Tag: 59 Carved Top

Hello!

Hi Phil,

This is one of our kits that ended up in the skilled hands of a doctor in Italy..

 

Hello Phil,

I hope all is well. I would like to thank you again for the amazing kit you provided. The pieces were flawless and beautifully resonating before assembly, and all routes and fits were absolutely perfect. I looked around for several weeks before choosing where to buy the bones for my Les Paul, and the kit I received confirmed your internet fame: you guys provide the best parts available to build a top-quality guitar.

As you can see from the pictures I didn’t want to settle for anything less than an amazing guitar. I went for the best and most beautiful guitar I could think of.

I started from your LP59 kit with a blank ebony fretboard (only slots) and front/back binding routes. Then I did all the rest. The fret markers are hand-cut in mother-of-pearl with a dremel-type tool, and inlayed with carving knives. The 12th fret has my last name engraved in the mother-of-pearl. The body and neck are both bound; doing the body 5-ply binding was pretty tricky. The body is dyed black with ColorTone color. Then on top of that I sprayed one very thin layer of nitrocellulose lacquer to prevent smearing and I did all the decorating stencils (including signature) to lay the 24carat gold-leaf I bought. The finish on top of that is multiple layers of nitrocellulose laquer.

The parts I used were again the best I could think of: grover locking tuners, bone nut, Dunlop jumbo frets, tune-o-matic bridge, aluminum stopbar tailpiece for tone, 500s Gibson pots and bumblebee caps. The pickups are a Gibson ’57 classic at the neck and a Seymour-Duncan antiquity at the bridge. I made sure the electronics very well grounded, isolated and soldered.

The sound is amazing, gonna send you a video soon. It  is rich of harmonics, round and with huge sustain. I went to Guitar World and compared it to multiple-thousand-dollar and my guitar fell short of no others.

Keep up the excellent work, and keep all those guitar-builders out there dreaming!

Ciao!

Francesco.

This is a fellow who lives in my neck of the woods. Great guy. So this is his first build… take a look at what an awesome instrument you can make.

Tims Lucky Mojo

This was my first build and I have learned a lot. I knew nothing about finishing and had lots of questions and apprehension. But now that I have the finished product in my hands I am very pleased. This guitar sounds like no other I own and I am discovering how much more I like it every day I play it, especially at rehearsals. My expectations were high and this guitar turned out just as I had hoped. After educating myself on guitar finishing I got busy and started experimenting with stain colour on scrap maple and mahogany that Phil gave me. I made lots of minor errors but eventually got what I was after.

Most importantly the neck and body fit together perfectly. The pre cut angle on the neck leaves no room for errors,so you cant screw this up. This was the easiest part of the build.

I then gave it a shot of vinyl sealer,sanded, then clear coats of nitro lacquer. I  waited the recommended 4 weeks before I sanded and polished. This was the hardest part of the build.

In the meantime I chose the gear I wanted and ordered the parts online.I ordered from a few different companies as I could not get everything I wanted at one company.

• Sperzal locking tuners
• Graph Tech nut
• Seymour Duncan Alnico II neck
• Seymour Duncan Alnico II  Slash model {a few extra windings } bridge
• Tone pro bridge and tailpiece {supplied by Phil }
• 500 k pots ,orange drop caps
• Covers knobs and colour to my taste

It was very exciting to polish this baby up and see the work that I did pay off.

Assembly was for the most part easy. It just got better and better, I would stand back and marvel as I put the parts on one by one.

Time to do the nut and I blew it. I sanded too far in pursuit of the perfect action. The next one was easier and I got it just right. I set the bridge low and got no buzz as I checked up the neck. No adjustments needed on the truss rod.Could it be this easy I thought?  Oh ya intonation!   I checked the intonation and to my surprise it was right there.Wow I was done

Right away you could hear this guitar had tones like no other and as I used it exclusively for the next week at rehearsal ,it was hard to keep the shit eating grin off my face. My band mates are impressed with the quality and sound ,and that it is unique.

I will defiantly be looking forward to building another kit. I think it will be far easier as I have all the supplies and knowledge from the first.

This is what he bought:

59 Carved Top | Our Best Seller

Body, front – Wood figure highlighted in Black and sanded back – Amber base with Brown to Black fade dye (sprayed)
Body, back – Dark Mahogany dye, shellac basecoat, filled and sanded
– all colors Trans-tint alcohol based dye – 12+ coats clear lacquer

Neck – Mahogany stain, filled sanded, Tung Oil approx 12 coats
Headstock – Black Lacquer, laser engraved Bee Hieroglyph design approx. 3/64 deep filled with yellow water based artists acrylic, 10 coats clear lacquer

Percision’s drop-in pro wiring kit, Schaller locking tuners, Gotoh 510 bridge & tail, Fuelie Pro Mod pickups

Thanks Phil!…..I can’t wait to do another! …

 

and how did you do the laser cutting in the headstock

I did the design, which is of course egyptian hieroglyph for Queen Bee” engraved at – no shit – the Trophy House in Fargo North Dakota – built a jig so it would sit level in their laser engraver.

The yellow is water soluble artist’s acrylic dries really fast – does not react with lacquer so clearcoat right over it

Phil,

Thanks  for the email.  The experience of building the Les Paul from your neck and body was really great. The build went really well – particularly enjoyed learning to do the binding.  The only thing not yet done is the headstock inlay and logo – and that because I’m still debating.  But, she plays superbly.  The action and feel of the neck is really a pleasure and feedback from the musicians I play with (and who have played the new guitar) has been universally great.  So far the only maintenance work has been some work on the fret ends after the New York City winter set in – the heat dries everything to a crisp.  But I’ve had to do that on pretty much all my guitars.  In a word the guitar looks superb and plays incredibly.

Here’s a couple of images both before and after the pick guard was mounted.

Thanks again.  My go to guitar!