Adam Brown Posted December 9, 2003 Report Posted December 9, 2003 Here is the short version of a long story: I will be adding an archtop to my flattop Les Paul Special... Should I stick wth a traditional maple top, or should I try something like Basswood or Poplar? I ask this because I've heard that Maple can be hard to work with, and that Poplar and Basswood suposedly have nice clean sonic properties. I don't know however, if they stain as well, and Lord knows basswood doesn't have much of a grain! All advice would be greatly appreciated, and heck, if you know of any woods that would be even better please tel me!! Thanks Quote
YDoesGodMockMeSo Posted December 9, 2003 Report Posted December 9, 2003 Anything other than a maple top on a LesPaul is sacriligious. Quote
otgordin Posted December 9, 2003 Report Posted December 9, 2003 I have a question... what are you going to do about the fact that your neck is set for a given body thickness. After you add an arched maple cap to the body wouldn't the fretboard be way below the new level of the bridge and make the angle at the tune-o-matic unusable. Am i missing something? Just a though. -Vadim Quote
DividedByJames Posted December 9, 2003 Report Posted December 9, 2003 Vadim has a good point...you might need a neck shim. Anyhoo, think of poplar and basswood as primer grey. Good for underneath another paint, but not so pretty by itself. I'm not a fan of poplar or basswood. I prefer alder, but I think they all sound essentially the same. If you are indeed capping a flat top les paul with another wood, I'd use maple. I think the Western maple is the soft stuff, so shoot for that. It might be easier to use that the eastern maple which is think is used in guitar necks. Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 9, 2003 Author Report Posted December 9, 2003 Anything other than a maple top on a LesPaul is sacriligious. Well, as a religious man, I dare not use anything other than maple! Divided By James, I'm going to go with Western Maple then, trouble is, I think around here, it must be pretty scarce. I've worked with the local "rock maple" before, and cracked some drill bits! Vadim, your point has actually been lurking in the back of my head for weeks! I just didn't want to acknowledge it!... I guess, if I don't just go with a maple cap, then I will have to look into some sort of shimmy like DBJ said... argh! Quote
YDoesGodMockMeSo Posted December 9, 2003 Report Posted December 9, 2003 you could always try to find a place that'll plane off the thickness of the top you want to put . Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 9, 2003 Author Report Posted December 9, 2003 Could they go around the fretboard? They probably could, eh? Quote
DividedByJames Posted December 9, 2003 Report Posted December 9, 2003 Could they go around the fretboard? They probably could, eh? why? is your guitar a set neck? Methinks it may be more difficult if the body is not a bolt on. Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 9, 2003 Author Report Posted December 9, 2003 ya, it's totally a set neck. I guess I would have to heat the neck off, in order to plane it, or to raise the neck joint. Ah well, it was worth a shot! I'll find a nice flat maple top, if I can't do anything else.... or maybe one of my friends has a heat gun! heh heh Quote
Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars Posted December 9, 2003 Report Posted December 9, 2003 Or you could veneer over alder. Quote
otgordin Posted December 9, 2003 Report Posted December 9, 2003 I am gonna have to agree with litchfield and say that a veneer is probably your best bet. I was thinking about thinking about the whole arched top thing, and if you are willing to paint it or some other opaque finish i guess you could arch your existing body leaving the bridge/pickups/neck area the way it was and then if you need add thickness by glueing mahogany to the back and re-routing your control cavities. Just an idea, i have no idea if its useful or not tho :-/. -Vadim Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 9, 2003 Author Report Posted December 9, 2003 Vadim, that's not a bad Idea at all! One could make a nice gold top that way... or sparkly blue! The problem with my guitar, is that two owners ago, someone tried to rout out the pickup cavities with a chisel, from a P-90 shape to a humbucker shape... And they made the holes too big, so now I can't even screw in the pickup rings, cause there is nothing to screw them into! Yep, I think that veneering is the way to go.. I saw the tutorial on this site Quote
Page_Master Posted December 10, 2003 Report Posted December 10, 2003 i agree with litchfield, maple veneer over alder. because a veneer has the look minus the intensive labour. if you bind the guitar body with the veneer top, no one will know it is not a cap. Page. Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 10, 2003 Author Report Posted December 10, 2003 Cool! hey about alder: Doesn't it basically occupy the same sonic space as mahogany? Kinda mid-rangey? I know that some epiphones substitute alder for mahogany. If it's easy to work with, then that's alright with me heh heh Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 10, 2003 Author Report Posted December 10, 2003 Sweet! I'm a full-on member now! Quote
Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars Posted December 10, 2003 Report Posted December 10, 2003 Cool! hey about alder: Doesn't it basically occupy the same sonic space as mahogany? Kinda mid-rangey? I know that some epiphones substitute alder for mahogany. If it's easy to work with, then that's alright with me heh heh Actually, I thoght they subbed alder for maple on the cheap epis. Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 10, 2003 Author Report Posted December 10, 2003 oh yeah? Shows how much I know! haha Quote
westhemann Posted December 10, 2003 Report Posted December 10, 2003 alder sounds nothing like mahogany...it is muchmore crisp and clear and the bottom end is tightly focused Quote
Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars Posted December 10, 2003 Report Posted December 10, 2003 Hey adam, who's the dumbass now? Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 12, 2003 Author Report Posted December 12, 2003 hahaha I'm the Big Dumbass now!! haha Actually check it out fellas, I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl! I just bought this!!!!!!! "Buy it now" is way too easy!! http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...gory=47067&rd=1 I'll have to rethink everything... Oh well, life is beautiful! Quote
Adam Brown Posted December 12, 2003 Author Report Posted December 12, 2003 You guys rule... by the way, this guy has tons of nice stuff! Quote
Drak Posted December 12, 2003 Report Posted December 12, 2003 I looked at the rest. You got the best one by far. Quote
Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars Posted December 13, 2003 Report Posted December 13, 2003 Actually, Adam I win the dumbass contest. I thought this would make a good drop top after being bookmatched, but its too small! Quote
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