pauliemc

It is salvagable. But its a lot of work to do it. I have fixed this problen for a fellow luthier twice before (same guy, hasent screwed up like this since). First repair option is my preferance here. The scarf joint appears to be going into the volute on your guitar. id change that while repairing the burn thru. remove the fret board, redo the scarf much further along the neck absorbing the screw up into the new neck portion. Other option is to pinstripe the back of the neck. Again, take off the board. remove the truss rod. route a slot into the back of the neck from the volute to about the 21st fret. put a 1.5mm veneer onto the top of the neck (under the fret board) recut the truss slot. re-attach the board then take about 2mm off of the top of it to thin the neck out a little. both options are a lot of work, but its a neck thru so your kinda fooked here unless you want to make it a bolt on.

yea I know. But I had to talk the customer into this. He wanted it all totaly blacked out. All that filthy pornographic walnut would have been completly hidden from view. Im not too worried about it, The whole idea with my Lotus models is to have as few joints as possible. But some customers kinda screw it by asking for a figured top. Im not realy too picky about the finish on those ones, Colour is OK. But if its a Black Lotus (one of these. http://www.aeolianguitars.com/photo7175730.html I realy should get more piks of one finished) then it has to be clear poly or oil. Nothing else, If the customer argues the point then I dont build it Anyway. I promised some piks of the top. Its got a heap of clear on it just now. Needs to be levelled & buffed. But you get the idea. Im still not a fan of black figured tops. but this one is not too bad

Back with edge burst & sealer coat.

OK. Some progress piks. Got the stains onto the front & back. The black is on the front here & the black edge burst is on the back. Forgot to get any of the front after it was cut & washed with the purple. But I will get piks of it with the first coat of clear later. Front : initial black stain. You cant realy see the flame here. The second & third wash coats bring that up.

Realy nice guitar, The owner had the right idea on the colour. Anthough the original burst was prety cool aswell I think I prefer it as is. Only negative thing I would say is about the name Les Paul on the head stock. I would not put that on there if it were one of my own. Gibson's legal department seriously love their jobs (if you get my point). Whatever about building it for yourself, I doubt they would be too pushed. But as soon as you make any money out of it, thats another story. But still. Realy nice guitar man

Glad you like it. Yea bit more shaping done to make it almost vanish into you while playing. The grain is a product of the wood selection, When I build these Lotus models I need to find a billet with all the grain reasonably similar from one side to the other. It has to be almost bolt straight aswell because I am carving the neck from it. There is a lot you can get away with when you make a neck seperatly that would just kill you here. I am starting another Black Lotus in a day or 2, I think you will like that one. No top. Lust a big chunk of walnut. Only glue is to hold the fretboard in place. PROSTHETA Bonus chainsaw ?now thers a concept I think every man could get behind

Neck heel piks.

Little more on this. Headstock roughed out, neck rough shaped & heel rough carved. Got the fret board on & side dots in aswell. Need to line up the bridge & pups next, then its Time for hours & hours of sanding.

I didnt go to the contractor. I went to the client because most contractors wont risk loosing the job by not following the spec & proceedures to the letter. The client (restaurant owners) scrapped it all. Makes no financial sense at all. It cost him €500 to put it in the shredder, add to that the €500 he lost by not selling it to me & he is out of pocket €1000. Thats about $1450 USA. & he had to pay the contractor to get it all to the recycling place on top of all that. Idiot if you ask me. Next time I wont ask. Ill just pull up with a trailer, pay the security guys €100 to see nothing & raid the skip.

realy like all the pin stripes on this thing. Lookin good man.

Local steak house was being refitted & I asked the foreman on the job if I could go thru the junked furniature. All of their old tables were just big hunks of Maple & Beech with all sorts of funky figuring on some of them. I managed to get 3 sets like this from just one table. I got 3 tables that made 7 good matched tops altogether. as to the rest (30 tables all 75mm thick & a 15 foot long bar top 200mm thick) the whole lot was put into a shredder. Awfull shame they would not let me take more as there was easily another 40 tops like this in there & the rest would probobly make some half decent drop tops. Great save on that table top Paulie. It is amazing how much highly figured wood gets used up in restaurant table tops. Excellent carve. When you dye the top are you planning to hit it with a very heavy black, then sand back and then hit it again with a very transparent black? I actually like tops done that way quite a lot. Very nice carve as well. Goes nicely with the one on the back. SR Hey Scott. Yea realy dark black first. then cut it back, then a washed out black, cut it back, then a realy washed out purple. Still looks like a black guitar but the purple helps the flame pop a bit more. Just gotta convince the client on it Its an awfull shame the stuff that gets shredded for fuel or chipboard over here. He actually paid the recycling people to take it all away. Even after i offered him €500 for it he still paid to have it shredded. At least i got something I suppose. Screw it, Cant win em all. I got 6 more to go on gitirz for people so its not a total loss

Local steak house was being refitted & I asked the foreman on the job if I could go thru the junked furniature. All of their old tables were just big hunks of Maple & Beech with all sorts of funky figuring on some of them. I managed to get 3 sets like this from just one table. I got 3 tables that made 7 good matched tops altogether. as to the rest (30 tables all 75mm thick & a 15 foot long bar top 200mm thick) the whole lot was put into a shredder. Awfull shame they would not let me take more as there was easily another 40 tops like this in there & the rest would probobly make some half decent drop tops.

