Pickups and Knob Preparation

     To properly set up an electric guitar so its playable you need to do a set of activities with it to make sure everything works. I began by placing the gold translucent volume and tone knobs on their corresponding pots. I made sure that the numbers 1 through 10 are exactly on the same angle when I look at them while playing. I tightened them just snug enough so they can still slide to adjust the levels of sound or tone. Next are the pickups. For a standard Les Paul set up, the pickups must be on a certain angle and a specific distance away from the strings. The idea with this is you want it as close to the strings as possible without touching. That is why I positioned them 3mm away from the strings for the first pickup and 4mm away for the bottom pickup.

Assembling the Parts





     Now that the guitar is all wired and buffed, I can finally accessorize it with all its flashy parts. First the tuning machines will be screwed on to the head. These tuning machines are what the strings are wound tightly on. They have to be strong because if not the tension from the strings will pull them off. Then the bridge and tailpiece will be installed. The tailpiece is what holds the strings at the base of the guitar. It has to be exactly perpendicular to the neck for it to play well. The bridge is a different story. This part goes right in front of the bridge so the strings can rest on it. The bridge is a tiny chrome bar that must be placed on a 10 degree angle for the strings to properly stay in tune. These steps were very tedious because if one thing was off then the guitar would never truly be in tune.



The bridge and tailpiece are the bottom two bars



Wiring

 

     The next step and probably the most complicated is fully wiring the pickups, toggle switch, 2 volume pots, 2 tone pots, and the input jack. I have never dealt with any kind of free hand soldering of wires before so I spent days practicing and reading about different types of solder, the soldering iron, cleaning sponge, methods of soldering, and what not to do. I took this extra time to make sure I was descent at it because these parts were EXPENSIVE and I only had one shot to do it right. If I spent too much time on the wire then the part would burn up. On the other hand if I spent too little time on it, it would not be properly bonded. Just to give you an idea the pickups were $200 so it wasn't like I could just buy replacements.

     Again I used the trustworthy Stew Mac website to order a video that gave detailed steps on how to wire a Les Paul guitar. I'm not going to go into the details about how to wire it because it’s just too technical to explain each and every step. But I will say that in the picture you are looking at the back of the volume and tone knobs called Pots. These pots are what everything is wired to and then have a black connecting wire that runs to all the pots and to the input jack.

Installation

     The next step in making this guitar is to install the parts and accessories. First I installed the Nickel Plated Les Paul Golden Age Humbucker Pickups. To do this I ran the wires through the holes I drilled previously in order to meet at the bottom with the volume and tone knobs. Some sanding had to be done for the pickups to fit back into the routed holes. Then I fitted the nickel plated bridge on a 5 degree angle to the body and installed the rhythm/ treble toggle switch.

     These parts were installed first because they all contain wires that must be soldered to the volume and tone bases at the bottom right portion of the guitar. The other accessories will be installed after soldering is completed because in order to solder, the guitar must be stable and face down on a mat with no ambiguities. The heat from the melted metal can also damage the small and delicate parts. 

Buffing

     Many people wonder how they get guitars, pianos, and other instruments so shiny. Well I'll tell you. In order to achieve this "Piano Key" finish the secret is buffing. Buffing is when a paste or compound is applied with a rag or Buffing Wheel to the surface until desired shine can be seen. I used a buffing Compound from Stew Mac, a guitar parts company. I also bought a foam buffing wheel from them that can attach to a to a drill for easy maneuvering.

     To buff, I had someone hold the guitar in front in order to reach every crevice. I applied 2 coats and then wiped the excess off with a clean rag. After buffing I applied Stew Mac Swirl Remover to the surface, sides, and back. This got rid of any marks that the powered wheel might have made. Now we have gloss.

Smoothing

     After about 10 coats of gold paint, clear coats will then be applied. The type of clear that is best for this project would be Polyoxide Spar Urethane. You may have heard of polyurethane which is similar to polyoxide except polyoxide is water based and polyurethane is oil based. The benefit of using a water based paint is its less messy, easy to clean, and there are few toxic chemicals so its safer to paint outside. When painting, always use a mask. I have one that has two air filters since I frequently paint. 15 coats of clear is recommended or until a thick layer is achieved.

     The next step after painting is the micro mesh sanding and buffing. Start out with lightly wet sanding the entire body with 600 grit sandpaper then repeat the process with the following grits of sandpaper in this order: 1200, 1600, 1800, 2200, 2600, 3600, 4000, 5500, 6000, 12000. For those that don't know sand paper is a sheet of rough paper with small granules on it in order to smooth and level a surface. The higher the number the more granules there are and the finer the sand. 12000 feels like a piece of leather and that is what makes the glossy surface.

Gold Top Paint

     This step takes a lot of time but is definitely worth it if you take your time to get it right. The trademark gold paint that is used on the real Les Paul's is arguably impossible to find because Gibson owns the rights to it and they have never put it up for sale. There are companies that make a gold guitar paint that is close but still not the same. Therefore, I spoke to a guy that helped me come up with my own custom concoction of paint to use. This is now my trade secret which I can only say involves a mixture of gold flake mica powder and polyoxide. I spent weeks to come up with what I think is the perfect gold. It can be applied either by brush or by a spray gun. Each method reveals a different design. I used a Craftsman air compressor with my Husky spray gun to apply the paint. The way to spray paint is to always apply thin coats and wait 1 to 2 hours for it to dry in between.