Blackdog

Another suggestion for you to consider. Get a long bit and drill through the endpin. Then you can just plug the hole and reinstall the endpin, should be reasonably inconspicuous.

A blak Epiphone LP Custom is very unlikely to have a flamed maple top on it. Flametop Epiphones only have a veneer of flame maple, so I wouldn't expect that a black finished one would have any veneer on it. As a matter of fact it may not have a maple top at all. In all likelyhood what you're going to find under the black finish is a body made of several pieces of rather uninteresting looking wood. I don't think refinishing a low cost black guitar to anything other than solid colors is such a good idea. Sorry.

Hello, I read this reply from you and would like to ask for more info. I am based in The Netherlands. Here, I could only identify a supply for clear lacquer rattlecans. Would you pm me with the details of this guy in Manchester ?? I would like to explore what he sells and if he would ship over here. Many thanks in advance.

So now you can probably tell us: Did it help with the sustain at all ?? I'm curious because I think it could actually be the other way around... A roller bridge will definitely help with the return to pitch on a tremolo equipped guitar. But for a fixed through-body design the extra moving parts on each roller saddle could actually decrease your sustain.

I think what he's saying is that the two posts were of different size/thread. Tonepros or not. And that would indeed be weird. Tonepros or not.

Thanks a lot, I'm really happy with how this build is coming out. I understand that the "binding effect" you are referring to is the effect of the "lip" and recurve routings. I don't know if there are better english names for these. But this are two steps i do well before the carving, while the top is still flat. It is done with an edge follower adapter on the router, using a normal template-follower and a round-nose bit. I made a smaller version of the one that came with the router to be able to follow the close curves of the waists. Note that for this use the ball-bearing on the router bit is not used. This device: I do it in two steps. Firstly I route the lip, then the recurve. Only after these two things are done, I cut the angle(s) to the top. And then, of course, the carving itself. I hope this is more or less clear, let me know if not. Cheers.

Titebond Exactly what I was going to use BTW.

I think a surform will be too rough, leaving deep marks behind... I have done it lately with just the sanding block and sandpaper. Try 60grit first, but be careful, it goes faster than you think. At least iit does with RW, have not tried it something harder like with ebony yet.

Progress report. Too late for a Bigsby or a wraparound... (I have to admit that the second would have been my personal choice) Got the bridge, so now it is installed, together with the tailpiece. A mandatory fit-check to verify that the hardware aligns well. The high E string can barely be seen in the picture, but I can tell you that it all aligns perfectly. I still need to drill for the strap hold buttons, level the frets and inlay the logo on the headstock. Then disassemble everything to start the finishing phase. We're getting closer....

I prefer your first sketch. That carving of yours is very distinct and original, IMHO. I would prefer a somewhat smaller "ear" though (what my wife calls "ear" is that thing that would be the upper horn but is not...), specially if you do not put your switch there, but I think it follows very well the design of your doublecut. Nice design.

Wow !!! Thanks so much for the kind words !!! The carving is intended to be the single-cut version of this one. Which in turn I borrowed (rather shamelessly) from PRS, obviously. The idea was to create a sort of a hybrid between the PRS single-cut (of which I don't like the outline) and a Les Paul (which could use a more dramatic carve, IMO). I decided to get rid of the big scoop in the cutaway for two reasons: it really adds very little to upper fret access, it's more psychological than anything, and because it makes it look a little too PRS. I think I got a good balance between both designs. It is intended as a new year AND birthday gift to my son. As he'll be 18 in March but I don't think I'll be able to be there. I could have bought him a Les Paul, but thought that something handmade by me would mean a little more in years to come if not right now. (And maybe one day owning a Blackdog with a low serial number like #003 will be worth some money, who knows... ) @Maiden69: Amazing blue quilt you got there. Somehow I had missed your build thread. Interesting that you got such a nice deep blue with that yellower top. I tried the blue thing on my previous build, but the growth rings on the maple persisted in popping up yellow giving the whole thing a greenish tint... At the time I can only work with stains and clear coating, as I do not have any spraying equipment. I still work with rattle cans... @jmrentis: Of course I knew you were joking. Now that description you make about the belly carve sounds interesting, but can't seem to picture t in my head. Got any pictures of that ??

Thanks for the encouragement !! You're idea has some merit, but I don't think it's going to fly... Firstly, my "shop" is in the attic... if it had really burnt down I wouldn't probably be able to even explain all this to the customer. Secondly, the customer is my 17 years old only son. I've done done my fair share in complicating his life already... Thirdly.... I have plans for my own: It's going to have a rosewood neck (I love RW necks...) and it will be hollow, carved on the top AND the back.... But I'm likely to clone this carving, I like it a lot.

OK, time for an update. IT'S MOCKUP TIME ALREADY !!!!! The carving of the top is basically finished. Of course we're far from having finished the sanding, but it's already sanded down to 240 grit. Pots and switch are in place, to check that the cavities are OK. Pickups in their sockets, everything fits quite well so far. I should be receiving he bridge in a couple of days (a Nashville TOM), hen I'll drill the holes for the bridge and tailpiece and test-fit a couple of strings to check the alignment. I'm loving this guitar more and more... It's going to be difficult to see it going, but I guess I love the customer much more.

Hey, Hello Wim !! Thanks for the compliment. What are you up to these days ??

Wow !!! That is a nice SC !!! What a beautiful quilted top you've got there. Did you have to bleach it in anyway to be able to stain it blue ?? If it plays and sounds as look as it looks, it's got to be a killer guitar !! In the end I decided to keep a small heel in mine, I don't quite like the no-heel approach. It's a matter of taste in the end, yours looks very well done though.

