The next les paul(s)

WezV

yeah, i think black is the rigth choice

WezV

gave it all a good buff out this morning.   I do it after  the knife work to soften the feel and bring it all back up to the shine it should have, although it does leave some fine compund in the lines that i now need to clean out

so this is the two tailpiece options, prior to the final dirt stages of my relic process


think i'm going to do the fret work nextand get that board cleaned up

Sesh

The chunky tailpiece option is quite brutal. I like it. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I'd go with the thinner, Casino-esque tailpiece personally, though both do look good!

WezV

Sesh said:

The chunky tailpiece option is quite brutal. I like it. 

Les paul used the same style on some of his personal guitars. 
 

SteveRobinson

The chunky one has more character IMO. 

WezV

i drilled for the chunky one

nearly there now, frets are done, board is clean.

forgot to allow for the mini-humbucker brakcet when routing the neck pocket, so need to deepen that a bit,but its getting there

PeteC

Love it.   Like the chunky tailpiece - but Lester would have put another dozen switches on it! 

Looks great after the buffing.  Looks made for some Steve Marriott riffs   

WezV

Its 8 lb 4oz at the moment too

chrisj1602

I really like this one. Are you going to be selling it?

WezV

chrisj1602 said:

I really like this one. Are you going to be selling it?

Too early to say... I need to see if I think its good enough first.   

WezV

Aged the plate and made the neck pickup route a bit deeper.

This is growing on me

roberty

Looks fab mate

epizootics

Beautiful work! Never been a fan of relic jobs but that's spot on. Hell, I don't even like Les Pauls all that much but I'd play all of these. Your taste is flawless and it's no mean feat to get that across in variations on a classic instrument. Thanks a lot for sharing

longjaw

Love it - definitely went with the right tailpiece.

WezV

yeah, i think so too now.

I may not stick to vintage correct spec for the build, but I do try and get something almost authentic looking with the finish. There are a few areas customs age differently to normal LP's, and very different to fenders.

Not everyone is a fan of using a knife for checking, and seeing gibson's examples I understand why, but it is my preferred way of doing a Custom

Most important bits for me on a custom style relic:

1. Distinct binding ledge between black and multiply binding, a lot more defined than on a burst.  I assume this is from masking off the binding when original sprayed, but the black paint always seems to be quite thick compared to the clear.  the edge of the black picks up wear even if the binding isn't worn in the same area.  
2. Yellowed lacquer over almost pure white binding.  You should get hints of white in the high wear areas and top of fretboard binding.  Dirt is needed on the fully exposed white binding to make it look worn.. the binding itself doesn't really yellow past a very subtle off white colour.   Even lightly worn examples tend to have a lighter strip right on the edge, factory buffing will have left the finish thinnest at that point
3. The checking tends to ridge quite deeply over time, and the black is more likely to flake off in chunks rather than wear through gradually like the clear.    the back of the necks tend to suffer worse from the flaking, but that's something I choose not to replicate.
4. The binding is rarely perfect all the way around, nor is it masked consistently.  You may get a wider strip at the waist  or cutaway where they struggled to get the binding to fit the curves, or it will be missing some of that inner white stripe where they didn't scrape back consistently

I think I got most of that... I may still follow up with some temperature checking to develop the deeper knife checks a bit more

WezV

got the pickups sitting a bit better and strung it up to drill the bridge

then realised I haven't allowed for a ground wire, so will need to take it apart again soon to drill that from the tailpiece before i wirer it up.  also need to cut a nut and find the pickguard bracket


I also had the 5 ply pick guard material upside down when I cut it.  Not sure if that bothers me of not

PhilKing

Would it be easier to ground the bridge?  It's looking great though.  An interesting cross between a Custom, Junior and Deluxe with a lookback to the original standard in there too.  The real question is how does it sound?

I think the black surrounds with the mini-humbuckers make the pickups look further apart too, even though I know they are not.

WezV

Potentially, via the pickups cavity... but its not too much bother to drill from the tailpiece. 

Its heavily chambered, and I do think that comes through in the acoustic sound so far. 

I think the mini-hums and tailpiece make it look longer than a normal LP.

PeteC

That "variegated" look on the aged binding is great.  Nice touch.