Fully hollow and carved Les Paul

WezV · April 2020

Time to get back to building.

I want to do an archtop acoustic build at some point, but am wary of spending a lot on the necessary materials without a bit of practice first. The main thing I need to practice is fully carving some plates for the body. I have done one side before for Les Paul builds, but never fully carved inside and out.

Anyway, just been through the wood pile and I have everything I need to build a fully hollow Les Paul shaped and sized archtop, which seems like a perfect way to practice some things.

It will be fully hollow, but won't really be a proper acoustic instrument in anything other than construction style used... Likely end up as some kind of hybrid instrument.

So the idea is:

*Les Paul outline
*Bent mahogany sides, 2.5 - 3" deep
*Mahogany neck and tail block
*Fully carved mahogany back, inside and out
*Fully carved sycamore top, inside and out
*Archtop style A bracing
*One piece mahogany neck
*Rosewood fretboard
*Neck pickup only
*floating bridge/tailpiece

merlin · April 2020

I am really looking forward to seeing this build. Sounds like a great project. Have you settled on a pickup, and is neck only definitive?

WezV · April 2020

nothing is definite yet, but have a mojo staple pickup with raw nickel cover i want to use

WezV · April 2020

this is the front and back plates.

flat sawn mahogany on the back. Quarter sawn sycamore on the front.

the sycamore has some mineral steaks which should carve ut, but not too worried if they don't as its likely this will have a burst. clearly this piece has been supplying me with some plugs at some point

johnl · April 2020

Can't wait to see this one. Are you going to do f holes?

WezV · April 2020

I think so, but not fully decided on style

WezV · April 2020

This is what an ES Les Paul looks like inside.

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/attachments/guitar-amps-gizmos/37203d1478427652-gibson-es-les-paul-gib-es-lp-bracing-jpg

My plan is similar, but leaving nothing in the middle at all.

PhilKing · April 2020

Are you going to leave a block for the bridge and tailpiece, or are you going to go with a trapeze and floating bridge? Looks like a great project.

PhilKing · April 2020

It would look a bit like a scaled down ES-175, if you do the floating bridge/trapeze:

Image: https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--YCKi79fv--/f_auto,t_large/v1556553655/pjlz3u1qmgqlyuyabw7q.jpg

WezV · April 2020

It will be a floating bridge I think

merlin · April 2020

Soft neck heel? Or big square monstrosity, like a L** P***?

WezV · April 2020

Hmm, hadn't considered rounding it off, but no reason it can't be done... Although it will still be bulky

TTony · April 2020

Nice - another interesting Wezv build thread coming up,

I'd been considering buying one of the PRS SE Hollowbodies - but thought perhaps I should try building something instead given the piles of wood in my workshop! Not fully hollow like yours, but a hollowed out body with some sort of carved top. You'll probably have yours finished before I start!

How thick is the top that you're starting with?

ICBM · April 2020

PhilKing said:

It would look a bit like a scaled down ES-175, if you do the floating bridge/trapeze

ES-140

Image: https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--aB-k8EdO--/f_auto,t_supersize/v1570215441/b1xsrlqx1bpfr9z0yngb.jpg

WezV · April 2020

Not gonna be too far off a es-140 aestheticly, but will be full scale, fully carved, and have the typical LP neck pickup position.

Also not doing a Florentine cutaway

Danielsguitars · April 2020

I've got a solid spruce cap to do something similar fully carved, thought it would be interesting to combine electric acoustic construction but you beat me to it, I'll be interested to see how yours comes out

WezV · April 2020

The plan is for something in solid spruce and maple later this year/early next year.... If this one goes well

guitargeek62 · April 2020

Great idea Wez!

WezV · April 2020

TTony said:

Nice - another interesting Wezv build thread coming up,

I'd been considering buying one of the PRS SE Hollowbodies - but thought perhaps I should try building something instead given the piles of wood in my workshop! Not fully hollow like yours, but a hollowed out body with some sort of carved top. You'll probably have yours finished before I start!

How thick is the top that you're starting with?

It's 1" thick on the top. Back is a bit thinner at 20mm

WezV · April 2020

Top and back plates have been glued together, roughly trimmed to shape, and marked up for the initial contours

WezV · April 2020

this might show my intentions for the internals a bit clearer

the neck joint section is going to follow normal a normal les paul pretty closely. i will likely do a full width long tenon set into a solid chuck of mahogany.

I will extend that solid chunk to the bass side to hold a strap button, extend it to the treble to form the cutaway and horn (this is a bit of a cheat to save bending that area). then we will have bent rims going down to a mahogany tail block, with kerfed lining adding a suitable glue surface for top and back plates. two big braces will support the top, going under the bridge

Neck pickup will be mounted into solid wood. the side will be reinforced for a les paul style jack plate. Im probably going to add a small backplate for access to the controls, this will be mahognay and carved to match the shape of the back

ADP · April 2020

Are you going to carve the top and add the braces or carve the top in a way that leaves the braces in the original wood?

WezV · April 2020

Braces will be carved separately

ADP · April 2020

The reason I asked is that recently I’ve seen some builders carve the top and leave the braces in the wood. I always wondered if that was possible or if there was some advantage to the extra step of removing wood and then effectively replacing it. I’m looking forward to seeing the build progress.

TTony · April 2020

The thing about semis ... I really don't like the tradition f-hole design!

Always feel that there should be something more modern, and something that is a better fit with the other design aspects of the particular instrument (body shape, etc).

Sesh · April 2020

TTony said:

The thing about semis ... I really don't like the tradition f-hole design!

Always feel that there should be something more modern, and something that is a better fit with the other design aspects of the particular instrument (body shape, etc).

Agreed on the F-hole. I've always liked the simplicity of the rickenbacker style hole.

This is the worst I've seen:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingdom-Defender-Electric-Chambered-Wilkinson/dp/B00IJZPFPS/ref=sr_1_28?dchild=1&m=A39247DTAXDFJC&marketplaceID=A1F83G8C2ARO7P&qid=1587572245&s=merchant-items&sr=1-28

johnl · April 2020

Think traditional F holes look great on a Les Paul, it's pretty much a violin in guitar form anyway. Agree that they look a bit weird on super shredder types.

WezV · April 2020

I'm going for traditional archtop construction for the majority of the body, so that's seperate braces. I'm not really sure of the benefits of carved out braces, I see a few pitfalls though, and I'm not sure it's an easy solution to implement on a hand carved top

F-holes will suit the traditional Gibson archtop vibe, although these are actually fender style so a bit more slimline. Not decided on the final design yet

WezV · April 2020

Neither of my existing f-hole guitars have traditional f-holes.

https://i.imgur.com/41PR79k.jpg

SteveF · April 2020

Interested to see this one.

WezV · April 2020

dug out a long mahogany plank which has given me 2 quartersawn long tenon neck blanks, the wood to make the neck and tail block for this guitar, and a load of strips to make kerfed lining... and a few door stops for the new house not pictured)

this is the wood for the neck block, now in clamps being glued together. I have left the middle bit longer for now so i can attach a normal LP template.

i also made a mold and workboard. Used some scrap for this as didnt want to go out and buy more wood, so making do with what i have here. Sides are also trimmed, gong for 2" deep for these, whole thing will be between 3.5-4"

I also started carving the outside of the sycamore top. I started by routing steps in the top, then, routed the neck place and finally started to sand to shape. mineral streaks at the neck end are a lot more prominent, but the ones down teh sides have gone, was planning a dark burst anyway and that is still on the cards

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Fully hollow and carved Les Paul

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