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I agree, when I do Telecasters I have a simple jig to drill the holes for the ferrules on the back of the body, they're so close that you can notice the smallest "drill wander" also I think that the Korina is much softer than ash or alder ...Thanks for the comment.

I think the '58 Vs are closer to the '59 profile, I've looked at a good few pictures of the neck heel on a V and considering that the neck mortice is less than a Les Paul at 27-28mm (Les Paul is 10mm more from memory) on the V you can see quite a lot of wood removed on the neck transition, I don't think you'd get that with the thicker '54 profile. From my measurements there's very little difference at the 1st fret between '59 and '54, may be 0.5 mm, the big difference is at the 11th fret where, again from memory, there's up to 3mm difference . I've used an angle grinder to do arch tops and it's very controllable, the "cheese grater" I use in the drill press is pretty quick, anything where you don't have to do it by hand is good! Thanks for the comment.

@@3rguitars890 Hi . I really appreciate you taking time to answer from your deep well of knowledge!

There are many ways to do it, a sliding box sounds good, anything at an angle though upsets the horizontal measurements, when I do my pickup routs with the overhead router I have to move the routing template forward a bit, otherwise the pickup holes end up a couple of mm to far forward, Gibson made things awkward by cutting holes at an angle!

@@3rguitars890 again: Thanks!

Yes, I've done that and it makes for a nice job, easier than a chisel, I think I need to work on mine a bit, some are untidy.

I purchased a stockpile of it a few years ago from a retiring luthier so I have a good stash of Honduran Mahogany and some Brazilian rosewood although I generally use David Dykes Luthier supplies in the South East UK, however it is getting more and more difficult to get the same wood as used on vintage guitars.

It wouldn't surprise me, Epiphones are all made in China I think?

The R9 board was from a left handed LP, it has dots on both sides, the drawings I did are from a genuine '53 and the R9 board is identical with vintage fret spacing and crown inlay sizes so I use it as a reference, it also matches the Bartlet fretboard jig...Thanks for the comment.

I'm not familiar with the more modern Les Paul build, Over the years I've tried many different methods to try and improve accuracy but like you I still make plenty of mistakes, I think the art of guitar building is being able to hide your mistakes! The important thing with the neck joint is the alignment (in all planes) if the joint needs packing that's less of an issue than the neck being wonky!...Good luck and thanks for commenting.

Sorry I forgot, Yes I'm in the South East and it does get too cold at times!

@@3rguitars890 Yeah, it gets cold sometimes in the winter even in the south east, in my area there will soon be 1-2 meters of snow and -30C.. I am not looking forward to it though..

Sorry to hear about your LP...Ugh, I've repaired a few of them!

No I haven't, just read about it on Wikipedia, sounds like it would be a good option for a fretboard, although would probably be very expensive. There is a very pretty Madagascan wood that is a good alternative for Brazilian rosewood, although it looks like rosewood it isn't so not restricted as far as I know.

Thank you very much, shouldn't be too long until the next update.

Mine were the same alignment but when I purchased the templates I had to ait about 3 months because they were being changed a bit, may be this as the reason BUT BUT BUT if you continue watching (I can't remember which video) I do re make the pickguards and re cut the tailpiece to a slightly different angle as the point of the tailpiece was ending up under the bridge and all the pictures I've seen, the apex of the tailpiece is just short of the bridge although it does vary a fair few mm from guitar to guitar...Thanks for the comment.

Fitting the necks is quite difficult on these you REALLY need to make sure that the neck is perfectly centred to the body as the V has such a defined centre line , it stands out a lot if the tailpiece point is off centre ...Good luck

I've had this timber for years, I bought a stockpile of it from a luthier who was retiring. Honduran mahogany is going to be very difficult to get these days and Brazilian rosewood virtually impossible . When I do buy timber I usually use David Dyke luthier supplies, Heathfield near Eastbourne.

Thanks for commenting, always nice to hear, Indeed LPs are quite labour intensive to build especially when you add in the detailed bits and pieces, crown inlays, pearl logo etc, getting the neck joint lined-up and perfect is a mission in itself, I'd be intrigued to find out if the pickup cavities were done before or after fitting the neck, any idea? No wonder they changed to the SG !...Thanks again

@@3rguitars890 I have no idea back in the day if they glued the neck before routing the pickupcavitys or not, but I know they glue in the neck before routing the pickup cavity today. I always make the angle of the neck mortis about 4.5 degree, the top is always made on a CNC and its 4.5 degree, everything needs to be the same or else the neck will not be seated in the right angle. It's a pain in the a** sometimes to be honest, sometimes I am thinking, why the he** am I doing this.. HAHA.. :D

Thank you very much, some jobs you just have to go for it! A 3inch router cutter made me panic a bit but easier than I thought.

