1959 Les Paul guitar build...

[slodave]

Time for another project for this ADD guy. 20+ years ago, I made an acoustic guitar from scratch as a project for school. 20 years ago, I also made an electric guitar for a school project. The electric was supposed to mimic a Gibson SG, but came out way too thick. It also ways a bit more than the traditional Les Paul. Live and learn. I still play the electric, but it has its issues, minor, but there. I have been wanting to make another electric for years and now is the time....

Thanks to one of the guys on this board, I have some nice plans for the replica, as well as a set I bought online. While I don't expect this copy to pass as a true '59, I would like to make a good copy. I'm already starting off a little on the wrong foot, as the piece of mahogany I bought today is not the correct width and I will have to join two pieces together to make the width. The LP is made from one piece of mahogany. I went this route as Honduras mahogany is harder to come by these days, due to deforestation. Aesthetically, looking at the back of the guitar, one will see the seam, but as far as tonality, I think it should have a minor impact. If someone wants to correct me on that, please do, as the wood will be cut up next week...

Other than the electronics, the only thing that I will not be doing on this project, is cutting the fret grooves. I can order a fingerboard blank and cut it myself, but for $5 more, I can get one that was cut using a jig. A small sacrifice I am willing to live with.

Tonight, I will be putting the list together and possibly buying a few more items for the build online, such as the neck stock, also mahogany, the rosewood fingerboard and some of the electronics. I have spoken to Wolfe and he will be making the custom humbuckers for me in the coming months. I have yet to source the right curly maple top. This will be book matched top, like most LP's.

I will be taking pictures of the build process and updating this thread, so follow along if you'd like. Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

[enzo1]

[enzo1]

[Tobra]

sorry, not wanting to hijack

[yellowperil]

Don't let Kyle Bush near it!!

[futuresoptions]

Subscribed!

[slodave]

And so it has begun....

After finding on of the LP replica bible threads - on a Fender forum no less, and watching a bunch of videos from a guy in Finland make a similar copy, as far as trying to emulate the tone and sound, I felt comfortable in a couple of choices...

1) It seems that Gibson uses one piece 2' thick stock to make the bodies. Since they are hugs, they can get those rough blanks easily or maybe they get huge planks and re-cut onsite. Either way, the blanks are one piece. I could order those blanks online, but I wanted to find Honduras Mahogany, not the more common African variety that is being used today. Honduras M. is scarce and not easily available. In fact, the US bars the export of H.M. (as well as Brazilian Rosewood - another rare wood). Stock that remains in this country is heavily regulated.

I have to glue up two 7"x2"x20" boards to make a blank. Not unheard of and after last night, I'm convinced that the tone will not really be affected.

2) The guy in Finland created the neck out of 4 pieces. I'll go more into that in the next few days as I start to cut the wood for that. The neck will be extremely strong, especially at the transitional weak spot on the headstock of the LP.

That said, here are some pix from today. I wasn't planning to actually start today, so iPhone it is and due to time constraints, I did not take pix of the board being cut into three and using the jointer to get the two halves to ready for glue up.

The primary set of plans I will be using. I will have at lest two more copies of this made, so I can cut them up for templates. I have to other plans from other sources that I am using to verify measurements and fill in a few missing ones.


The Honduras M. that will provide the body and neck.


Checking the seam before final glue and clamping.


Everything looks good, lets go! Glue was spread out to cover both surfaces entirely.


Clamped and cleaned up. Clamps will come off tomorrow afternoon and the blank will be run through a large sander to get rid of the slight ridge on the seam. Then put aside until I get more copies of the plans.


After watching a video of the Finnish guy gluing up his blank, it was decided to leave out the biscuits, since they only really server to help line up the two pieces.


Onto the neck tomorrow...

[Flieger]

Wow, you are a man of many talents.

[Shuie]

Man, I wish you had done this earlier. I had two huge one piece Cuban mahogany body blanks, a 3x3x33" Cuban mahogany neck blank, and a slab of Braz. rosewood that I just gave away a few months ago

The 2 piece body will work fine. If you can, try to find a really good stiff piece of Cuban mahogany for the neck blank. 3"x3"x30" is a pretty standard size blank that will give enough to make two necks. ebay can be a pretty good source for this stuff along with the maple blanks for the top.

For the neck joint, you may want to use hide glue instead of the tightbond. You really can't go wrong with Wolf's pickups. Great stuff there. For the finish, try to to use a thin nitro lacquer.

If you are looking for a forum there is a luthier section at http://www.mylespaul.com that should have A LOT of replica build info.

And here's a pic of a completed '59 replica a luthier built for me for inspiration Good wood + Wolf's pickups = awesome guitar

[slodave]

Bummer. Would have been nice. I have been wanting to do this for a number of years.

I stumbled onto the mylespaul forum last night, but I have been sucked into the thread on the Fender forum.

I decided to copy the way the Finnish guy made his. The board I bought will provide the neck material as well. The neck will be four pieces. I'll cut the rough neck wide enough for the headstock, though I my go the 2.5" route and then add the ears to make it the full width. Anyway, after the headstock is cut from the neck blank, I'll then cut the neck into three long strips, then reverse the middle strip 180 degrees. The theory is that this will release the tension in the wood. The headstock will be attached at the correct angle, and two maple strips will be spliced into the neck/headstock. This should produce a neck that will not fracture like the original LP neck. Since I veered away from making a dead on replica with the main body, I don't feel bad about this.

I will still incorporate some of the finer nuances that I find on these forums though.

[JR Indy]

Are you taking orders for the second build?

[johnco]

I might have a couple 8ft 2 x4s of this mahogany in my shed from long ago. it's been a long time since I've seen them but I seldom throw anything away. I've used several different types of mahogany when I was in my carpenter mode and picked the 2 x 4s up somewhere. not positive if this is the mahogany you're looking for but maybe it is. the 2-3 times I tried ripping some strips from one I remember it was very hard to cut, the sawdust was very fine and yellow, reminded me of pollen, even though the board utself was a deep brown on the outside. the reason I never used it and will never ever use it is because every time I started ripping a board, just breathing in the smallest bit of sawdust in the air after cutting just a few inches would give me dry heaves and/or puke. I'm almost gagging now just thinking about it. I've never seen this type of mahogany before or since. I believe I got it off a supply vessel after it arrived back from a job around there. I could could send a couple pictures of the wood if you think this might be what you're looking for. I'll never get close to these boards with a saw ever again so if it's what you're looking for... they're all yours for the price to get them there

[Rick Lee]

Subscribed

[slodave]

Originally Posted by JR Indy

Are you taking orders for the second build?

Lets see how this one turns out first.

[futuresoptions]

Hey Dave, just some info... if you go to Grizzly industrial the owner of that company is a guitar builder. He has a little section with guitar kits, flame maple, fret material etc.... just thought I would pass it along in case you needed anything...

[futuresoptions]

Just go to the website click on the "fast index" button next to the search window and go down to luthier supplies... he also has some gunsmithing items as well...

[slodave]

Thanks Bill, just checked it out. They have a few pieces of maple, just a bit expensive, as I think it's pretty thick stock.

[slodave]

Johnco: I cant really do much with 2x4's except frame a house. Thanks though. Most mahogany I have seen is on the red side, no yellow.

[futuresoptions]

Yeah I agree those billets aren't cheap... their rosewood for the fretboard and inlays, fret wire are reasonable...

[Shuie]

The Gilmer wood company usually has some nice maple lumber. Probably overpriced, but nice. Google them and check out their stock. You could probably laminate the 2x4s johnco has into a 4x4 and cut two necks from the resulting board.