Fully hollow and carved Les Paul

WezV · May 2020

got a few hours today so started to carve the inside of the mahogany back

first thing to do was to made a work board for the pillar drill. I added a wooden plug in the middle and set the maximum depth of the drill to 1/4"

looks like this

that allows me to drill holes in the top as a guide for the carve depth, and to help remove a lot of wood

all drilled. you can see i am leaving the treble side of the back a bit thicker... that will come in handy when i do the control access later. also note my drill doesn't reach the middle

then after that i attach it with a gouge and scrapers untill the drill dots just disappear - about 95% done here

Mostly done, but some lessons learnt. I won't drill as close to the outside lines when i do the top, it makes a nice gentle transition into the flat bit difficult. It's also going to take a lot longer to do the sycamore top as its a lot harder and a deeper carve

JGTay · May 2020

Very interesting approach, much easier than my chisel it all way... but having a drill press to do it helps a lot. Looking very good

Are you cutting out the f-holes on the top before carving?

TTony · May 2020

WezV said:

That’s a neat way of doing it.

Is there any reason not to do the outside of the faces in the same way?

WezV · May 2020

F holes will be done after the top is rough carved. Might be easier to cut them first, but makes the carve harder.

You can do the outside faces the same way, but I use the router step method which is more efficient. Thought about doing the inside with a router but would need a set of negative templates and to do some calculations. The good thing about this method is it follows exactly what i did on the outside. If I had used templates and router I would need a way to ensure outside and inside templates perfectly aligned with no room for error.

It's also straight out of Benedetto's book.

WezV · May 2020

Inside top carve is nearly there.... 4 hrs hand carving so far

It's going to be interesting cutting the f-holes and seeing if I am anywhere near consistent!

WezV · May 2020

F-hole design

I am starting with 2 references for my F-holes.

First is the Fender style thinline template used on my original plans. its a stretched and flattened F-hole designed to fit on the limited space available on Fenders... not quite right

Second is an old Hofner body i have here (really must get around to making a neck for it!) A much curvier traditional F-hole, but a bit too big for a LP size

I have combined the two, starting with taking a rubbing from the Hofner

I cut that out, and used both templates to make the 3rd paper template shown in the middle here

I then transfer that to thicker card for a working copy.

transferred to the original plan, i'm happy with the shape and fit... a nice traditional design without trying to be too fancy!

the cut out thrown onto the closest les paul... i think the angle looks a bit better here

next job is to decide on the actual angle i want it to sit at and create some clear reference points to ensure i can accurately place it on both sides (body shape and bridge/centre lines)

I will then be cutting the F-holes by hand. Would be nice to have a pin router to do this job with templates,but that ain't happening any time soon. I will start by drilling 4 bigger holes in the round bits, then smaller holes at the points, then saw between them well inside the line....then carve them down to the lines

WezV · May 2020

F-holes cut... nearly there

and im quite happy with the consistency of the thickness through the carve... drill method worked well

SteveRobinson · May 2020

Fantastic work as always Wez!

PeteC · May 2020

Very inspiring Wez. Thanks for sharing the detail as you go. It’s really great to watch the progress and attention to detail.

Jalapeno · May 2020

Awesome ! Loving this thread

WezV · May 2020

Thanks guys.

Also got a few more steps done. Top was braced this morning and is pretty much ready to be glued onto the rims.... Might get that done later on this evening.

I also sorted out the access for controls on the back. I have drilled out a large circular hole, which will be bound to hide the saw kerf... A couple of ledges have been glue on the inside. It will be a grain matched control cover when done. Bit controversial I know, but anyone who ever works on this guitar will thank me

paulnb57 · May 2020

There is some serious talent on this forum,,, I wish I possessed some of it! Great work @WezV ;

Roland · May 2020

@WezV Have you ever thought of binding the cover to take up the kerf?

WezV · May 2020

Roland said:

@WezV Have you ever thought of binding the cover to take up the kerf?

I have. Think i will bind the hole, rather than the cover, to prevent the binding peeling off as it tries to spring back to straight

WezV · May 2020

Quartersawn spruce braces are in, time to stick the top on

WezV · May 2020

WezV · May 2020

Should mention a bit on brace spacing.... This won't be a proper acoustic archtop but I'm following similar principles anyway. It's all practice.

Benedetto says everything should be symmetrical across the top... You don't do the bass or treble side differently.

Siminoff suggests having the bass bar slightly further from the centre line to add a bit more bass. Apparently this is common in mandolins

I split the difference and have the bass bar just slightly further angled out

WezV · May 2020

Starting to look like a guitar!

paulnb57 · May 2020

Thats Art that is!

WezV · May 2020

Think I'm going to call it Paulette.

There are a few reasons for this.

1) The obvious one... it's the feminised version of Paul, and this is an elegant version of a Les Paul.

2) I went to Paulet School

3) It means small or humble, which fits the design choices made on this.

I need to make a label for the inside

WezV · May 2020

Trying out some more hardware to help me make some decisions.

I think it looks a little busy, but a few hardware changes and a nice vintage style burst should bring it together

I have decided I won't use this tailpiece, ordered a normal trapeze with single diamond which will add a lot less weight and look cleaner. This bridge is from an old German archtop, it's not too far off the right size but I will likely go for something not quite as long.

Knobs will likely be amber, not black reflectors but I'm happy with the position

WezV · May 2020

TTony · May 2020

paulnb57 said:

Thats Art that is!

WezV said:

Think I'm going to call it Paulette.

I’m going to try complimenting your next build

Looking good Wez, looking good.

PhilKing · May 2020

It's looking really good Wez. The proportions seem pretty elegant, what's the overall depth for it? Any thoughts on the finish?

SteveRobinson · May 2020

Have you thought about a colour scheme? Vintage sunburst would be the traditional choice.

WezV · May 2020

Overall depth at the edge should be 2 1/2", although slightly tapered so thicker at the tailblock by an extra 1/8".

It's going to be about 3 5/8" at the centre of the arch

I'm thinking on taking inspiration from a junior burst for the finish. Tobacco on sides and back, dark burst on top. I will leave the edge of the sycamore natural for faux binding though

PhilKing · May 2020

Sounds like it will look really classic. Thought you might have done an aged goldtop

MLten80 · May 2020

Brilliant build! looking traditional as fook
Liking the name too. I called my first gringo les paul I made 'Paulo' (a scruffy bag of poo compared to this haha. )

An old school 2 tone burst finish would look the nuts ok this

WezV · May 2020

PhilKing said:

Sounds like it will look really classic. Thought you might have done an aged goldtop

Now there's an idea

greggreg66 · May 2020

Blimey man, that's awesome. Really enjoying this build!

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Fully hollow and carved Les Paul

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