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LP-type carved top


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I read this description as to how to do a LP-style carved top, and will probably use it.

Three questions:

1) Does the curve follow the outer shape when tracing the lines for the router to follow?

2) Are there any templates to show where to stop, or how much to leave on the "top"?

3)Has anyone found or used another method to carve a LP-type top (other than just chiseling it out, or guestimating with a sander)?

Thanks.

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It's been my experience so far that your answers lie in the doing of it.

As you carve your first one, you will figure out as you go what to do next.

That's the way it worked for me.

A lot of common sense and forethought, and then a dash of intuitive knowledge as you go along.

My 3rd one went much faster than the first two, which were done at the same time together.

One thing his pics don't show is the importance of the angle from the bridge (top of the hump) out to the neck/front area of the body. There is an angle, or 'slope' all the way from the bridge to the front of the guitar that you have to get right that doesn't really show well in his pics.

Also, as you carve more and more, you will not be satisfied with the simple curve he achieved. You will get 'an eye' for slopes and contours that will really make your piece stand out more than that simple arch.

But you'll only understand it once you actually get to doing it. :D

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Yes they do, you are correct Greg.

But Les Pauls have no flat plane, as any real arched top guitar, the arch is completed.

I know that flat top plane is a popular 'look' these days, but I don't like it much.

It reminds me of a $20.00 hooker w/ huge fake hoots and bright red lipstick, it just looks kind of brash and cheap to me, I prefer the look of the real Les Pauls with no flat plane on top, I think that look is somehow more subdued but much classier.

My opinion only. :D

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It reminds me of a $20.00 hooker w/ huge fake hoots and bright red lipstick, it just looks kind of brash and cheap to me, I prefer the look of the real Les Pauls with no flat plane on top, I think that look is somehow more subdued but much classier.

My opinion only. :D

Drak, yeah, you captured it perfectly. Those were exactly the words I was searching for, you silver tongued devil you.

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For your reference, the original Les Paul's did have a flat area around the pickups and bridge. The late 70's models simplified the carve, leaving out the recurve around the perimeter and using curved bottom pickup rings to eliminate the need for flat areas on the top.

I think that done well, the flat area can be almost invisably blended into the carve, and the result looks great. The trick is to flow the carve so the transition is smooth, rather than simply being a radius around the edge of a flat body.

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Thanks for those observations and opinions. I'm at risk of hijacking this thread; however, the reason I asked is that my 335-ish guitar will have a carve, and I'm leaning towards using a flat plane just because it's one less thing to worry about on my first project. It seems like I've chosen all of the 'time and skill-intensive' details for a first project that I could of.

Thankfully, I'm just doing a simple, thin binding instead of a thick binding with purfling. :D

Greg

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I'm going to start my first carved top soon and had a thought. Since my thoughts usually lead to some kind of disaster, I thought I'd see what folks had to say. I am thinking about trying the router method of rough cutting and wondered if this would be easier if done before the body is cut out. I mean taking the body blank, laying out the body shape and the cuts to be made with the router, then routing and finally cutting to the final shape. Seems it might give more of a platform to stabilize the router. Any thoughts?

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