Les Paul Build - Part 3

Unfortunately, I need to sleep occasionally, but I eventually made it back into the shop to keep working on the neck. I laid out the top view on the neck and taped a straight piece of plywood right on the line. I used the plywood as a template to flush trim the tapered sides on the neck. After finishing both tapers, I attached the headstock template and flush trimmed that as well. There were a few spots on the headstock where the rough cut went too far (doh!), so I had to do some touch-up sanding with a sanding drum. The headstock ended up being a little narrower than planned, but it shouldn't be an issue.

Neck Taper and Headstock Trimmed

Now for the 2nd most dreaded part of the build...the shaping of the back of the neck. The shape of the back of the neck varies between make and model of guitars, and as well as by player preferences. Since the neck tapers, the profile must taper as well. To do this, I first cut a profile near the headstock and one near the heel. The next step will be blending the 2 profiles.

Before I started, I made sure I had a good center line as a guide not to cross or file away since the thickness has already been dimensioned. I also want to file right up to, but not over the edge where the fretboard will be secured.

I started cutting the profile with a rasp, but it ended up being too coarse and I didn't want to risk chipping out an edge. I ended up using a half-round double-cut bastard file. I didn't need the half-round portion yet, but it will come in handy later. After getting very close to the template with the file, I smoothed and blended the profile with a card scraper. This worked extremely well to get rid of any tool marks left by the file.

Neck Profile Near Heel

Once I had the 2 profiles defined, I grabbed a surform and a file and blended the neck between the profiles.

Neck Shaped Between Profiles

Next, I blended the heel and headstock. I followed the bottom view layout line from the plans, but this doesn't tell the whole story. The key is to make a smooth transition from the neck profile to the heel and headstock. I used my Epiphone Sheraton as a reference several times, but after starting it, everything became clear and I figured it out.

After checking my progress with a straight edge, I realized that I didn't blend the 2 profiles completely, so I had to keep working at it. This was fairly tedius. I would check for and mark the high spots, file and scrape, check again...etc.. The neck ended up being a little thinner than planned (I think it is less than 1/32" too thin), but this should not be noticable.

To finish smoothing and blending, I used a half sheet of 150 grit sandpaper that had duct tape on the back (tip from a luthier forum I came across). The duct tape added stiffness to the paper, which made it much easier to hand sand and prevented the paper from wrinkling. I used a "shoe-shine" motion up and down the neck. This took care of the last high spots. Overall, the shaping of the neck wasn't too difficult.

Neck is Shaped!!!!

Now for the most dreaded part of the process. The fretboard inlays.

I decided to use mother of pearl inlays in the Gibson Les Paul Custom layout. These are basically block inlays on the odd frets (except the 11th and 13th is skipped and the 12th in inlaid). The blocks are all differents widths and heights. I was pleasantly surprised that the pre-cut inlays from Stew Mac were all cut within 1/1000 of an inch to the size listed on their website. Most of the dimensions were actually right on according to my caliper.

I took some time to layout the exact position for each one. Then one by one, I taped the inlay to the fretboard, scribed around the inlay with a knife, routed the waste and cleaned up the edges with a chisel.

Since I bought a pre-radiused fretboard, I made a quick jig for the router to slide on. This ends up cutting a flat bottomed recess for the inlay. After the inlays are installed, I will radius them flush to the fretboard. I used an 1/8" router bit to route the waste. After the practicing on the first few blocks, I was actually able to route to the scribe line. This save a lot of time chiseling. This also helped prevent me from driving a chisel through the thin piece of wood between the inlay recess and fret-slot.

Router Jig for Cutting Inlay Recess

I made sure that I honed my chisels every other block or so, and the whole process went pretty smoothly. Since the fretboard was radiused and the inlay was flat, it was a little difficult holding the inlay in place for scribing, especially as I got to the long, narrow inlays. If (when) I do this again, I will need to figure out a better way to secure them for scribing.

Inlay Recesses

Inlays Dry-Fitted

As was the case when shaping the neck, this wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected. I also didn't think it would go this quickly. I thought I would spend several weekends doing the inlays, but it only took a few hours. I will need to glue them in and sand them flush, but that can wait until next time.