Blackdog

Thanks, The chip came well after slotting, though... There was a drop of glue clogging the slot. An accident when clamping the fingerboard for gluing. After radiusing I was cleaning the slot and... zap !! a small chip. I will fill it with epoxi and RW dust when I do the 12th fret inlay. That and the fret covering a good part of it should do the trick. The rings are actually indian rosewood. A bit dry. The contrast with the knobs is because those are cocobolo. It's a collage of parts to be used on different builds. I don't yet have the maple rings I plan to use. Same with the hardware: I'll use gold plated in the final assembly.

I love it when it is mockup time !! I have not kept a build thread for this one, but it's not a big departure from previous builds. This one uses the doublecut offset design I showed in another thread. Specs: Honduras mahogany back Flitch-matched figured Sapele carved top. Figured Sapele one piece neck. 24 frets, 25" scale Brazilian RW fingerboard, bound in RW with a thin maple purfling. Figured Sapele headstock cap and control cover. This one will receive gold plated hardware, the final pickup rings and knobs will be flame maple. Finish will be natural, glossy nitro. My wife is already working in the pearl inlays that will grace the 12th fret, the body and the TR cover. The back The neck The offset DC shape The top and neck look rather interesting now, but from some lacquer tests I made on offcuts I know they'll look killer under a finish Hope you like it.

Many thanks for the feedback !! Well if you try to make an LP well-balanced and more modern looking you kind of have to end up with that shape, haha. Yeah, it's pretty obvious that it is impossible to come up with something truly original (that's also playable and of decent taste, of course). Trying to translate the carving I used for my second built to a Les Paul outline I built this for my son: only to find that Nik Huber's Orca uses essentially the same carve on the same outline. Even down to the headstock shape !! What can I say, there's nothing new under the sun... BTW: No, it's not the same guitar I just wonder if I could have gotten any closer if I had been trying to copy it !!!

Everybody here knows that my builds so far have been strongly influenced by PRS designs. But when it comes to singlecuts, I have been around Les Pauls for so long that I never liked the outline of the PRS'. To me it looked simply wrong. That is why when I built a SC for my son I used the LP outline with a carving more like Cassandra's. But yesterday I was playing with Corel Draw and the design I'm already using for the current builds. It is indeed based on the ubiquitous Santana/LPDC outline but with offset body/waists. I think it flows better with the offset headstock and it is at least a bit different to uncle Paul's Santana. In real life it even balances better. This is it: And then I thought about making a singlecut version of it, and I came up with this: 22frets 24frets What do you guys think of it ?? It's the first non-LP singlecut design I actually like...

Definitely email them. I deal with them 100% in english without any problem. I would guess they'll have no problem in sending overseas. I don't know if you'll have any problem with local customs, though.

Is this what you're talking about ?? These are from www.holz-faszination.de, listed as Pappel-Masser/Poplar-Burl. Already cut as tops (~20mm thick), but I would suggest that you email them about the billets.

Hello !! I normally buy wood either from the Amsterdamsche Fijnhouthandel (http://www.fijnhout.nl/) or the Arnhemse Fijnhouthandel (http://www.af.nl/). You basically need to go there and see what they have in the instrument woods sections of their warehouses. The one in Arnhem seems to have more options readily available, the one in Amsterdam seems to be somewhat cheaper. In both places you can also request a specific piece to be cut from raw wood with your required dimensions if you don't find anything readily available. Edited to add: You have better chances of finding Honduras Mahogany in Arnhem, I have bought Honduras body and neck blanks from them in the past. Another source I mostly use for figured woods is Holz-Faszination in Germany (http://www.holz-faszination.de). If you don't see anything suitable in the web site (unsere hölzer/Instrumentenhölzer/Aktuelles/neueinstellungen/Gallery3 (Halsmaterial)), just email them and ask them as the site is not updated very often. Frank is a great guy to deal with. Hope this info helps.

I thought I was going to run into trouble with the IRW neck I used on the second build, being quite long and heavy. But it's not that bad after all. I think on a LP, where it's inserted further into the body and the body itself is potentially heavier, t shouldn't be much of a problem after all. In any case I decided to give a try to the mahogany with maple center combo, mostly for tonal balance reasons. I'll be using padauk accents lie Rick500 did. I'm preparing the laminate now. In the end I didn't use the flamed honduras mahogany I have because the pieces would have been flat sawn. I don't know how bad this could be for a neck, so far I've always taken care that the blanks I used were as perfectly quarter sawn as possible. I could have reversed one of the pieces, and the maple center and padauk accents are quartered, so maybe for a laminate like this is not much of an issue... But since I had some quartered honduras mahogany too, I decided to use that instead. With all the work involved in these things I wouldn't like to run unnecessary risks... After looking at WesV's pictures in this thread, I think my days of one-piece necks may be counted...

