Blackdog

Pictorial tour continued. After fitting the TRs and filling the slots with maple strips the necks were shaped a bit further. The TRs are 3/16" steel rods in a 3/16" square channel. They fit very tightly. With the maple strip holding the rod against the bottom there's hardly any room for rattling. The tenon is narrower than the neck (1.5", 38.1mm), the resulting shoulders need to sit well against the top side of the body, which is flat in that region. Since the neck joins the body at approx. 4.3* angle, the shoulders need to be cut at that same angle. This time around I made a jig for that. First the rough cut on the bandsaw. Then the neck was put in the jig I mentioned and ran through the table router with a template straight bit. Now with the shoulders cleanly cut at the proper angle, the overall taper of the neck and the remainder of the tenon were cut using a template in the usual manner. Next step was to add ears at the sides of the headstocks to achieve the required width and shape them with the appropriate templates. I used the robosander for this shaping. In the past I used the router, but the risk of a major tear out is too big. The tuners' pilot holes got drilled too.

Is it me or it's becoming more difficult to choose a winner every month ?! Only four entries, and all GOTM clear candidates ! Forced to choose it was between Peters' Vixen and Scott's BBRed for me. Two real beauties. In the end I chose Scott's because of it's more daring design, all those contours ! The back carving involving the control cover really complements the overall design. Love it. Congratulations to all because the execution of all four instruments is superb !

Just a short one ! I realized that in my reply to you before I gave you the wrong link. Copy&Paste error, sorry. This is he thread I was referring to, that you might find interesting as it is about an ES-355TD I built last year.

And a bit on necks. The back profile was adjusted on the robosander using a template too, after carefully planning the fretboard surface and the headstock face (at 16 degrees). The neck blanks are 2.25" wide. The truss rod channel is straight and slanted, 1/2" deep at the nut and 5/8" deep at the body end. I used the traditional truss rod kit from Stewmac. The access for the TR adjustment nut was cut using a 3/4" spotfacer.

More pics. Some basic body shaping. Using templates for everything, down to the wiring channel. At this stage this is just the primary route of the control cavities, not through the mahogany but leaving some 1/8". Two more routing operations will be necessary to get to the final cavities. The last two pictures are the LP Custom body. See that I did not route any roundover, as it was going to have binding. I did not route the cavity cover recess at this stage to leave as much flat surface as possible for the binding channel routing operation.

It's not necessarily going to be like that. I think that, at least with limba, it depends on the specific piece. I had the problems I mentioned with my second limba build. Did not have any significant issues with the first one (it behaved pretty much like mahogany), not even with the neck of the second one which was a different limba piece. Just test the piece to see what you can expect. I decided to try cedar (cedrela odorata) for the necks because is the same family of the mahoganies (Meliaceae) and it is indeed the "official" wood for the classic guitar necks. At the very least it smells great while you work on it. We'll have to see how it sounds for electrics. I'm more worried about the redwood of the Custom top. That wood is really too light and soft. I'll make sure to sink the bridge posts all the way through the top and into the back to get the most out of the honduras mahogany natural sound and avoid bad surprises.

I have mixed feelings, pretty much like you. I found it rather difficult to shape with the rasps because it will not produce fine dust like the mahogany. It gets very hairy and has a tendency to loose long threads of wood fiber. Sanding is more benign, but to get rid of the hairiness takes some work. Pore filling is also problematic because the pores are very large and long. I carved the neck for the Custom and it took me a long time to gather the nerve and patience to carve the Standard neck. All in all, depending on how it sounds I may use it again, but I strongly prefer mahogany to work with. What you said about constantly sanding dings and scratches happened to me with the korina body of the second SC I built. A major nightmare until I got some finish on it !

OK, let's get started... In the beginning there was only wood... (and some templates). I found some very nice and light Khaya blanks. And some Spanish cedar neck blanks. As you can see the maple tops are less spectacular than on previous builds, but have a lot of character and look a lot more vintage.

Thanks Scott ! I hope I will not be building Les Pauls for the rest of the decade... That would be extremely boring... Unless there's good money in that. So far I have found lots of interest from the wrong kind of customers (the broke ones)... Regarding my new designs I was rather enthusiastic, until I saw that latest build of yours (that I will definitely vote for GOTM) That thing is a beauty ! The things I wanted to build look too conventional to me now !

A 355 is an amazing instrument, you may find this thread useful. I'll start with some more pictures soon.

Hi Chris ! I have a Gibson LPC '54 reissue with the staple, and a P90. I like the sound of the Gibson one a lot. Think of a very clean and loud P90 type of sound. They would be the perfect pickups for a jazz box. The thing with this pickups is that they are very hard to come by. Today only Gibson and SD Custom Shop make them, and Gibson is not selling them. The SD seems to be identical in construction to the Gibson, let's see how it sounds. It's the single most expensive pickup I have ever bought ! Thanks for the nice words !

