The Les Paul Twins

[Christine]

Hey Christine

Thanks so much for this article. It really helped me crystalize my thinking on the set necks I currently have on the drawing board. I am a mahogany and a set neck fan above all else - as you also seem to be - even though you don't see much of either on basses these days. I think I will stay with the one piece mahogany neck, no joint. I don't worry much about the headstock breaking off. I scored a beautiful Honduras board 17.5" wide by 13 feet long by over 2" thick. I can get 4-8 bodies (depending on thickness) and 8 necks out of it so I think I will be off and running soon.

A 1/8 headstock veneer would go a long way to really giving the one piece some serious strength, you could also rout or saw some slots in the face of the headstock and glue in some strips of Mahogany then cover them with a veneer, that would be very strong. I must admit I spend a lot of time thinking about headstocks, I live a sad life!

Sounds like a nice find, Honduras is only available here as used timber now, same with Brazilian. When I had my workshops I used to be able to get Bolivian Mahogany which was plantation grown and very limited supply but I can't seem to find that either these days. I'm starting to think I might just flip to black Walnut instead and make everything out of that instead of Mahogany, it's far easier to work and has very similar density etc and is more stable. Trouble with that is I can't go and choose my own timber from the yard I have to rely on what gets delivered which means mostly flat sawn timber. That's OK but it needs to be left to settle for longer than quartersawn and laminates for necks etc cut differently to get them right

 

[Christine]

Well I sanded the test piece from yesterday and there is a hint of greyness to the binding, easily sorted, I'll spray sanding sealer before grain filling fingers crossed that will keep me good. Even if not it was only a hint, it shouldn't be a problem.

Beyond that I've been sanding and scraping, on my hands and knees looking for a nut off my mega expensive Freeway switch which I dropped and it rolled all the way to the back wall under my bench finding it's way past all the junk under there... HOW? I also routed the radius on the rear of the body but that is still unsanded

I also drilled out for the jack sockets and rebated one of the jack plate in, I'll do the other in the morning. I'm aiming for getting a couple of coats of sanding sealer over the tops tomorrow if I can so I can get the grain filling started before the weekend

 

[BassHappy]

A 1/8 headstock veneer would go a long way to really giving the one piece some serious strength, you could also rout or saw some slots in the face of the headstock and glue in some strips of Mahogany then cover them with a veneer, that would be very strong. I must admit I spend a lot of time thinking about headstocks, I live a sad life!

Sounds like a nice find, Honduras is only available here as used timber now, same with Brazilian. When I had my workshops I used to be able to get Bolivian Mahogany which was plantation grown and very limited supply but I can't seem to find that either these days. I'm starting to think I might just flip to black Walnut instead and make everything out of that instead of Mahogany, it's far easier to work and has very similar density etc and is more stable. Trouble with that is I can't go and choose my own timber from the yard I have to rely on what gets delivered which means mostly flat sawn timber. That's OK but it needs to be left to settle for longer than quartersawn and laminates for necks etc cut differently to get them right

Hey Christine

Yes, there will be headstock veneer, it's in the plan.

Good idea on slotting the headstock. My neck guy is the same guy building my LP bass, Keith Horne - and he is a LP freak. Has a bunch and has built a bunch more. I will run this by him and see what he thinks! The blanks at this stage are 4" wide by 2" thick by 38" for medium scale 32" necks. This is where we are so far in the design, and I definitely want to play around with the set neck joint so I wanted a little extra length. I have some ideas:

Yeah, i was pretty overjoyed when I found the Honduras. I just stood and stared at it. The worker had to grab my arm and pull me back into reality. They had a huge supply a while back but a flooring company pretty much cleaned them out for now. Glad that huge wide plank was lodged in the bottom of the bin where no one could really see it!

 

[D-Smith]

It's actually very easy, the trick is not to put any pressure on the blade so you are literally letting the blade do all the work. The instant you put pressure on you'll know, the blade snaps LOL

And you are so focused on that tiny little line, each time you break one it's kind of shocking! Beautiful work!

 

[Christine]

I think I overdid it yesterday, my foot was hurting again this morning but hey... it's getting close to the good bit now and I'm getting excited (I live a sheltered life )

First job was to cut the other jack plate recess. Then time for the final sanding, I sanded the back and sides down to 240 grit and the tops down to 180 grit; I did explain this before but just in case: Sanding with too fine a grit can lead to forming ripples where the sandpaper removes softer wood faster than the harder wood. Given that on Mahogany it is very unlikely you'll be able to see sanding marks from 240 grit I stopped there. The tops are getting grain filled and painted so there was no need to be too fussy, nothing will ever be seen even if I stopped at 80 grit. I also masked off the neck joint, I did a double layer just in case some spray got in there.

