DLP Les Paul - 10 - Sanding, Painting, Sanding, Painting!

It was back in February when I last updated this blog on the progress of the DLP Carved Top Les Paul, I haven't been having a great deal of success preparing the body for paint.  Each time I apply a layer of primer it would start to peel.  Small lines would appear and then swell into a split.  So I have been constantly sanding back, filling and then priming in an effort to get rid of the imperfections.

Gradually all the patient sanding and filling started to pay off and the splits became less frequent... but equally frustrating!

I have ended up using several different primers and sealers (all compatible thankfully) giving a rather psychedelic effect! I eventually sprayed a couple of coats of clear lacquer over everything and left it to cure for a week or two before carrying on.

Today I applied 3 uniform coats of grey primer.  Hopefully I shouldn't see anymore splits and can start thinking of applying the colour.  This body will be black.  I have already primed and painted the neck black and applied several coats of nitrocellulose clear lacquer.  This will have to wait a couple of weeks before I can wet sand and buff.

The body will be black and all the hardware will be chrome, nothing too fancy but hopefully quietly stylish!

DLP Les Paul - 6 - Pickup Cavities

Over the weekend I marked up the positions of the pickups on the Les Paul body and started off by drilling out the majority of the material using a Forstner bit.  I used a piece of black tape on the shank of the bit to use as a depth guide and used my hand drill.

Once I had removed the majority of the material I used a sharp chisel to remove the rest.  It seemed quicker and tidier that setting up the router.  I will make a routing template for a humbucker cavity at some point but for now this method will do fine.

I gave the back of the body a coat of primer as well, it helps to pick out the imperfections easier so i know where any filler is needed.  As you can see below a fair bit was required and I'm sure that's not the end of it either.

I have also drilled a pilot hole ready for the toggle switch, I need a cover and a switch first so I know the exact dimensions to route out for the switch cavity.

DLP Les Paul - 5 - Neck Pocket and Control Cavity

Last week I made a template to use to route the neck pocket.  I carefully drew an outline around the neck on a piece of MDF and transferred the centre line onto the template.  It was east enough then to line everything up and route the pocket.

There is a 3 degree slop from the centre of the body to the neck end and I could have routed the pocket to the same angle but instead I sanded the neck itself to match the angle.

It took several passes to get the correct depth, taking about 4mm each pass to ensure no tear out.  A little fine tuning of the pocket gives a nice even contact all round, not too tight as there will be a couple of layers of primer and lacquer in the joint eventually.  This will be a bolt on neck not a glued in neck.

Once the neck pocket was complete I turned my attention to the control cavity.  I created another template and routed out to a depth of about 20mm leaving a lip around the edge of about 2mm to sink the cover flush.

Once again I took several passes to complete the route, the template is attached with double sided tape.

I then used a forstner bit to drill holes to accommodate the pots at the correct depth and angle relative to the front of the body.  I chiseled a recess next to each hole to match the shape of the pots.  This will also stop them turning!

Finally I made a cover out of a piece of unused printed circuit board.  I will paint this to match the body and it comes pre-shielded!

Next on the list is the pickup cavities and the switch hole and cover.  I also have to drill the holes for the bridge and tailpiece and the hole for the lead as well as all the holes to join the wires so still plenty to be getting on with!

DLP Les Paul - 2 - Carving The Body

Happy New Year everyone, I have had a few new toys for Christmas including a band saw and a random orbital sander, both of which open up some interesting possibilities for me the first of which  is to have a go at making a carved top on my latest Les Paul project.

I used the band saw to cut out the body from a pine blank I had in the garage for a couple of months now. Then I cut out 7 carving profile templates which I printed onto 4 pieces of paper, taped them together and then cut them out, it took forever!  I then pasted the paper templates to some chipboard.

The band saw is a revelation, It made cutting out the templates so easy and a little fine sanding and they are ready to go. 

Each template represents 1/16" depth difference making a drop of about 1/2" from the centre of the guitar to the edge.

Not the neatest routing I know but nothing the palm sander wont cure.  My router made light work of the steps, It took 3 passes to get the first step routed as that was taking over 1/2" of material away.

I worked one side at a time using the palm sander to gradually smooth out the steps, the palm sander makes the task so easy although I only had 3 sanding pads and they all started to loose their grip and fell off after a while so I finished the final bits off with regular elbow grease!

There is still a lot of work to do with this body, a large piece ripped out and there are a few spots which need filling, but that's to be expected, pine is very soft and the body will be painted completely so any blemishes will be hidden.