SOLLYGTRS

Here are my current builds that I currently going on.

I began carving the body today. I used the routing templates that everyone else  seems to use, but in stead of sanding, I used scrappers. It took a long time but it was enjoyable.

1 hour ago, Mr Natural said:

forgot the pix

That's a beautiful looking body! Thank you for sharing! I use a safe-T planner as well. It's certainly made my like easier.

1 hour ago, Mr Natural said:

I happen to have a les paul body in the same state as yours- and curiosity killed the cat. So- weighing it with a bathroom scale (me holding it, me not holding it- x 3 to make sure)- it weighs 7 lbs 8 oz. I built from the same woods a sister to this years ago- and if memory serves me correctly that clocked in at 9 lbs  10oz when it was finished (maple neck) 

There are still safe t planer marks on the top of this- so- It might need a little off the face-but in the ballpark. 

Which lumber yard in Atl? I used to go to McClendons on 14th street (cause he was the only guy with real hondo mahog)- peachtree(peachstate?) lumber in kennesaw for Alder- and that place over in Mableton for a variety of things- but its been a few since I have been- I am still stealing from my retirement lumber stash. 

I use Suwannee Lumber. So far they have never failed in having what I'm looking for.

Thanks for weighing your body! That eases my concerns. My Traditional is around the 10 lbs mark. If I end up around that mark, I will have no complaints.

I hope some of these pics aren’t too dark as I tend to keep the garage door closed due to the fact that my shop dog is usually helping me out.

PS: Sorry for the typos. My phone has a mind of it's own.

Below is Harley and my #1 getting a string change:

Now, about this weight thing. I know I still have to carve the top and do the routing for the neck and pickups, but this seems a little heavy to me.

Next, I went to my trusty sander and cleaned up the edges.

After letting it dry for a day, I unclampped it and rough cut the top with the band saw.

Now is a good time to talk about weight relief. I never play out anymore. I did in my younger days, but this thing will hardly move from inside my house. That being said. I didn’t weight relieve her at all. As you will see, it may be a problem later.

Here the top glued and clamped to the body.

For the top, I’m using 1 inch thick flammed maple. It is not book matched, but I honestly don’t care. I’ve read that most early LPs weren’t.

My next step was to glue up the blank. Here she is right before going into the clamps.

Next, I worked on the control cavity, three way cavity along with the wiring route.

The body is now trimmed and planned flat.

I know a lot of people use the router to smooth out the body at this point, but honestly the router scares the ever living %^*# out of me. So I could’ve to sand down to the template.

Here I have rough cut (very rough some may say)  the body using the template with my band saw.

Next, I printed off the plans I downloaded online.

I compared it to my Les Paul before to make sure the dimensions were accurate.

I doing this to show that you don’t need to spend money on plans or templates if your a beginner like me. The free ones work just as well.

I did add a volute to the neck for my template. 

Next I lop off a couple of slabs to build the body blank and glue them up.

My first thing was to procure some mahogany. Luckily I live a few miles from a very nice lumber yard.

Here are is the wood innocently sitting there in my garage not knowing the carnage that may ensue.

I’ve build 10 guitars so far. All have been Super Strat or Tele Deluxe style guitars, but my favorite guitar is a Les Paul. 

I’ve decided to try a LP build. I’m not going for any historic type of thing. I just want a nice playable LP at the end of the journey.

luckily I have a Gibson Les Paul Traditional in my arsenal so I can compare as I move along.

First things first, I do know an LP build is worlds more complicated, but it’s really more my style of guitar currently vs my 80s shredder models I’ve been building.

So here we go!

very entertaining build. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from this one. I'm looking forward to the progress.

This latest build is progressing rather well so far. Everything is lining up or easily fixable. It’s very welcomed after my last one.

I've never really understood the weight issue with a Let Paul. I have a Traditional that weighs close to 11 lbs. It's by far the best sounding guitar I've ever had. I am a pretty stocky guy though so it may not affect me much.

Nice build though. I enjoyed reading through it. I have plans for my next build after I finish my current one, but I'm think of doing a LP on the build after that.

6 hours ago, curtisa said:

Don't get too hung up on the negatives on a build. Everyone makes dud ones. Just set it aside for a bit and treat it as the next project for a rainy day.

You've always got the option of using it as a training ground for correcting past mistakes - learn how to recut a neck pocket by filling and re-routing, learn how to remove frets, learn how to steam off a fretboard to get the trussrod out, take notes on what the correct depth the locking nut shelf should be for next time, work out what the correct neck angle should be for a flush-mounted Floyd etc.

Thanks, That's pretty much what I've been doing to it. I'll get back to it one day. I have several directions that I can go to correct the problems. I just haven't picked which way to go with it.

Here my current builds. The blue guitar is sitting mostly untouched as I’m still a little frustrated at how it was turning out.

The Tru oiled neck on my new build is the best I’ve built so far. It’s a tad to thick for my liking though and will need to be carved a little more

This last guitar has been very frustrating. While it is easily the best looking of my builds so far, it's turning out to be the least functional. I bolted the neck on yesterday and put both E strings on to check alignment. The low E immediately falls off the side of the neck and never returns. I shimmed the neck to get it back to being 'ok', but I'm not satisfied at all with this build.

I wanted a decked Floyd without the recess, but the strings seem like they hover a foot above the guitar body, The nut route was cut too deep and needs to be shimmed higher to get clearance for the first fret. While the pole pieces of the bridge pickup align perfectly with the strings, the neck pickup is off about 3mm.

I really took my time and made sure everything was square, but it's looking like I have a really nice blue piece of firewood for next winter. This one may go into the corner and sit while I push forward on my next build.

As far as playability goes, my first build was my best and I've gone down hill since. It's very frustrating!

18 hours ago, KempGuitars said:

Hey Mr Solly

I tend to rub in a coat of regular lemon oil just to darken up the Wenge. Generally, it's not necessary - same as Wenge necks which are sometimes left "raw". 

☺️

appreciate it!