After that and still before breakfast mind, such is my enthusiasm! I sprayed the first coat of sanding sealer from a rattle can as I was just feeling too lazy to set up the compressor. after an hour and breakfast I sanded them and sprayed another coat and left to dry off for a couple of hours. Then I cut them back right up to the banding so they were smooth but leaving the bindings straight from the can for protection against the grain filler. I masked the sides just for general tidiness then put on the first coat and wiped it smooth and went to sit down for a few hours. The destructions say 4 hours so that's what I gave them before cutting back with 240 grit again, It all looked good other than a couple of patches I wasn't sure about but either way they got a second coat of grain filler along with the headstocks, I did those too (forgot).

That's it now until tomorrow, sand them back, give them a thorough inspection and maybe get the spraygun out and put the black on if I have the time

 

[theFixer]

View attachment 3101766

THIS is GORGEOUS!!! I would love a whole Gibson style collection finished just like this right here! 'Bird, NR, "V", SG, LP, RD, IV, Explorer, and even a Victory Bass! All of them would look KILLER sportin' that bound natural thang!

Your carved tops are MAGNIFICENT!!! Hard to believe they were done by hand! Just beautifuldrool

 

[Christine]

View attachment 3101766

THIS is GORGEOUS!!! I would love a whole Gibson style collection finished just like this right here! 'Bird, NR, "V", SG, LP, RD, IV, Explorer, and even a Victory Bass! All of them would look KILLER sportin' that bound natural thang!

Your carved tops are MAGNIFICENT!!! Hard to believe they were done by hand! Just beautifuldrool

Thanks We'll see what they're like with the black on, there's nothing quite so unforgiving as black but they have turned out OK I think. I have a very good sander which does make that difficult looking bit of getting them smooth a lot easier, I have a soft interface pad between it and the sandpaper too for the final bits just to try and get those last ripples out.

I can see them as natural and bound too, need a nicer bit of wood than that, it's a little discoloured in places but with a better top more like the backs, easier too just clear. I'm doing some birds next I might do one and see how it looks A bound EB though? Now that sounds interesting if not down right sexy!

 

[JJR58]

It’s all going to plan, beautiful!!!

 

[theFixer]

Thanks We'll see what they're like with the black on, there's nothing quite so unforgiving as black but they have turned out OK I think. I have a very good sander which does make that difficult looking bit of getting them smooth a lot easier, I have a soft interface pad between it and the sandpaper too for the final bits just to try and get those last ripples out.

I can see them as natural and bound too, need a nicer bit of wood than that, it's a little discoloured in places but with a better top more like the backs, easier too just clear. I'm doing some birds next I might do one and see how it looks A bound EB though? Now that sounds interesting if not down right sexy!

I like the varying wood tones. I realize that "imperfections" like that, are considered undesirable if you look at it like a piece you'd see in a high-end store or a museum or something. What I like it about it, is the "fresh from Uncle Jim's wood shed & ready to kick your arse" kinda look to it. A "working man's bass" if you will. If John Henry played a bass instead of swingin' an ax... it would look like that

 

[theFixer]

Thanks We'll see what they're like with the black on, there's nothing quite so unforgiving as black but they have turned out OK I think. I have a very good sander which does make that difficult looking bit of getting them smooth a lot easier, I have a soft interface pad between it and the sandpaper too for the final bits just to try and get those last ripples out.

I can see them as natural and bound too, need a nicer bit of wood than that, it's a little discoloured in places but with a better top more like the backs, easier too just clear. I'm doing some birds next I might do one and see how it looks A bound EB though? Now that sounds interesting if not down right sexy!

With as much as GBassNorth loves his SG Supreme, I bet he'd snatch that bound EB from you before you finished building it!

 

[Christine]

With as much as GBassNorth loves his SG Supreme, I bet he'd snatch that bound EB from you before you finished building it!

I like those Supremes of his a lot, tops like that are so hard to get in the UK at sensible prices. I have thought about an EB but pickups are a problem unless you just use complete alternatives like these Mojos

 

[RedVee]

Great work @Christine

 

[Christine]

After weeks and weeks of sunny weather the day I want to spray starts off misty It was forecast sunny later on so lets go for it

Started the day off sanding the tops again after the grain filler, just went over it with 240 and it looked fine. I had a close inspection and all looked well (I thought). I masked the binding with the tape @Gilmourisgod recommended and masked the edges with normal masking tape and waited for the sun to come out and dry the air up. Had a cup of tea... and another cup of tea, some lunch, another cup of tea and then low and behold, the sun came out, yey!!

I set the spray gun up, it's a DeVilbis SRI if anyone is interested, it's been a while since I last used it, I was a it nervous about using it again, especially with black nitro as I only ever use it with clear as a rule. I thinned the black nitro with anti bloom thinners, it was getting warm and I was a little worried about any moisture in the air given the weather this morning.

I no longer have a spray booth so I sprayed outside with a 3M mist, dust and vapour mask on. I put 4 thin coats on and left it at that. It seems that my grain filling job wasn't quite as good as I thought, there is a tiny it of grain showing but it is only tiny but made worse by the finish being black gloss, by the time the clear goes over the top it will flatten off nicely, I've sprayed lumpier orange peel than that in the past LOL. I'm a little disappointed the surface wasn't quite as flat as I hoped but at least it doesn't need refilling and it will be fine after a few top coats of clear.

