1959 2013 LP Build

[somethin'else]

Man Thanks for the Bartlett links, I love his approach! He makes it look so simple. Except his top carve technique! Damn, that's cnc right? The rustico hand carve way has to be painfully satisfying though.

I see what you mean having the pickup plane @ 12 degrees makes that schweet subtle difference.
Looking forward to your final carve pics AND a full report on the neck please!

[vanhalen5150]

Yeah Tom uses a cnc for his tops. He has access to a real 59 some where in Ontario. Saves him a lot of time and he sells the tops. Spoken to him numerous times. All around genuine guy.

I have at least 12-15 hours on just my top. I got the neck slot and PU leg holes routed successfully. I used my new Bosch and StewMac jig to do the binding channel as well. I used my Dremel before and it works well. Just have to really take your time and keep it at a perfect right angle.

[vanhalen5150]

Ok, here are a few pics of the plane jig. Its just a hing on the front. I make 2 L shaped running pieces about 10 inches long and glue/screw them together. I clamp both to the sides of the top of the hinge jig and then screw the top running board with the hole in it for the router bit. This makes sure I have a tight fit for the board to slide. This jig works really well. I stole the idea.

[vanhalen5150]

Here is a better presentation of the angles.

[vanhalen5150]

So after a bit of sanding, you think it looks ok? See the difference with natural light? Really shows your flaws and areas that need work. I take a photos from different angles as I spin the body to the light. Works well.

[vanhalen5150]

The top is fairly flat. I sand the top area bridge section by hand and take a piece of a 12" radius sanding block to do between the PU's. Use double face tape to attach the sand paper, and cut of the excees edges. Dont wrap it around as this will cause a small channel to form on the wood. Mark the middle with a pencil and stay within the bottom of the neck PU and the top of the bridge PU. I've found from photo's the best carve tops have this 12" radius that seems to flow from the neck. The neck is 12''. So is the bottom of the bridge. The tail piece bottom is about 16''. Sounds pretty geeky eh?

[vanhalen5150]

Now Im here. I havent used any higher than 150 grit to this point.

[vanhalen5150]

Next I mark off the neck slot. I use double face tape (DFT) on the PLANE ANGLE. Predrill 4 holes in the template for 4 small finishing nails. Thes holes will be under the fretboard. Tip the template(centered!!!) onto the neck plane and tap the nails in slightly. Check the front and back for alignment. If your ok, nail then straight in. I then put a few wedge scraps onder the template to stabilize.

[vanhalen5150]

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[vanhalen5150]

I take direct measurements from the Bartlett plans for the neck cut and mark.

[vanhalen5150]

I'm going to do this route in 2 passes like the originals were. Seems like all the deep cuts were done with 2 passes. I really dont recommend this so try to do these part in about 4 passes. Really, I should have used a drill and drilled much of this out first. Just wanted to try this. Gibson had a warehouse full of wood, so if they F'd up, they didnt care.

I then remove the template. Carefully....I actually broke mine. Those nails in maple are tough buggers. I'll make another template, but I dont need this one again for this build.

[vanhalen5150]

I can now drop my router down and use the first cut as my template. HOWEVER.....remeber that you removed the template that was on the NECK plane. The neck plane travels up to the PU, but the neck tounge sits halfway under it. So, if you route the whole way up your router may slipe into the PU plane!!

What I did was put a sraight edge on the NECK plane and then slide a sraight edge under and up, to base a temp base for my router to sit on for that top part. You can see where I stopped and then ductaped this there. Just do it from the start.

[vanhalen5150]

I then clamped the PU leg template to the NECK plane and added wedges under to support. This one I didnt photograph, but just use a few clamps and about 6 wedges. Put a clamp over each wedge.

I keep yelling NECK and PU because you don't want to mix these up.

The PU leg routs are at the same depth and the neck slot, but will sit higher because of the 4.4 angle.

You can now see...or at least you should see the channel coming from the switch cavity. Remember that channel we routed way back? Sometimes your router will jump a little when you hit it. Take your time on these, and predrill a hole to fit the router bit in first.

With me?

[vanhalen5150]

Checking alignment. Everything looks ok so far.

[vanhalen5150]

Now I used a router(Bosch Colt) and Stewmac jig for binding but you can use a Dremel with a CARBIDE bit and the Dremel attach from Stewmac as well. Most router spin clockwise. What I do is feed the body in a counterclock direction. In otherwords, I start at the switch cavity and rotate around to the cutaway. Take this slow. This greatly reduces the risk of tear away on a few areas. You need a very sharp CARBIDE bit for this. If you go the other way, the router will "run", or grab the wood and shoot along it. This causes tearout. You can then go back around, in a clockwise direction afterwards to smooth things out.

In the cutaway you should see the maple "speedbump" under the binding route. All LP's have this under the binding if you look close. Well, unless its painted.....

My binding cut is about 6mm by 1.7mm. The excess is needed to be sanded to match. The square white thing is part of the Stewmac jig that supports the body to bring it closer to the router bit. Its not needed unless you use this method with the fixed router suspended above the table. The Dremel works fine but you need to practice with it first.