Author: phil

This guitar I think went through the greatest temperature transition… from here in Vancouver to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, 11  above to -25 C…. ( 52 to -13 F ) yeessh… The first neck we sent, the poor ebony retracted and split.. so we sent a replacement, changed the ebony to rosewood, which is way less prone to cracking…. Turned out pretty damn nice…

It would be great to publish the photos on your site. It would be nice to attach this text to them:

This is my first build, and I got to tell you – it wasn’t easy… As for parts I used Gotoh tuners and bridge/tail, Tonerider alnico IV classics AC4 pickups, bone nut. Nitrocellulose finish which is more dim, rather than gloss, thanks to my friend Dmitry Nemtsoff who covered it several times with a spraygun. Have to make some fret leveling/crowning/polishing to get rid of a fret buzz on a few first frets and 6th, 5th strings.

After that I can set rather low string action: something around 2mm for 6th string and 1.5mm for the 1st string on the 12th fret – which is very playable for me. I was glad to have a double action truss rod in the neck, thanks for that. The wood quality is very high in my opinion, and it has a very beautifull grain. The sound… superb!

Thank you Phil and Kevin!

Vitaly Volkov from Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Hey Phil,

Just a note of thanks for the Jr kit. I special ordered it with a the 60’s slim taper neck prior to your offering that option. You had no issues accommodating my request and the body and neck fit together perfectly. I’ve always wanted a ‘59 Jr but couldn’t afford the real thing.

The pic of my old school build after the super decked out LP on the banner page really shows the range of what can be done with the kits.

I did not do the actual build, it was done by a guy named Patrick Sims in Nashville who I would recommend with reservations. He is a nice guy, does great work and is reasonably priced but it took a long time to get it back and communication during the process was spotty. In the end, he did come through and I am very happy with the way it turned out. Here is a link to his site with a pic of the guitar under “solid customs” – http://www.simscustomshop.com.

I’ve always wanted a vintage 50’s LP Jr but could not afford to pay 5k or more for one. With that in mind I was going for a ‘59 vibe. I did a bunch of research and specked out all of the hardware which includes:

1. Lollar dog ear P90
2. RS Guitarworks Pre-Wired Vintage Les Paul Jr. Harness with repro Luxe Bee capacitor (250k vol pot, 500k tone pot)
3. Gibson 59 Les Paul Junior Doublecut Historic Tortoise Pickguard
3. TonePros Kluson 3-on-a-rail Tuners
4. TonePros VTNA-N Standard Vintage Aluminum “50’s” Wraparound Bridge (nickel)
5. Gibson Truss Rod Cover – Blank
6. Black 50’s style LP Jr. jack plate from RS Guitarworks
7. Bell Knobs from Stew Mac
8. Strap Buttons from Stew Mac (installed on the horn)
10. bone nut – custom made by friend of Patrick
11. back plate – custom made by friend of Patrick (noticed you sell them now, very nice as I could not track one down to save my life and Patrick said a Gibson would not have fit in the cut on my guitar)
12. TKL 7824 case (still waiting on it)

The paint was TV Yellow nitro cell. It’s not too glossy and the grain shows through nicely. I did not want to go the reliced route but did want a vintage look which I think we accomplished.

Here are a few pics:

In hindsight one of the most difficult things was deciding on a color for the top. I had some ideas and did some experiments on maple planks before I even ordered the kit, but once it arrived and I actually got my hands on those bones I knew I had to do my absolute best to live up to the obvious quality. I was nervous because this was my first build and I’d never experimented with dye or stain before, but practicing on test pieces helped immensely, and I would definitely recommend that approach  to anyone trying this for the first time, including final finishing, which for me was Tru-oil. The so-called “plain” top started to reveal some interesting figures once a few layers of Tru-oil got on there, and I’m extremely happy with the final result. It sounds way better than it looks too . . .

Not quite sure where the idea for the headstock came from, but I knew I wanted something non-traditional. It’s a decal, but I’ll eventually go back and do a proper inlay of that same design. In the meantime it gets the point across . . . what can I say;  it’s a symbol for my generation . . . PS since it’s a Canadian guitar I used Robertson screws wherever I could

Here’s how it progressed…

Got back into town and a package from you was a’waitin’  a day after my 65th Birthday…..

Precision Guitars it an excellent name because you guys do VERY precise work…AWESOME.

