Build thread: Pancake body les paul deluxe

What's Hot
WezVWezV Frets: 16546
edited November 2015 in Making & Modding
what are peoples thoughts on it.   generally I prefer to build from bigger solid  chunks of wood, but when a load of free mahogany turns up its worth reconsidering :)

essentially the story goes that gibson was sourcing all its mahogany in the same dimensions for pancake bodies and laminated necks - and I have just got 6 planks of mahogany in similar dimensions 

gibson also cross banded 2 thin laminations, apparently to prevent warping but who really knows - they certainly made life difficult for themselves so it's hard to see it as a cost saving feature

here are a couple of gibson examples
image

image

and i guess we need a pic of fenders version too
image

now i don;t think the thin middle lams on the gibson will make a jot of difference, but at least the fender one is contrasting and a nice feature



anyway, out of the 6 planks i have a few will make great neck wood, some are clearly not good enough

take these 2 - great neck wood in the top blank, not suitable for necks below
image

the top one could make at least two laminated gibson style neck blanks


I have just checked th bottom one and there is more than enough wood for 4 thin guitar halves suitable for making a pancake body - so obviously I am considering it
image


the only other issue is weight, notice the good plank is also longer, but it weighs less.   the long plank is under 10lb, the short one closer to 14lb.    that makes the actual wood about 50% heavier.  remember this is old stock honduran mahogany from the same source!!!  slightly annoying that the wood perfect for a neck also has a better weight for a body

So

1) pancake bodies? yes/no
2) cross banding? yes/no
3) contrasting cross banding? Yes/No
4)use the heavy plank for this experiment? yes/no




0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
«13456714

Comments

  • John_PJohn_P Frets: 2744
    Not for me.      I can see how it's a good way to use nice wood that is too small but it looks  wrong imo.       When you already have the wood though,  you might as well give it a try.  
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    The Fender Rosewood one looks beautiful, the LP not so good.
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • WezVWezV Frets: 16546
    just checked through the rest and have a planks i would class as not suitable for necks that weighs only 8 1/2lb.   that makes the decision slightly easier
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • WezVWezV Frets: 16546
    Jalapeno said:
    The Fender Rosewood one looks beautiful, the LP not so good.
    i'm with you there, its why I posted it.   I don;t do straight up replicas and since I can see no reason for the crossbanding on the gibson i wouldn't ever bother doing it.... but i might be tempted by a non-traditional contrasting veneer - i even have the maple veneer here for something like that
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589

    Don't know how/if it works for guitars but rifle stocks, especially the more bruising calibres, have been made in laminates for years.

    They are much stiffer than solid woods, virtually immune to splitting or warping and so make for a touch more consistency and accuracy. I think they look good as well.

    'S'all in the glue you know!

    Dave.

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    WezV said:
    So

    1) pancake bodies? yes/no
    2) cross banding? yes/no
    3) contrasting cross banding? Yes/No
    4)use the heavy plank for this experiment? yes/no

    1) Yes, I don't mind them. Maybe because I grew up liking 70s Les Pauls.
    2) Yes, I think it looks better and less of a cheap solution than a plain join - which is also why I think Gibson may have made a feature of it.
    3) No, not normally. I'm not even sure I like it on the Rosewood Tele.
    4) Yes. Fender did it so they could weight-relieve the rosewood. Obviously on a maple-cap LP you can do it from under the maple anyway, but it gives you the opportunity to do it on an all-mahogany body.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • speshul91speshul91 Frets: 1397
    Yes to all. You started yet?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • WezVWezV Frets: 16546
    I have been hankering for one of those Pelham blue deluxes so it makes sense to make one now so much wood has turned up.

    I might process a couple of the planks this afternoon
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • SkodadadSkodadad Frets: 509
    edited November 2015
    What about hollow body versions, would they be any more suitable for that? Contrasting sides would be nice
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    edited November 2015
    WezV said:
    I have been hankering for one of those Pelham blue deluxes so it makes sense to make one now so much wood has turned up.
    That would be very cool - a proper 70s LP Deluxe repro with all period-correct features. Pancake body, laminated neck, shallow head angle and volute, of course. Although personally I'd probably go for the smaller headstock.

