Full fat Les Paul build

davros

Thanks all - I'm really happy with it, feels proper professional.

Made backplates now, here it is with its 2008 Gibson LP Standard sister. Frankly, mine is nicer! The grain is much prettier and I never realised before how heavy handed the sanding is on the back of the gibson, the edge radius is almost gone in some places and it dips down to the cavities.

I'll do a video at the weekend with some tones.

davros

The question is...what next!

Wide sky style Les Paul with tailpiece?
Baum Wingman style with 24.75" scale and set neck?
Slightly smaller ES-335 with chambered solid back and carved top?

McToot

Hmmm. What about a neck through Yamaha SG-alike to see if they really are 'Les Paul beaters'?

 

davros

AFAIK the Yammy SGs have the same construction as LPs, so built by the same person they should be pretty much the same...not a fan of the shape though!

Kvaksalver

Updated Buckethead LP?

davros

I'm not particularly tall, so an oversized body would make me look like a midget, and white is bloody difficult to get right - finishing is not my strong point!

davros

Expert thoughts needed again. Back in page 3 of this thread I said I was surprised at how straight the wraparound bridge was but it was perfectly intonated...well, it wasn't. I don't know how I managed to fuck this up!

I have moved the bass side back as far as I can without it falling off the posts and it's still quite sharp at the 12th fret. The post should be about 3mm back of where it is.

I'm thinking that the only option is to live with it (not sure I can) or plug with maple, redrill and try and make good the finish. Going to be impossible to make it invisible but might be hard to see from a distance.

Any better ideas?

SteveRobinson

I think that one of the bridges with separate saddles will work. Schaller Signum or the Tonepros one maybe?

davros

Thanks Steve, I'm not even sure one of them would give me enough adjustment with the post where it is   

PhilKing

Look at the Leo Quan Badass bridge.  It has a lot of adjustment over the length on the baseplate, as well as individual saddle adjustment.

SteveRobinson

I think that the real Badass hasn't been made for something like 40 years and the Chinese knockoffs are often too tall. 

The Signum should work nicely, it even works with straight posts I think.

davros

Thanks Phil, good idea, but I think I'd rather a hacked up paint job than the ugliness of the badass bridge though!!

davros

Looks like I can get a 12.7mm plug cutter from Screwfix, perfect size for the bridge hole. Given the drop fill worked well and I have leftover red paint I'm thinking of just biting the bullet and fixing it properly, another learning opportunity!

The Signum could be an option, but I think it might still have to hang off the posts and look a bit odd...and it's 120 quid! I do like the look of the Faber.

davros

Got 23 fence panels to fit first, so plenty of time to mull it over!

Kalimna

Go for the fix. The worst part is accepting what you know you should do. You clearly have the skills, it will just take time before the guitar is finished.
It's a solid colour, so more forgiving than a clear one. 

davros

Yep, inclined to agree. Another reason to be glad I didn't spend a fortune on a sexy flamey top!

Kalimna

Here is a photo of a fix i had to do for something i built as a christmas gift. There was no option other than to re-do the stud positions after i had mis-drilled the locating holes. It isnt perfect, but on a tight grained top, its not bad either. As i said, the worst part was accepting what needed to be done. The actual fix wasnt all that tricky. Having said that, the guitar had not been stained/sprayed at that point.

http://imgur.com/gallery/FTnFtbn

Adam

davros

That's a good fix, had to zoom in to spot it!

It's not a particularly exposed location so should be OK.

Kalimna

Exactly. Altogether a stunning build. Inspiring me to get off my butt and do a carve top too!

PeteC

I feel your pain @davros ;;
Although the prospect of redoing it is never nice after all that hard work - once you do the alteration youll be really glad you did it.  

Accepting the problem and biting the bullet is the hard part !  

Correcting my cock ups is where ive learnt the most on my few builds 
On my carve top build i under-angled the neck break angle slightly and couldnt get the bridge low enough
- so had to strip the hatdware and recarve the top to bring the bridge plane down another mm or two.   I was loathe to do it , but glad that i have 
Go for it - its such a great build that you want it to play perfectly too