Mark's LPM-1E

[Bakersdozen]

Another placeholder...

Adam came through with a gem from the deep dark dusty corners of the PBG warehouse. I was chasing him for a custom order and he let me know that he had found this kit after doing a stocktake which was a new unopened box. Perfect! Flame maple cap, hog body and neck with an ebony fretboard (no inlays).

Mock build success and all in order. One slight issue with the bass side of the neck sitting a teeny tiny bit higher than the treble side. Less than a mm and hardly noticeable, but I have seen it and will get to the bottom of it. Only noticed when I was checking to see if both sides of the neck were touching the body. All good, should be an easy fix, it's either the heel or the pocket that needs a very minor adjustment. Will get this done first to then check neck angle, string/bridge alignment etc. etc.

A couple of glue spots as per normal and really looking forwards to popping the flame again on this one. Just waiting for some flame maple veneers to arrive to start testing finishes.

I have a few finishes in mind, but leaning towards paying homage to the AFD Les Paul.

[PJSprog]

Nice. I like the color variation in the ebony.

Was thinking about asking Adam if he had any unsold LP kits sitting around. Nice score.

[Simon Barden]

The end of the fretboard doesn't look particularly skewed to me in those photos. If the neck is sitting square against the bottom and sides of the neck rout, then it would be a major project to re-angle the top of the neck. Not only will you have to angle the bottom of the neck, but also the sides, otherwise the neck simply won't be able to rotate in the slot and you will have stopped most of the neck bottom from making contact with the bottom of the neck rout. And to angle the sides of the neck will also involve making the neck thinner, meaning a sloppier fit (unless you then use veneer on the side of the rout to fill in the gap).

At less than a mm I'd live with it, although I know some people couldn't. But in that case I think it would be technically easier to remove the frets, re-radius the board so it's level and then re-fret the board.

Was thinking about asking Adam if he had any unsold LP kits sitting around.

If he has, they will certainly have rosewood boards, and will be lacking CITES documentation, so can't be sold outside of Australia.

[PJSprog]

If he has, they will certainly have rosewood boards, and will be lacking CITES documentation, so can't be sold outside of Australia.

Yeah, that CITES thing is a pain.

Of course, this one has ebony, so ...

[Andy40]

Oh what a beautiful kit. she is fricken gorgeous!

[Bakersdozen]

The end of the fretboard doesn't look particularly skewed to me in those photos. If the neck is sitting square against the bottom and sides of the neck rout, then it would be a major project to re-angle the top of the neck. Not only will you have to angle the bottom of the neck, but also the sides, otherwise the neck simply won't be able to rotate in the slot and you will have stopped most of the neck bottom from making contact with the bottom of the neck rout. And to angle the sides of the neck will also involve making the neck thinner, meaning a sloppier fit (unless you then use veneer on the side of the rout to fill in the gap).

At less than a mm I'd live with it, although I know some people couldn't. But in that case I think it would be technically easier to remove the frets, re-radius the board so it's level and then re-fret the board.


If he has, they will certainly have rosewood boards, and will be lacking CITES documentation, so can't be sold outside of Australia.

I think you're right Simon. Upon spending a little more time with it really doesn't look too bad. I now notice the binding is raised a fair bit on the treble side of the pocket away from the body. This may be contributing to the gap at the joins. Might see if it's worth shaving the binding slightly there to see if the heel drops a bit further down into the pocket, incase it is preventing it. I will check the coverage at the heel and pocket first and I'm intrigued by your chalk idea. Can you please elaborate on that? I get the concept, however it's the execution I'm confused on. Do you just rub the chalk on the neck heel and hope it will rub off onto the floor of the pocket revealing any inconsistencies with contact coverage. Or did you kind of dust it like a chalk line on the floor of the pocket and then look at the neck heel for results? Or maybe a different way I haven't figured out yet??

Also going to have to dowel and re-drill high E machine head hole. It's wonky AF!

Hope the pics illustrate what I'm getting at.

[Fretworn]

I don’t know, I reckon it a combination of the the low hole, and the shaping of the bottom of the headstock being not the same on both sides. You might be able to lessen the difference by making the shaping on the high e side more like the low e side.

[Bakersdozen]

I don’t know, I reckon it a combination of the the low hole, and the shaping of the bottom of the headstock being not the same on both sides. You might be able to lessen the difference by making the shaping on the high e side more like the low e side.

Good idea. Might help even up the difference a little and not be quite as noticeable.

[Bakersdozen]

Rough headstock shaping and dowling the rogue tuner hole. Plastic nut banished

[Bakersdozen]

Getting back on the (saw) horse with this one. Headstock veneer applied and now dry. Starting to trim and sand into place. A great piece of advice I picked up is to use some packing foam to compress the veneer under a large block, which helps to distribute the weight evenly and also conforms the edges of the veneer over the headstock outline.