Hydrogeoman Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Ok, here goes. I have been mustering the courage to begin posting some progress pics of my first "complete" build. For this thread, I am going to focus on a LP Jr double cutaway I am building, but I am also concurrently building 2 telecasters, a jaguar, and another LP Jr single cutaway. I am looking forward to any critique -the good, the bad, and the ugly - you would like to input. I am here to learn . I did build a bass a couple of years ago, but I cheated and purchased a Carvin neck for it because of the "fear factor." Being a big fan of Carl Thompson basses, I "borrowed" his scroll design mixed in with a few other influences. The bass turned out to be a very nice playing/sounding bass (passive Lane Poor pickup) and I became hooked on the hobby. Here is a pic of the bass just in case you are interested: http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...full_front1.jpg Sorry I hijacked my own post there....Anyway, the LP Jr is going to be made of the following components: mahagany body 3 piece mahagany/purpleheart/mahogany neck birdseye maple fretboard Kent Armstrong P-90 pickup Grover Imperial tuners Wilkinson wraparound bridge the finish will be painted a solid color So, on to the progress pics: Here is the body glueup. It is a 2 piece chunk of 8/4 mahog http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd.../Bodyglueup.jpg Tracing the shape on the blank - I found a free CAD template and software on the web http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...anktemplate.jpg Beginning the rough cutting of the body http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...utonbandsaw.jpg Here are the neck pieces befor glueup http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...Rneckpieces.jpg Here is the scarf joint cut (I have to get a better method for doing this ) http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...arfjointcut.jpg Neck after ears glued on and peghead was thicknessed http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...acesmoothed.jpg Can't really see much in this pic (the fretboard is taped under the steel slotting template), but this is my fret slotting setup. I have the Stewmac blade and steel template. I works very well but takes a little time to get my miter set perfectly. http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...ardslotting.jpg and finally.....Here is a pic of 4 of the 5 I am working on right now. LP Jr is on the far left DUH http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...0telejaguar.jpg and 1 more http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hydrogeoman/4vrjr.jpg Thanks for looking and I will post more as I get further along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campylobacter Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Looking good man! Some of the pics could be a bit larger. Do you have more pics of that bass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted May 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Looking good man! Some of the pics could be a bit larger. Do you have more pics of that bass? Thanks - I didn't realize I had made the pics so small until after I posted Here are some more of the bass http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...s_headstock.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...full_front3.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...front_body2.jpg http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/hyd...front_body1.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campylobacter Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Here are some more of the bass Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitey Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 yeah that bass is killer.whats the top? to my nooby knowledge on wood lol,it looks like rosewood,or cocobolo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted May 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 yeah that bass is killer.whats the top? to my nooby knowledge on wood lol,it looks like rosewood,or cocobolo? Thanks Whitey. You were right on your first guess. The top is 1/2" rosewood (I am not sure what type though) on a one-piece slab of 1" mahogany. I also used a rosewood veneer (paperbacked) on the peghead. Overall, the bass is pretty light and balances very well. Guess I should have just made a thread for the bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 This is looking great .I will follow this one keep the posts up. I love LP Jrs You can onle cock it up from here Lets us know all the details , finish hardware ect. Rgs Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitey Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 haha sorry i'm a bass man at heart, i've been thinking of adding a rosewood bookmatch venner to my bass,thought it would look very nice and keep its class,if you no what i mean this has definatly made my mind up,thanks man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted May 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 i'm a bass man at heart, i've been thinking of adding a rosewood bookmatch venner to my bass,thought it would look very nice and keep its class,if you no what i mean this has definatly made my mind up,thanks man No problem, I am a bassist myself, but when I jumped into building these instruments, a few of my buddies all wanted guitars built for them. So the two basses I had "planned" on building for myself are on the shelf for a while. You will like the rosewood, it is really nice to work with. Almost feels like hard wax when you take a file to it. Let's see some pics when you get going with your project Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted May 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 This is looking great .I