Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi everyone

I'm pricing out a Les Paul and would love to know your favorite sources for 5/8" thick figured maple tops. I just sent an email to CV Tonewood and am waiting to hear back. In the mean time, I'd love to check out a few others to compare. I'm hoping LMI's near $200 price tag is the ceiling.

I got a killer top from Jason.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Ya, I'd say Jason's your guy James.

They got killer maple there at CVT. I think he was going down to NAMM so it may be next week when you get a reply. Send him a PM too, that might help.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Ok, it looks like the best thing to do is be patient! Thanks, guys.

My usuals 'haunts' have been Chuck Hatch at 3dhardwoods.com (or DuraWoods on ebay), Larry over at Gallery Hardwoods, and Gilmer has a nice selection of stuff most of the time.

Holz-faszination.de for the euro folk around here, as well as Dave Dyke in the UK.

My spalted maple top came from the Zootman.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

I have done well @ Gilmer.. and I am sure Jasonn @ CV will take great care of you.

It is worth checking on how dry the tops are. Some guys are selling lumber that is pretty wet. You will definitely want to make sure you dry it well before using it. (lesson learned there)

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Thanks for the leads, guys, and Brock, thanks for the tip. Notable's prices look great. I want to hear from Jason too. I sure wish everyone could be like Bob and take pics of their woods for us I know how unfeasible that is though.

This project is another step closer to jumping off the ledge now that Trish gave me her official approval tonight when I played a few for her, along with a 335. The problem is that I got sidetracked from my acoustic last year with two amps and a strat. I wanted to free my hands this year to dedicate myself to what the majority of my investment was put in to.

James, where did you get your LP plans?

Mike

Mike, I plan on ordering these plans from Stew-Mac. I remember reading a forum a few years back that I'd never frequented and stumbling upon a thread in which someone representing Stew-Mac said they were developing them using a laser that scanned the guitar and then modeled it somehow. That's pretty cool.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plan ... _Plan.html

James,

I have some doubts that the StewMac plans are from a laser-scanned original 59 as there are some (just a few) mistakes or issues in this plan, i.e. the bottom of the pick up cavity is not tilt but flat in the plan (and tilt on real vintage LPs), just to name one. The plan says "drawn by Don McRostie", I cannot find any hints reg. a laser-scan on it.

I searched a long time and did not find a plan that is 100% vintage correct. A correct 1:1 drawing from the outline you can find for making a template here (free download): http://www.best-eurospruce.com/24.html

Good luck,
Martin

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Martin G.
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www.best-eurospruce.com

I was thinking about using these guys:

http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/products

Maybe the template was "laser cut?"

Mike

If you use anything from those guys, look out for errors.

Their '59 les paul junior template set is obviously wrong from the photos.

-pickup rout is the shape of the dogear cover not rectangular
-pickguard template is cut out for the fingerboard (which should finish at the body junction)

And who knows what else is wrong if these glaring errors are there.

Stew-Mac probably laser scanned the top contours, the inside parts would be a lot easier to just do by hand. Scanning the inside of a pocket by laser is annoying at best, the vertical walls always leave holes in your scan data.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I'm still not entirely sure that I'll be going forward with this, but the majority of my gut's telling the 2% still holding out that it's going to happen.

The Beauty of the Burst, The Les Paul Handbook, and Stew Mac's LP plans are all on their way. I'll give the plans a review after I've had time to look them over, and the review will be in the vein of, "I'm afraid and don't think I can carve a top . . . is there enough information here to help me?"