LP project

[M29]

Hello,

I picked up another project, man this has got to stop I have an Epiphone LP Studio that has a broken headstock . I kind of bought it for the decent alder contoured top. The rest of the body looks like agathis or something with a thin veneer of mahogany on the back.
I am thinking of LP custom type binding on the top and build a neck through neck (laminated with five pieces, light and dark wood) with bound fretboard and head stock. The only issue is that I want to disguard everything but the top layer of alder about 3/8 of the thckness or a little less and then mate it to full mahogany for the rest of the body. Do you guys have any ideas as to how to cut this large piece off the top? I guess I could take it to a mill and have them do it but I like to do as much of this stuff as I can myself but my saw will not cut that large a piece.
One thing I thought of is to bring the neck through up to the top through the middle of the alder so it shows on top. This would mean that I would cut the top in three pieces and laminate it with the neck through. I kind of like this idea as it will look different than a regular LP and I would then be able to cut the alder off the side (wing) pieces which would be small enough now on my own table saw. On the other hand This might make the top look too cluttered and lose that nice LP look.
Another thought is to chamber the body with the neck through but I have heard differing opinions on chambering wheather it makes that much difference. I am really not concerned about the sound or trying to get a certain sound, I kind of like to see just what sound it does end up having.

I am curious as to what you guys would do to this project and also any tips on sawing that alder off the top.

Thank you for your time and help.

M29

[Tinky-Winky]

M29, epiphone says that the back is solid mahogany, so unless you want the best (i.e. honduran) mahogany, then I don't think you'll need to saw the back off.

[M29]

Hello Tinky-Winky,

Yeah that is confusing to me. If you look at the wood you can see a faint very thin edge where the back meets the sides and the grain in the sides does not match the grain in the mahogany back, which looks like beautiful Honduas mahogany. I think they are lumping in the Asian mahogany (agathis) with the mahogany that we know and love. I will say one thing my Jay Turser LP copy is agathis and it just sings with sustain. I would like nothing better then to not be have to cut the back off of this baby. I am throwing around ideas as to what to do with it. If the truss rod was not in the way I might be able to repair this neck and just keep it like it is.

I will see if I can get a photo of the edge and the back that will show the grain mismatch although the color is pretty dark, which I think they do to hide the mismatch. It bugs me because I think they are using this agathis pretty loosely in advertising now days as mahogany.

I would be interested in your thoughts on the asian wood agathis. I may be off base with this but this is what it looks like to me.

Thank you for your discussion and thoughts on this.

M29

[Tinky-Winky]

I did a little bit of research and found that it might be possible for epiphone to be using agathis as the main body wood, but also found that they could be using other woods - e.g. sapele, another decent substitute for real mahogany. Also, agathis can be a good tone wood, but it depends on the individual sample. It does have similar tonal properties to mahogany, so perhaps it is worth keeping everything as it is, and repairing the neck, especially since I've seen it get some good reviews.

[M29]

Hello Tinky-Winky,

Since I read your post I have done some investigating into this subject as well. There seems to be some good reports on Agathis and I sure liked the way my Turser LP copy sounded even with not so great pickups. On my Sqiuer SE 100 Strat the sound of the Agathis body is somewhat dark compared to an Alder body but it has its own sound which is not bad just different. Tone controls help make it brighter and I think an equalizer would help spruce it up, which I hope to get down the road. It does still have that Strat sound though.

Thanks for the discussion and info Tinky-Winky.

M29

[Tim]

M29 - I found an old Taylor dreadnought acoustic on the side of the road one day. I picked it up for my then 15year old son. I discovered that the headstock was damaged just as your picture shows.

I have an older friend who is a woodsman by trade. He cut off the old headstock and a 45-degree angle. The angle was just behind the nut and tapered down the back of the neck. He then hand made a new headstock out of a close colored strong wood. He then glued the new headstock on the remaining neck with a new type of poly-something glue. He clamped the 2 woods together for 3 weeks. After removing the clamps, he dressed up the two jointed woods with sandpaper and steel wool. Since the original neck was of natural finish, there was no need to shellac the wood. I bought new tuners and had him install them.

That guitar sounded as good as a new Taylor guitar. As far as I know, it is still being played somewhere. I guess being able to fix guitars with that kind of damage depends on the talent of the repairman. Good luck!

[M29]

Hello Tim,

Good story! What a find. I love finding something cool and fixing it up. My concern with this neck is getting a real good square joint on both sides of the truss rod. With the truss rod in the way I can't cut straight across for an extremely accurate mating surface. If I go that route I will have to figure something out. I have always wanted to build a Les Paul neck through with honduas mahogany and this is what I originally planned with this purchase. I thought I could use the contoured top (which I do not have the knowledge to make) and then make up the rest. I wanted to have the three pickup configuration like the LP fretless wonder with full binding on the body and neck. I thought I might be able to use this top for this dream build but It may be worth just fixing up the headstock and use it like it is. The fretboard and neck seem real nice so I may go that way.

Something kind of interesting on my guitar in my avatar that I built is that I soaked the neck near where the nut is in hot water for many days. Once it was good and flexible I clamped it in an angled jig that I made up and let it dry for a month. That neck stayed that way for as long as I had it and it is still being used by someone today. I just wish I could get it back from that someone. I found out who the guys cousin is but he would not give me the owners phone number.

Thanks Tim for sharing your story and for the info.

M29

[Tinky-Winky]

M29, if you want to make an archtop yourself, take a look at the following website (specifically "shaping the body"):
http://europa.spaceports.com/~fishba.../cvr/cover.htm

EDIT: I looked a bit more at this site and found lots of useful tips. There's actually some articles on reparing necks, and one of them focuses on fixing a guitar with a snapped headstock.
http://europa.spaceports.com/~fishbake/index.html
and more specifically
http://europa.spaceports.com/~fishba...en3/broke3.htm
and
http://europa.spaceports.com/~fishba...en2/broke2.htm
and
http://europa.spaceports.com/~fishbake/broken/broke.htm

[M29]

Hello Tinky-Winky Great site! Thank you for the link, some good info on that baby.

M29

[Plank_Spanker]

M29,

Are you going to post pics of this project as it goes along? It would be cool to see it take life.

[M29]

Hello Plank_Spanker,

Yeah I will post some pics. I am thinking more and more of doing the neck through. I need to get off my butt and get the wood for the neck so it can be drying out some before I get to it.

I am working on my Jazzmaster body right now. I am looking into a heel contour but I am not sure how to go about it yet. The holes are already drilled for the neck but I guess I can still do a heel contour.

Ya know the hard part of a project is knowing that it will take a very long time to get to the point of playing it. I will use nitro lacquer and that alone takes forever to dry. It is fun though!!

Thanks Plank_Spanker

M29