Les Paul Guitars x2 (lots of pics)

[Slim]

My brother in Law (Martyn) and I decided that we would both make a Les Paul. Trouble is that he lives in Glasgow, and I live in Bradford. So this will be a long long project as we can only get a weekend here and there when he can come down to my workshop.

Anyway, I thought I would begin this thread with WIP photos and just update it as and when we get any further progress made.

The first job was to bookmatch our tops. Martyn has a beautiful piece of Walnut with some quilting in it and I have a nice piece of yew.

As it turned out I didn't have enough width in my top so I decided to laminate some yew and walnut to go in between the bookmatched pieces. I then decided to carry the the walnut strips into the back. This is a picture of the lamination to go in the back.

Here is my back being glued up. The back is reclaimed mahogany with the three walnut strips.

and Martyn's is walnut.

We then routed the slot for the wiring and roughly cut the blanks to shape. The tops were then glued onto the backs. You know what they say, you can never have enough clamps!

Thats it for now. Next time: routing the chambers for the electrics and the neck tenon. We will also start the neck.

 

[Philly]

Exciting stuff - a pair of Les Pauls!!!
I'll be watching,
Philly

 

[superunknown]

Great stuff, keep it coming!

 

[greggy]

well done you two, looking great, i see you like you bessey clamps! i will be waching this thread with exitement.

 

[stix]

I'm really looking forward to seeing these being made. I've wanted to make a strat for the guitarist in my band for ages but wouldn't have a clue where to start - hopefully these will give me a bit of an insight.

Cheers
Steve

 

[DomValente]

Interesting thread.

You do know that if you sold your clamps you could buy a Les Paul

Dom

 

[ByronBlack]

bolt on or glued neck? What pickups are you going to use?

 

[Slim]

Hey Byron,

The neck will be glued. I think, I am going for a Seymor Duncan SH-1 '59 at the neck and a SH-5 Duncan Custom at the bridge. However, that isn't set in stone.

 

[ByronBlack]

how about a nice set of bare knuckle hand-wound jobbies, these puppies sing!

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/

I made an explorer clone a few years ago with a pair of EMG actives and they were also wonderful!

Either way, with that wood, i'm sure it'll sound great! You'll have to upload a sound sample when your done! Or if your brave, a youtube video of you and your mate playing 'sweet child 'o mine'

Fixed bridge I assume?

BTW, is that a Jet 14" bandsaw in the pics?

 

[Slim]

I did wonder about EMG pickups. However the soundbites on their website don't sound that good. Its probably not representative of the real sound.

Those bareknuckles look interesting.

The bridge is a gibson tunomatic and tailpiece.

It is the 16" Jet. Only just got it. I made light work of the bookmatching. I'm very impressed so far.

 

[mrbingley]

Simon,
What size blade do you use to cut out the guitar shape ?

I'm just starting to have a go at making a telecaster type body & was thinking maybe the 1/2" blade in my bandsaw is too big.

Cheers
Chris.

 

[Slim]

Hi Chris, I used a 1/4" blade. There is no way you could cut the tight curves with a 1/2" blade.

 

[JFC]

Looking good ! I'm thinking about doing a solid body with the rest of the wenge so will be interested to see the progress . Just started the second acoustic out of doug fir and wenge .

 

[mrbingley]

Thanks for the reply Simon.

Just ordered a 1/4" blade for the bandsaw.

Did you make your own template or did you buy one ?

I've just been having a practice & I'm not sure by making the template myself I'm going to be happy with it.

I've looked on the internet, but the only templates I can seem to find for a Telecaster are in the USA.
So by the time I've done paying the shipping & customs, it would have been cheaper just to buy another guitar.

Cheers
Chris.

 

[mr]

So by the time I've done paying the shipping & customs, it would have been cheaper just to buy another guitar.

Cheers
Chris.

I don't think building your own is ever going to be cheaper (or even as cheap as) buying one. Just think of the satisfaction though I'm dreaming about a tele but a bit frightened by the idea of making the neck at the minute. Watching these LPs with interest though

Cheers Mike

 

[mrbingley]

Mike,

Just going to make a body first and either use the stagg neck or buy a neck from ebay.

I've bought a "Stagg T490MBK" telecaster copy to use as the base for my project, was going to buy a bog standard telecaster copy, but the "Bigbsy" on it got the better of me.
Now I've got find a straight telecaster type body to copy the pickup placement & bridge settings from, or use the stagg as the layout.

I like the look of either "Paduak" or "Walnut", but for the first attempt I've got some pieces of "Meranti" floorboard to use.

Cheers
Chris.

 

[Slim]

Chris, We just bought plans of a 1959 Les Paul from Stewart Macdonald. Everything can be done from this including any templates for pickup cavities etc.

As for expense. The wood cost me nothing. The plans worked out at £15. All the electrics, tuners, truss rod etc. will cost around £200-£300. When compared to a Gibson Les Paul Standard which costs around £1100 there is no contest.

 

[david simper]

I'm thinking of making a bass for my nephew and suspect I can pick up a few tips from this thread. Just to give you an excuse to buy more clamps, have you checked out the wooden clamps from Rutlands? I'm using little else at the moment. Good stuff.

Dave

 

[Slim]

Well after 24 hrs in the clamps and a little bit of planing, we have two guitar body blanks.

Here's testement to the strength of Titebond. The shavings taken by the plane are still stuck together.

 

[Bainzy]

Looking great, I never realised there were any others that built guitars here in West Yorkshire - I've been cracking on with my Les Paul this week if you're interested: UK Guitar Builder's Forum. Just out of curiosity, where did you find the reclaimed Mahogany for the body?

I've looked on the internet, but the only templates I can seem to find for a Telecaster are in the USA.
So by the time I've done paying the shipping & customs, it would have been cheaper just to buy another guitar.

Cheers
Chris.

I've got a set of Telecaster templates Chris, I could always make a copy of them at some point from 1/4" MDF from B&Q - whereabouts are you based? I'm a bit too busy right now but in about a month or two I should have some time to knock out a template set.