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Incredible Homemade Les Pauls


GuitarNoobie

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wow, amazing work and very informative. thumb.gif


 

Quote Originally Posted by GuitarNoobie

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While HC was down it seems a bunch of you found your way over to the TGP...


I happened by MLP (MyLesPaul.com) and eventually wondered into the Luthier forum.


OMG, they have some talented individuals over there...


If you feel like reading some long, but incredible raw build threads, may I suggest these threads...


http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...p-build-2.html


http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...ld-3-sglp.html


http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...s-1-build.html


http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...-les-paul.html


http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...-59-model.html


http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...-sg-build.html


http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...-les-paul.html



With all that said, I have started ordering parts to build my first guitar from scratch... Well everything from scratch except the carved maple top...


here is what i have ordered thus far:


http://www.bartlettwoodworking.com/AAAAA.html

4324a.jpg


http://www.bartlettwoodworking.com/body/Templates.html

temp.jpg


Headstock veneer made out of holly...


And some of the best build plans available...

http://www.bartlettwoodworking.com/body/plans.html

webc.jpg



looking to do something like this:

image1dc.jpg




Still comprising my list and determining where I will buy these, but I am committed...


Body Blank

Neck Blank

Ebony Fretboard

Inlays

Fret Wire

Hardware

Pickups

Grain Filler, Stains, Lacquer



As some of you may remember I bought some tools this past year;

bandsaw

router/table

drill press


probably should go ahead and consider a spindle sander and planer also, but I am on my way.


i will also need some specialty fret tools, etc... from Stewmac...





I am going to take my time and this will go very slowly, but it should be fun and a serious learning experience...


Total build cost, not counting tools, somewhere around $850...


Should be a helluva a ride love.gif


sorry for such a long post... wave.gif

 

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Quote Originally Posted by ihavenofish

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one of the best tools ive ever bought. im trying to think of a way to make a fence so it can thickness fretboards and such.

 

let me know if you come up with something, that would be cool cool.gif


 

Quote Originally Posted by beato

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wow, amazing work and very informative. thumb.gif

 

thumb.gif


 

Quote Originally Posted by atrox

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got that. love that. most used tool in my shop

 

seems as though everyone has one of these thumb.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by ihavenofish

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pretty. looks a bit like the blank from my sg, but with a bit more stripey grain. is it light weight? all the khaya ive bought have been crazy light so far.


how much is it costing?

 

not light weight.


i've been told the blank will be 13-14 pounds


really don't know how much the weight will be reduced after i cut it down to shape as i have never done this before... what i do know is my 73 Custom weighs just over 10 lbs and is my heaviest guitar. it's also my best sustaining guitar...


i like the stripey grain, sexy love.gif


as for the cost, i will leave that up to the seller to share if he would like too...


guitarzan1143 has graciously offered this to me. but i think whether he wants to reveal the price is his business...


i will say it's in my opinion a very fair price, better than i have seen for a one piece blank wink.gif

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thanks ^^^



here are some INVALUABLE Tutorial Videos created by MyLesPaul forum member Ex-Nihilo


these videos are still be produced, but here are the first four... if you ever wanted to build and weren't sure if you could, these videos and of course all the build threads over there will give you an idea about what you are up against...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VKX2S05rS0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VKX2S05rS0



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIMpqtIggQ8


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIMpqtIggQ8



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoxIUyQqhNc


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoxIUyQqhNc



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax0ZFIl_o2w


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax0ZFIl_o2w



and his home page on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/user/A1373S9865


a couple of his build threads were posted in my original post if you care to take a peek at those...


wave.gif

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Building guitars isn't hard. People think that there is some secret or something.


If you know how to use your tools you can build anything the big companies can build for a lot less.


I have about $2000 invested in tools - I shop for deals (like my $600 jointer I bought for $99 at Lowes on clearance).


I have build less guitars lately since I am just out of space.


Here are two Les Paul SGs I built. Took maybe 3 weeks a piece, I built two identical bodies then just did the carves and routing different.


DSCN0001-2.gif


Right now, I'm half done with an all korina Les Paul Junior (59 style).


jr-k.gif


Here is a Les Paul I built maybe 10 years ago.


LP.jpg

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HERE ARE PRE-BUILD PICS



Since I don't wanna F UP any expensive Mahogany or Maple I am doing a lot of practicing and hopefully when complete a cheaper version of the guitar.


I got some Cedar and Aspen from Home Depot to practice with. wink.gif I ended up having to create some templates too, even though I have some very nice, to spec, templates ordered...


i have a portable hand planer... it sucks, so i stole an idea from over at the MLP forum. see pics below...


