Jeremy's Mahogany Les Paul: Neck Re-radius and Re-fret

Hi ho everybody, I'm continuing my run of posts with an update on my Les Paul build for Jeremy over at http://guitargas.com. Unfortunately, with the build nearing the home straight, I somehow messed up the fret levelling and ended up with frets that were all over the place. I have subsequently found out that there was a very subtle twist in the neck that I could not see, but hey- no excuses pal!

Anyway, with the frets munged beyond repair (well, by me that is ;) ), I enlisted the help of luthier extraordinaire Dingobass at Pitbull Guitars to bring the neck back from the dead. I commissioned a fret replacement and sent the neck to WA for DB to work on. By the time DB received the neck, however, it was in an even worse state than even I could have put it in. Even with a metric fuckload of bubble wrap, good old Australia Post managed to break the corner off the fretboard. Grrrr - you fuckers!!!

Why Australia Post? Why do you suck so fucking hard??

To my relief, DB assured me that he could reverse this travesty and set to work weaving his magic on the fretboard. The results were nothing short of spectacular.

With a wave of his wand, DB restores the fretboard.

With the fretboard repaired to better then new, DB set about doing a re-fret, level and re-crown on the entire neck. The results speak for themselves. An infinitely better result than muggins here could achieve with his two hands full of thumbs. Thanks DB, you're the real deal and you saved my ass.

With DB's re-fret the fretboard looks superb!

With the neck back in my hot little hands, it was time to get it set and finally move ahead with this bad boy. With some Titebond, some clamps and some prayer (all hail the Flying Spagetti Monster) the neck was soon attached and the axe was finally looking like something.

It's a guitar Jim!

To be honest with you, I'm really loving how this baby is looking. This just could be my nicest looking build to date. I think Jeremy will be pleased (I hope so anyway). Hardware assembly is next on the list, so cross fingers for no more issues!

Jeremy's Mahogany Les Paul: Clear Coats and Pin Holes

Jeremy's Les Paul has finally cured to the point where I can start looking at it again. Unfortunately, after flattening the clear with 600 grit I noticed that the acrylic clear coats have dried over the mahogany and left several annoying pin holes in the finish. Nothing for it but to drop fill them from the can. It's pretty straightforward - just spray come finish into the lid and use a bamboo skewer to put a drop of clear on top of each hole.

Lid from the Acrylic Spray and a Bamboo Skewer

Pin Holes filled. Now to let them set and then level off.

With each hole covered by a drop of clear, it's then a matter of time to let these drops dry sufficiently before they can again be leveled off with paper. In this case, with the help of my trusty outdoor heater the back was cured again in a week and ready for sanding down with 1500 grit. Having done this, and liking what I saw, I went straight on to the 2000 grit and Meguiars Ultimate Compound. The results are pretty great if I do say so myself.



A great deal of shininess is now on show. The next step is to get the neck glued on and the hardware installed. I'm getting pretty excited about this build now!

Jeremy's Mahogny Les Paul: Final Clear Coats & Tru-Oil

Some more progress on Jeremy's Les Paul today. With the acrylic clear coats having hung for a month of more drying, it was high time I flattened them in preparation for final coats and polishing. With some 600 grit sand paper, I wet sanded the White Knight acrylic finish until all the orange peel had been removed and the entire surface took on an even matt finish. Soooo smooth!

Acrylic flattened with 600 grit ready for final coats

The body was then ready for two more acrylic coats, in preparation for a month of curing. She's looking nice and glossy at the moment - I'm very interested to see how she looks after the final polish.

Last clear coats on and now ready to cure.

With the body hanging to cure, I was also able to get another coat of Tru-Oil on the neck. There are over 15 coats on there now, and today I started wet sanding it with 600 grit. From now on I'll be applying coats of Tru-Oil thinned 1:1 with Minural Turps. You know when it's time to start thinning the Tru-Oil as you start to see streaks in the finish, and this tends to coincide with the first round of wet sanding.

Wet sanding with 600 grit and thinned Tru-Oil coats have begun on the neck.

About 5 more coats of Tru-Oil, with successively finer wet sanding, and the neck should be ready for a final polish. The neck is feeling really nice and smooth now, so she should give the final axe a really nice feel.

Jeremy's Mahogany Les Paul: Clear Coats!

A week has past since my last post on Jeremy's Mahogany Les Paul build. In the intervening days, the body has been receiving regular coats of White Knight Gloss Acrylic, and Tru-Oil has been slowly building on the neck. This is the first time I've sprayed acrylic clear directly onto a dyed flame-maple top and I gotta say that I'm pretty bloody happy with the results! I wasn't sure how much the flame maple would pop without a bit of oil soaked into the figure, but I needn't have worried. The flame maple is looking really really great! There's even a crap-load of chatoyance visible in the grain, and I really didn't expect that! I think Jeremy's gonna be pretty pleased with how she's looking.

Acrylic clear coats building nicely and popping that flame figure.

The thin coats of Tru-Oil are building much more slowly on the neck, but already the grain is looking really nice here too. I'm giving it a smooth down with 0000 steel wool every 3 coats or so, so after another hundred or so coats she'll be feeling really nice indeed :). After 3 or 4 more coats of acrylic I'll give the body a smooth down with 600 grit, bung on a couple of top coats and leave it to cure.