I stripped the masking tape off after cleaning the gun and there were a couple of little patches where the regular tape had peeled off and some over spray got it, it's got sanding sealer under there so no problem, there's a couple of tiny patches too where the paint got under the 3M tape and that will need scraping tomorrow perhaps, I'll see how it looks after the finish has settled overnight.

After one coat

Waiting for paint to dry!

 

[Christine]

Just been to the workshop to have a quick look, it's all flattening out nicely, it should be flat after about 3 more coats with some cutting back so plenty of room, a lot less than I thought earlier, loads of coats to go on top of all that, happy girl now

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Oh.... those are going to be sweet....
I got a couple truly tiny bleed throughs on the Indigo tape too, one minute with a razor blade and it was perfect. I tried my hand at scraping unmasked binding.... I suck at it! The (mostly) women at Gibson and Ric make it look easy, but they have spent years at it.

 

[Christine]

Oh.... those are going to be sweet....
I got a couple truly tiny bleed throughs on the Indigo tape too, one minute with a razor blade and it was perfect. I tried my hand at scraping unmasked binding.... I suck at it! The (mostly) women at Gibson and Ric make it look easy, but they have spent years at it.

Thanks, you're very kind

Yes I've seen them doing it, frightening speed they have too. I think looking more closely not they are a bit harder that I may well get away with a bit of careful sanding on the bleeds under the tape. There's a bit of an aris too where the lacquer has curled up the side of the tape, it's quite small, I can just feel it with my finger, hopefully that will cut down with a very careful ultra light sanding with some 1200 grit wet or dry as long as I don't feather the real edge of the lacquer. I'll be glad to get a coat of clear over it all now to give it some protection, I'm still undecided whether to put the neck on first or after finishing it.

I think I'll sleep better than I did last night I was really stressing over this black coat

 

[RedVee]

I think they look great already.

 

[GonePlaid]

I think they look great already.

Nah, they don't look great, they look out-feckin'-standing!

 

[Christine]

Thanks everybody for your help and encouragement, this has been heavy going, I'm a bit out of practice but you guys make it all a lot of fun, something easy like a Fenderbird next time! OK maybe not.

I gave the necks a sanding first this morning and gave them a dose of clear grain filler; same as the black but a lot nicer to use. I set those aside to dry and moved on to the tops of the bodies after yesterdays session. They looked so much better after being left overnight, first job was to remove the tiny aris or sharp edge where the lacquer climbed the side of the tape leaving a raised burr, I used some dry 1200 grit very carefully and it came off really well and felt pretty good all around. I then got a scalpel and used that as a scraper to clean up the top edge of the binding but only roughly as I would probably get grain filler over the edge later on.

Once I was happy with the top I needed to flip the body to work on the back so I made a couple of stands to screw into the cavities to protect the fresh paint. That allowed me to give the back and sides a light sanding and give them a coat of grain filler, that was put aside and I sat down for a cup of tea as you do After the necks had had 4 hours I sat down outside and started to clean them up with some 240. It looked great, no need for a second coat so I set them aside and when the bodies had 4 hours I had a go at them, they were the same so apart from some masking I'm ready to whack some sanding sealer on first thing and hopefully get a couple of coats of clear on the necks and the sides and back of the bodies. I will be so glad to get them sealed just to stop that binding getting dirty, you only need to look at it sideways and there is a dirty mark on it!

Fresh grain filler

Ready for spraying after masking

 

[JJR58]

Thanks everybody for your help and encouragement, this has been heavy going, I'm a bit out of practice but you guys make it all a lot of fun, something easy like a Fenderbird next time! OK maybe not.

I gave the necks a sanding first this morning and gave them a dose of clear grain filler; same as the black but a lot nicer to use. I set those aside to dry and moved on to the tops of the bodies after yesterdays session. They looked so much better after being left overnight, first job was to remove the tiny aris or sharp edge where the lacquer climbed the side of the tape leaving a raised burr, I used some dry 1200 grit very carefully and it came off really well and felt pretty good all around. I then got a scalpel and used that as a scraper to clean up the top edge of the binding but only roughly as I would probably get grain filler over the edge later on.

Once I was happy with the top I needed to flip the body to work on the back so I made a couple of stands to screw into the cavities to protect the fresh paint. That allowed me to give the back and sides a light sanding and give them a coat of grain filler, that was put aside and I sat down for a cup of tea as you do After the necks had had 4 hours I sat down outside and started to clean them up with some 240. It looked great, no need for a second coat so I set them aside and when the bodies had 4 hours I had a go at them, they were the same so apart from some masking I'm ready to whack some sanding sealer on first thing and hopefully get a couple of coats of clear on the necks and the sides and back of the bodies. I will be so glad to get them sealed just to stop that binding getting dirty, you only need to look at it sideways and there is a dirty mark on it!

View attachment 3104322

Fresh grain filler

View attachment 3104323

Ready for spraying after masking

View attachment 3104324
View attachment 3104325

These builds just keep getting better and better.