Dad can we build a guitar?

[bj]

A couple of years ago my son, who was about to go to uni, asked about building a guitar. I knew I was going to miss him so this seemed a great project to spend some time together when he was home, and discuss while he was away. Well three summers hols on and we have finally finished.

My son wanted it to be similar to a Les Paul Junior, and to make it worthwhile we decided to go the whole hog and design in:

a) Laid back 'through' neck
b) Bookmatched front
c) Binding

Since building it, my son has now got a band 'Delmer Darion' (2 free albums on bandcamp.com). He is keen to get this final build onto their third album.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

Look s like you've done a fantastic job. Is it clear cellulose? Thankfully, the headstock isn't angled too far back either.
How does it sound? I guess you looked up the wiring online?

Mike

 

[bj]

We used a water soluble floor satin finish varnish so as not to get the really glossy look of most guitars. My son is very pleased with the sound. We only finished it on Thursday and have decide to let it settle for a while before taking the action down any further. We are very confident that we will get a low action. The pickup is still too low so the volume is compromised - we are awaiting some different bolts to raise it further. However, the low pickup height gives a very clean acoustic sound - my son might decide to keep it that way.

With only one pickup, the wiring was simple (the pickup came with a reasonable wiring diagram).

 

[Ollie]

Love threads like these, what a fantastic job. I hope your son is pleased with it .

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

What pick up is it?

 

[RickTheUncivil]

Looks like you put some hours into that, looks superb.

 

[bj]

Re: Re:

What pick up is it?

Wilkinson double with a nickel cover. It is mid price range with reasonable reviews.

Our total build cost was about £250. In hindsight, had we known that it was going come out as well as it did, we would have budgeted in higher end components.

 

[bj]

One frustrating aspect of the build, was the imperial dimensions still used for a lot of the components. It is almost impossible to get imperial 'brad and point' drill bits in this country. We spent about £10 on one bit alone (for the machine heads). For the bridge posts we filed down a metric spade bit to the appropriate imperial size.

The most satisfying aspects were the bending and installing of the binding, the bookmatching of the front, and the final carving of the neck.

The most anxious aspect was the initial tensioning up of the strings.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

Good pick up, I have a pair on my LP clone.

Would be nice to have a workshop to do this sort of thing myself

Hope it sounds as good as it looks when you do the final set up !

Mike

 

[doctorstewie]

That is a work of art. Did you design it from the ground up?