My home built '58 Les Paul

[ptate]

Been away for a while, so happy new year to you all, hope it's good to you.

Here's my first ever scratch built '58....I'm quite chuffed:



She started life as pieces of wood and has been built as close to an original 1958 Les Paul as I can manage. I have a long build thread at the MyLesPaul.com site, so if anyone's interested, its here:

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luthier ... maybe.html

Some sound clips are in my "Solo" section of this here forum, so you can have a laugh at me getting used to the massive "baseball bat" neck.

Peace.

[rice_pudding]

Well it certainly looks the part, I've always kinda preferred plain tops to flame so its right up my street.

Rob

[ptate]

Well it certainly looks the part, I've always kinda preferred plain tops to flame so its right up my street.

Rob

Cheers Rob. It sounds it too....The sustain is like nothing I've ever played.

The humbuckers will be changed for some Shed Pickups, hand made PAF Daddys and I've a no-wire ABR1 bridge coming over too, so that should set it all off.

I painted and treated it to look like a well cared for '58 and it's been pretty successful (I think).

You'll have to dig your Les Paul out again now...haha

[Lespauly]

Nice ---does it play well???

[ptate]

Cheers LesPauly.

It certainly does. I've quite a few Les Pauls and this beats all of them for sustain and tone, even the Custom Shop ones..!

I can't wait to get the PAF Daddys in it and see what it sounds like. The pups in there are 30 year old Tim Shaw PAFS anyway, so they sound really good, but the handmades are being built exactly to original specs.

[axeman_12656]

Great job... That looks unreal

[Whipper]

Awesome job on this build!!!!!!!!!! I love your workshop too!

[ptate]

Thanks very much guys....Workshop eh..? Oh, you mean my hi-tech manufacturing facility...haha

It plays great and the more I use it, the more it surprises me.

If you ever get the chance, just build yourself a guitar; the amount you learn is astonishing.

[Stewie]

Thanks very much guys....Workshop eh..? Oh, you mean my hi-tech manufacturing facility...haha

It plays great and the more I use it, the more it surprises me.

If you ever get the chance, just build yourself a guitar; the amount you learn is astonishing.

I've had plans last year to buy a body and a guitar neck and do the remaining parts myself. This was mainly because I don't have more tools at home than a basic hammer, drill and some screwdrivers etc... I never started my project because I got sick and wasn't able to do much for two months. Anyway, I got a luthier close to me, who can supply me with all the guitar parts... So I'd like to ask you some questions... Did you have alot of knowledge beforehand? Did you read some books about doing all these things, or had any help from someone / internet? How much do you estimate you've paid for al the pieces of wood? I loved ALL the pictures! Great job.

[ptate]

Hi Madman,

Nope, no real experience other than playing guitars for 30 years and messing around with them.

The best resources are online and you can learn a great amount from them. The main things are:

Measure three times, cut once.
Take your time, even though waiting is difficult.
Study the guitar you want to build intimately beforehand (research fully before you even touch a tool).
Join a good forum and ask lots of questions.
Buy certain tools, such as a pillar drill, router and good sander. Buy tools rather than "make do" as that's how cock-ups happen.
Follow plans if you have them. If not, make some beforehand.
Don't glue things in place until you are sure they are right and set correctly.
Buy lots of clamps.

Other than that, just try to enjoy the build and always, always stop when you're getting frustrated, annoyed or tired.

I would add that I was quite handy in the old "making" department though already...!!

Cost me a lot less than buying an Epiphone Standard....and a lot less than the £100k it would cost me for an original....!!

Good luck.

[Stewie]

Great. Building a guitar has always been a dream, and I think I wouldn't only make one after I made my first one! My luthier gave me a list of all the parts I needed, I remember de body was around 150 euros and the neck a bit more. I did not look into any prices yet, but could you do a quick estimate of whole price of the gear? I really only got the basic stuff! Buying gear would ofcourse be smarter on the long term... but the prices for a quality body and neck don't seem that high. The neck of a guitar seems like the hardest part!


Why 'Madman' ?

[ptate]

Sorry Stewie, read "madman" above your avatar, rather than the name.....Still, it's better than some...haha

Estimated cost for the wood, inlays. fretwire and binding.......About £120. Add another £100 for paint (I used pre-mixed nitrocellulose rattle cans).

Pickups I already owned and are 30 yer old, double cream Gibson Tim Shaw PAFs (rare). These are being replaced with some (currently being built) PAF replicas from http://www.shedpickups.com to my exact specifications as they are as close to my real PAFs as I can get.
Lightweight aluminium tail and no-wire ABR bridge are from Faber (compare really well to my originals).
Wiring loom (includes switch and everything else) from http://www.fake58.co.uk
Tuners from fake58 as well (some of the best in the world) - very close to my 58 Klusons.
Plastics are a mix of fake58 and fatboy (again, close to my original stuff).
Pickup rings (soon) will be from OTPG (I may make my own though).

I'va already been asked to build a superstrat (ala Charvel) and 335 for a couple of guys based on this build. Who knows...?

Pre-built bodies/necks are fine, but most are historically inaccurate, hence the reason I built my own. The scale is 24 9/16 inches, not Gibson's current 24.75, as the originals were built to the latter. There are other differences along the way, but overall a kit/parts is a great way to start. Go for it.

[Stewie]

Yeah, I'll start with the basic body and neck. My luthier told me he'd be happy to help me out with every step, so I think I'll have a decent guitar in the end. I'm going for a strat in the style of Jake E Lee! Got to save some more money cause I'm going to buy a digitech jamman first . Thanks for the recommendations!