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Proto #3 is underway:
I had 2-3 rough cut '71 bodies on a shelf for quite some time, and I noticed a mahogany neck blank that I had tapered, routed the truss rod, and cut a headstock for also sitting on a shelf, so I said "what the hell?" let's slap another prototype together. This one's weird; the body is black limba with a curly spalted maple top and the neck is mahogany. I grabbed a rosewood fretboard, and had some fun with it. Since it was essentially a sketch, I also decided to move the bridge pickup toward the bridge a bit more, and I moved the control cavity up. So here are some shots from last week:
Body with rough cut contours:
Wasn't sure what color the top should be, so I grabbed some black and orange. This is black sanded back and full strength orange over it:
Sanded back again with a light orange wash. Who knows....
Binding in and taped:
Binding scraped, fretboard oiled:
Neck shaped:
Neck fretted with 22 bits of stainless steel goodness and glued in:
Finally, with it's predecessor:
What I've decided thus far:
I'll NEVER put this headstock with this guitar again. It just looks very, very, wrong to my eyes. It was originally designed to go with this body shape, but I definitely like the other 3/3 headstock better; IMO, it goes with the angles of the body better and keeps it from getting Gibsony, which is something that matters a lot to me. For example, I won't put the toggle switch where it is on an LP, nor would I do the v/v/t/t control layout. There's nothing wrong with those things, of course, on a Les Paul.
At this point, I need to dial the neck shape in a bit more, then it's pretty much ready for paint. I have a feeling that it'll be one of those guitars that is better than you expect it to be simply because there wasn't a whole ton of thought into it. I still need to make one with a Floyd, and then I can move on to the carved top model.
Sully
I had 2-3 rough cut '71 bodies on a shelf for quite some time, and I noticed a mahogany neck blank that I had tapered, routed the truss rod, and cut a headstock for also sitting on a shelf, so I said "what the hell?" let's slap another prototype together. This one's weird; the body is black limba with a curly spalted maple top and the neck is mahogany. I grabbed a rosewood fretboard, and had some fun with it. Since it was essentially a sketch, I also decided to move the bridge pickup toward the bridge a bit more, and I moved the control cavity up. So here are some shots from last week:
Body with rough cut contours:
Wasn't sure what color the top should be, so I grabbed some black and orange. This is black sanded back and full strength orange over it:
Sanded back again with a light orange wash. Who knows....
Binding in and taped:
Binding scraped, fretboard oiled:
Neck shaped:
Neck fretted with 22 bits of stainless steel goodness and glued in:
Finally, with it's predecessor:
What I've decided thus far:
I'll NEVER put this headstock with this guitar again. It just looks very, very, wrong to my eyes. It was originally designed to go with this body shape, but I definitely like the other 3/3 headstock better; IMO, it goes with the angles of the body better and keeps it from getting Gibsony, which is something that matters a lot to me. For example, I won't put the toggle switch where it is on an LP, nor would I do the v/v/t/t control layout. There's nothing wrong with those things, of course, on a Les Paul.
At this point, I need to dial the neck shape in a bit more, then it's pretty much ready for paint. I have a feeling that it'll be one of those guitars that is better than you expect it to be simply because there wasn't a whole ton of thought into it. I still need to make one with a Floyd, and then I can move on to the carved top model.
Sully
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