I do keep meaning to contact them, they are an excellent company, I wish I had a ton of money to throw their way and stock up on some more tools! Thank you for your comment.

@@chrisrichards2272 Yeah stewmax is dangerous. Makes it much more affordable to get tools if you keep the orders under £135 though. LPs are looking good btw, I'm enjoying the series, you take some different approaches to what I've seen before.

Yeah, they certainly have an abundance of tools I'd like to try. trouble is being an old git I tend to be a bit tight with my money, comes with age! I must admit that I enjoy making jigs as much as making the guitars, there's a kinda sense of excitement when something works like you planned it..

Excuse me - why in particular?

Thanks for the comment, in general I'd say there's more work involved in building an LP than a Strat (say), carved top, fancy inlays, binding, set neck. I'd give Leo Fender 10/10 for re addressing guitar building, I started off my guitar playing with a Strat but these days I'm leaning towards Gibson, no doubt I'll sway back the other way at some point!

Thank you very much.

I was tempted to switch off the camera and pop out and buy one, oh well next time...Damn guitars! Thanks for the comment.

I'm just trying to document what I do, love recreating vintage instruments.

Thanks so much, getting those pickup routs done accurately was a worry so nice to get them done and dusted.

Thanks, I'll take a look.

Thanks....

I either got it from Crazyparts or Eurospruce, I can't remember which, they do it in strips with the same pitch of ridges per inch as the original, it looks good to me and is the correct thickness, you just have to cut it to size .

@@3rguitars890 Thanks so much I’m putting parts together now for a 58 type I’m enjoying your videos on the LP

@@timziegler3765 Great, I love flying Vs and these I've built have exceeded my expectations, other people who have tried them have given such great comments, even those who "don't like Vs" . My best bit of advice would be to start of with quality wood , these only weigh 7lbs and that is the first thing that people comment on. Crazyparts and Eurospruce seem to do the most parts...Be careful with pickguards and tailpiece a lot of repro ones are the wrong size/angle.

I was in too much of a rush to get to the pub! forgot to use the mirror filter!

Thanks very much, I've never used a CNC router, I'd love to try one and can see it as being a huge benefit, especially carving consistent tops.

@@3rguitars890 Yes and even if you dont have any knowledge about CAD software you can pay someone to make a CAD file of a top and then just learn how to set the tool path in the CNC software, I mean even if the CAD file maybe will cost you some quid, you can use it over and over and over again. but most important, you would need a very decent CNC, I have a OpenBuilds Lead 1510 so I would be able to route out a whole guitar from one piece of wood if I want to, the Lead 1010 is the same machine but a working area of about 750x750mm, my machine is 1250x750mm..

@@HearGear The CNC Bartlet top that I used for one of the 'Bursts was superb. If I was planning on making a good few of these then it would be something I'd definitely look at, thanks for the info, I will take a look, this type of tooling used to cost a fortune but now it's getting in to a very tempting budget range!

@@3rguitars890 Yes, it would be a great idea for building several Les Paul type guitars. But I almost never used the CNC for building the whole guitar, I like the idea of using templates and hand-held tools or router table, ive build a couple of guitars with my CNC but it takes some time and it needs my attention during the routing process so its not easy to just walk away and do other things. But for carved tops it's brilliant, or just buying ready to use tops. The CNC machines has gotten very much cheaper now compared to 20-30 years ago for sure, there is quite a lot of different machines that could be good for building guitars and things like that.

I can see from an engineering point of view that it would be beneficial to have the headstock faces parallel for the reasons you've said although the Beauty of the Burst book has an extensive table listing headstock thicknesses which vary by a up to 2mm between each guitar but all are tapered by between 1mm and 2mm and the '53 I used to make the drawings had a 1mm taper, the variation in thickness does is somewhat haphazard and could well be just a result of sanding the back of the headstock, it's well known that the "stinger" (black painted headstock backs) was to hide a poorly shaped neck/headstock transition so there's a lot of hand work going on in that area.

As far as stingers go, paint can't hide poor shaped surfaces. It can hide putty or fillers that hide the surface imperfections which I assume you're meaning. All I'm pointing out is that you don't have to copy mistakes or flaws that happened back then. I get that the books give all the details, but I know that these imperfections were not intentional. Just like the '58 through '60 burst open book headstock had a lazy ear on one side from worn templates or fixtures. The only reason (in my mind) to copy these things would be to create a "forgery" to con people that it's a multi-thousand dollar original. And no, I'm not saying that you are doing that. Basically, why copy flaws and mistakes? That's all I'm saying.