That Junior of yours is coming out great !! That's much more than a "humble effort". Very clean indeed, congratulations. Regarding P90s, as a sidenote, I prefer rather hot-winded P90s for the bridge position. The standard Gibson P90 for example (around 8K, Alnico 5) sounds great for the neck position but to me it sounds rather anemic in the bridge slot. I like the bridge P90s in the range of the 10K. If there's a choice in the line of pickups you finally choose, keep it in mind. BTW would $50 be too much for the pickup ?? You could try ZhangBuckers, I'm using his pickups in my builds and in some of the commercial guitars I have. Boutique pickups, hand-wound to your exact specifications and very reasonably priced. Contact David at zhangbucker <at> yahoo <dot> com

Very nice build !! Keep it up. I was surprised at first that you routed the neck pocket (mortise) after carving the top. But it seems to have worked out OK, can you provide me some details of this process ?? Thanks.

@Maiden69: I was hoping that it would be significantly more comfortable to play. It's good to know you can confirm that. I grew up (as a guitarrist) with the Les Paul shape, it was my first love since when I was 14. But the neck joint is indeed too bulky. The neck joint I attempted is indeed what PRS do with the singlecut, but more extreme. Let's see how well it plays in the end. I still need to work a lot more on the top carve, but what is seen in the pictures is the general idea. I will have to adjust the neck angle a little, I have a little too much angle so the bridge will sit too tall on the top. At this stage (with the maple top already glued in place) I cannot touch the neck pocket, so any adjustment will have to be on the neck heel. This will be really minor, but I will have to adjust the top accordingly to make it all look right. I was also thinking about getting rid of the center flat section (typical of the PRS carve) in favor of a gentle curve from side to side, and flowing into the belly behind the bridge. What it all means is more sanding. Thanks for the feedback.

Time for another progress report.... The back cover plates in the previous post were made from the usual home-made Maple/mahogany laminate that I've been using since build #1. I decided to give a try to a set of covers cut from the same wood of the body. So I put my little Metabo table-top band saw to the challenge. Amazing what the thing can do, cutting a slice of 4mm of mahogany from a block 105mm thick. That's pretty much the limit of the machine, that's the maximum cutting height. Still, going really slow, it cut cleanly and accurately. A session with the Safe-T-Planer and I had the 3mm+ blank for cutting the covers. This is the result: Even though these came from the very same piece of mahogany used for the body, they still have a different color. I have no clue what could be the problem, but this is as far as I'm willing to go with the covers: they stay like this. As can be seen in the pictures, the back edges have been rounded off. So the back is essentially ready (I have to resist the temptation of adding a belly carve to this one, there's a huge chamber in there !!) The fingerboard is now fretted and I had the first top carving session today. This is just the start: it took me no less than 4 sessions to get to the final carve in the past. But will give you an idea of where I'm going with the carve: Next steps will be continuing with the carve, obviously. Some minor tasks still need to be performed on the neck, like thinning the tenon a little more. And one not so minor: I already have a design for the logo I want to inlay on the headstock. So far it's going well. Hopefully I'll finish the woodwork by the end of October, right on schedule. What do you think ?? Is it departing enough from the classic LP already ?? Thanks for the comments.

And it's the same with the Gotoh TOM, bigger threaded posts but same method. I think the question of gluing is still valid: those of you using the ABR-1 style (or the Gotoh), do you just screw the posts into the top or do you add a drop of glue of any kind ??

I thought the offset heel was going to be a PITA, but is coming out nicely. It really makes a substantial improvement in upper-fret a access. And I like the hint of a heel that remains better than a full AANJ with no heel at all. When I came up with the headstock design I was really happy, because it certainly was classy while still being different to the standard Gibson thing. Later on I discovered that it is pretty much the same as the one in the japanese Epiphone Elitist... Anyway, I still like it and I'm not going to change it now. Today I made the cavity covers: I am now gluing the maple top to the back. I also finished the neck carve and fretboard final leveling and I'm now ready to fret. Looks like next week it's going to be top carving time !!! Hopefully the top carve will make it still more different to the standard LP. Thanks for the nice words. I'm all excited with this build again, I could advance it a lot in the past couple of days.

Yes, I know what you mean. I had to push myself a little into resuming this build, as I was (am) more interested in the Korina build. But being this for my son, and given the fact that he's visiting me for the New Year holidays, I had to push the schedule a little to try to have it finished by then. That said, once I restarted, I'm enthusiastic again. I enjoy the building as much (probably more) than the finished product. And hopefully it's going to be one fine guitar for the kid to play. But I agree with you, hardly GOTM material...

Progress report. I cut the recurve on the top, again with the round nose bit, but this time slighly deeper and towards the center of the body than on my last one. Then I cut the top angle. To make it more LP like I cut two planes, the neck angle plane and the pickups plane. Before cutting he neck pocket I enlarged a bit the chamber on the mahogany back. Then I cut the neck pocket at the proper angle. It took a while to get it tight and aligned: Then I proceeded with the pickup cavities. So this is where I stand now. Tonight I'm glueing the top to the body. Next steps are: Finish the back: needs roundover all around, sanding and recesses for the control covers (the control covers need to be made too). Carve the top. Finish the neck carving and fret. What do you think ?? Comments ?? Suggestions ?? Thanks for reading.

I can confirm (sort of). I scaled my Santana body template to the width of Les Paul Standard. This one I measured and it was 330mm (i.e. 13")

Great looking build so far !! That fretboard is looking really clean. I could see you had to repair a tear-off in the body. Exactly the same happened to me in exactly the same place... But your repair work is very clean, it should be virtually invisible. Keep it coming, I will be following this build. I am working on something quite similar myself.