Hi guys ! What can I say, I love LPs. I haven't posted around here in some time and I thought you might be interested in seeing these builds I'm getting close to complete. After the P90 Les Paul I finished in last December (which resulted in an amazing instrument) I decided to try my hand at an even closer (as close as I could get) vintage LP replica. Compiled all the info I had collected on vintage LPs together, drew my own set of plans and made all new templates. I started three Les Pauls builds in January: Two replica '59 Standards: Very light and resonant Khaya bodies, mildly flamed hard maple tops, brazilian RW fretboards. One with a traditional Honduras Mahogany neck, the other with a Spanish Cedar neck. Traditional hardware and electronics. A slightly more creative '56(1/2) Custom: Reasonably light Honduras mahogany body, curly redwood top, ebony fretboard and Spanish Cedar neck. All the usual LP Custom appointments but hybrid pickup configuration: SD Staple single coil on neck (as a '56 LPC) and a humbucker at bridge (as a '57 LPC). All the usual Gibson malpractices and oddities that make the delight of some of the local members, and the old school building approach, this time also using the proper glues (UF, Fish and Hide glues). These are mockup pictures after the tops were sealed with a bit of clear, the headstocks picture is a bit more recent (click to enlarge). Right now the three guitars have been finished and are curing. In a few weeks I should be able to show you some finished guitars. I have taken more than 300 pictures along the build, so if you feel interested I could put a build thread together, say something with mostly pics keeping the comments to a minimum. After these builds I will go back to my own designs, I have a couple of new things I want to try, but I am happy to say that I have learned more than a good trick or two making these replicas.

Thanks guys. It was not a problem with water in the line. I must have been the high ambient humidity together with the very thick coats. I have been building up the clear with much thinner coats and everything is coming along nicely. Thanks again for the help.

Hi Scott ! May not be an answer but sure it's reassuring. Today I sanded the finish again. Good thing is that I have almost gotten rid of all the pore filling imperfections already. I decided to build up the lacquer a bit slower, so I sprayed two much lighter coats to both guitars, some 15 mins apart, and will let them rest for a day. It seems to have worked fine so far, the problem seems directly related to the thickness of the coat (and the humidity?). I will repeat the process a couple more times and see how it goes. I intend to keep the final finish as thin as possible anyway. Today I had a bit less humidity too, around 63%, this should also help.

Thanks for the reply. I do have a water filter/trap in line with the regulated air supply I use for the gun. But truth be told, I have never checked it back since I installed the whole thing almost a year ago. It's the first thing I'll check when I get home this evening (I'm at the office now ;-)). I have been googling a bit after I posted and the iridiscent issue (called blooming ?) could be caused by insufficient drying of oil based pore fillers. But for these guitars I have used water-based fillers, and the problem appeared after a number of coats anyway. Right after sanding I cleaned the surfaces with naphtha, could it be that ? I dusted the guitars with compressed air after the naphtha, so it should have been perfectly dry...

Hi people. I'm still a bit of a beginner with these finishing issues and I'm having a problem with my clear coats. I'm spraying a nitro type lacquer with a HVLP conversion gun, and the problem is that in some areas (possibly where the lacquer accumulated a bit thicker, like headstock face edges and such) I get a kind of prearlescent patches that only show up when the light hits them at the right angle. I sanded the clear back with 400 dry (I had to do it to level the finish a bit anyway), and resprayed a single rather wet coat yesterday, and when I checked this morning I had the problem again. In different places, so it's not that I didn't get rid of it when I sanded, it appeared again. It's not the first time I use this material and equipment (I have finished two guitars prior to the current ones), and this is the first time I have this issue. I was having a bit high humidity in the shop (70%), could it be that ? Maybe I should try laying down less wet coats ? Could this be the effect of water trapped in the air line ? Any ideas ? Thanks a lot for your help.

What are you two talking about ? Sounds like something I should try.... BTW, adjustable bridge. You can't possibly make a vintage correct replica of something that never existed anyway...;-) Lastly: not ready for the 24.75 scale with the rule of 18 spacing yet ?

Exactly what I had in mind ! Love it already ! And with P90s and a wrap-around is going to be a tone monster ! What scale will you use ?

YES Wez !!!! Do it !!! For some strange reason I can't possibly explain I like the design of the Moderne... Must be korina, of course. Love the idea of the blacktop. Not too much the fanned fret thing... Just keep it traditional, but the above headstock is definitely the one to use !!! (though I would probably make a mirror version of it...)

I could be interested.

Just like the vintage Gibson ones. I'm really liking this idea, seems like the best of both worlds. Does anybody know if these PRS type of TRs are commercially available anywhere ? Or should I find a blacksmith and get some done ?

Ever since my first proper neck build I have used the SM Hot Rod with two CF reinforcements at the sides. But I always thought I was missing something in terms of tone. This was until the very latest two Gibson replica builds, where I used the old school 3/16" compression rod, and I have to say I like the tone a lot more. I agree with Prostheta in that the neck is one element that has a major influence in final tone. And the simpler the neck construction, the woodier and livelier I find it to sound. My previous approach of HotRod + CF is probably overkill, based on my own beginner's insecurities. As a matter of fact I hardly ever had to adjust the TR at all in those necks. After the neck has been built true and straight I only adjust the rod just a bit to prevent rattling and that's it. They don't even upbow much under string pressure. The comment I got from my (extremely few) customers is that they love the stability of the neck, but I personally find the tone a bit sterile. Today I am more in favor of a simpler neck construction. If it is well built and the wood is decent, you should not need much more than a simple rod. And it find them a lot warmer sounding. However, If I a customer requests the extra stability, I will stick to the proven formula that worked for me, only change would be the WDmusic style of two way TR (a bit shallower than the HotRod). BTW: I would like to know about the PRS rod too.

And the same with the Les Paul...

Today we pulled out the fancy DSLR and got a bit less technical and a bit more artsy .... (click to zoom)

Thanks Chad ! The two together ? Let's see... Nothing too fancy, but here you are