The Body

We think it is not interesting to show the CNC-routing of a mahoganie body core, therefore we will beginn with the finished body and add here some measurements for spreading the vintage correct infos of this part of the guitar.

Basic measurements of a Les Paul body are a little less than 17 1/4 inch (438mm) length and a little bit more than 13 inch (330 mm) width at widest, as given by Gil Yaron. Our (and John Catto´s) measurements differ a bit, being a bit wider and longer: width is a bit more than 13 inch, but here exactly 333 mm, length is a bit _more_ than 17 1/4 inch (443mm). We stick to our measurements.

Thickness of the mahoganie core (without maple top) is always 1 3/4´´ (44.5mm).

Have in mind that these (as most available) measurements were taken from a finished LP, so give a little extra when building for later sanding (do not start with the final dimensions!) and have in mind, that no LP body is like another ... Gibson used (rigid) spindel sanding for several processes incl. the body, that is why the binding thickness i.e. is inconsistent around the body, have in mind what you will "lose" later when doing the sanding of the side of the body (what we will do once the binding is applied to the body) ...

A good point to start with is 1/3 of a milimeter (0.013´´) surplus to the final dimensions around the body, then you can finally find yourself ending up with the ABS-binding of the right (unusual and varying) thickness of less than 0.08´´ (less than 2mm) after the final (spindel) sanding has been done, but later more on this subject.

A remark regarding the routing depth of the e-cavity and the toggle switch rout: there are LesPauls out where the e-cavity is routed fully through the mahoganie, leaving no shim of wood left at the bottom (then you can fully see the top underside at all positions of the e-cavity), while other Lesters had a shim of mahogany left in the e-cavity - both exists and so both alternates are truely vintage correct.

The following pics are showing the dimensions of various parts of the mahogany body (digital caliper set to imperial system/inch).

ALL GIVEN DIMENSIONS ARE JUST A HAIR LESS THAN FINAL SIZE TO ALLOW SANDING.

That´s how the top of the body looks when it comes out of the CNC:

... and that´s the backside, notice that the recessed rout for the backplates have not been routed - the reason is that this way I am free to set the shape of the plates even to the shape of a "modern cover" (what is widely available from suppliers, but none carries the vintage-correct shape). Busters for vintage-correct shape and dimensions are free to make their own old-style backplate, doing the according routing:

Notice in the pic below that there is a mahogany shim left in the toggle-switch cavity, just like it was done in the old days (thickness of the shim on original Bursts varies between 3.5 and 6.0 mm):

... next pic is misleading: the diameter of the hole in the mahogany shim was precisely measured and then the caliper was placed on top of the body, but unfortunately not fully above mid of the hole ... the hole is 1/2 inch in diameter and is the (future) guide for drilling the hole of according size into the maple (after the top is glued on the body). Then the existing hole in the mahogany is extended to 3/4 inch to accept the underside of the toggle swiitch by a tilt rout (following the curve of the top for placing the tilt toggle switch parallel to the top curve). So: hole through the maple top is 1/2 inch, hole in the mahogany shim is (finally) 3/4 inch.  

Width and depth of the truss rod chanel is 1/2 inch:

Width and depth of the tenon rout in the body is 1/2 inch (here just a bit less for final preparation, tenon has wider than 1/2 inch width for adaption both for a perfect fit):

... another pic-trick (like above): the measurement was taken and then the caliper was put on top of the body, due to the angle and lense of the camera it looks now too long - beint not in real: length of the tenon is 4.4 inch:

The routing for the legs of the pick-ups are 1/2 inch wide for the 3 cavities of neck-pick up and left leg of bridge pick-up:

... and the routing for the wider right leg of the bridge pick-up is 3/4 inch:

... by 1.6 inch:

Bottom of pic-up routs are tilt by 4.0 degree.

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Did I miss anything? Just ask if interested...

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Work in progress - TBC ... Work in progress - TBC ... 

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