I've Got Wood! ... Another LPjunior build

gretschthumper

I've built a few partscasters over the years, and they've got better as I do more, culminating in the Thinline Tele I finished a couple of weeks ago:



It's a Hosco alder body, and a roasted maple neck that I got from ebay, along with a pair of Texas Special pickups I already had ~ plays really well, and is about 2 & a half pounds lighter than the ash bodied tele that the pickups were previously in ...

But I want to move on from assembling guitars, and build something from scratch, and a Les Paul Junior is a guitar I've always wanted to own, so ....

A package arrived yesterday from G&W in Portugal:



I decided to buy the body ready made, as its a standard design, and I think I've got my work cut out with building the neck ... shame what they said was a one piece body has a 10mm cap on the front, but hey ho, it seems well made, and I was planning to paint it red anyway.

I'm sort of circling the job now, wondering how to start ~ the neck blank (there are 2 of them, & 2 fingerboards, just in case!) will need a scarf joint for the headstock angle, I've no bandsaw, but I do have a mitre saw, though that's never made an accurate cut any time I've used it ...

So I think I'll begin by drawing the neck out on the blank, then routing the trussrod channel, then make a jig for sawing the headstock joint, glue that on ...

Any advice from more experienced builders would be welcome   



 

davros

Welcome to the DC junior club! I made a one piece neck and have always cut the neck pocket to fit the neck, so can't help much in that department, but good luck and looking forward to seeing this one progress!

BigMonka

Check out the Bailey Guitars YouTube channel, they did a live stream of making a guitar.
Here’s the episode on scarf joint necks https://youtu.be/0Yx0uyvNIwk

PeteC

Fletcher guitars has a really good Youtube series on making a DC junior style guitar - worth checking out - especially the simple jig for sanding the scarf joint. Helped me a lot with my first build. 

gretschthumper

Thanks for the links PeteC & BigMonka ~ I think I now know how I'll do it ~ I can cut the angle on my (inaccurate) mitre saw, then stick the wood one on top of the other using that easy-release NEC double sided tape I just ordered (tip fron Bailey Guitars), and build a Fletcher sanding jig out of MDF to flat the 2 surfaces together, then turn them around & glue them ... I would never have thought of that sanding jig in a million years, so thanks for that 

One question: the Bailey Guitars man says you should have the joint in the headstock, but others say it's better in the neck, under the 1st/2nd fret ... in the headstock there's obviously more wood to wood contact & no truss rod channel, so maybe he's right?

Any advice much appreciated 

PeteC

Its pretty straightforward to cut the rough scarf using a small Japanese pull saw with the neck blank sideways in a vice or clamped at the end of your bench ( Kitchen table, wife's dressing table  etc ) - then tidy up with the scarf jig tbh.  
Mark the angled cut on all sides first as a guide then make the cut by hand. 

I use an inexpensive German-made , Japanese style saw,  if that makes sense ! 
This is the one I have...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FL8S6IO?ref_=pe_3187911_248764861_302_E_DDE_di_1

WezV

I don't think it makes a massive difference which way you do the scarf. As long as you make sure you get a good join, both will be plenty strong enough