GOT THE NECK GLUED ON TODAY AND WILL LET IT SET OVER NIGHT.  TELL EVERYONE THERE THAT I AM VERY SATISFIED…..and am so happy to do business with people with not only excellent work ethic but awesome craftsmanship too.  I will document what I do as an old man and stay in touch until it is finished.

Once again AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sprayed Re Ranch clear coat heavy enough over the area so that it got down to the gold coat.  Let it dry over night. Wet sanded with 1000-1200 grit then masked that area and applied gold coat.  Can’t see crack now.  Maybe one more light mist of gold then 4-5 coats of clear.  Will monitor the results  and let you know.

Putting on the top nut took very little sanding mainly on each side.  Really like how the Tone Pro Bridge and Tail Piece transfer the sound.  Plugged it and all tone and volume knobs and top switch worked fine and sounded good even though I broke the top E String  because I bent and kinked it as I had to remember how to string it correctly and of course didn’t buy extra strings.

Also did a slight adjustment on the truss rod (neck) and bridge and no buzzing strings and good action. Got a few dings to fix.  Made the mistake of using a white lacquer primer/grain sealer and would only do that again if the guitar was white.

You can use these pics if you like or I can try for some getter ones and please tell everyone involved that they do really great work. It’s been a long learning curve but it sure feels good at the end.  May do this again some day.

Dear Phil

the kit you sent me way exceeded my expectations. Beautiful EBONY fretboard …..the quality of the fretwork and the woodworking throughout is outstanding please see attached photo. Sincere thanks for enabling me to have an instrument of a quality that i could not normally afford.

If you want then please use the image in any way that you want…….I encourage you NOT to lose your passion for the work you are doing….it is impossible to work with timber to this standard without truly caring for what you are doing. The guitar neck is the best quality I have ever seen I first picked a guitar up over 40 years ago.

When i can afford it I will definitely order again from you…..

Truly sincere THANKS….

His “Lee Paul”

This is awesome…standard kit with binding and a paddle headstock. Look how the regular maple cap’s flat sawn grain pops with the honey stain and the high gloss clear coat on top.  Check out the headstock. the tuners and the babicz bridge system.

 

Thanks for your kind words — it means a lot to me.  I have always wanted have a 59 custom built to my specs, so I feel fortunate to have found you.

As far as staining and finishing is concerned — for better or worse — I began with a set of rather inflexible ideas: I did not want to grain fill using the conventional products (either water-, oil-based or epoxy).  And, since, I had resolved to french polish the entire guitar using de-waxed, clear shellac, the choice was simple.  I used 4F grade pumice stone along with the initial coat of shellac to grain fill the mahogany parts of the guitar — this was very labor intensive (on my next build I will try weakened hide glue which I used to glue the kit together).

I used W.D. Lockwood brand of water soluble dyes for the guitar (except the headstock which I initially used India Ink but decided to finish with Japan Ink (which I think yields a richer ebonizing result)).  It was difficult getting the top to look interesting.  I had no idea that maple was such blotchy wood.  On top of that, I really wanted to show the grain (or the annual rings of the top).  Basically, I treated the top as an artist’s canvas.  Putting more stain where it needed and using bleach to lighten parts.  I also sanded with various grade of 3M micro abrasive pads to accentuate the grain and to blend in various shades.  I was fighting the wood basically.  I thought about using gel stain after a week, but I am stubborn — so I stuck with it.

When I achieved certain “blotchy” look deemed interesting to me, I started with French polishing.  Initially, I had put on quite a layer of shellac (about 8 bodying sessions).  The guitar looked better than it did now (it really looked like a jewel) — but then I noticed the tap tone of the guitar had deteriorated somewhat.  I took about half of the layer off.

After about a week, I used pumice stone (along with little walnut oil) to even out the finish and continued with medium to fine rubbing compound.  I then used swirl removing compound and proceded to Maguire’s Show Room Glaze #7.  On the back of the guitar I added a very thin layer of bowling alley wax with high carnauba wax content (no silicone!).

Did you notice that there is a real violin purfling on that guitar (no plastic binding)?  Also the pickup rings are ebony and the scratch plate was carved out of ziricote (is that some sort of rosewood — very brittle).

I think I am asking too much of you to read this (i am rather long-winded), but you will be pleased to know that this guitar sounds amazing!!! And, I have played a real ’59 paul (owned by Jimmy Vivino).  Over the weekend, I went over to my friend who owns 20 Les Pauls of various vintage — I have to tell you I would not have traded mine for any of my friends, ha, ha…

Thanks again, Phil.  I hope to scrounge up some more change to buy another kit from you.