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Hello evryone, I've been out some time, cause I had a lot of work here, but now I'll get back to my first guitar.
Well, some of you guys know that my first tele project is not going very well, and have to be restarted from scratch, becasue of some wrong choices involving bridge, scale lenght, etc.

So, I decided to put the project in second place, and start my first work using a kit, just for learning.

My GFS Les Paul kit arrived this week, and I'll start tomorrow to assemble it. Of course I have questions, cause I don't want to mess it up again.

So, my questions are':

1. How to make a good neck/body glue? Should I have to measure something well and should I use shims? How can I do that?

2. What type of glue should I use?

3. Do you think i can use screws instead of glue? If yes, Can I do it without modifying the body or the neck?

Thank you again, and sorry about this bad english

I can't answer #1 or #2.


But as #3 may be possible, it definitely isn't recommended or wise.

I have never built a guitar from kit, only from scratch. I did look at the GFS website just to see if I could be of some help though.

As for the neck attatchment. It looks like a mortise and tenon. I would test the fit straight out of the box and see if it is relatively snug already. If you need to use shims any hardwood should work. I'd stay away from anything oily though because you want a good glue joint. If you are shimming either side of the neck joint. I would first draw the centerline on the guitar so it's visible. Then as you start adding shims run a long ruler on either side of the fingerboard to make sure that your neck isn't shifted to one side or the other.

As for the glue; Tightbond is probably what I would use.

It looks like none of the bridge holes are predrilled so that may be the hardest part. As a general rule for bridge location..It equals the distance from the front of the nut, to the 12th fret times 2. You also have to add for string compensation. I don't know the number off hand but you can check the stewmac website...I believe it is somewhere on there.

I wouldn't suggest putting any screws into the neck. It seems like it could actually make problems with such little wood as the tenon.

Have fun and good luck!

I haven't looked at the kit, but from the conversation it sounds like you're talking about the normal TOM bridge. It's usually set at a 2-3 degree angle.

Set the high E saddle as close to the front as possible. When placing the bridge, try and set that saddle about 1-2mm forward of exactly the scale length. This will give you a little breathing room. The 2-3 degree angle back from there is plenty for the compensation.

If the posts are already drilled for you, then there's not a lot you can do except use them as-is and hope the kit's engineering was done right.

Yes, you can put in some screws & ferrules to make it a bolt-on, but you shouldn't. Normal Tightbond, not II or III, is the best bet. Others will work, but this is the standard, it's cheap, and it's really easy to work with.

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-------John


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Thanks a lot, guys, I'll try to do my best on this kit... So, I'll gonna ask more, hope I'm not too annoying.

avenger: the posts are not drilled, I'm a bit afraid to do something wrong, but this time I'll measure everything well. So, my other concern is neck/ body joint. Because I don't know if it's easy to do something wrong. It's not a perfect fit, I think I'll have to put some shims. Please, if you have time, take a look at the pictures and tell me what is better to do.

MItch, I'll try to draw the centerline, I think it's ok to center the neck with the body in y axis, my concern is the x axis, looking from one side, how can I be sure if it's not up or down?

Other doubt is what I do first - headstock, glue the neck, sand/ paint the body - measuring and drilling the holes for bridge?

Thank you very much for the help.

some pictures:

Elias,

I would probably go ahead and do your headstock first. It will be much easier to work on before the neck is attached to the body. That's mostly personal preference on shape. Just make sure you leave enough wood for tuners to attach and work properly and you should be ok there.

You asked about the x axis...I'm assuming you were referring to neck angle and essentially string height. Your going to have to do some calculating and checking as you add shims to get that. The easiest way would probably be to drill the holes for your TOM style bridge in it's correct location and at the angle Avenger mentioned before fitting your neck. I would then fit your bridge in place. (I hope someone else will chime in because this is only how I would do it and their may be a better way so take my advice with caution). After the bridge is in it's correct place I would set it's height to somewhere near the middle..Not as high as it goes or low but probably as close to the middle as possible...This will give you some room to adjust once the neck is set in.