@@Cannonbawlz I must say that I thought the tapered headstock was a design feature, it is surprising that the headstocks vary in thickness so much as well, thanks for the info, I'll amend future builds. Wonky ears on the headstock would really play havoc with me, I'd have no intention of replicating that feature!

Camera is filming mirrowed. So it is right handed guitar.

Yeah, I forgot to mirror the video..Ugh!

My Mistake, I forgot to mirror image the video before posting it.

I've had it for ages but I believe it was from a left handed guitar hence side dots both sides.

Thank you, indeed slippery glue joints can be troublesome, some people put a sprinkling of salt in the joint, apparently it's really good to stop slip but I wouldn't advocate using it, pretty corrosive stuff with a water based glue, don't you think?

@@3rguitars890 I'll stay with my cocktail sticks for now!

Yep, you're dead right, I don't know why I said 11-32...Thank you

Thank you, I've fallen in to the left handed/upside down trap a few times, routing out a control cavity on the wrong face of a body...Ugh! More spare chunks of mahogany, I can see left handed nuts being a real problem. Yes, the first top I used was a CNC carved one and it was a real time saver and excellent. Having the original guitar is a BIG help as it gives such an insight in to the method of making the guitar/construction techniques.

@@3rguitars890 It´s quite more expensive to realise that you just routed a lefty guitar body, I mean, real fine wood costs a lot of money. I have not made a lefty body yet, but I would not be surprised if I would make the mistake soon.. :S

@@HearGear I can't believe the price of wood nowadays, especially the traditional woods, I'm quite lucky as I have a bit of a stockpile, the left and right issue becomes rather more confusing with this overhead router jig I've just made, at the moment I'm new to it but I can see the mistakes coming as I get more familiar!

@@3rguitars890 Yes, I totally agree with you, here in Sweden its almost impossible to get some body blanks for less than 80 quid. I lived in Scotland for quite some time some years ago, it was not really any cheaper there. But recently I bought some material from Portugal that is a lot cheaper, so I will continue doing that. The ruters can easy f*ck things up, my simple router table that is similar to yours have f*ucked up some really good Les Paul necks, and I get so angry every time it takes out a big piece of material at the very end of the open book headstock. Another time it sent a really fine fretboard material all the way across my worksop right in the wall because i was not paying enough attention to what i was doing, I thought it just slipped out of my hand... Routers are really dangerous stuff too.. bloody h*ll...

Yes, I much prefer the insurance of a bi=flex truss rod, makes life a little less stressful!

So nice to hear...Thank you

Thank you!

Thanks Clint, always nice to hear , I'm loving building them!

Yeah, they're fantastic , I have some really small Japanese files as well and they're lethally sharp and shift wood like no ones business, wonderful!

Like you it's the detail that floats my boat , I love vintage instruments and trying to recreate them, finding out the information can be the most difficult part, so it's good to cross reference stuff...Many thanks for your kind words.

Thank you, yes it's certainly the case that there is variation between guitars, you can kinda tell which processes were done by hand, when you study them you can also see the reason why certain things are done like they are. Once the maple cap is on I'll be revisiting the control cavity, I think that this will be interesting to watchers...Thanks again.

I haven't really thought about that, I did try a local printers but they didn't have the right machine to copy them. The trouble is that I don't like paper drawings as it is amazing how much they stretch especially if you glue them on to the wood to cut around. Mine drawings are on plastic and have remained true. I'll have a think on it .

That's true, I've never used guide collars, maybe something for the future, although I love my rudimentary pin router, keep watching and you'll see it get quite a bit of use...Thanks again.

Yeah, I've had a few with bearings, the trouble is with the straight flutes you can get nasty tear out. Thanks for the comment.

Thank you...Yeah, I know my clean room is anything but...I can't help it!

Yes, I think the Gibson neck joint is elegant to see on the finished guitar with the fretboard laying directly on the body top, the vertical joint lines on the cheeks of the neck and the stepped bottom of the heel, it looks so nice and well worth spending the time to do but as you say and I totally agree, it takes a LOT of time to get it to fit properly, I've never done on that fits "straight out of the box" so to speak. Ah...my clean lab/workshop, I wish I had the mindset where everything has its place, I spend more time looking for stuff than doing the job, I've really tried but a clean workshop is never gonna happen!...Thanks for the comment.

They are a PAF clone but not expensive, they do sound nice though. The buiilds cost a LOT of money and I couldn't justify really expensive pickups, they are vintage pole spacing so the covers could be swapped, the surrounds are CAB plastic and accurate. To be honest I don't play that much and pickups are such a personal choice and easy to change out. Both guitars have been gigged by local musicians and they sound pretty darn good, not too overdriven and quite mellow.