My first one: I have just finished some rework on her. After a couple more builds I have gotten better in carving the necks and fretting, so this one was not quite right in perspective. Good thing is that all issues were 100% correctable. Unfortunately I don't have any newer pictures yet.

First of all, thanks for playing !! Though some of the "rules" were not that clear apparently. The body wood choices are pretty much non-negotiable. As of now the back and the top have already been cut. The purpose of the brainstorming was to put a neck on that guitar as it is. When I mentioned the woods I had I meant that I have pieces suitable for necks, not necessarily for bodies, anyway. Then, unless there's a compelling reason to go out and buy something else, I would also prefer to stick with the woods I have: Those listed. I've seen that build by rdiquattro and I agree that a cocobolo neck looks amazing. And those are also the kind of guitars I tend to build. But I do not have cocobolo at this time. I don't have any claro or figured walnut either. The piece I have is nice and quartered but simple looking walnut. Same thing with the padauk. It works quite well actually. I have a PRS with that combo and built Cassandra like that too. The neck has just some Danish oil on it, the body is lacquered. Thank you Wes and José Luis for the kind words, I'm blushing... I had plans for some (semi-)hollow LP already, but Paula ended up so nice that I have to build me one like that now. It's likely to have the same color, definitely the same carve. Let's say I'll build Paula's sister. I just noticed there's another thread on neck wood combos... From that thread: What do you mean by best sounding ?? What was the rest of the guitar like ?? Since some of you say mahogany, let me play too: I have some flamed honduras that's about 20mm thick. Not good for a one-piece neck, but would make great outer pieces with a flame maple center. Maybe even add a couple of padauk accents like Rick500's neck in the mentioned thread ?? While I have some options for the fretboard, like some very stripy pauferro, plain pauferro or ebony, I'm pretty set on the idea of using brazilian RW. I bought some and I'm dying to put it to use, it looks terrific. Thanks again and please, keep it coming !

I'm already working in defining a future build, but I'm undecided about the neck. The guitar is a LP-ish design similar to my Paula (see sig below), honduras mahogany back and a thick, carved flame maple top. It's going to be heavily chambered or even hollow. The fingerboard will be brazilian RW, could have a flame maple binding or rosewood binding with a maple accent, depending on the neck wood. 25" scale, 22 frets, twin humbuckers. So far reasonably traditional. Now for the neck, I could make a one piece neck out of any of the following: Honduras mahogany Indian rosewood Flame maple Korina Wengé Walnut Padauk ...or, of course, a laminated neck out of two or more of those. I already have experience in carving the first four, the rest are new to me. Originally it was going to be one-piece Indian RW, but now I'm more inclined to make it 3-piece: Indian RW sides and flame maple center. But there are so many possibilities... So tell me, what would you choose and why ??

You could also use a sharp x-acto (sp?) type knife too. For the next time I also recommend masking everything BUT the binding and sealing with some lacquer before staining. I use a rather thick cellulose sealer that I rub or brush on the exposed wood.

I usually don't comment on the different builds, but I vote every single month. It's a great pleasure to look at some of the instruments you people make. This month I voted for Swedish's D-licious: Original, daring design and beautifully built. I would have probably tried something a little more daring for the headstock shape, and I don't like the maple control cover. But overall it is a fantastic guitar. Congrats. Second position would be for the Abbey. Classic looks and a nice touch of originality. And I would give special mentions to low_end_fuzz' Aluna for the originality and consistency of the design and simple and clean execution, and to Marcovis' bass, you can't get any more classic and still not copy one of uncle Leo's creations. Many nice guitars this month. Congratulations to all.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I did some searching in the forum and found quite a bit of reading material on the subject.

I read in a thread about PRSi and Gibsons (in another forum) that PRSi intonate better because they have the nut moved slightly closer to the first fret. Sort of a rudimentary earvanna or something along those lines. My first though was Bullsh*t !! But yesterday I took the digital calipers out and measured a McCarty I have. Sure enough, for a 25" scale guitar the distance from nut to first fret (center) is a good 1/64" less than the theoretical value (0.4 mm for the metrically minded) !! Not a huge difference but obviously intentional (I would expect PRS tolerances to be much better than that). I have still to measure a Hollowbody I have to see if it is consistent, but I would guess so. Now I'm curious: What do you think the advantages of this practice are ?? Does any of you use this trick (or any similar trick) in your builds ?? Thanks.

