JohnH's LP-1S

[D.K]

Looking great John, are you using waterslide paper for your decal?

[JohnH]

Thanks guys. DK, yeah, I got some waterslide decal paper. I did a test print on the copier at work, but don't really like the quality. I think I'll probably end up screenprinting it onto the decal paper.

[Simon Barden]

First position for me as well.

Are there any advanced settings for your printer? There are normally settings for printing different types of material and paper, plus adjustment of DPI resolution.

[JohnH]

Oh, sorry Simon, I should have been more specific. I can get a perfectly acceptable print from the printer, but looking at it I know I can get a better print through a screen (I'm a screen printer by day)

[Simon Barden]

A-ha! I know that feeling when you look at something that could be done better and so it has to be replaced.

[JohnH]

Mondays are my day at home with the kids, so while the littlest was asleep the little man and I got some more done on the guitar.

I'd glued in some maple shims in the sides of the neck cavity, so he and I (well... I) trimmed and sanded them flush with the body. The neck fits nice and tight now, and so while we were at it we marked up the positions for the neck holes.





Also got some pickups in the mail today - GFS Fat Pat and GFS Power Rails. I'd heard good things about this combination, at least for the kind of music I'm into. Plus, I'm kinda interested to try their Kwikplug system. The power rails sit quite proud of the body (though the pickup ring still fits comfortably over them. I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to rout the cavities any deeper than they are? Do the pickups need to be deep enough to be flush with the wood? (does it even matter?)



I've ordered some rosewood tone/volume knobs, and so when I get another spare moment I'm going to try to make some rosewood pickup rings and a rosewood rhythm/treble washer.

[Simon Barden]

The deepest the rout needs to be is so that the pickups can be are flush with the tops of the pickup rings. There's no point them going lower for if the strings are catching on the pickup rings, there's something very wrong with the neck angle. You'll probably find the pickups sit a couple of mm higher than the rings when everything is finally set up.

If you are making your own pickup rings, then it's important that you make them the right height, so I'd look at the dimensions of replacement ones you can get on-line as a guide. You'll need to incorporate a curve into the base of them to incorporate the arched top of the guitar, so you also don't want to make the neck ring (the thinnest of the two) too thin otherwise it will easily snap in the middle. But it shouldn't be any higher than the top of the adjacent fretboard.

[wazkelly]

Hi John, plenty of Rosewood looking PUP rings on eBay although the cheaper Chinese ones look like a thin veneer over the top of black plastic. If you look hard enough they are out there in solid wood as I nearly bought some when doing my EX-1 about 18 months ago.

You will tend to find that the Bridge PUP sits quite high and the neck one sits more above the deck than you would think too. Check out some photos of completed Les Pauls as that will give you something to compare with.

Cheers, Waz

[JohnH]

Thanks guys, that's really helpful.

I hadn't thought to look for the rosewood pup rings on eBay, thanks Waz. I'll have a trawl on the net and see if I can't get a set.

[JohnH]

Got some more done this week. I grabbed some rasps and files from work and bevelled the waist a bit more, then sanded it smooth. Wasn't really sure how far I should go with the bevel, but this feels pretty comfy when I hold it, so I guess it's at least better than it was.



Also finished sanding the body, so put a soak/seal coat of tru oil on the front. Hard to get a good pic in full sun, but I think it's looking ok...