Installed a K&K into this 60's gibson today.

I got to work on a cool 60s gibson today. Installed a K&K pickup

Heres the guitar:

Not to be confused with the Les Paul build...

I changed the color of the plastics on my les paul from black to Creamtone brand Cream plastics.
Before:

After:

The new pickup rings were flat on bottom so I cut, matched and sanded the final curve of the top into the bottom of the rings so they don't warp like on some old Les Pauls. I have a pretty good example for another post some other day

Les Paul Update No. 2

Well it's together neck needs to be sanded out. Next paycheck I'm ordering finish. Or maybe a dremel with the router base to put the headstock inlay in. I have pointed out one of my mistakes a les Paul connoisseur will be able to spot. (Hint it's the ledge where the neck meets the body in the cut away) normal Les Paul's are flush there. I'm going to try and sand it down on the drum sander to make it less noticeable. But I need to be careful not to go through the binding. Also not happy with the pickup routs. The locking mechanism on the plunge  router I used at school slipped (which just happened to be the 1 in 10 routers) the first time I though I just got off the template and blamed myself it wasn't until the second time I realized that was going on and switched routers. But it was too late the damage was done. Now I need to try and hide that little crescent moon on the bridge pickup cavity. The pickup ring will cover it but at the cost of misaligning it so I will have to cut or commission a new pickguard. Am I being hyper critical?

One Great Big Les Paul Build

I was just too busy working on other stuff to continually update my Les Paul build so I'm pouring everything out on the table right here.

Stay tuned for the rest.

Sun burst test board

They call this color configuration "Ice tea" burst. A real sunburst has black on the outside amber in the middle. Red on the outside Amber in the middle is a "cherry burst." On this board I was trying to emulate a cherry burst where almost all the red has faded out and the yellow middle has ambered over 50 years or so.  I really like the colors of this one. In the bottom photo you can see just how glossy I got it after final sanding and buffing.

Another new neck?

Since my last post with the three necks I decided to buy an Indian rosewood blank for my rosewood back and sides guitar. While a little heavier and less traditional than the mahogany I was going to use, the matching look is going to be beautiful. 

Joined to show grain texture

Nice looking match. Thanks Vikwood!

Dove tail routed. Starting to shape heel. You can see the handmade template I used at the left. No CNC on this one.

It's already shaped and fitted now. I could glue it In but to make life easier I wanted to sand it out before its attached permanently.

Couple of necks.

Here are a couple of my necks from left to right: les laul, Martin style OM, Gibson style mandolin. All of them are one piece necks. I also got the truss rods installed in all 3

Ever wonder how kerfing is glued on?

Probably not... But this is how. Clothes pins for clamps with rubber bands for extra pressure. 

I got my top braced.

Here it is, all braced out and scalloped. It rings out nice and has already been voiced (the removal of extra brace wood so the top can ring out at its best) The yellow bridge plate is Osage orange wood. It's a really hard wood so it will do a good job holding up to the string ball ends pulling on it once it's all strung up.

All that's left is to sand the braces smooth and pretty.

In the spray booth: Spraying metallic gold test board.

I will let the picture and the discription speed for this one. Get a good look while you can because I'm spraying red over the top tomorrow to make a candy apple red color. 

Back at school: guitar back glued and braced.

I Well I'm back at school and it's been really busy lately. I got a good start on my Martin OM cutaway style guitar and got the back braces glued in. I laminated the spruce braces with rose wood to make it look extract fancy when you look in the sound hole. They still need to be shaped though and than I will post another picture.

UPDATE: here they are shaped to a bullet  point and scalloped in the middle. You don't usually see scalloped back braces but this back was soo stiff I needed to loosten it up and put a little flex back into it.

I still need to sand them out and make them look really pretty. The stripped shavings are pretty cool looking though.