Hello people, I finally took the decision of reworking my first build. It was never coming out of the case because the fret job, the radiusing and the straightness of the fretboard were less than great. The neck itself was also a bit too much on the beefy side. Now I've gotten much better with the necks and the fretting, so I have already reshaped the back of the neck, removed the old frets and straightened re-radiused the fretboard. But, in terms of rework, I could also use a little more neck angle with the Pigtail wraparound bridge I'm using now. I can always route a shallow recess for the bridge and be done with it. But I was thinking if removing the neck would be so difficult or risky. It would definitely make my life easier for the re-fretting too. So how do you remove a glued neck ?? I know I have to use heat, but how exactly. In case it matters this is an essentially unfinished maple neck with maple fretboard into a one piece mahogany body. Thanks in advance for the suggestions and help.

Beautiful !!! Classy !!! Elegant !!! And impeccably built. Man, that cocobolo neck is killer !!! Congratulations on a superb build !!! I agree with Andronico. Put your mark on that headstock somehow !! Proudly tell the world that beauty is your creation.

While not really a Christmas guitar I built this one for my son as a New Year, first visit to Holland, advanced 18th birthday (in March) present. LPish singlecut. He got in in December 26th.

Great firebird you've made !!! And, just for the record, I don't "usually" like FBs. As soon as I saw the "logo" on the headstock I knew it was you !! But I also wanted to add that's a beautiful Bassman !! I'd love to dress up my main amp with a cabinet like that, but I'll have to figure out a way to do the finger-joining in a home-made fashion...

OK, this is a different matter altogether. I thought (I think we all did) you were trying to replicate the burst. Not the Custom. The problem with the Custom is indeed the custom-made toggle switch. This is not a standard component and you're not likely to find it anywhere. It has the usual 3 positions vertically and it has two positions horizontally making it a six way switch. The purpose of this switch is to have the normal LP combinations, with just the two outside pickups, in the first three positions. And then have the mid pickup added in the other three. This can be easily done with a normal switch and a push-pull pot. But, while electrically the same, it would not be an exact clone of the original product. Just keep in mind that what you would be cloning is a modern product. Page's original was a 1960 Custom, and no such switches were ever used on these Les Pauls. The pickups are also advertised as different, but there are dozens of suitable pickups in the market. Again, the real thing would have PAF pickups, those could easily cost you 4-6K just for the pickups. I'm afraid that an exact copy of the Gibson Custom Shop might not be possible after all. And an exact copy of the original item might well be a Holy Grail quest.

You're right. The bridge will have to go exactly 3/4" further back from the nut than on a 24.75" scale explorer. Regarding at which fret should the neck join the body, it's actually your choice. It will be a tradeoff between guitar balance and upper fret access: As long as you continue the neck as much as you can into the pickup cavity there should not be structural considerations. Of course, there will be playability differences too, but I presume it's what you're after with the longer scale length. I'm assuming you are attempting a set-neck. A bolt-on would be a different problem altogether.

Hi, I'm interested in this one too. What is "custom made" for this model. As far as I know it's just a 59 reissue with some selected details like the top, the color and the neck profile... In my opinion, perfectly clonable given the skills, the time and, of course, the money for the brand name hardware and proper woods. Mind you, not exactly what I would choose as a first build.

Thanks again for all the nice comments. I really hope that the "customer" feels the same way... We'll know tomorrow. @TheBadger: The top is 17mm at the thickest point (where the bridge sits). The mahogany back is 46mm thick all around. 1 full millimeter thicker than a real LP !!! @Xantus: Yes, this is the same guitar of the "third build" thread. I do have a blank already cut for my own singlecut, but that project is still in the backburner. I know now that I'll use the same carving for the top AND the back (maybe slightly shallower on the back), the same heel and quite possibly a similar finish. But mine will have a rosewood neck, 25" scale and will be hollow. Maybe even with a single "f" hole of some kind. Still thinking if I'll use a TOM bridge plus some kind of wooden tailpiece anchored at the strap button or a simple wraparound bridge. Thanks, again, you're too kind. I'm still just a newbie learning from all of your great work.

Very nice !!!! That finish came out great, congratulations !!! (and Seasons Greetings !!!)

Our third build is now finished. This is the LP-ish I built for my son. Specs are fairly standard, main departures from the classic Les Paul are deep carved, thicker maple top, a significant chamber on the body and the progressive heel which gives better high fret access. Again, it took six months to get it ready, but fortunately just in time for the New Year, when the "customer" (my son) comes to visit us. This is my second attempt at a nitro finish. Still working with rattle cans, but already much better than the previous attempt. Hardly any rework on this one. Hope you like it. Thanks for all the help and nice words along the way !!! Full front Full back Headstock Headstock and Logo Body Front Body Back Now, after the Christmas and New Year break, I'll try to resume the fourth project. The Korina double cut. Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all !!