Scratch Pine Toronado: Pickguard

So I got in this morning and completed the routing of the red perloid pickguard for the Toronado. Not an amazing result, but I gave it my best and it's not bad for a first attempt with sausage fingers and poor router skills. Hopefully the next one will be better - I have to remake my MDF templates for both body and template so that they more closely correspond. If you don't look too closely, the end result still looks pretty good.

I've got two coats of acrylic clear on the body now. Just a few more coats and then I can leave it to cure. Probably 2 more days worth of spraying if the fine weather continues. She's coming along!

Scratch Pine Toronado: Red Perloid

A sheet of red perloid scratchplate material arrived in the mail today. I got straight in and attempted to fashion a scratchplate for the Toronado. It wasn't easy and the results reflect that. Still first attempt and all that. What do you think of the colour?

When I pulled the sheet out of the envelope I was pretty non-plussed. Now it is growing on me. I think it will look great with the humbuckers sitting in it. I was after a shoe-gazer look to this guitar and I think the red perloid and black certainly delivers...

Scratch Pine Toronado: Pickguard Template

While I wait patiently for my router bits and cavity templates from Stewmac, I though I'd have a go at transferring the pickguard from the pdf design to a thin MDF sheet ready for shaping the pickguard material. It was pretty straightforward; involving pretty much the same procedure as with the body template.

First I cut out the pdf on to A4 paper and stuck it together with sticky tape. Using the neck template and the bridge positioning distances calculated from the Stewmac fret position calculator, I oriented this paper template between the neck cutout and the bridge. This gave me the first hurdle to overcome - the hard-tail bridge that I've selected for this build sits further back than the stock Toronado bridge referenced in the design. This meant that the pickguard design needed some freehand alteration to move the bridge surround lower, and to shift the side edges out and down to meet this new surround placement.

With the alteration made, the second step was to glue the paper template onto the 4mm MDF and cut roughly around it with the band-saw. This done, the bench sander allowed me to smooth off the majority of the convex and concave curves. The tight corners around the bridge and in the neck cavity proved the most fiddly, requiring a fine curved file to slowly remove material until the desired shape was reached.

Finally, the job was done and the pickguard template looks pretty good:

I'll have to wait for my templates from Stewmac before I can add the pickup routes in the pickguard. This will provide it's own set of challenges, but I'm ready and raring to go!

Les Paul Jnr Double Cut: It's Finished!

Well, the Les Paul Jnr Double Cut was finally finished today - Woohoo!! I am very happy with how this one came out. In terms of the wiring mods discussed previously in this blog, in the end I used only a single push-pull pot to bypass the tone circuit. The tone bypass is the default - you have to pull the tone pot up (out) to enable the tone. In the down position you get the full dynamic range of the P90 without any modifications.

Apart from the custom scratchplate & truss-rod cover, only a small number of further changes were made above and beyond the stock Pitbull kit. I added an Orange-drop tone cap to the aforementioned push-pull tone pot for the tone circuit, and added a switchcraft output jack with an oval base plate. Lastly, a pair of black speed knobs finished off the look.

I couldn't be happier with how she has turned out. Even though the tuners, bridge and P90 are all stock standard from the Pitbull kit, she plays very nicely indeed with plenty of grunt and oodles of sustain. I would still like to get a P90 from GFS for this bad boy when funds become available, but what's there now sounds amazingly good anyway (go figure!). With a bone nut and the action dialed in, she's low to the deck and silky smooth! Man, I can't put this baby down - especially with the distortion cranked way up! Heaven..

Les Paul Jnr Double Cut: Adeline Skulls!

Well, I couldn't wait any longer. After receiving my 'Adeline Skull' decals from Andy at City Signs and Print in Port Lincoln SA, I've been itching to see what they look like on my custom tortoiseshell pickguard and truss-rod cover. Well, here they are. They look freakin awesome and I couldn't be happier with them. This isn't a tribute build per-se, but a little salute to Green Day's Billie Joe was always on the cards with an LP Jnr.

Cool huh? Can't wait to see everything assembled and hear this baby scream.

Les Paul Jnr Double Cut: Custom Pickguard

Today I created a custom Tortoiseshell pickguard for the Les Paul Jnr using a sheet of Uncut 3-ply Pickguard Material from Guitar Fetish. Trying to find a sheet of this stuff that doesn't require a second mortgage on my house was a real challenge, but GFS finally came through.

I used the original pickguard from the kit as a template. I traced around the original, and then cut close to the line using a cheap coping saw from Bunnings. This was nowhere near as easy as I expected. There must be a knack to using a coping saw well but I don't know it. After cutting, I used a rounded bastard file to clean and trim the edges back to the tracing line. The sides were then finished off with 240 grit sand paper.

After shaping, it was time to drill the holes. Again I used the original pickguard as a guide to hole placement. I went one step further than the original and actually counter-sunk the holes! Having no experience or skills in wood-working, I took a disproportionate amount of joy in both the process and the result of the countersinking. Stupid really given the final result wont be seen under the screw heads.

I am painfully aware that the new pickguard is 3-ply where the original pickguard was only 1-ply. I became aware of this fact when it came time to screw it to the body. Since the body is shaped (it isnt flat like a Telecaster), the pickguard has to ben d to follow the curves. The 3-ply material is resisting the bend and is standing up where it curves above the pickup. I am going to try and see whether this pickguard stuff is thermo-softening. If it is I may be able to heat it up to help bend it to the correct shape. If not, I may have to add another screw.

Anyway, apart from these little details, I think the result looks pretty fucking awesome if I don't say so myself. I can't wait to see how it looks with the butterscotch Wudtone underneath! I still would like to put a bevel around the edge. I'll probably use the bastard file to achieve this, but since the pickguard looks so good as it is, I'll have to find my confidence again to attempt it (and risk spoiling what I have so far!). Stay tuned.

Postscript 22/11/2013:
I actually went ahead and put a bevel around the edge of the pickguard, and I dont like it!! Damnation. Anyway, this meant that I had to go back and cut a whole new one again. Now I have 2 to choose from - with and without bevel.