Jump to content

Home made Les Paul


Freeman Keller

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 384
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

Possibly not taking a bottle of IPA out to the shop would help - maybe coffee would be better.

 

Nothing wrong with doing a little work while drinking a fine IPA. Now a double IPA is where you can get into trouble. That high gravity content tends to tilt the senses...... :cop:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'm just north of you in Vancouver. Checking that puppy out first-hand sounds like a great excuse for a road trip!!

 

Vancouver as is BC or as in WA? My family is in WA (and Portland), we will be there over the holiday. I was going to take the LP down to show to my son. Busy season but time could be found and I'll have the recorder along....

 

If its as in BC we do get there occassionally too, eh? Mostly passing thru to recreation but I love the city. Fwiw, I am in Wenatchee, which most people have never heard of, but we made the choice to live here and we love it.

 

 

Guys, I am overwhelmed by the comments about the burst. That is only the second time I've tried a burst and mostly it was trial and error. I agree that many (most?) bursts are just too over done - yet that seems to be the tradition. I wanted it subtle, with the amber fading to brown, but not losing the transparency to see the figure of the wood. I was very close to trying a cherry red burst, but at the final minute my wife and I were looking at pictures of '59 Les Pauls in Fretboard Journal (if you haven't seen that story I recommend it) and she said "that looks like I envision your guitar". OK.

 

Here is my first attempt at a traditional tobacco sunburst. I think if I ever build (hee hee) a Tele this is how I would finish it.

 

IMG_0396.jpg

 

IMG_0398.jpg

 

edit - I posted the wrong pictures of the mando - I meant to show the finished tobacco burst

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Vancouver as is BC or as in WA? My family is in WA (and Portland), we will be there over the holiday. I was going to take the LP down to show to my son. Busy season but time could be found and I'll have the recorder along....


If its as in BC we do get there occassionally too, eh? Mostly passing thru to recreation but I love the city. Fwiw, I am in Wenatchee, which most people have never heard of, but we made the choice to live here and we love it.

 

 

As in BC. I make it down to Bellingham fairly regularly and Seattle less so. In January I'm driving down to the NAMM show in LA, so it'll be my first car trip south of Seattle. I may be able to swing past you, but not sure at the moment. Would be nice to hook up at some point.

 

I not only know Wenatchee, I've been there many times in the late 80's. I was doing some tech development and my hardware engineer was living there at the time. It's nice, but I prefer a larger city - well Vancouver at least - for it's diversity and anonymity. I lived in a very small village north of Penticton, which is in the same valley as Wenatchee, and found the summers brutally hot and the small town mentality drove me crazy.

 

Love mandolins and look forward to seeing yours all finished.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Oops, another brain fart. In the last post I meant to include a couple of pictures of the finished mandolin showing my first attempt at a tobacco sunburst (which is what I would do on a Tele). My company computer blocks photos and videos (I think they just want us to be doing work on this thing), but I knew I had a couple of mando pics on another forum. I grabbed them (totally blind) and now realize that they are early build pics. I changed them, hopefully they are the finished instrument.

 

Btw - carving an mandolin is somewhat similar to carving the LP, but about ten times the work. I don't plan to ever build an archtop......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I've kept a little spreadsheet on this and added up the damage last night. Very brief summary - the entire guitar was $862, another $129 for a nice case. I bought $150 worth of tools that I couldn't do without (mostly Forstner bits and a couple of special router bits), spent $579 for the used amp and a cord, and shipping on the mail order stuff was $75.


The guitar cost breaks down as $389 for the wood, $147 for pickups and electronics, $240 for hardware, $36 for the lacquer, and $50 for pearl. I had scraps of wood, the stains and pore filler and other odds and ends. I did buy a new router and table but that was for the shop, not just this project. However the big Forstner bits and deep router bits I probably won't use very often so I credit them here.


In general, then I would say that the guitar in the case was a grand, the amp another 600. The fun factor is priceless.


btw - if anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheet (or to borrow the Forstner bits, plans, templates, etc) just shoot me a PM.

 

 

Very nice build! Glad to see this information too. I meant to keep track of expenses on my bass kit build, suffice to say it's getting more expensive than I originally thought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

One last pair of pictures - the black cover plate is better but just not right. We'll get that fixed one of these days....

 

IMG_0814.jpg

 

IMG_0813.jpg

 

The thing in the back ground is kind of interesting - it is a very old wind up Edison phonograph. Not drums, but thick disks with the grooves only on one side. Got it from a funeral parlor that was closing along with a bunch of incredible old records - when we brought it home my wife and I dance to the old music. It has an honored corner in the music room

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

One last pair of pictures - the black cover plate it better but just not right. We'll get that fixed one of these days....


IMG_0814.jpg

The thing in the back ground is kind of interesting - it is a very old wind up Edison phonograph. Not drums, but thick disks with the grooves only on one side. Got it from a funeral parlor that was closing along with a bunch of incredible old records - when we brought it home my wife and I dance to the old music. It has an honored corner in the music room

 

Holy mother of {censored}, that is one of the most beautiful LP's Ive ever seen!

That burst is beyond killer, looks like love and true skill was put into that guitar.

Hats off to ya brother, thanks for sharing this and looking forward to your future builds! :thu::thu:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Nice playing, Freeman. But I must say, those recordings do very little to reveal the sonic character of your fine guitar.

 

Do you know anyone with some nice recording gear? Do you know any hotshot guitarists that can run the axe through some intense paces? I think it would very much be worth your effort to seek out some people to help you reveal the guitar for what it really is. I'm sure many here would love to experience what your guitar has to offer via quality recordings.

 

Cheers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...