I've been looking forward to starting a Double Cutaway Les Paul Jnr kit for some time now. One of the simplest kits to finish, and yet with elegant lines that just speak to me. I received a Pitbull Guitars JR-1DC as a birthday present a week ago and couldn't wait to get the box open.
The kit fits together very easily and in no time I had the wrap-around bridge fitted, the single P90 pickup seated and the neck aligned. I always use the two E strings during this process to make sure that the neck angle produces correctly positioned strings down its entire length. It's also useful to get the placement of the pickup correct so that the pole pieces are as close to directly under the strings as possible.
And that's it for the mock-up really. The one thing I haven't bothered to do is the pickguard. This is because I am planning to make my own pickguard in tortoiseshell using the original black one as a template. Should look killer with the planned butterscotch Wudtone - quite a close match to the 'TV Yellow' that many of the original LP Jnrs sport from Gibson.
Next I'll be shaping the headstock with a traditional Les Paul design, and then it's on to sanding, pore filling and grain raising. I'll be sanding to 240, 360 and 400 grits, and pore filling using a slurry of Timbermate after the first pass with 360 grit. I'll take the excess Timbermate off with 360 grit before moving on to 400. I'll raise the grain with water several times between subsequent passes at 400 grit to make sure the surface is nice and smooth prior to applying the Wudtone. Stay tuned for more double-cut goodness!
The kit fits together very easily and in no time I had the wrap-around bridge fitted, the single P90 pickup seated and the neck aligned. I always use the two E strings during this process to make sure that the neck angle produces correctly positioned strings down its entire length. It's also useful to get the placement of the pickup correct so that the pole pieces are as close to directly under the strings as possible.
And that's it for the mock-up really. The one thing I haven't bothered to do is the pickguard. This is because I am planning to make my own pickguard in tortoiseshell using the original black one as a template. Should look killer with the planned butterscotch Wudtone - quite a close match to the 'TV Yellow' that many of the original LP Jnrs sport from Gibson.
Next I'll be shaping the headstock with a traditional Les Paul design, and then it's on to sanding, pore filling and grain raising. I'll be sanding to 240, 360 and 400 grits, and pore filling using a slurry of Timbermate after the first pass with 360 grit. I'll take the excess Timbermate off with 360 grit before moving on to 400. I'll raise the grain with water several times between subsequent passes at 400 grit to make sure the surface is nice and smooth prior to applying the Wudtone. Stay tuned for more double-cut goodness!
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