$100 Local Materials Challenge,Patrick DeGreve's Pine walnut Les Paul Jr. (Completed 5/20/12)

[Patrick DeGreve]

Now I am back to the body. I made a paper templet to transfer the location of the pickups, and channels for the wire.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Then I cut the 1/4' MDF to use a a routing guide.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here is a pict of the body after the route. I made the recess for the P-90s deeper than I think I will need at the sugestion of a friend, who told me that I should add shims later to get the height right after the bridge is installed.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I did the same thing for the access panel on the back. I made a templet, and then routed a recess for the walnut cover plate.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I then cut a plate from the walnut.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Then using a fostner bit I drilled a recess for the end jack.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I am using a set of plans for the Les Paul that has a carved top. I am not going to carve the top, so I had to re-figure the neck angle. I made a full size layout on butcher paper, and used two straight edges to find the right angle for the action. In this case 2 degrees seemed to be right. Then using a hollow chistle morticer, I drilled a recess on the neck block to create the tenon of the neck.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I posted the wrong picture on the last post. Here is the picture of the morticer. I then routed the mortice in the body for the neck (previous picture).

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here I am gluing on the neck.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Using a round over bit I routed the body.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here is a shot of the body, with the top glued on and the roundover sanded.

[Patrick DeGreve]

And here is a shot from the front. I am getting close. I am not sure I wil make the deadline, but I am going to try. This is my first electric, and I am having fun just holding it. I am glad I decided to join the challenge.

[Tristan Williams]

Thats looking great!
I'm always glad to join the challenge, it gives me a push to do something and an excuse to try new things.

[david frassetto]

I agree, That looks great! I really like the top, the way the lighter stripe comes down the middle. My favorite version of the Les Paul. Keep pushing on, I don't want to be the only one to finish mine <BG>.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I finished last night! I have got a bunch of pictures to post, but she's done. I am very happy! I put D'Addario 010-046 strings in it and it plays great. I love how easy it is to set the action with the tune o matic bridge. The best part for me was that my Rogue amp has an earphone out, so I can play late at night without bothering anybody. I played last night until about 1;00 am. I couldn't put it down. Here are some pictures of what I did in the last couple of days. The first is a shot of the control recess area, I applied copper tape to shield the cavity.

[Patrick DeGreve]

I did the same thing for the pickup recess.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here is a shot of the wiring. I used a schematic from Stew-mac for two P90 and single tone and volume setup. I grounded the bridge by drilling a hole from the cavity to the bridge mounting hole, and running a ground wire before I installed the bridge.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here is a shot of the top with the bridge installed. I messed up a little bit here, the strings don't line up exactly with the 6 magnet screws on the P90's. There off by about 1/16". I plays great, and dosen't seem to effect the output from the pickups any, but I might adjust them later.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here are a few shots of the finished Les Paul. First a shot of the peghead. The trussrod plate is just double faced taped on for now, I have to get some sm black screws.

[Patrick DeGreve]

Here is a shot of the back.