The Les Flaus
Finished weight: 8lbs 6.9oz
Body material: quilted maple(core), 3/4" 4A quarter sawn curly maple carved top
Body construction: full length hollow chamber on each side, solid center block
Binding: single ply cream
Neck material: curly maple/wenge/curly maple
Neck joint: 4 degree angle set neck
Nut: bone
Scale length: 27.5"
Fretboard: 24 fret
Fretboard radius: 16"
Fretboard material: granadillo
Fretboard frets: Evo gold medium low
Fretboard inlay: gold mother of pearl
Truss rod: at heel thru 21st fret (Allied Luthier)
Headstock material: Indian rosewood
Headstock angle: 14 degree
Headstock inlay: gold mother of pearl + imitation gold leaf
Tuning machines: Gotoh SD90 3x3 vintage auto-locking 1:15 ratio
Bridge: Gotoh GE101/103 tune-o-matic
Pickups: Seymour Duncan Sentient bridge/Nazgul neck
3-way toggle (Allparts), 2 master volumes (Bourns)
4P4T (Alpha) rotary (1:parallel/para, 2:parallel x-pattern, 3:series x-pattern, 4:series/series)
Push/pull (Bourns) active dirty booster
Electrosocket jack (Neutrik 3 conductor)
Was planning on doing a series of teles... as I thought I'd save effort by using a common set of templates more than once. While I was busy thinking about plans for the first two, I came across a Craigslist ad for a Tele body. It had a cedar top that was meh, but a quilted maple body that caught my eye. That was the random start to this build and so the "Les Flaus" was born!
I wanted something that was going to be equally apt to play sphagetti western to more modern rock, and I figured the two humbucker format would be best for that. I settled on a design to turn the guitar into something resembling a Les Paul, but with a Tele shape and a baritone scale length.
Why "Les Flaus"? Well, mostly I just thought it was funny! It needed to be 'less something' to pay homage to it's origin, and "flaus' is a little less obvious than 'flaws' but means "imperfections' in German.
I thought a lot about how one might improve on the Les Paul format, and a common complaint about them is the typical neck break. By moving the truss access to the 22nd fret and away from the headstock/neck transition - I strengthened that transition. I also added a volute, and a spline going down the headstock as well.
I like to set milestones for myself - to try and raise my skills beyond myself. This guitar would represent a number of challenges for me:
first time doing a carved body, first time doing a headstock with such delicate curves. First time doing a multi laminate neck. First time doing a traditional angled Les Paul neck joint.
As usual, it is only through the examples set by the luthiers here on ProjectGuitar.com, the encouragement, wisdom and friendship, that I arrived at the end of this journey with the following guitar... so thank you to the many members who made this possible!
VIDEO DEMO:
Build thread located here:
