DLP Les Paul Prototype - 24 - Finishing the Frets

After marking out all the frets last night today I knocked them all in place.  I use a piece of hard wood rather than hammering the frets with my hammer directly.  

Once all the frets were in place I trimmed then as near to flush as possible, then filed them flush to the edge of the fingerboard and then finally added an angled edge for comfort using my home made fret level block!

That's one side trimmed and filled flush ready to have the angled edge added.  There isn't much more to do at the moment with the frets, I will have to level them once I have shaped the back of the neck.

It's starting to look something like a guitar neck at last!

DLP Les Paul Prototype - 23 - Laying Out The Frets

I think laying out and cutting the frets on a new neck is both thrilling and terrifying at the same time, one mistake can cause big problems but at the same time everything starts to come together.

I taped a copy of a Les Paul neck to the blank to use as a guide but disappointingly the copy was slightly different to the actual plans I am working to.  The scale was slightly off however I still used the image as a guide.

In the end I attached a tape measure to the neck and measured from the end of the neck where the nut meets the fingerboard and carefully marked out the frets in 2 positions on the neck then joined the lines.

Next I will cut the frets using my mitre box as a guide.  I have cut a new slot in the end of the box as the existing ones are a little worn and made by a much wider saw blade than the one I will be using to cut the fret slots.

Encore Bass Refinish - 2 - Primer Coat

The last thing I did last night was wipe on a thin layer of sanding sealer onto all the exposed edges and into the bumps and grooves.  I am not trying to fill all the imperfections at this stage, just prepare the body for grey primer.

As previously mentioned, there is not a lot wrong with this body.  For the majority of the past 20 years this guitar has been sitting in it's case or hanging on the wall so most of the wear occurred before I purchased it.

The first thing I did this morning was to sand everything as smooth as possible using 80 grit sandpaper followed by 400 grit to take out some of the rough marks the courser sandpaper left but leaving a key for the paint.

I have sprayed a thin coat of primer mainly concentrating on the edges where I had exposed the wood.

I'm not too bothered about the overspray at this point in time, the object at the moment is to show up any imperfections and then fill them and respray with primer.

Encore Bass Refinish - 1 - Got to Start Somewhere

Today I started a new project which will run simultaneously with the DLP Les Paul  build.  I purchased a second hand bass guitar from a junk shop many years ago which has always been in need of a little TLC.

The picture is old but you should get the general idea.  This is a shot from the late 1990's of the Encore bass featuring a gloss black finish, a single split pickup, volume and tone controls and a front output jack.
One of the machine heads was damaged when I purchased this guitar, I remember buying a second hand replacement from a music shop in Birmingham which had a larger back than the rest so I had to drill new holes for it.  I will fill all the holes on the back of the head and put some new tuners in their place.

Everything came apart very easily and nothing looks damaged.  The guitar has aged very well although it hasn't had that much ware since I bought it.

There was a small piece of packing under the neck which I will save and re-use if required upon re-assembly.

I will almost certainly paint this black again so I will not completely strip the paintwork back to bare wood.  There are a few dinks and knocks on the body and neck which I will deal with later.

I think this is a great body shape, maybe I will copy the outline and make a template for future projects.

DLP Les Paul Prototype - 22 - Fingerboard Profile Finished

Today I finished off the fingerboard profile and sanded the fingerboard smooth down to 1500 wet and dry sand paper.  I want to actually apply a thin finish to the fingerboard to protect and strengthen the surface.

My chosen finish will be Tru-Oil gun stock finish, however before I apply the Tru-Oil I have applied 2 coats of sanding sealer allowing an hours to pass between coats and lightly sanding with 400 grit.

 Before applying the Tru-Oil I will smooth with 0000 wire wool.  Hopefully this will also fill the exposed wood worm holes as well!

DLP Les Paul Prototype - 21 - Shaping the Fingerboard Profile

Using a very simple jig I started shaping the fingerboard profile.  The jig is just two parallel strips of wood secured to the bench, these are spaced to just about the width of the profiled sanding block I will be using.  

The profile block was made a few months ago by attaching sandpaper to a bicycle wheel and working the block until the diameter of the wheel was transferred to the block.

Gradually the profile starts to take shape although there is quite some work to do yet to accommodate the nut I have for this neck without having to shim it higher.

I have secured the neck with shims and  blocks but crucially the bench has a none slip surface which stops everything from sliding backwards and forwards, without this I could use another block at the heel of the neck to stop it moving one way but I would have to be inventive securing the head end.

I want the fingerboard to be 7mm at its thickest central point. The neck itself will be 35mm at the heel making it 42mm in total at it's thickest point.  This should also leave the strings in the nut at a good height.

I had left the overhang a little long, I then figured I was spending a lot of time sanding something I would eventually trim so I squared off the overhang to the required length with my electric mitre saw.

I couldn't resist wiping the neck down with a little white spirit to give myself an idea of what the finished fingerboard will look like (not the greatest picture I'm afraid but looking great in real life!).

There is still a lot more levelling to do to get the thickness just right and to make sure the neck has both the correct profile and it also level.  It is easy to concentrate on one area without realising and to end up with an uneven profile.  This is the shortcoming of the profile block I made, I really need one much longer to ensure everything remains level.

DLP Les Paul Prototype - 20 - Attaching The Fingerboard

Last night I glued the oak fingerboard to the neck blank after sanding everything smooth.  The glue set over night and I was able to remove the clamps and plane the fingerboard level to the neck.

I haven't slotted the frets yet, really I should have don this because it is easier to square up the slots on a rectangular piece of wood than an angled one sitting on a neck blank.

The contrast is nice, however I still intend to paint the neck black, however when I see the wood like this the temptation is to leave it looking natural.

The oak even has some woodworm holes in it!  These are filled with a bit of sawdust and super glue, I used the mahogany sawdust to make them stand out, these will not be painted black and should therefore be embraced not hidden.

I think the next order of the day will be to slot the neck for frets, then start removing some of that wood and make a nice profile.

DLP Les Paul Prototype - 19 - Back to the Grindstone

Well I'm back from holiday and no sooner have I unloaded the car that I'm back down the garage working on the DLP Les Paul neck.  I spent some time sanding smooth the neck and the body blank ready to glue them together.

As I have said before, I never seem to have enough clamps so I used every one I could find and plenty of glue.  I can leave this until tomorrow afternoon before removing the clamps and planing the edges flush with the side of the neck.  Then I can start putting a profile onto the fingerboard.

DLP Les Paul Prototype - 18 - Oak Fingerboard

It's holiday time so today has mainly been spent tidying up the garage and getting ready for a couple of days away  with the family.  I did have a few moments thought to continue sanding the head and neck ready for the fingerboard.

I had hoped to have the fingerboard glued up in clamps before I closed the workshop for a couple of days but I just don't seem to be getting anywhere sanding both the neck and the fingerboard down to the desired thickness and nice and smooth and flat.

Well see you all in a couple of days. Happy Holidays from DLP Guitars!

DLP Guitars - Clear Out Time

Today I finished setting up the 3 guitars I have been working on for that past couple of months and listed them on eBay.  Fingers crossed I get some interest... The whole point of starting DLP Guitars was to test the waters and see if there was any commercial interest in what I create for fun.  Here are a few beauty shots and links to the auctions.

Firstly we have my refinished Epiphone Gibson Les Paul Special Model - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251322371207&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT

Next is the Handmade Thinline Telecaster  featuring dual P90 pickups. - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251322360636&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT

And finally the Handmade Thinline Telecaster 'Scraps' - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251322371207&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT

I can only ship within the UK so good luck if you are interested in buying a unique instrument made in Birmingham, England.

DLP Les Paul Prototype - 17 - Routing Truss Rod Channel

Today  I started the day by using my jigsaw to rough out the shape of the DLP Les Paul headstock.

I spent most of the morning mounting the router to my bench saw, it has a dedicated area with a hole designed to accommodate a router, but I did have to modify the base of the router by drilling a couple of holes to take the mounting bolts. I then routed out the truss rod channel.

I also router a channel in my second neck blank as it seemed daft not to do it while everything was set up.  It was my plan to then make a couple of fingerboards out of a piece of hardwood I had in the garage (the other half of the piece I used to make a Telecaster neck out of), however my bench saw decided to misbehave and made scrap wood out of my blank.  So it looks like I will have to revert to an oak fingerboard.

DLP Les Paul Prototype - 16 - Headstock Layout

Last night I laid out my idea for a headstock on a piece of paper, I had intended to use this as a template but it is just as easy to copy the layout from the dimensions I marked out on the piece of paper.  I can always make a template later when I go into mass production!

With the clamps removed I started to sand smooth the head.  There is plenty of spare material to lay the head out on but I need to us a little filler otherwise I will be sanding all day.  

 Sorry if you don't like filler on a guitar headstock... but look at it this way, I plan to paint it so it will be invisible and if I didn't paint I would put a veneer over the front anyway!

After a little more sanding I laid out the headstock shape on the blank.  It is a nice simple shape and although it looks completely different to a Gibson or Epiphone headstock it shares pretty much the same footprint in terms of its overall dimensions. 

Next I need to rough out the blank and take some of the width out of the top of the neck as it tapers towards the headstock.