Les Paul from scratch

[ramonet]

I prepared a piece of mahogany to fill the gap; a touch of Titebond and that's it. Tomorrow I'm going to sand it flush and install the fretboard (another scary task for a first-timer).

 

[Cagey]

Damned routers are sometimes enough to piss off a saint. But, it looks like you're recovering nicely. Keep up the good work!

 

[ramonet]

wood dowel in place and flush on the truss rod

 

[ramonet]

I`ve used some nails at the ends of the fretboard to avoid slipping when glueing and clamping

 

[ramonet]

as the fretboard is radiused I've used a StewMac radiused block (wraped in plastic) to hold the fretboard when clamping. For the rest of the board, wood scraps with some foam underneath... an a lot of clamps to avoid gaps

 

[ramonet]

while the glue dries I drilled the holes for the switch and the controls

 

[ramonet]

the neck free of clamps

 

[ramonet]

More progress: the holes for the mother of pearl dots are drilled

 

[ramonet]

the previous pic is not wrong: there's no dot on fret 2. In this pic, the dots are glued; I've used black superglue

 

[ramonet]

The glue has dried, so I sanded flush. I must work a little more on it but the result it's OK. It's really hard to work on ebony. Next step: raw cut, sand the sides and start fretting (a deep breath and I go for it)

 

[ramonet]

The peghead contour (in the Zemaitis shape) and the fretboard edges are traced. I've cutted tue upper side of the fretboard and sanded it flush so I can start installing the side dots in a safe way because the other side of the neck block is flat so it didn't turns or moves

 

[ramonet]

To install the side dots I've drilled a hole in a piece of aluminium angle that I use as a template. This allows me to put all the dots at the same distance. This idea it's not mine, I borrowed from a guitar forum mate (I don't remember if it was in this one or in projectguitar but... Thanks a lot!!!)

 

[ramonet]

The bottom neck contour it's traced; it's time to go back to the bandsaw

 

[ramonet]

The neck shaping has begun

 

[JCizzle]

That is some serious work you have there, nicely done!

 

[ramonet]

Headstock shaped and sanded (only needs a fine sanding). As I told before, it's "a la" Zemaitis

 

[nexrex]

Wow, coming along very nicely.  :icon_thumright:

 

[ramonet]

the back of the headstock; still needs sanding but it's coming out Ok

 

[ramonet]

I still must level, polish and round + bevel the ends but: it's fretted!!!

 

[Cagey]

Nice job! Frets are in the slots and everything!