Les Paul Carved Top

[blink 182]

Hi I am halfway through building my les paul, and would like to know were to start carving the neck angle.

By this I mean the carve is 1/2'' thick so do I start the neck angle at the top of the blank or at the bottom of the carve. I have cut the shape out and marked the angle my bridge requires starting at the top but the line on top only ends up like 8cm's away from the edge, shorter then the pocket on my strat, so this does not seem right because on setchs les paul tutorial this line ends up finishing about where the neck pickup is so is this because the angle is started at the bottom of the blank or some other reason?

also i have heard this angle can be incorparated into the neck tenon is this true/ advisable?

[Mattia]

You can start the neck angle wherever you want; you can even back angle the top, and then add a secondary back angle for the neck itself; this sounds terribly complicated, but simply drawing it out in full (Perry's pinned tutorial helps, methinks), side-view, should answer your questions.

As a rule, I make my angle (for the neck, irrespective of the angle in the top itself, which isn't really all that relevant, as it becomes the new 'flat' plane relative to the strings) start at the end of the fingerboard, so I don't have a 'wedge' of fingerboard/neck angling upwards. The place your angle begins also defines the angle itself; start it at the end of your fingerboard, and you've got a slightly steeper angle than if you start your angle at the neck/body joint; again, drawing this out helps.

How you cut your angle is up to you. Defining it has nothing to do with how it's constructed. You first find out what the angle necessary for your particular design is, and then figure out how to implement it.

On a Les Paul, one of the 'easier' ways to route the neck angle is to plane it into the top, in the section that the fingerboard extension rests on. Flat. And then stick a template on, and route it at an angle. I find making an angled neck pocket easier than cutting a precise angle into a tenon.

[blink 182]

Ok i worked out the neck angle ( thanks Mattia) , now i have a question about the carve. Would a 3/4" carve be ok aesthectically, I mean a real les paul has a 1/2" carve and I really like the look of those but when i did my carve I thought the carve would look so much more detailed and obvious if it was just a little bit deeper, so who likes the deeper or shallow carve? can i mget some pictures of les pauls with deeper carves?

Oh yer i was wondering how they put the angle in an SG is it in the neck tenon or carved into the body?

[thegarehanman]

This guitar of mine has a 3/4" carve on the top and back. It's not a les paul profile exactly, but the design is very close.

peace,

russ

[blink 182]

Man ,I love that its exactly like i was thinking im definitly goin with the 3/4" carve, should be banging with the recurve and everthying.

[Mattia]

Yeah, go ahead and god for 3/4". I've done a few of those, looks just lovely. I do slope down from the bridge area to the neck joint (flat) to make sure it smoothly transitions to the neck joint area, doesn't have an enormous drop-off. But deep carves are niiiice.