Guitarnut - Les Paul Jr...of sorts.

[Mark Crenshaw]

Well, for my 3rd build started this past weekend, I decided to go with a LPJ. I've always wanted one and if all goes well, I will. Well, it won't be a traditional LPJ since it will have a single HB, flame maple cap and a different neck joint. More of a PRS style joint...the same as I'm using on my other builds.

The plan:

Peruvian mahogany body, flame maple cap, faux binding.
Peruvian mahogany set neck, rosewood fretboard with flame maple binding and HS veneer, pearl dots.
Singe HB with vol, tone, series/coil cut/parallel switching.
Not sure on the finish yet.

1.50" mahogany blank.



Profiled and ready for the neck pocket.





I haven't glued the top yet as I plan to set the neck first and then use the top to cover it. The cut off to the right will be used for HS veneer.



The fretboard is tapered, slotted and ready to go. I'll take my new approach on the radius and binding on this one also if it works on the other build.



Peace,
Mark

[Mark Crenshaw]

I had a few hours to work on guitars. I wanted to get the LPJ caught up to the others so I taped the cap down backwards onto the back of the guitar and ran it thru the planer to clean up the glue joint and do final thicknessing. It's still a hair thicker than 1/4"...it will come down when I clean up the other side.



After planing...it's ready to go. I'm going to have to really think thru the next steps on this one. To set the neck before the top goes on, I'll have to pretty much finish the edge of the cap in the neck area since I won't be able to get a router in there after it goes in. And, it needs to be notched for the portion of the neck that extends into the body.

[Mark Crenshaw]

I'm having to take a litle different approach with this top. I want the top to cover the neck tenon so I have to route the pocket in several steps. The first is to route the full length of the tenon in the mahogany.

I lined up the top and clamped it in place. I made marks around the edges of the two so I can line them back up later. I could have screwed or pinned the top thru where the PU route will be, but since I'm altering the scale length, I don't know where that is at this point.



With the front braced up on scap to level it out with the clamps, I used a flush trim bit to dress out the area between the horns. I want this as close as possible so I have little clean up to do once the neck is glued in.



With the pocket template lined up and centered, I made a few shallow passes.



Then removed the template and took it to depth...remembering that part of pocket depth that will be made up with the maple cap. So, this route is the depth of the final pocket minus .25".



Looks pretyy good. I think I'm going to get the neck cut before I go any further on this one. A test fit is definitely in order.



Peace,
Mark

[Mark Crenshaw]

A couple more pics...I remembered my video cam takes stills as well.

The bookmatch HS veneers are done. They're 1/8" thick so I can get a faux binding on the edges. Since I plan to carve in a volute on the back of the necks, I'll take the extra thickness off the backside of the HS when I set up to mill the angle in the heel.

[Mark Crenshaw]

I've had this build sitting while I get the Strat build close to prepping for finish. Back on it today.

I got some more work done on the neck...actually, I'm running two necks...one's for my flat top prototype build.

I needed to thin out the headstock so I decided to run them thru the band saw. My bad saw has a custom table on it with large openings in the center so I can reach adjustments. So, running the HS on edge wouldn't work.



I made a temp table out of a piece of pine. I ran it half way thru and then clamped it down. Now I have a flat surface to run the necks.



I added a resaw fence to keep them flat to the blade.





Here they are after trimming the waste. With a flush cut saw.

[Mark Crenshaw]

Next was carving the neck.

[Mark Crenshaw]

One more test fit...



Now I neede to cut a notch in the top so it would wrap around the portion of the neck that's i the pocket. While I had the neck clamped in, I marked the points where the fretboard ends on the bass and treble sides.

'

The I placed a block of scrap in the pocket and lined it up with the marks.



I clamped the top in place using the marks from the earlier trimming step.



And using a flush trim bit, I routed away the waste area.

[Mark Crenshaw]

After squaring up the corners and back beveling the center portion of the cut to accommodate the neck angle, it fits like a glove.



So, it's time to glue in the neck. Yeah!



When it came out of the clamps, I trimmed the tenon flush and blocked the area smooth.







Clampzilla!

[Michael James]

That badboy deserves a P-90, or a Duncan combo HB/P-90! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished instrument.
mj

[Mark Crenshaw]

Hey Michael. This one's getting a Duncan Pearly Gates with coil cut, vol and tone. Down and dirty simple.

Mark

[Mark Crenshaw]

Out of the clamps and trimmed up.

[Andrew Gibson]

Really nice stuff... can't wait to see more!

[Mark Crenshaw]

Thanks Andrew!

[Mark Crenshaw]

A little more done on this one last night. It won't seem like much but there was a lot of measuring and fitting and such that doesn't photograph well. :wink:

I started by laying out the control cavity. Because I've lengthened the scale to 25.5", the stock position of the cavity puts the vol control in a bad spot. You can see the pencil lines from the stock position and from sliding it back 1". That solves the location issue, but there's no room in there for a coil cut mini switch.

So, after looking at several options with the templates I have, I decided on this one. It's roomy, lets me put the controls where I want them and it's big enough that it reduces weight a bit. It's turned sort of up side down from how I would normally use it but there's a long flat edge at the top that makes it sit well.



I also transferred the location of the bridge to the back to make sure I was leaving enough meat for the bushings to live in...looks good.





Then I routed the rounded over. I'll have to finish the area under the neck by hand. Looks like a rookie mistake, but the pocket was too deep for the bearing to ride along the edge anyway.



Then I added the recess for the cover. If I could do this one over, I'd slide the whole thing toward the neck a bit. It's a bit close to the edge for me but actually not as close as the bottom two corners on a Les Paul so I'm okay with it.



Then, after checking the center line, taping down the bridge and checking string alignment, I located and center punched the bushing locations. Working from this, I located and routed the PU cavity. I gotta get a proper set of HB templates...I really don't like the look of using a Forstner bit to deepen the ends of the cavity...yuck!



Mark

[Mark Crenshaw]

The heat has been a bear lately and the shop has uninhabitable so I have made any progress on finishing. I've been able to spend a few hours in the mornings working on getting all my builds ready for finish. Here's the state of things. This build and the others are ready for grain filling (as needed) and finish.







More soon.
Mark