# a couple questions before I screw up.



## blacktooth (Jul 3, 2010)

1. would you drill the holes for the bridge mounting posts on a Les Paul copy before or after shaping the top?

2. I bought a pre-radiused and slotted fretboard from stew-mac, and am at the inlaying stage.... 
I would like to do trapezoids, but am having a hard time figuring out how to do it without screwing up the inlays. should I do blocks instead? the traps I'm looking at are 1.5mm thick. would that be enough material to properlyradius them after the are installed, or will I lose the long ends of the traps? I'm thinking blocks like a Custom may be slightly easier, whereas this is my first build.

thanks in advance! sorry if this has already been covered. I was having a hard time with the search thingy..


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

if your using a drill press & it is big enough to reach in to drill your holes i would do it first but if the back of your guitar is flat you can do it before of after . you wont be carving the area around your post anyway will you ? just very little if any as for the inlay that is quite thin usually there about .118 " that's almost twice as thick as you have . if you got a radius sanding block you could router your cavity just a little deeper leaving while the center part of your inlay will be just a cu#t hair below the surface of your board your outside ends above of the fingerboard then use your radius sanding block to radius your board again making it a little thinner as for shapes it something that takes time trapezoids or blocks pretty muck takes eyeing it up but i do find the center of the board & draw a line on it from end to end & the frets where you inlays are going i mark from corner to corner making an X it helps find the center an always use a fine .05 mechanical pencil you don't need pencil marks so thick as a lumber crayon ......haha


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## blacktooth (Jul 3, 2010)

I lost the page of my plans that had the body info, I thought the body started sloping back at the bridge... anyone want to send me a digital form of that one page, itwould be gratly appreciated! 
is abalone pliable at all? could I rout the holes on the radius and bend them in place?


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

i dont think you can bend shell without breaking it


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## blacktooth (Jul 3, 2010)

nah, couldn't be so lucky...lol 
Is a Les Paul neck supposed to join the body right at the 16th fret? I'm having discrepancies between my stew-mac fingerboard, and my les paul plans I ordered from somewhere in England, and using my Epiphone LP as a model... Seems my plans are an exact 24.75" scale, and the frets do notline up with the slots in my board, nor do they line up with the lines on my "fret slot position ruler" from stew mac, nor do they line up with the frets on my epiphone... Seems I should make the 16th fret of my board line up to join the body, and shorten my neck the 2.5-ish millimeters that it seems to be off...
hopefully that made sense...
Pardon all the questions. Not new to repair, but quite new to building. I started this project 6 years ago, and put it aside until quite recently. I think I got intimidated by shaping the top of the body...


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

oh oh.... that dont sound good im not sure where or what fret meets the body i would be measuring from the bridge to the nut this might help 
STEWMAC.COM : Guitar, Bass, Banjo, Mandolin, Parts, Tools, Supplies, Free Information


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## YJMUJRSRV (Jul 17, 2007)

gone fishing


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## blacktooth (Jul 3, 2010)

I got in touch with Stew-Mac, to ask about the scale length of my fretboard, and they said it is for 24-9/16", which explains why my fret board doesn't work out right. I figured I could easily compensate for the difference by moving my bridge a little closer, but unfortunately, I've already routed my pickup cavities, and moving the bridge ahead 3.5mm or whatever it was, brings it too close to the pickup for my liking.... so my solution will be to order a new fretboard blank, slot it and radiusit myself, and have an actual 24-3/4" scale Les Paul wannabe. This will also solve my inlay dillemma as well... so I can save the board that I have currently for my next build, and just do dot inlays... good times...


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