Les Paul from scratch - non warmoth

[Danuda]

I was contemplating my next guitar build when a series of things happened.  The first was my daughter was born.  I decided in the interests of not leaving her with no father I decided to sell my motorcycle.  The second thing that happened was stumbling across a post by Orpheo.  The post itself was not the happiest thing in the world, but the guitar in the picture was very interesting and it started the line of thought that got me to this point now, building a guitar from scratch.  The only thing I am cheating on is having the lumber planed for me since I do not want to buy a planer.
I have only built one guitar, my Warmoth, and that is completely different from starting straight from scratch.  I have experience with tools and have done general construction, but nothing specific to woodworking beyond simple stuff.  I will be building three guitars, more on them later, at the same time so hopefully by the time I get to the same stage on the third one I will be better at that particular task.  I am hoping that this makes the third guitar the nicest.  The other two I am planning on giving away to friends.  I am planning on keeping track of everything I do on here.  Money spent, time, mistakes ect.
So here we go.
Tools:
The tools I have are limited to generic stuff that most people have laying around.  So I am going to be picking up a few big ticket items.  I will probably keep track of everything in each post as I buy them and then keep a running tally of my total cost.  Here are the big tools I am going to buy.
14” Band saw
Spindle sander
Drill press - $50
The drill press I bought used so I am set there.  The band saw and spindle sander I will pick up new unless I find a good deal on craigslist.

This is where my workshop will be.


It needs a lot of work, but I think it will be a good space for building a guitar.

As I mentioned earlier the guitar idea was from a post Orpheo made a few weeks ago.  The plan is to do a guitar for myself using exotic woods and two practice guitars out of maple and walnut.  My guitar will be a Les Paul style guitar with a rosewood top, padauk body and rosewood and padauk laminated neck.  The idea is to do a neckthrough where you see the neck at the top and bottom of the guitar.

This is the idea for the guitar including the headstock design I am going with.  I am aiming for a straighter pull than the typical Les Paul.  I scaled this out to its full size to get the dimensions I needed and make sure everything fit up right.  The guitar will be a rather un-Les Paul like 25" scale so I needed to make some changes.  The nut will also be 1 11/16" so this isn't really a standard guitar.  If anyone is intersted I will probably go more in depth on the actual planning of the guitar later.



I am lucky enough to have a local woodworking shop that stocks tons of exotic woods.  Here is the rosewood and padauk for the neck.



and this baby will be the top of my carved top



I also picked out the maple and walnut for my friends guitars.  All in all the damage was $320 including $20 for some forstner bits I will need for the drill press.

Running totals
Tools: $20 Guitar: $300 Grand Total: $320

 

[DangerousR6]

Congrats on your daughter, but so sad to hear of the exodus of the motorcycle. As an avid motorcyclist and two wheel lover, it's heart wrenching to hear of such. Your daughter is more important, but we could easily be stricken down in a car wreck as a motorcycle wreck.

Props on the new guitar build, it's always cool to see someone do a scratch build....Now clean that work shop.... :icon_thumright:

 

[rapfohl09]

Let me tell you my friend, what you are about to do is EXTREMELY satisfying.

I wish I had a place near me where I could buy wood like that! Damn!

 

[Nando Vallart]

Cool! But I think the headstock of LP is the most classic...
The woods are amazing!

 

[Cagey]

...I think the headstock of LP is the most classic...

That's true. But, they're not the most practical. You don't want angles on your strings that don't do anything for you because they're a tuning problem waiting to happen. That's why other than on flamboyant kiddie guitars, the headstock provides for a straight run to the tuner. Unless, of course, you've got a locking nut and don't mind putting an unnecessary twisting force on the neck. Then it doesn't matter. At least, not until you have to change strings.

 

[JimBeed]

Cagey beat me to it, just as i was posting, but yeah seems like a nice build and a practical headstock shape ,  :rock-on:

 

[Danuda]

...I think the headstock of LP is the most classic...

That's true. But, they're not the most practical. You don't want angles on your strings that don't do anything for you because they're a tuning problem waiting to happen. That's why other than on flamboyant kiddie guitars, the headstock provides for a straight run to the tuner. Unless, of course, you've got a locking nut and don't mind putting an unnecessary twisting force on the neck. Then it doesn't matter. At least, not until you have to change strings.

Yeah, I am not really going for classic.  I may not even do a TOM bridge 

 

[Kostas]

Yeah, I am not really going for classic.  I may not even do a TOM bridge 

I thought the same thing. I suggest a modern one piece adjustable bridge like PRS is using. I also like the 25'' scale. My WLP is 25.5'' and sounds very much like a LP, just more clear than most Gibsons I have played.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Will be watching this one.  :icon_thumright:

 

[kboman]

I really like the headstock! Reminds me a bit of PRS' Santana headstock which I've always had a thing for.

Will follow this with interest...

 

[Watershed]

Very cool, and good luck with everything.
I have been building out my shop as well.