Front carve roughed out. sanded to 80 grit. Still need a lot of cleaning up but you get the general idea. I realy like the flame on this one, But im kinda worried that the black stain & glossy finish will kill it off too much to realy appreciate it. But i suppose we will see. The fretboard is just taped into place for now untill I get a few things lined up.

I consider it almost childsplay easy, very effective, and almost indespensible for great pore filling on all kinds of woods...and I've been using it for over 7-8 years now. ...but if you want to look at it like that, ...totally up to you. OK, maby I will still give it a go then. I have another single cut just starting I was gonna try it on, Sapele back. Do you rekon the thin CA/600 grit sanding dust approach would work ? I was gonna spread it with a leather pad. Ithink it would work....it's working for me on this African (khaya) mahogany. The leather pad should do a good job too, but you have to remember that it will be a one use pad. Once the CA cures on it it's done as it will start making ridges. I used to or three small squares of folded up rag per application on the back of mine. And I would say 3 or 4 apllications is what I can expect for complete filling. Maybe that will get down to two one day And yeah, that green JS is taking a very long time....it probably thinks you don't love it anymore. SR Ha ha yea. poor lonley JS. Not much time for it for the past while, have a few others on the go for clients.

This one is all flat. No angles. But I have done a PRS type thing like this, That was a challange. Even finding a billet thick enough took me about 4 months. As for the Walnut on this one, 14x2.5 inch x3.5 foot long. The 2 holes are locating the control cavity. Customer wants a black fade around the edges & a black flamed front. Personaly I hate black flame. Waste of a nice piece of timber. But hey, Its not mine so I cant realy bitch too much about it. As for my work shop. Yea, it a bomb site But thats where I work best. I had it all shiney & spotless like Simos for a while but I just didnt feel at home in it. So now its got crap everywhere. Tools, timber, bits of old Harleys, dead guitars, Templates, big angry dog. All the things that get me into the right frame of mind to build these things you know.

Hurry up he says. You're getting back at me for the grief I gave you in some of your past threads aren't you. Like the time you got us all hot and bothered with a sexy build only to finish it off and sell it before taking pics of the thing finished, huh? As far as the CA for pores, I'm not ready to say it's a nightmare. I haven't used anything I like better so far. I can't say it's as easy for me as it is for Drak, but I will say it's gotten easier or I've gotten better the more I do it. It has a learning curve. Maybe when I've built as many guitars as he has (which ain't bloody likely ever going to happen)I'll find it as easy. I'll probably use it agian. You should test some on some scrap and see what you think. And yeah, my company (it's not really mine, it's just where I go to work every day) makes vinyl decals. Scott HA HA Good point. But its not my fault I let the customer take the guitar before I get finished piks. Oh wait, it is my fault I realy must stop doing that. Anyway, I cant give you grief on the time here, I mean how long have I been trying to finish my green JS

I consider it almost childsplay easy, very effective, and almost indespensible for great pore filling on all kinds of woods...and I've been using it for over 7-8 years now. ...but if you want to look at it like that, ...totally up to you. OK, maby I will still give it a go then. I have another single cut just starting I was gonna try it on, Sapele back. Do you rekon the thin CA/600 grit sanding dust approach would work ? I was gonna spread it with a leather pad.

Yeaaaa. So I can see that CA as a pore filler is an absolute fookin nightmare Which is a bit of a pain as I was thinking of giving it a try. Maby ill just stick to the LMI stuff. Or no filler - just let the grain creep thru (my own personal preferance). Still cant wait to get a look at this thing finished. HURRY UUUUUUUUUP !!!!!!!! BTW Scott, Did I hear that you make decals ? or am I just out of it on paint fumes again.

This is one of my JS Lotus models. Basicly a JS with the body, neck & headstock cut as one from a single billet of timber. This one is Black Walnut & wil have a Flamed maple bookmatched top. For now there is little to see. The main blank for the neck/body/head are cut & the top is glued on. Started the carve on the back, Piks here show it rough sanded to 80 grit & wiped with spirit. I will get more up as I get the time on this one. Probobly an update a week, So long as I remember to sort Piks ( which I absolutly suck at )

Thats the way it should be done. hats off to you man, thats gorgeous

The more of those Iron gear pickups I try - the more im liking them. Put 6 pairs into guitars for an order from a local guitar store last year, apart from the steam hammer I was impressed with them all. especially those Blues engine humbukers holy crap they are nice.

Who is your dealer ? I realy need some of whatever you have been taking

That Walnt will come up sweeter than beyonces ass in a thong once its clear coated. Hmmm, beer huh ? 3 grand buys a lot of beers. Hmmmmm beyonces aaassssssss

It's okay if you still think it's too dark.....'cause it's mine! You might very well want to borrow this one for a show or recording. Even though I haven't heard it yet, I know you don't have one that sounds like it in that collection of yours. A P-90 tone would go nicely with you guys' sound. SR Yea yea, but is it gonna STAY yours ? I start loads of build for myself that end up in other hands. Hey Skullsession !! wave $3000 under his nose & see what happens, Id bet you own it in a heart beat Iv lost so many of my own builds that way it realy is a very odd phenominon (how the hell do you spell that ? whers my dictionary?)

I rekon that hardware is toning this one down a bit too much. Id be tempted to swap those saddles out for Chrome & polish the tops of the vol, tone knobs to put some snap back onto it. Although it may look totally different when the finish on the front is done so I duno.