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Well i finally gotten around to starting a build this year.

Back in January i found a sapele board at my local wood supplier it measured 3070mm long 450mm wide and 52mm thick, that would yield at least 6 guitars. here it is cut in half for ease of working



and here they are after thickness sanding





I wiped them down with lacquer thinners to get a feel of the grain.

Then i put them in a room upstairs which has a ceiling that is at the same angle as the tiles outside so it would get a little warmth and away from sunlight to acclimatize to the area where i live for 6 and a half months and that is where i started at the beginning of this week.

Nice score on the sapele!
Coincidentally, I just picked up a similar piece - good for 5 bodies.
This stuff is wonderfully dense.
Are you going to chamber the '59?
I recently built an LP to '59 spec - ton-o-fun!
What are you using for a top?

Well last month i was at the same wood supplier getting some oak and maranti for a housing project that i needed to start, and i just happen to go through one of the garage doors that i would not normally use as the other woods are stored in a different place there, and would`nt you know there were two very small bundles of curly maple that had just arrived the day before they had yet to be passed by there inspectors, so i asked if i could go through the bundles as i could see that there were some really nice wide pieces in the middle, and as i use them regularly they helped me out, i found 4 boards that were very wide and one of them was wide enough and long enough to yield 4 solid tops with no center join, at the time i could`nt really afford the wood, but i know i wont get another chance like that so i bought them as well as the other wood i needed.

I got a little ticking off from the wife when i got home but what the hell.

That`s why i decided to continue and build something at last.

@ Robbie i will be putting in some routing to lighten them.

One-piece curly tops? Sweet!
Post a few pics of your progress.

Rob

http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b33/robmcdougall/Les%20Paul%20Build%201/

So what i did next was to cut off one of the sides of both boards enough to make the necks from, and then cut one of the remaining boards into three...



Before i could do any more work on the three i made up my jigs..

First one for the outside shape plus a little on the outside so i could do a final trim all round once i had done everything else..



Then i proceeded to make up the vacuum jig to go onto the machine...





Note the indexing pins to locate the body on to the jig also in the outside profile jig..

Then i took the three blanks and did a rear routing 50% through the thickness, so that i could do the other side after band sawing the shape out.





Then i cut out the final shape using the index holes as a guild to position the outside jig, clearly you can see the holes in the rear routing inside the control and switch cavities.





and until next time....

Looking good~!

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Does the title mean '1959 Les Paul' or are you making 59 of 'em?

Looks like you know what you are doing!

@ mike

I wish i had that amount of wood then i could sell a few as well as make them for my kids 11,9 and 5.

Thanks Alan i hope so otherwise i`m so up the creak without a paddle

Well i got around at the weekend to some more machining, but first here are a few shots of my cnc









As you can see from the last two photo`s what i did on Friday, all the routes were done in one file.



And here is one of them off the machine.

Then on Friday afternoon i sanded and glued the one piece tops onto the bodies...









Then on Saturday i did the re-curving on all three..





I took about an hour to do each one..

Next weekend i will get to the pups and neck routes as well as the selector switch and tone and volume control holes, and as i only have one set of tune o matic bridge setup i will only drill and interpolate the holes for the bridge and tail piece studs in one of the three, then onto the neck afterwards....

Well i finally had a hour this afternoon that was without work, so got to do the neck and pup routes and all the holes for the controls and switch.

Will take a picture tomorrow of the one that i have the bridge and tail piece for.

I am hoping to start on the necks tomorrow as well, let hope i get time...