The Puzzle Top Les Paul

[Ben Castellana]

I started this guitar over four years ago. There were multiple times that I had to set it aside after encountering problems with the prep. Filling the gaps between the puzzle pieces turned out to be way more difficult than I thought, mostly because of the 3/4-inch thickness of the pieces. It plays really well, and is much lighter than the average Les Paul, mostly due to the construction-grade redwood I used for the core of the body (not something I'll repeat in the future, by the way). The top is maple and wenge, the neck is maple, the fretboard is cocobolo, and the body is redwood, with a maple cap to minimize damage to the softer redwood.

[Ben Castellana]

This is a bolt-on neck, with the neck tenon extending under the bridge pickup. The bolts are accessed through the pickup cavities so there are no bolts visible on the back of the guitar.

[Dan Smith]

That looks great Ben!
The bolts under the pickups is brilliant.
Dan

[Jason Rodgers]

Aside from being backwards, this is cool! How did you cut the puzzle pieces? Does that neck system have any angle adjustability?

[Eric Baack]

I might have to try that!! Very cool.

[Barry Daniels]

An innovative example of marquetry.

[Ben Castellana]

Thanks, all! The puzzle pieces were cut by stacking a 3/4 sheet of maple on top of a 3/4 sheet of wenge, affixing a pattern, then cutting with a scroll saw. Each set of pieces was numbered and juxtaposed to create the checkerboard pattern. It took a lot of time, and there was significantly more gap between the pieces than I thought there would be. My dreams of doing an Escher Gecko Top are currently on hold until I can get a CNC machine.