Carved top LP from a Flat top

[CrackedPepper]

I really want an LP but the carved tops are pricey for me right now.  Is it possible create a carved top from a W flat top body?

 

[m4rk0]

I don't think there is enough top to carve anything out...
technically you could glue a slab of maple on.. but by then you may as well start from scratch.

 

[Mor Paul]

I really want an LP but the carved tops are pricey for me right now.  Is it possible create a carved top from a W flat top body?

Maybe if you didn't get any control routes. And it would get THIN on the sides, maybe really comfy.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

It would be more like a carved top Melody Maker, sliced so thin you could see through it and palm muting would turn into tremolo action..  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Finch]

damn near anything is possible given enough stubbornness and creativity, although it might not be wise or practical...

 

[AutoBat]

flat top has a 1 3/4" thick body, carved has a 1 7/8" thick body.
slapping on your own layer could be carved, but that's just 1/8" to work with, unless you're going with a solid colour, then you can make it slimmer on the edges.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Carved Top Lams are 3/4"
Thinlines are 1/4"
drop tops are 1'8".

At least they were when I was there.

 

[pabloman]

What about the Luke N4 tele? Why can't that be done to an LP?

 

[CrackedPepper]

Maybe a better question is, how thick should a guitar body be in order to have enough wood for a carved top?

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Maybe a better question is, how thick should a guitar body be in order to have enough wood for a carved top?

The real question is, how deep do you want the carved top to be from the highest point to the lowest?  :icon_thumright:

I would think just about any flat top guitar could have a little carve put on it with no adverse effects. But the deeper you go, the less wood that's left over.

 

[Mor Paul]

I wouldn't say there's a minimum. Look at Satriani's sig models. Carved, thin, and comfy.

 

[line6man]

If anyone's curious 'bout Max's new signature, I was making up crazy statements to try to sound surprising.

 

[OzziePete]

I wouldn't say there's a minimum. Look at Satriani's sig models. Carved, thin, and comfy.

But then again, Max, that was making a body from scratch.

The question is whether we can take a flat top and turn it into a carved top.  You have to contend with the dimensions of the flat top as it is, like the depth of the pickup routs, the neck pocket and the control cavity, and when you add another layer on top how does that affect the fitting of hardware and the neck and bridge etc.? Warmoth will usually rout the neck pocket at the very minimum & adding a layer of carve top around that pocket might aggravate some depths and other dimensions for a good neck fit. The fingerboard overlay that occurs on the 22nd fret, for example,  might not fit over the carve top lamination. If you wanna add a carve top on a flat top LP you would want to carefully check and re-check every dimension and how that might be affected by the extra layer of wood on the body. Bridge studs, tailpiece studs, trems if you have one installed, pots holes, jack holes if mounted on the face of the body,the neck pocket as I had mentioned......  :dontknow:

 

[koshersteel]

damn near anything is possible given enough stubbornness and creativity...

and sandpaper

this could be done but it will be quite a project. you'll want a body without the control cavity pre-routed (or maybe see if Warmoth will route it less deep, about 1" or so is probably good). Routing your own control cavity and drilling the control holes is easy if you have the right tools, making a cavity cover that looks good can be difficult though so consider templates for that operation.

As far as carving your top there are lot's of ways to do that but the easiest / safest / least tool heavy option would probably  be to get an electric palm sander starting with 60-80 grit sandpaper and then once most of the shaping is done start working up with higher grits of sandpaper up to 220. Be careful to stay away from the center of the guitar as that needs to be flat for things like pickup covers and the bridge but contour the edges to your hearts content.

 

[m4rk0]

or like this!!
I love this guitar, but need to replace the flipping pickups...

 

[pabloman]

Satch's guitars are contoured not carved. Felipeak's tele thread pretty much documents the whole process with pics. You can pretty much use it as an instruction manual.