pauliemc

On 5/12/2020 at 5:01 PM, ScottR said:

Thanks for the well done, good stuff coming from you.

I was looking at your work, you have gotten better with those gouges, which is hard to fathom since you were so damned good with them already.

Im wondering if there is going to be an attempt at a one piece les paul now. Id like to see someone else have a go. see how they approach it.

Hey Scott.

Well, Ma is gone (wont get into that here) And the little one, well hes not so little anymore. Hes starting to get a bit of an interest in guitars, especially Les Paul's, Big gary moore fan.

I see you won guitar of the year, well done.

On 2/25/2020 at 3:12 PM, ShatnersBassoon said:

I've been thinking about the possibilities offered from working from one piece of wood. I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be a one piece Les Paul design... One piece body yes, but one piece guitar no. Ofcourse making a Tele or Strat would be a lot simpler, given the lack of neck angle. Thoughts? Does such a beastie exist?

Iv done this before. Its very involved to get the type of grain you want in the neck for stability. You need to work from the fret board surface as a level. That way the neck grain is running the length of the neck. You carve the head stock just like the Gibson factory would, so you get a typical les paul neck joint. But carving the body is the tricky part. you need to carve the whole body at an angle, using the fret board face as your level starting point.

Best thing to do is get hold of a les paul & make a few templates along its neck & body. this will give you an ides of the shape you need.

The biggest issue I had was finding a billet of timber big enough that had no issues with grain. Also, when you cut away that much wood, the remainder of the billet starts to move about a lot. So you need to give yourself a lot of extra material to work with.

It took me 3 attempts to get 1 guitar. Using Sepelle that was close to 600 euro in just timber.

Hope that helps

On 2/25/2020 at 4:20 PM, ScottR said:

We have a member that builds one piece guitars, or at least used to.

SR

Hi Scott. I do still build them as it happens. Just have not been very active online for a long while is all. Thanks for the mention by the way.

pinstripe it. easy as can be. unless you realy want it to be a black line of timber.

you can get pinstripe tape in most decent automotive repair shops. any decent car painter / hot rod painter could do it in minits.

Its gonna be under clear coat anyway so why not cheat if you dont actually need it to be timber

Things are slow, more to the point Im slow - so I dont have much time to pop on here. The arm is still fairly bangd up, no grip strenght just yet so Im dropping a lot of tools but no fallen gitirs just yet. Actually turning away work at the moment because I would never be able to get to it in a reasonable abount of time.

But screw it, It will all work out soon enuf. few days off over the holidays to chill & get away from the heavy stuff will be cool. get some playing in & chek out the forum.

I found micro mesh years back when I had to polish an acrylic jem I made. was recomended to me by an aircraft tech that uses it to repair windscreens on air planes - coooool

pallets are usually just soft pine. I would not put much faith in its ability to handle much stress. But still, I have made an archtop out of absolute crap from a shipping pallet just to prove a point & it turned out to be a great guitar, telecasters from old scaffold boards that rocked & an acoustic from a clients old fire mantle.  you never know till you try.

looking good Scotty. I see you have come over to the micromesh team. great stuff - if a little time consuming. I use it on a lot of finishes up to 12000 grit, then hop onto the polishing compounds & swirl removing paste. gets that nuclear diamond shine hapnin good n propper.

pitty you lost most of this thread, was a good one.

I would get a plane. But then I have been using them for 25 years or so & feel very comfortable with them. But still - Id get one. A No. 5 at the least.

Also get a decent rasp, maby a shinto. Some decent tool shops will have big 10 inch plus things called a bastard file. brilliant if you can fin a decent one.

BTW I sent you those drawings.

the lads are spot on with evrything here, especially the spalt issue - stay well away untill you have a few guitars built. Even then it can be a nightmare to work if you get the wrong piece that just want to fight you at every turn.

I would recomend sepelle, mahogany, alder, basswood or ash to start. All nice timbers & not too hard to work. Poplar is nice aslo but can have a fluffy edging when worked that can be offputting & ruins the build for early builders. Stay away from cedar, it can break too easily if cut wrong.

If you do try make a neck, get a pre radiused & slotted fretboard from stewart mcdonald. make sure the grain in the neck timber is bolt straight - or close to it.

If you dont have templates yet them PM me. I will need your email address to send you some CAD & pdf drawings of RG, JEM & Universe guitars. Also strats, teles & les pauls as these will most likly be the basis for all of your setting out of hardware.

A doner guitar is a good idea. just make sure you dont go too cheap on the hardware, $30.00 trems are a big no for example. get a fender or gotoh hardtail bridge, much cheaper than you would think.

If you like I can have a look around here & see what is lurking in the dead guitar pile. I know I have a neck from an Ibanez S model, Im not sure what else I have.

