COVID-19 I'm now in total isolation, so lots of building to do.

GSPBASSES

    While all this madness is around us I'm in total insolation, I decided to set myself targets each week to make two guitars or more. This started just over 3 weeks ago. The main reason for doing this is to stop myself sitting around watching crap Daytime TV and watching endless news programs that repeat the same thing over and over and over again such bad journalism from the Beeb ITV and Sky.

          I have lots of part built bodies and necks, I decided to go through them and match up bodies and necks to each other and then finish them. Although the first week was taken up making a left handed Les Paul standard and the left handed LPJ DC. 

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The 2nd week I made 2 Strats from American red Alder, the necks are roasted Maple with Rosewood fingerboards

          I have decided that April will be for making Strats and Teles, although I have an order to make 3 V 90s, one six string and two 7 string. The only problem I have the customer wants Ebony fingerboards unfortunately I don't carry Ebony fingerboards in stock far too expensive to have lying around on the shelf, my main wood supplier David Dyke is closed down for the duration, although the customer is friends with David son, so might be able to get hold of 3 fingerboards. I have made a start on these V 90s, I've glued the bodies, the necks are going to be three piece laminated Brazilian mahogany, I've have glued them up.

 Week 3

Swamp Ash Smuggler's Tele with a Maple neck and Rosewood Fingerboard.

Alder Strat with a Maple neck and a Rosewood fingerboard.

Basswood Strat with a Maple neck and a Rosewood fingerboard. I think it might actually be Sweet Chestnut not Bass wood.

Week 4 will be Thinline Teles that I will start tomorrow.

pintspiller

I don't recall hearing of Smuggler's Telecaster. Had to look it up!

Andyjr1515

Well, I knew that SOME good had to come out of this worldwide mess.  And a few more @GSPBASSES coming out sounds pretty good to me!

normula1

That's very clever clamping on the V bodies.

GSPBASSES

This is the first Thinline TC I'm going to work on, it been sitting on the shelf for years can't remember why, it obviously has something wrong with it. Having cleaned it up I can't quite see what's wrong. I'll find a neck to go with it and do a dry assembly to see if I can find out why it was put to one side.

Ok, I now see what's wrong with it, somehow or other the jig for cutting out all the pockets was put on the body blank about 3- 4mm too far up the body. As a consequence an off the shelf pick guard will not fit properly.

Decision time do I scrap it or carry on and finish it.

I decided to carry on finish it, for a couple of reasons, the first one the body is super light comes in less than 3lb, plus I think to modify an off the shelf pick guard is quite a minor mod. If you look at the picture below you can see a standard pick guard overhangs the body just below the neck pocket by about 2mm. If I was the route the standard ¼” round over I think it would be difficult to cut back the pick guard to fit, I think it will be a better idea fit binding onto the guitar as far less of the pick guard will have to be cut back to fit.

Next job cut the banding channel.

Then glue the banding on.

The finished guitar and the next guitar I work on, a P90 TC

I should point out before I go any further most of the guitar bodies I'm working on now are “B” grade. This is normally because when the body was originally made something went wrong and it was put to one side to be sold off in one of my Black Friday sales, that's what will happen with most of the guitars I'm building at the moment.

The P90 TC has a couple of faults on it, first one, there's a very small chip on the bridge pick up rout, that will most likely not even notice when the guitar as had finished on it. the second fault when I drilled the holes for the through body stringing, one hole went astray see photo below. The holes on the face of the guitar do match up perfectly with the bridge so this would not cause any problems.

 

The body only needed final sanding to finish it. I found a neck in the part-built box that fitted, the Fingerboard was a bit too thick so it had to be sanded down to the correct thickness. To do this I decided to resurrect the sanding machine I used to use to radius fingerboards. It's a bit of Heath Robinson affair but it does a pretty good job.

The old sander.

And yes it is meant to be at those funny angles, the idea being you need the nut end of the Fingerboard to be slightly thinner then the body end.

Radius to 9.5"

I then fitted the dot inlays and fretted the neck.

skippy76

Great work to follow mate. I have one of your double cut LPJs with an ebony board and its first class

axisus

Lots of superb work there! makes me appreciate pro quality compared to my stuff.

guitargeek62

Awesome stuff as usual! Wish I had the tools, space and materials here to be building something too

While I think of it again, did you ever have anything with those two LP Customs? I’d still be keen on the second one if it’s available

TTony

GSPBASSES said:

COVID-19 I'm now in total isolation, so lots of building to do

That's call a "silver lining"

greggreg66

Wicked.

Grangousier

I've got several GSP guitars - I got a neck for one guitar that @FelineGuitars assembled for me, a neck and body for a Tele put together by @rexter last year, and I'm the owner of the spangly green strat that was on the board for a while. They really are special, and something I'd like coming on the market would sorely test my current "No more, I have enough!" policy. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Vs turn out. 

DrBob

My main guitar for the past 4-5 years is a reverse headstock “Voodoo” style Strat that Graham built for me and I’ve got a “beak” headstock Tele neck that he also made me that’s going on my Esquire as soon as I can get if sprayed. It’s funny I don’t really get conventional “GAS” for shop bought guitars anymore, I find myself thinking about stuff I’d like Grahame to make !

GSPBASSES

Thanks @DrBob, @Sklppy76 and @Grangousier, it’s always nice to get some positive feedback and to know customers are enjoying my guitars.
You know @guitargeek62 the Les Paul custom is my main nemesis in the workshop, I will try to get onto it again, the photo below shows lots of Les Pauls waiting to be built including two Les Paul customs one of which has got your name on it (no obligation to buy it though).

guitargeek62

That is a proper Aladdin's cave right there!!! 

Thanks Graham, happy to wait for it for as long as it takes - and please consider it a firm sale!

GSPBASSES

A nice quick and easy job first thing this morning, last year I made a left hand telecaster with a book matched swamp ash cap. The body is Swamp Ash heavily chambered but not as much as a Thinline, it only weighs 3lb 12oz, the neck is Maple with a Rosewood Fingerboard. The body was finished last year, the neck only needed the nut fitting and the machine head holes drilling.  The guitar was ordered last year by a member of the fretboard who never answered my messages when I told him the guitar was just about finished and needed payment. 

The next job two Thinline TC’s, these were glued up a couple of weeks ago so today I just routed round the outside to bring them to size, plus giving them a bit of a sanding. Haven't quite decided what type of Thinline to make with him yet, I'll decide next week. These are being made for stock so if anybody fancies one of them let me know and I'll route it according to what you want. The necks for these are going to be roasted Maple with Rosewood Fingerboards.

The necks on the right are for the two Thinline TC's

The three solid rosewood Strat necks are for stock, the other roasted Maple Strat neck with a Rosewood fingerboard is to go with a Roasted Ash body.

Roasted Ash Start body.

TTony

That’s some wow grain pattern on the leftie!

Lebarque

@GSPBASSES Are you working on Les Paul Juniors, or are there some full fat Les Pauls too? I've always fancied a gold top with pafs.

GSPBASSES

Lebarque said:

@GSPBASSES Are you working on Les Paul Juniors, or are there some full fat Les Pauls too? I've always fancied a gold top with pafs.

At the end of this month providing I've finished the Fender type builds I'll be switching to Gibson type guitars. I will be doing LPJ DC’s, LPJ SC’s SG’s, plus full LP carve tops.

Teyeplayer

Flipping heck I love this thread!

Roland

TTony said:

That's call a "silver lining"

ZenOvertone

Fantastic work @GSPBASSES ;