A ruler or straight edge longer than your scale length would be necessary here. When you have your neck fit tight, you can run your straight edge from the first fret to the top of your saddle. Where the low E would be measure at the twelfth fret. The distance from the top of the fret to the bottom of the straight edge should be about 5/64 (sorry I don't know the metric conversion for that) and at the high e it should be 3/64th. That is factory specs for Gibson guitars. Add shims until you are as close to those measurements as possible.

You can also double check now the side to side alignment with your straight edge. Run the straight edge from an 1/8" from the edge of the fingerboard at the nut end to your E saddle slot and that will give you an idea of where the string will lay. Check both E strings. It should be about an 1/8" all the way down the fingerboard. If it widens or narrows to much you may have to add or remove shims to get it to align properly. Take special care when centering your neck side to side and measuring for the bridge the first time and hopefully that won't be an issue.

I think I'm all tapped out on information so I hope what I've given is helpful. Once everything is where it should be your good to glue in your neck. One thing I learned when doing critical glue ups is to always dry clamp. Do a practice run before applying the glue so you know the process and in theory, don't have any surprises.

Hopefully someone else will chime in, in case I have forgotten something or there is a flaw in my process. I have never built a Les Paul so this is all information from building acoustics and from what I know about your kit and Les Paul's in general. Good luck and keep us posted on progress!

Hey Elias, I can't answer any of your questions as I haven't started my own yet, but I did have some questions for you. I'm looking at doing the exact same thing as you. I've already priced out all the parts to build myself an LP clone, and I was going to use the GFS kit as well. What can you tell me about the quality on yours? From all the pics I've seen, it appears as though there are some spots around the binding where things don't look to fit quite right. What's it like in person?

Thanks
rog

From the pics showing the neck pocket, it looks like the neck joint is already designed with a decent angle to it( this is assuming that when looking at the angle of the flat surfaces surrounding the neck pocket in your 4th pic that this angle, or ramp, was placed on the top before the neck pocket, or mortise, was routed. This is what I would do. If the bottom of the neck pocket is angled like the top plane, you may be good to go on the neck angle.). As has already been posted, I'd clamp the neck in and find the bridge location, drill those post holes and mount the bridge adjusted down to it's lowest point of adjustment. Lay a straight edge on the fretboard that's long enough to reach the bridge saddles. If the straight edge will lay flat on the fretboard and either rest on the saddles, or better, slightly above( not too high, think 32nds or 64ths of an inch), you should be good to go on neck angle, IMO. Just make sure everything is centered and lined up correctly, and that the fit is good, especially that you have good contact between the bottom of the tennon and the bottom of the neck pocket. My .02.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I'm sorry about the delay, I had too much work these days...

Well, let's do it now!

Thanks a lot by the advices and the answers.

Mitch: I'll do convert the inches to metric system and hope it works... I'll try to make everything you told me. Thanks.

Mike: It's very practical, but the strings tension will not modify this angle a little bit?

Roger: I like the quality of the kit, but you're right - the binding is not glued well, there's some holes I'll have to do something I don't know yet to cover. The first issue I saw is the wood quality. The site says it's mahogany... I don't know a lot about wood, but here in Brazil we have a kind of mahogany that is prohibited by law, it's called Mogno. People said it's the same wood, but if it is, this kit is not mahogany. Lol. I don't know for sure, some people said the american mahogany is not the same wood... well, the fact is I expect a better wood. So, here in Brazil we have wonderful wood for making bodies, tops, necks and scales, I see instruments mad of wonderful wood. Unfortunately there's nothing like GFS to make kits for the begginer. We have to be a complete luthier and start from scratch. So, I hope I learn well and start my first guitar from scratch soon, using one of the hundreds types of those beautiful woods I told.

No. The string tension should cause some relief, or forward bow, in the neck, but nothing that cannot be removed/adjusted with the truss rod. This is normal. It will not alter the angle of the neck. "If" there is an angle built in already, and if it is the correct one, string tension will not change that angle.
As for the issue of the wood, there are many different types of wood refered to as mahogany. The GFS kit is built to a price point, and the wood reflects that. That being said, I see no reason why you could not build a perfectly good instrument out of it. With proper care in putting it together, it should be just fine.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.