mm or so), but the blank I made up happens to be this long.

[thirdstone]

I`m toying with the idea of extending the neck tennon into the area covered by the pickguard or even further into the bridge pup area so the pup sits on it. Have you thought of doing that?

I think that's the way Mattia does his --I think his tenon goes all the way to the bridge itself?

But the wood I'm using isn't long enough for that-- I have enough to extend the tenon about 6 cm past the end of the fretboard...the LP Jr guard I have is 7 cm wide at that point, so it'll be hidden.

I'm going with the longer tenon because the neck joint is a double-cutaway design and I don't want the fretboard to go into the body, so there's not much wood surrounding the neck where the fretboard ends. I'm sure I can get away with a shorter tenon (and I'm thinking of shortening by 10 mm or so), but the blank I made up happens to be this long.

Oh I didn't realise that you were doing a double cut, in that case its normal to extend into the body. Infact its imperative you do that for neck stability.