All I can add is to recommend a dust collection system.

Also, if you haven't checked them out before, I would suggest talking a look at www.grizzly.com.

The owner builds guitars as well., lots of cool stuff.

James

 

[ozyonum]

Will be watching this one.  :icon_thumright:

+1

 

[Danuda]

Time for an update on the build.
The garage is still a mess, but I have now run electrical to my workshop area.  I also want to rebuild the bench as it is too high for me, but one thing at a time.  The wood I purchased is still at the store getting planed down.  I don’t have the tools to do that sort of work and purchasing them is too expensive.  A bunch of stuff has come in the mail that I will be using later like truss rods, bindings ect.  The wood should be done next week though which is great because then I can get started on laminating the neck blanks.  I can’t wait!
In the mean time I did more planning on how I am going to be building the guitars and also got cracking on the body template.

I went to a local print store to get the image I scaled out printed to the correct size.  I tried tiling it from my printer, but it kept getting stretched one way or another.  It only cost $2 to have two copies printed out.  Well worth it.
Here I prepare to cut out the template with a very fancy and expensive tool.


After I cut out the paper I used some contact adhesive (which is nice because you can remove the paper after you are done) and glued the paper onto some leftover plywood I had from doing some work in my kitchen.  I had talked about getting a band saw, but in the end I decided they are too expensive, too big and I wouldn’t use it enough.  Instead I bought some nice high quality blades for my cheap Black and Decker jigsaw and went at it.


It was rough around the edges so I used a sanding block and some 60 grit paper to smooth out the outside curves.  The inside curves were trickier.  A special tool from Stewmac, acquired at great cost, was used to sand the inside.  Or I glued sandpaper to a bottle.  Worked great.  :toothy12:


And here is the finished product.  I am really happy how it turned out.  This will be my routing template for all three guitar bodies I am building.  I am probably using this same template for the humbucker routes, but I may build another for that.  I will see when I get to that point.  Also, as a warning to anyone who is reading this and is considering building their own guitar.  Make sure you mark your center line.  I forgot and it was a huge pain finding it again.


Keeping track of the money totals post by post is going to be annoying and also won't really make sense as I buy stuff all over the place and sometimes well before it will get used.  I figure I will post my final totals when I finish the guitars.  It will be easier that way.

 

[Cagey]

Keeping track of the money totals post by post is going to be annoying and also won't really make sense as I buy stuff all over the place and sometimes well before it will get used.  I figure I will post my final totals when I finish the guitars.  It will be easier that way.

It's most annoying when you see what the total actually is. Need to avoid that at all costs. Besides, this is a guitar, not a budget. Whaddaya, some kinda bean counter?

There is no cost! There is only Zuul!​

 

[Alfang]

Yeh buying Tools and making templates doesn't count in the expense of building a guitar, those are one time, get to use them on the next project, items

 

[Danuda]

Keeping track of the money totals post by post is going to be annoying and also won't really make sense as I buy stuff all over the place and sometimes well before it will get used.  I figure I will post my final totals when I finish the guitars.  It will be easier that way.

It's most annoying when you see what the total actually is. Need to avoid that at all costs. Besides, this is a guitar, not a budget. Whaddaya, some kinda bean counter?

There is no cost! There is only Zuul!​

Yeah, maybe I will leave the cost out of it.  I actually do a lot of bean counting for work.  Bad habit I guess.  Spending all day in spreadsheets has that sort of effect on you.

 

[CrackedPepper]

Watching this thread anxiously - so you made the template from scratch?  What are the forstner bits for?

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, maybe I will leave the cost out of it.  I actually do a lot of bean counting for work.  Bad habit I guess.  Spending all day in spreadsheets has that sort of effect on you.

I was sorta kidding. There's no accounting for toys, since you're compelled to buy them by a higher power <grin>

But, I suspect a number of people here would be interested in seeing what some of the projects cost when they're done.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

After I cut out the paper I used some contact adhesive (which is nice because you can remove the paper after you are done) and glued the paper onto some leftover plywood I had from doing some work in my kitchen.  I had talked about getting a band saw, but in the end I decided they are too expensive, too big and I wouldn't use it enough.  Instead I bought some nice high quality blades for my cheap Black and Decker jigsaw and went at it.

This will be my routing template for all three guitar bodies I am building.  Also, as a warning to anyone who is reading this and is considering building their own guitar.  Make sure you mark your center line.  I forgot and it was a huge pain finding it again.

(takes notes: "Mark the centerline!  Routing template from scrap plywood?!?!? BRILLIANT!!)

Duly noted for a maple blank on it's way to me at this very moment.  :toothy10:

I suspect a number of people here would be interested in seeing what some of the projects cost when they're done.

(raises hand) "I would!"  It's usually quite helpful to read what specific solutions cost, as that saves just a little bit more time in researching.

 

[MedianMusic1]

I stopped keeping track of cost after my first build because by the time it's done, you're going to go over budget anyway.