Anyway - good luck, enjoy - & make sure you ask lots of questions & put up lots of photos

ha ha ha been there. ebone is a total tool killer. so god damned hard. but i find it carves nicely precisly because it is so dense. just have to not mind sharpening your chisel every 2 minits

lookin good Scott. I think this is your best head stock carve so far. the darker central strip taking the SR motif & the black tuners is perfect. The rest of the guitar is realy sweet but that fookin headstock just stands out as the best feature here - for me at least.

I dig how this one is comin along. I especially like the back carve, reminds me of my own alphas & lotus guitars. Except that I would never be able to pull off the mad carving you can.

Man im realy starting to miss building but your threads always make my day gitir wise. So come on son MORE PIKS !!!

Do as daddy says

Spandex & studded codpieces ? holy batmobile Muzz what the crap do you be wearing when ur jammin ? I think you spent waaaay too much time watchin kiss & judas priest videos.

as to the lasers, you just reminded me that Vai is on tour again, hope he hits Ireland but probobly wont

Last time he was here the lights all went out & this big neon funkadelic robot lookin freak (steve) walks onto stage with lasers shootin outa his fingers - ha ha ha cooool.

Still, just pales in comparison to my diamond encrusted chainmail kilt & bejeweled manolo blahnik stilettoes. stylin bitches

holy crap i luv these pain killers

Okay, you gotta throw out a clue, is the leg rest still gonna be comfy when the carving is finished?

Well, this carve is going to have some edges to go with the soft curves I normally carve, but everywhere it contacts your body should be smooth and comfy. As far as how this offset design fits against your leg while seated......man I have no clue.

SR

Not to worry Scotty. If its not too comfy on yer leg when your sitting its no big deal.

Just so long as when your standing with your left foot up on a big moniter, with yer 26 Marshall stacks lined up behind you, shredding with the left hand, waving a katana over your head catching lightning bolts with the right hand, hair blasting back in the wind from your 2 36 inch fans blowing up from the stage floor - all while being cheerd on by your 700,000 strong audience of tyrannosarus rex fans who traveled thru space & time to come see you make steve vai look like an amature. then its all good.

Just looking at the grain in the neck there. Thats gona look something savage, you should get some realy nice stuff going on at the headstock transition.

man that debonding crap sucks big time. I use titebond or weldwood (both yellow aliphatic resin) & nothing else realy. Iv had a few issues with debonding over the years, but almost all were due to temperatures getting below freezing in the shop over night - even titebond cant take that while curing. Epoxy is only to hold inlay in place or seal pores as far as im concerned.

I think I've finally gotten to the point that I agree completely. Titebond has done what the epoxy failed at....so far.

SR

With 3600psi quoted from the manufacturer you cant realy go wrong. From what I hear & read from other users its not too far off the mark in practice.

man that debonding crap sucks big time. I use titebond or weldwood (both yellow aliphatic resin) & nothing else realy. Iv had a few issues with debonding over the years, but almost all were due to temperatures getting below freezing in the shop over night - even titebond cant take that while curing. Epoxy is only to hold inlay in place or seal pores as far as im concerned.

na, no brainer really. my wrist had little or no movement & I could not make a closed fist properly, no grip at all. So I couldnt work, couldnt play. Couldnt ride the bike, couldnt drive the car - & worst of all - couldnt hold a bottle. You know what comes in bottles Scotty ? Beer

SO options were

01) no lutherie, no playing guitar, no riding the bike, no driving the car, no driving the land rover, No training (Im a weight lifter) & No beer.

02) rebreak wrist & most likly be bak in order in 6 munts to a year.

& before anyone chimes in - NO you can not drink beer with your left hand, thats for sandwiches, chicken & steak to accompany the beer. Beer only goes in the felt hand when your on stage using the bottle or pint glass to play slide & show off.

Anyway, less about the damage to my sexlife & more about your lack of piks !! Get yer ass in gear or i will set yer mother on you.

HA HA HA COOOOOL !!!

been waiting on another scotty build. Im just gonna sit here constantly refreshing the screen, koz I aint been doin a whole lot else lately gitir wise

digin the timber choices, nice n grainey

How in the world are you Paulie?......or should I say Pops?

Why isn't anything going on in your shop? You didn't do yourself another injury did you?

SR

Hey scotty.

No no, same injury as last time. The drunk muppet running me over

my right hand was not healing up right, no mobility in the wrist & no grip strenght. It got almost like a prostethic. So I had to go have the wrist re-broken.

Its going well now, I can move my fingers again but its still weak as hell & the doc says no hammers or chisels or screw drivers or anything like that for the best part of the next 12 weeks. Just easy things, & what ever i can do with just the left hand. I tell you man you would not believe how sharp all my chisels are

HA HA HA COOOOOL !!!

been waiting on another scotty build. Im just gonna sit here constantly refreshing the screen, koz I aint been doin a whole lot else lately gitir wise

digin the timber choices, nice n grainey

gorgeous - all i have to say

Prince would be proud of that colour

Excellent. Really cool to see someone jumpin in the deep end. I love that seafoam & tortoid look on the gitir on the left. hope it all goes well