Crusty Builds A Les Paul (How Not To Build A Guitar....)

[zakk_speed]

Just to repeat what everyone has said, this thread documents great skill and dedication to an amazing build and deserves a place in the vault. Truly great work.

So we have a context, how many hours do you think you have on it?

[Ball&Chain]

Not nitpicking but the burst pattern is a little different that the picture you were patterning your build after. not that it doesn't look good but is a different burst.

I think the key word there is "patterning". Which to me would mean it was based on. Not necessarily replicating. From what I understand of bursts, its more of a free hand thing where no 2 are exactly alike anyway.

[innerdreamrecords.co]

I'm speechless! So I will express myself in pictures.

[post toastie]

wow.

STICKY.

the exact colur scheme i was thinking of for my strat.

[crusty philtrum]

I see you're going with buckers - what kind? Hybrids? For some reason when I clicked on the thread, I was expecting a guitar with an A5/P90 combo, like the old Customs, but this is nevertheless cool.

To answer some of the questions that have been asked in this thread ....

Yes, originally i was going to build this for P90s, because i don't have a P90 guitar. However, i was afraid an all-mahogany guitar with P90s might sound like a LP Jnr or an SG .... nothing at all wrong with those sounds, they're great tones. However, i was hoping i might be able to get the more complex and sophisticated LP tone palette, or closer to that anyway, i wanted this guitar to be useable for pretty much anything except thse times when a Strat would be needed.

Yeah, i had ridiculously high expectations for someone with minimal skills in this area and using different methods from the regular LP construction.

So i figured that if i built it to take humbuckers, i could use any bucker and still had the option of P90s in the form of Phat Cats or other brands of bucker-sized P90s.

Yes, the pickups that will be going in will be hybrids built from Duncan coils. I will detail that once the finish is completed (finished ??) and the guitar is hanging up to dry and harden.

[crusty philtrum]

The finishing is where it could get interesting.

You weren't wrong about that, hehe. My shoulder is aching from the endless sanding. I look forward to the finishing of the finishing. It's been difficult, the timing has been bad, it's winter here and far from ideal conditions. However, hopefully today or tomorrow the final coats of straight clear will go on and that's it, all that will remain will be to let it harden up before cutting and polishing it and then the final assembly.

[crusty philtrum]

I'm planning on going on a guitar building course as part of my resettlement when I leave the RAF. Hopefully having an experienced luthier on hand will demystify a lot of techniques and tips for me, and I'll avoid any pitfalls. This has become my new favourite thread!

That would be great, being mentored would be so helpful, having someone else's experiences guide you and help minimise the mistakes. But i can't help thinking that the best learning comes from the mistakes. And that's where this project has been weird ... no practice run, all the risks have been taken on the best piece of wood, without any guidance. Thank goodness for the information and experiences of others available on the internet. Plus of course i'm probably completely mad for having done it this way.

[crusty philtrum]

You know, I've been sat here thinking about this. I followed the build thread on the Tele forum, where the guy built a replica of a 59 Les Paul. That was impressive, but when you compare the 2 threads and builds and consider that one was by a luthier at the top of his game and the other by a guy with little experience in his garden (no offence Crusty!), this is such a fabulous achievement!

No offence taken, i find it a compliment. I have seen some of the amazing stuff people have done, including the Gil Yarron build you're talking about, and i've seen some of the great facilities some people have at their disposal.

I knew what i did and didn't have and basically just used my head to work out how i could do things without all the good stuff. There may be things that could have been better, but now i am actually celebrating some minor flaws because this is hand made at home and it has character from it's imperfections. I think of her more as a mature woman rather than a girl, (remember the block was not young when i started), and as such, it's as much about personality than looks, probably moreso. I think she is going to have a wonderful personality and am looking forward to hearing her voice for a long time to come.

[crusty philtrum]

So we have a context, how many hours do you think you have on it?

Good question. I have no idea. It must be hundreds.

So much time has been spent researching how do do various things, and many many hours shopping online for gold parts, many of which came from the USA. Trying to find sellers who could provide several of the items i'd need to simplify the number of transactions took forever. Some tiny items were arriving that cost more in postage that the contents cost. Gold jack socket, gold screws for the truss rod cover ... so many tiny details, so much time spent.

Then there has been searching for tools and driving all over the place to collect things. Researching finish materials took a lot of reading.

Basically i'd guess that for every hour spent actually doing something to the wood, there has been at least ten hours of other stuff going on behind the scenes. The time spent on the wood is probably surprisingly small, apart from the endless sanding, esp getting closer to applying the finish.

So it must be hundreds of hours in total. It's basically been my life for the last six months.