    Will you be selling it? ;)

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • WezVWezV Frets: 16546
    edited November 2015
    who knows  - I seem to start more projects that I finish these days.  but i don't do proper repro's so it will be "in the style of" only

    Decided not to do the cross banding, you can't see it on most pancake bodies anyway - so that's all in clamps glueing up.   I used the 8 1/2 lb plank for it so it could be a pretty reasonable weight

    I also sliced up the neck blank plank
    image

    so that's 6 blanks which are 7/8 x 2 3/4 x 30".   I could do 6x scarfed necks with that, using the offcut for headstock ears

    but I am not. they would be flatsawn and that's not ideal for mahogany necks so would need extra reinforcement - and they are seen as being cheap even though when well done I totally disagree

    Instead it will be 2(potentially 4, but i want long tenon's so might not get two necks out each block) laminated necks, and because the wood is mostly flatsawn flipping them on edge like this will make it a quartersawn laminated neck - nice and stable

    image
     
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    WezV said:
    what are peoples thoughts

    1) pancake bodies? yes.  There's no reason not to
    2) cross banding? yes.  Particularly if it produces a stiffer body, with better resonance.
    3) contrasting cross banding? This depends on the grain. However I do like the use of contrasting veneers between layers
    4)use the heavy plank for this experiment?  Dunno


    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • WezVWezV Frets: 16546
    may as well turn it into a build thread since work has started.

    I will be making a les paul inspired by a 70's deluxe.  body will be two layers of mahogany and 1 layer of maple - no cross banding.   neck will be 3-piece mahogany from the blank above.  it will be a full width long tenon and it won't have binding nibs. the top will most likely be 3 piece plain maple

    whilst its 70's inspired I am not going to make it a replica - i don't give a fuck about period correct  plastics or spending 10x the cost to do something the period correct way if I think I can do it just as well with a non-authentic method.  Having said that, I do want to get pretty close to the genuine article and will copy the bits I think are important.

    I will try and document as much as possible - but if life gets in the way that may stop :)
    0reaction image LOL 2reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    WezV said:
    Decided not to do the cross banding, you can't see it on most pancake bodies anyway
     
    Ah :(. I like the cross-banding, it's a distinctive feature and I like the way it catches the light so it shows up as the opposite colour from the body wood until you move it.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • WezVWezV Frets: 16546
    Yeah, but I would be adding a layer of wood to remove it somewhere else all in the name of authenticity. That way lies madness.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • RoxRox Frets: 2147
    I had a pancake body SG with a lovely volute on the neck.  It was bloody brilliant.

    I will watch this with interest.  :)
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • SargeSarge Frets: 2370
    Fwiw
    1,yes
    2,yes
    3,yes
    4, I guess?

    I love the look of a good pancake body, I've had a few Mats Hondo dc with this "feature". Look awesome.
    My black Westbury standard has a pancake too, I so want to strip it to see how well it looks, but folk here(@ICBM I'm looking at you) talked me out of it.

    This should be a really interesting thread, looking forward to its progress.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    Sarge said:
    My black Westbury standard has a pancake too, I so want to strip it to see how well it looks, but folk here(@ICBM I'm looking at you) talked me out of it.
    Black trumps pancake ;).

    Although if it was a Les Paul or something else with binding, you could get a double score by having a blacktop on a pancake body :).

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • As much as purists think these were the work of the Devil.

    my best mates 76 pancake body custom with neck veloute etc rocks with the best of them its heavy by modern standards but it kicks arse on jam nights, everyone want to have a go. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • WezVWezV Frets: 16546
    so the body blank is done and i roughly cut it out to check my glue joints.  I went with the lighter plank in the end and its a suitably boring grain patter I am actually really happy with
    image

    image

    normally the mahogany back is about 1 3/4" - so i will accept this even though its technically a mm thinner ;)

    image

    bit even though its the lighter plank its still a bit tubby - so will be weight relieved.  although I am really glad I didn't pick the heavy plank for this now
    image
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.