Guitar build no. 18. My how fast it goes when you spend so much more time at home thanks to the beer virus.
I do like Les Pauls, except when I have one in my hands or possession, then I hate the damn things. They just plain suck to play. I always say, if the Tele is like the Ford Model T, and the Strat a comfortable nice 1950's cruiser, the Les Paul is like one of the first gasoline cars of the late 19th century. Radical in its day, but totally unplayable for people who actually like comforts like cut outs, tummy cuts and necks that aren't baseball bats. With G-strings that stay in tune and headstocks that don't snap off when you give it the stinky eye. So I figured it was time to build my own version of the Les Paul more suited to my tastes and needs. And also because I was watching way too many Crimson Guitar build videos.
I'm a Warhammer 40K nut and I like to build my guitars in that theme. With Fender it always feels like the Imperium of Man to me. Brutal, ugly, parts thrown together. A Fender clone should be Imperial themed. With Gibson it feels more graceful, whole, so that immediately gives me an Aeldari theme, those arrogant stuck up on the cusp of dying out space elves. So I went with a theme inspired by Craftworld Biel-Tan.
An observant observer might notice that the body has some crossover with a Jazzmaster. I kinda like that offset shape. There's a hollowed out interior in the poplar body, covered up with a maple top, and in which I carved the Aeldari runes of from top to right Kaela Mensha Khaine, the Aeldari God of War, the rune of the Biel-Tan Craftworld and the rune of the Aeldari people as well. There's a toggle kills switch up top, as is the course with all my guitars, Shadow kill pot for volume for push button kill switching, as is the course with all my guitars. String through body with a tunamatic bridge, and I swear this was way before Eddie died, a pair of Guitar Fetish VEH Brown Sound pickups, cause I wanted to try something new. And I have to say they sound nice. There's a slight carved top, as is custom with Les Pauls, and a slight carve close to the edge, because I got a little too enthusiastic with the sanding machine doing the overall carve. And I do watch a lot of Scar my Guitar videos, and that guy does it all the time, so I figured I might as well do the same.
My version of the Les Paul headstock. I didn't want the strings to fan out like they do on the Les Paul, which is why the G-string has a bad habit of geting out of tune. Notice the green binding on the fretboard.
Aeldari runes on the sides. Notice the tummy cut for more comfort. I did not paint the sides of the maple top so as to create the illusion of a binding on the body. The runes were carved out with a dremel and then filled with black epoxy, as I knew that the green stain would not cover those up.
Gratuitous ass shot. I wasn't sure if I was going to glue the neck or not, but in the end I went for the old screws. I also did some additional carving to facilitate higher note access.
Neck LED's baby! You have to think Muse and Crimson Guitars for that. It wasn't easy but it came out nice.
In case you're wondering, here's how it's wired on the inside of the fretboard.
And there's also lighting on the inside of the body.
This will look so sweet on a stage.
And it also plays nice too. One of my better builds. The paintjob could be a little better, but other then that I'm very pleased.