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PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 10:22 am 
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Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:31 pm
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First name: Kevin
Last Name: Looker
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I've seen Les Paul binding done different ways:

1.) Constant binding height all around - resulting in seeing some top wood in the cutaway area.
Attachment:
Binding1.jpg


2.) Binding that gets taller in the cutaway but you don't see any top wood.
Attachment:
Bindng2.jpg


I found a pic on Elderly's site of a vintage '59 and it appears to follow #1 above.

I've also found pics of later 60s LP's that follow #2.

Does anyone know when they did what?

Thanks
Kevin Looker


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 8:10 pm 
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So for anyone playing along at home, I got out my ‘the Les Paul Legacy” books.

Apparently when Gibson started remaking the LP in ‘68, they went to the taller binding in the cutaway to conceal the cap & they did that for “many years”.

If anyone else knows more beyond that, I’d love to hear.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 11:32 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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I don't know anything about when they did what, but when I built my first one I did the up and down thing that you show in your first picture. I was building from some '59 'burst plans and that what it showed.

When I built my second, which was only loosely patterned after a Les Paul at all I changed the carving of the upper bout so it is not symmetrical from treble to bass side and made it drop to the binding level all around the horn. I was using wood binding and didn't want to try to bend on the long axis - much simplier.

I've also seen the extra tall binding for sale but can't imagine scraping all the way around the body. That just seems like a bad idea.

Doesn't answer your question I know, but unless you are trying to duplicate a particular year does it matter?


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 24, 2020 9:20 am 
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Freeman wrote:
...
I've also seen the extra tall binding for sale but can't imagine scraping all the way around the body. That just seems like a bad idea.

Doesn't answer your question I know, but unless you are trying to duplicate a particular year does it matter?


It doesn't matter unless someone is getting nerdy about details, or maybe there's a tonal impact laughing6-hehe

I made on LP with the taller binding and actually bandsawed the binding to rough shape before installing which was a PITA but I think it looked better.

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:41 am 
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Koa
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The wood showing is called “the smile” and is desirable to any vintage geek. It is easier to do and uses narrower binding material. So I would advise doing it this way although there will be no difference in sound.

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These users thanked the author Ken McKay for the post (total 2): Pmaj7 (Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:27 pm) • klooker (Tue Feb 25, 2020 11:04 pm)
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:09 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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I always wondered why they didn't just make the cutaway side all the same body depth as the rest of the guitar. Know what I mean?


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