Hot on the heels of building a Tele in spring/summer 2020, I then fixed up a beater strat which took more work and got me optimistic I could take on even more. So I bought a Les Paul Jr kit. I did not have any guitars with a P90 pickup, and I have always admired the simplicity of these instruments. Plus Paul Westerberg was a fan of them. I ordered a kit from Precision Guitar works again, and this is what arrived a few weeks later:
The body is solid Mahogany, the neck is Mahogany with a Rosewood fretboard. On the real ones, there is a veneer made of Holly which is died black and applied to the front of the headstock. I opted to do that as well.
There are a few tricky parts to this built that are not needed on a Fender-style (bolt on neck) build. First and foremost, here we'll be gluing the neck in place.
Second, the finish work is quite a bit more complex; I could have just painted it a solid color but I wanted that cool see-through classic red finish.
I bought some Mahogany samples to practice finishing to see how it might look since there was a 3-step process to it. Below is one of them.
The three basic steps are:
Grain filler, died black, is applied. Once it dries you sand the guitar smooth. Repeat until you get the level of smoothness you are looking for. The black colored filler is what makes the grain pop out so nicely.
Rub a red dye into the body. You cut the red dye with an alcohol based solvent to give you more room to lighten or darken the finish. If you make it lighter, you can apply multiple coats until you have what you want.
Finally when you have the grain detail and red color you want, you spray clear lacquer over it.
I used this red dye, cut with iso-alcohol. I applied it with a clean rag.
Eventually I got to a finish I liked. Start slow, you can always add more.
Above is prior to shooting the clear lacquer over it. I had to sand it down a few times and kind of start over. The kit wound up sitting for 2 years until I could get back to it. Life happens. I painted all of the control cavities and pickup cutout with shielding paint.
After applying clear lacquer and buffing it out a bit. I wanted it to look like wood, and I wanted to use the thinnest finish I could to let the guitar ring ideally. Here I was pressing in the bridge post mounts.
I used this black dye, full strength.
Here is the Holly veneer, dyed black prior to being glued to the headstock.
I used hide glue and some clamps to get it to sit flat on the headstock. In hindsight I should have bought one of the pre-cut veneers, but I wanted to see what it was like to work with.
Here is the neck with filler and dye applied and I've glued on the Holly veneer.
My plan had been to use a flush trim bit on the router to take off the excess. The Holly wanted to splinter and it was hard to guide the headstock accurately. It seemed ideal on paper, but not so much in real life. Flush Trim bits have a roller on the end to follow a contour and then have a blade below that.
Dremel to the rescue - I switched to a sanding drum that I could control a lot more easily and take material off in a more controlled manner. I trimmed the bulk off first, and then used the sanding drum to finish it off.
Here we are part way through the process.
And all trimmed. Now we can glue the neck on, once we press in the bridge posts and drill the tuner holes.
Ready for the next few phases. You can see the 3D effect of the wood grain on the body here.
I pressed the mounts in with a clamp, but once they were started it was simpler to put the screw in and then tap them gently into place with a non-marring (plastic) hammer.
When you assemble traditional instruments, you generally use hide glue. It holds well but can be removed with steam so you can perform repairs.
I bought some disposable brushes to use for the glue. You paint a thin layer on to the neck and the body, let them sit until tacky and then clamp them together for about 24 hours. Make sure your neck is in at the right angle. I used strings and tuners (again) as straight edges and I applied the clamps when I was confident that the neck was in the right place.
Clamps (bottom view)
Clamps (top)
Be ready to wipe away any excess glue right away. Then let the guitar sit for at least 24 hours so the glue can set properly.
In my haste to mount the bridge, I forgot the bridge post ground which grounds the strings. Removing them is not hard thankfully! You cut a screw or bolt to length that will fit inside the mount and then use the screw to lift out the mount (it presses down on the screw, which pushes the mount out)
You can see the hole where the ground wire comes up here. You just strip a large area on the end, fish it up into the hole and then use the ferrule to crush it up against the side. Not unlike a J-bass where the ground wire is crushed under the bridge.
Mounting the tuners, I drilled out the holes on a drill press to get through the Holly veneer.
Pickup & bridge are in, the electronics are pretty simple since there is no switching.
The one trick to final assembly is cutting the nut. I chose to work from a real blank, so I had to file it down to the right thickness, height and radius and then file in the string slots. It's not great but it works for now. As time allows I will make a better one. iI is a lot thicker than the one for the Strat.
I used an adjustable bridge from Stewart MacDonald so that I would be able to set the intonation well, and a no-noise Mojo P90 pickup. The stock bridge just mounts at an angle and has no adjustment. This one has movable bridge saddles and also moves in and out at either end using grub screws.
Here it is, all together. I still have to make a truss rod cover and address a high fret on the high E string (it popped up from sitting all that time I think) but it plays amazingly well and intonates beautifully. It rings like an acoustic. The wood is really terrific.
Sources:
Precision Guitar Kit LP Jr with '59 neck: https://precisionguitarkits.com/product/58-double-cut-jr-59-neck
Mojotone Noiseless P90: https://www.mojotone.com/Mojotone-56-Quiet-Coil-P-90-Dogear-Pickup
Adjustable Bridge: https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardware/bridges-and-tailpieces/bridges-and-tailpieces-for-electric-guitar/golden-age-low-profile-wraparound-bridge-with-standard-studs
Holly Veneer: https://bartlettguitarparts.com/products/holly-veneer
Dyes & Finishing materials: Stewart MacDonald
Hardware (Tuners, knobs, Nut blanks): " " Controls: https://www.vintageinspiredpickups.com/product-page/vipots-280k
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