Fully hollow and carved Les Paul

WezV

Time to get back to building.

I want to do an archtop acoustic build at some point, but am wary of spending a lot on the necessary materials without a bit of practice first.    The main thing I need to practice is fully carving some plates for the body.  I have done one side before for Les Paul builds, but never fully carved inside and out.

Anyway, just been through the wood pile and I have everything I need to build a fully hollow Les Paul shaped and sized archtop, which seems like a perfect way to practice some things.


It will be fully hollow, but won't really be a proper acoustic instrument in anything other than construction style used... Likely end up as some kind of hybrid instrument.

So the idea is:

*Les Paul outline
*Bent mahogany sides, 2.5 - 3" deep
*Mahogany neck and tail block
*Fully carved mahogany back, inside and out
*Fully carved sycamore top, inside and out
*Archtop style A bracing
*One piece mahogany neck
*Rosewood fretboard
*Neck pickup only
*floating bridge/tailpiece

merlin

I am really looking forward to seeing this build. Sounds like a great project. Have you settled on a pickup, and is neck only definitive? 

WezV

nothing is definite yet, but  have a mojo staple pickup with raw nickel cover i want to use

WezV

this is the front and back plates.


flat sawn mahogany on the back.  Quarter sawn sycamore on the front.

the sycamore has some mineral steaks which should carve ut, but not too worried if they don't as its likely this will have a burst.   clearly this piece has been supplying me with some plugs at some point

johnl

Can't wait to see this one. Are you going to do f holes?

WezV

I think so, but not fully decided on style

WezV

This is what an ES Les Paul looks like inside.

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/attachments/guitar-amps-gizmos/37203d1478427652-gibson-es-les-paul-gib-es-lp-bracing-jpg

My plan is similar, but leaving nothing in the middle at all.

PhilKing

Are you going to leave a block for the bridge and tailpiece, or are you going to go with a trapeze and floating bridge?  Looks like a great project.

PhilKing

It would look a bit like a scaled down ES-175, if you do the floating bridge/trapeze:

WezV

It will be a floating bridge I think

merlin

Soft neck heel? Or big square monstrosity, like a L** P***?

WezV

Hmm, hadn't considered rounding it off, but no reason it can't be done... Although it will still be bulky

TTony

Nice - another interesting Wezv build thread coming up, 

I'd been considering buying one of the PRS SE Hollowbodies - but thought perhaps I should try building something instead given the piles of wood in my workshop!    Not fully hollow like yours, but a hollowed out body with some sort of carved top.    You'll probably have yours finished before I start!

How thick is the top that you're starting with?

ICBM

PhilKing said:

It would look a bit like a scaled down ES-175, if you do the floating bridge/trapeze

ES-140

WezV

Not gonna be too far off a es-140 aestheticly, but  will be full scale, fully carved, and have the typical LP neck pickup position.

Also not doing a Florentine cutaway

Danielsguitars

I've got a solid spruce cap to do something similar fully carved, thought it would be interesting to combine electric acoustic construction but you beat me to it, I'll be interested to see how yours comes out

WezV

The plan is for something in solid spruce and maple later this year/early next year.... If this one goes well

guitargeek62

Great idea Wez!

WezV

TTony said:

Nice - another interesting Wezv build thread coming up, 

I'd been considering buying one of the PRS SE Hollowbodies - but thought perhaps I should try building something instead given the piles of wood in my workshop!    Not fully hollow like yours, but a hollowed out body with some sort of carved top.    You'll probably have yours finished before I start!

How thick is the top that you're starting with?

It's 1" thick on the top.  Back is a bit thinner at 20mm

WezV

Top and back plates have been glued together, roughly trimmed to shape, and marked up for the initial contours

WezV

this might show my intentions for the internals a bit clearer



the neck joint section is going to follow normal a normal les paul pretty closely.    i will likely do a full width long tenon set into a solid chuck of mahogany.

I will extend that solid chunk to the bass side to hold a strap button, extend it to the treble  to form the cutaway and horn (this is a bit of a cheat to save bending that area).   then we will have bent rims going down to a mahogany tail block, with kerfed lining adding a suitable glue surface for top and back plates.    two big braces will support the top, going under the bridge 

Neck pickup will be mounted into solid wood.   the side will be reinforced for a les paul style jack plate.   Im probably going to add a small backplate for access to the controls, this will be mahognay and carved to match the shape of the back