However it is obvious that if i built another guitar, the second one would be so much quicker, as i have de-mystified most of the procedures and where to get materials, parts and tools to a large degree. Also there'd be a lot less intimidation and nervous research on a second build.

Also there has been many hours spent staring at the pics after a stage has been completed. I learnt a lot by studying my pics of the guitar instead of looking at the guitar itself. Maybe it was a way of distancing myself from the wood at times to make better decisions about whatever would come next.

Yeah, this has been huge. And for someone whose mind works the way mine does, it's also been a journey full of emotion and philosophical meanderings. It's definitely something special.

[crusty philtrum]

There was a small accident yesterday when i lifted the guitar down from spraying to bring it inside. I turned around and bumped the front edge onto a wooden box that was sitting nearby, and it made a small dent/ scrape in the front edge. I always knew those front edges are going to collect dents over time, but it;s too early yet !! I've had a close look and i can steam the dent up with a soldering iron and damp cloth, touch up the finish with the wood stain that i used as the tinter, and maybe build up any other low bits with super glue.

I'm going to attend to that now, and then hopefully spray the final coats of straight clear lacquer. If i can get that done, i'll post some pics. (this page needs pics, hehehe)

[LesStrat]

Amazing work, oh crusty one.

Interesting insights gained from the photos.

[Will S-T]

This is the BEST build thread, and indeed, homemade guitar I've ever seen.

This is a very special guitar, not just because of what and how good it is,
but moreso because of it's (the mahogony) connection to Neil's other
guitar, made many years ago out of the same piece of wood.

Some of us have been priviledged to have seen the build since it's inception.
Trying to hold onto the secret was painfull as this thread was meant to be
Crusty's momentous 3000th, but alas it was not to be. Hell, I dont know
how much longer he could have continued deleting his threads anyway!

If you know Neil, you'll appreciate his attention to detail, and did you know???

His specialty is building amps

Can't wait to hear this baby through the Matchless clone!

Congratulations mate

Now that you've got all them tools and jigs.............might have a few ideas I'd like to discuss

[crusty philtrum]

Thanks Willie.

I'e spent some time repairing the damage from the little accident the other day. The damage to the front edge is fixed and should be invisible. Unfortunately there was another small mark on the front right in the burst. I suspected by the time the repair was done i'd need to blow in that area with some thin dark red/ black to make it invisible. In the process of doing that, i got a small run, so now she's sitting here beside me in front of the heater.

As soon as that's dry enough to sand, i'll finish that repair and go over the edges of the body with a little more red in clear to blend everything back together, then try to get some clear on, although time is not on my side today.

Sheesh i hate repairs, they always seem to go backwards.

Here's a couple of pics taken a few minutes ago. Looks like i'm in desperate need of some quality sleep.

[whatshisname]

This is really awesome, Crusty! Interesting that you went with and Electrosocket jack, too.

You should post this on MLP, in the Luthier's Corner. There's always some really great builds going on over there, and those guys would love to see this!

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Crusty for prime minister!

+1

[crusty philtrum]

I've successfully repaired the dent/scrapes that were on the front 'binding' edge where the right arm would normally come over the body when playing, but the attempt at blowing in the small repair on the front caused more trouble. I suspect i may have used more tinter than the lacquer/ thinner mix could hold and still dry properly ... it dried in a rubbery state, but the worst part was some kind of eruptions like little bubbles that left craters going through all the layers down to the sealer.

In this pic i've got it sanded until the holes are gone, and that took it down to the sealer, which in a couple of spots has gone back to the bare wood.

Since the pic, i have brushed a little sealer over the area to be repaired, and i will attempt to blow in the finish this afternoon. Probably some red first, then a very dark red /black, and then red over that.

If i can achieve an acceptable repair, i will spend the evening allowing myself to be my own hero for a few hours. If i can't, it will be a serious rethink about how to proceed.

Oh well, i've achieved the impossible many times over in this project, so one more may be do-able.

[wahwah]

This is fantastic Neil...I can't remember ever being this interested in a Les Paul.

Just brilliant.




Cheers...................................... wahwah

[WhoFan]

very nice work!!! i've made some guitars and none of mine look that good... i'm surprised you didn't try to make a neck too

[The Dali]

Looking great!!!!

[crusty philtrum]

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone; it means a lot.

I spent Saturday building up the colours for the repair. I still need to do more sanding and squirting a little more finish to get it right, but it got too cold to continue. Hopefully in the next day or two i'll get suitable conditions to finish this little part.

The weather forecast is telling me that next Friday and Saturday are looking like suitable weather to shoot the final layers of straight clear, and possibly Wednesday. I'll be keeping a close eye on conditions and once this repair is done, i'll be fully ready for the first suitable opportunity to get this finish ... finished.

So here's the half-completed repair from Saturday evening ....