What I have screwed up so far:


1. cutting to close to the guitar shape on the bandsaw (resulting in a very more narrow body at about the bridge location).

2. trying to create a template straight line using a jigsaw (jigsaws suck except for rough cuts. i ended up using 1x3's, clamps and a router to create straight lines on my template). see template photo below...

3. wire channel between switch cavitiy and electronics cavity off slightly. this will cause no problem at all, but i blame it on my very cheap homemade templates.

4. a very slight waiver outside of the lines on the switch cavity (body moved slightly while routing). this will not be noticeable once the aspen cap is glued on...


I've played around with a few extra pieces off wood to figure out a few things and have learned from the above items. so with what's happened so far, i have learned and created and still have a decent project underway without a devastating mistake biggrin.gif



Anyway, here is what I have been up to so far.


cedar glued to create blank

dcam4682.jpg


planing jig (stole idea from MLP and saved myself 15" $500 on a planer)

dcam4686.jpg


body, cut out, sides, front and back sanded to 220. switch and electronics cavities routed and channel routed.

dcam4689.jpg


backside

dcam4692.jpg


backside rounded edge:

dcam4693.jpg


homemade templates. wire channel recreated, since the first was not square:

dcam4691.jpg



i haven't decided whether to create all the templates on full size MDF bodies or not. Right now, I just use the paper template (from the Catto Plan mentioned earlier) to draw the pattern and then place the template over that outline....


having fun so far thumb.gif

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thats a nice cedar body back! id keep going on that one smile.gif


cedar and aspen are fine guitar woods you know.

i read it on the internet.... in this thread... one line up.


see, its true now. smile.gif

(actually it is true, cedar is great and aspen is poplar)


the nice thing about that spindle sander you got is that you can go way wide on the bandsaw cutting fore safety and slowly sand to the line after.

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Quote Originally Posted by ihavenofish

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thats a nice cedar body back! id keep going on that one smile.gif


cedar and aspen are fine guitar woods you know.

i read it on the internet.... in this thread... one line up.


see, its true now. smile.gif

(actually it is true, cedar is great and aspen is poplar)


the nice thing about that spindle sander you got is that you can go way wide on the bandsaw cutting fore safety and slowly sand to the line after.

 

well i had seen guitars made with cedar before, so i figured i would be okay there and aspen was the one of the few non-pine woods that home depot had, so i grabbed a 1 x 8 of it for the top... gonna try to carve it too wink.gif


so anyway, i thought cedar/aspen would be cheap enough for practice, but practical enough to make a decent guitar should it turn out that way. btw, i have every intention of finishing this one assuming something catastrophic doesn't happen biggrin.gif


and dude, that sander is the bomb !!! i've used it numerous times for different reasons... 80 grit to shape the body sides and template, 150 grit to smooth the body sides. 80 grit on the smaller spindles for shaping the interior cavity templates... i can see it's gonna get a lot of use...

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i just got finished talking with someone about a new tool for the new year. tis a cnc mill, but one built especially for guitars. it will make 2 bodies or necks at once and is big enough to mill neck throughs and wide tops like es335's. should be fun. its capable of milling 100 tele bodies in a day!


the insane thing is how cheap it is. ill have to work out what it costs to make those precarved tops now, haha.


hoping to have this in my shop by february now.


anyhow, back on topic smile.gif

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Quote Originally Posted by nevermind

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did you build the overhead router jig like dude used in that one video?



I'm definitely going to build that one and the planer setup

 

yea, the planer jig rocks...


i have not built the overhead router jig, but i will... thumb.gif i will need it for the binding route and the carve...

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Quote Originally Posted by ihavenofish

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i just got finished talking with someone about a new tool for the new year. tis a cnc mill, but one built especially for guitars. it will make 2 bodies or necks at once and is big enough to mill neck throughs and wide tops like es335's. should be fun. its capable of milling 100 tele bodies in a day!


the insane thing is how cheap it is. ill have to work out what it costs to make those precarved tops now, haha.


hoping to have this in my shop by february now.


anyhow, back on topic smile.gif

 

sweet, so i guess you will have to some carved tops to offer in the future wink.giflove.gif


i wanna build a duplicarver in the future... something like this...


PICT0017-3.jpg

PICT0028-2.jpg


The dude is very innovative... here's the whole thread. he has made his own fret press, fret bender and other things i can't remember right now... tongue.gif


http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...l-buildup.html

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