will follow this one keep the posts up. I love LP Jrs You can onle cock it up from here Lets us know all the details , finish hardware ect. Rgs Kev Hey Kev. I agree on both of your points, I love the LP Jrs too, they are pure and simple. Leslie West was my inspiration to build one. I hope you are wrong on the second point though! I post some new progress pics in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted May 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted October 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 It has been quite a while since I last posted any progress on the LP Jr I have been working on. I am getting the body ready for grain filling now. I have been practice spraying with my Harbor Freight gravity feed gun but I do not quite have the hang of it yet. A testament to my lack of spraying skill is the roughness of the shellac coat I put on the neck and fretboard The body of the guitar will be finished in canary yellow nitro and the neck will be natural. Kent Armstrong P-90 with coil tap switch Grover Imperial tuners (yikes those suckers are heavy!) Wilkinson aluminum bridge I know most of this stuff is old hat to a lot of the pros out there, but this is my 1st complete build so I thought I would throw in some pics of the entire process to this point: fretwire bending, I made this bender using Jay5's plan (Thanks! it works like a charm and cost me less than $15) fretwire bender fret press (Harbor Freight, home made caul holder [thanks again Jay5], and Stew Mac 12" radius caul - all for under $40) fret press begin fret leveling with 12" radius block leveling begin neck carving with microplane carving1 more roughing out the neck begin heel roughing out the volute rough volute aligning neck in neck pocket jig (thanks to Myka) with cheap laser level neck pocket jig routing neck pocket route route and test fit pickup P90 control cavity cavity route finished volute back of peghead neck glued in back of guitar back of guitar, neck is mahogany and purpleheart with ebony veneer on peghead, 2 piece mahogany body back2 shellaced fretboard - birdseye maple and paua shell inlay on peghead fretboard Well, there you have it to this point. I will be posting some finishing pics soon (hopefully) Cheers Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyManAndy Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 That is a nice Jr! Oh, and you take really good pictures too. I wish mine turned out like that... Hehe CMA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 that's a lovely guitar....I luuuuuurve double cutaway jnr's. Nice touch with the maple fingerboard too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJD Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 Seriously neat work!! It’s coming along a storm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 Beautifully clean work, and nice details - keep it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bz2 Posted October 16, 2006 Report Share Posted October 16, 2006 It looks really good! How did you get the idea for that long neck pocket? It looks really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 It has been a while since I have made any progress updates, so here are a few pics of the LP Jr. as of last week. The neck was shot with ambered clear to try and get a 50 year old yellowed look and the body was shot with a slightly ambered white lacquer. I am shooting McFaddens nitro and I really like the stuff. Now I just need to upgrade from my $12 Harbor Freight spray gun. Tomorrow we are suppose to be in for record warm weather (about 70F) for this time of year so I am going to play hooky from work and spray a few coats of clear. Hopefully, I can get this one wrapped up soon with a few more nice days in the next week or so. In case you think the 12th fret marker looks weird it is because it is actually a piece of electrical tape I put there to hide the initials that are inlayed. Here is another shot of the body: CLICKY Cheers, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Very clean work...but why hide the initials? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Very clean work...but why hide the initials? Thanks man. LOL - I knew I should have explained. I am building the guitar for a friend and I emailed him this progress pic. The initials are suppose to be a surprise - thus the tape. I have a pic of the guitar on the 1st page of posts that shows the ebony inlay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted July 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 It has been an incredibly long haul, but my 1st complete build is finally done. After the third try, I finally got the finish on the fretboard the color I wanted. I also learned that you can't leave the nitro lacquer on the frets for very long, otherwise when you scrape it off it will chip right into the finish over the fretboard Cheers - gpp Specs: Les Paul Jr style mahogany body mahogany-purpleheart-mahogany (fat) neck with ebony peghead straps and heel cap birdseye maple fretboard Kent Armstrong coil tapped P-90 (10k - 7.5k ohm) Wilkinson bridge Grover Imperial tuners some more pics back heel volute cavity cover fretboard ebony inlay peghead inlay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vedus hate Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 That's a very nice looking guitar. I'm refinishing my old LP Junior and I'm going for a very similar style. Nice to see I wasn't crazy and the things I see in my head do translate to a guitar quite nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 Wow, that's sweet! Nice job with all of the details. ~David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 Wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 very, very nice!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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