1959 Les Paul; Body Binding, Neck Carving and Side Markers

Happy Thanksgiving! With the Holiday, I have a little time to work on Toby W's 1959 Les Paul. In this installment from the mink-lined, nuclear-powered studios of the Weeping Zee Guitar Company, you can see the faux tortoiseshell binding being installed, as well as the late stages of neck carving and Paua Abalone side marker installation. Home stretch now Toby! (And hi to your family who I suspect may be watching...)

It's not done yet, but it's looking like a beautiful mess, which inspired the background music, 'Beautiful Mess,' by Jason Mraz (as covered by talented recording artist Dixie Maxwell).

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Weeping Zee Guitars
• weepingzeeguitars
• weepingzee
• Les Paul
• luthiers
• making electric guitar
• guitar making
• guitar neck carving
• guitar binding
• dixie maxwell
• yepitsdixie

[dudeandmude]

that aint a 59 les paul.

thats a 2010 les paul :P

[WeepingZeeGuitars]

@dudeandmude Yup. But built using the plans and specs from a 1959 Les Paul (with obvious changes at the client's request).

[retornaz]

At 1:38 what kind of glue are you using ?

Thanks

[WeepingZeeGuitars]

@retornaz That was cyanoacrylate (superglue). The thin, wicking kind; Its the one on the far left in the picture at this link (FGHO Item number. lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts­.asp?CategoryName=Adhesives&Na­meProdHeader=Cyano%2DAcrylate+­Glues.

Note that I first sprayed with NCF Quick accelerator (Item FGHAS on the same link) and let that dry for 5 minutes before applying the glue with a dropper. If you don't accelerate, the superglue can discolor the maple (or any light wood like spruce.)

[Simo573c]

what material is the binding?

[WeepingZeeGuitars]

@Simo573c The binding on this guitar was faux tortoise shell from Luthier's Mercantile. Thanks for watching.

[joesteele93]

@WeepingZeeGuitars ok thanks thats very helpful, unfortunatly stew mac is a little inaccessible to me as im english, i have laser cut a template so i have most measurements and you seem of provided the rest!

[WeepingZeeGuitars]

@joesteele93 ...and thanks for watching Joe!

[WeepingZeeGuitars]

I'll double check later but I think the neck set was 4.4 degrees and the headstock was 15 degrees. ( I cut the neck out of a single block but in the past I have glued up three or four pieces.) It was a glued-in mortise/tenon neck. The tenon ends about midway into the upper pickup cavity. The width was about 1/4 or 3/8 less than the fingerboard width on either side...  Don't recall the width but I'd guess 1.5 or 1.75. You can buy an excellent set of plans from Stewart MacDonald on Line.

[joesteele93]

hi im going to start on a les paul supreme project next week and i was wandering if you could tell me a few measurements you used, 1. did you splice the neck and what angle is the headstock? 2. do you rember how wide the neck tenon is and how long? thanks a lot for a great vid, and cool looking guitar as well, its a shame the cost of wood etc. is so much though or i would be making guitars by the minuite! thanks alot

joe