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About a year ago, I purchased a Bulldog LP kit from a guy who had purchased it off eBay. I don't know how much work had been done on it before I got it, but I set it aside while I finished some acoustic guitars. A few weeks ago, I decided the time had come to get started, so I chased down most of the parts needed to get it done. I need to spray an EIR OM, so figured I would get this one done and do both at the same time.

I want to get all mounting holes for hardware drilled prior to spraying the finish. Last night I laid out the tailpiece. I checked the scale to see where to locate the bridge. The scale length appears to be 24.635", give or take a few thou, which is slightly longer than the scale length on my '57 Goldtop. I can't find any information about the kit manufacturer.

I do have a question or two as I get underway here:

1) The neck tenon and mortise is not the tightest fitting. It seems good on the bottom, but a little sloppy on the sides. The neck joint at body had a few gaps, which I have largely cleaned up. But what are the important joints for gluing and what glue are you guys using? If the most critical is the bottom of the tenon, then I have a good joint there. I am guessing I should make some shims to tighten up the joints along each side of the tenon, giving me three good sides for gluing.

2) When do I attach the neck? With my acoustics, I finish neck and body separately. I am going to burst this one, and I think it would be easy to burst prior to gluing on the neck. Seems that as long as I keep the mortise and tenon masked, I can glue on the neck later. Curious as to how you guys do this.

Nice flamed maple top:

Mahogany back could certainly have more uniform color, but I hope to even it out when I stain.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

hey ken, looks like that will be a nice slabgit.
if it were my build, i would glue some shims to the neck and get a tighter fit on the sides.
i would use titebond glue,
and i would join the neck, then finish.
then again, i always glue my bridge on acoustics prior to finishing, which is a no-no.
you don't really have a '57 gold top do you?
what's up with that?

Alan, no I don't have a real '57. Wish I did. I have a re-issue.

Thanks for the tips!

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Getting closer on the LP. Installed the bushings for the bridge and tailpiece, removed some of the dents and dings that were in the back of the guitar when I purchased it, and generally have the body ready for finishing. I laminated some maple and ebony for my headstock veneer and routed the headstock to shape. Also final sanded the neck and added some veneer shims to the neck tenon so the tenon fits more snugly in the mortise. I realized I didn't have any tuning machines, so I ordered a set of Grover Tulip tuners late last week. Once I get the headstock drilled for those, I can glue the neck and start finishing. Oh yeah!!

In the meantime, I experimented with some of my stains and dyes to get a deep red stain on the neck and back. I think I found a combination that I like. I also did some bursting by hand using Transtint dyes on some scrap flamed maple. I am still not sure whether to spray the burst or hand rub the burst. I am leaning towards the latter as I had fairly good success with my practice piece. Leaning towards something similar to the following but a little more deep cherry read at the edges. I think this with a couple of coats of amber shellac would get me close to what I am after.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Glued the neck on last night and tonight gave the pores a good dosage of Behlen's Pore O Pac!

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http://www.casperguitar.com

sweet!
keep it going!

Didn't get much done this week. I just had too many other things going on. But I did get the pore fill sanded and the body stained. I am going for a 1959 look as much as possible, so I mixed some red mahogany stain with lots of red tint. I was able to even out the light and dark mahogany pieces used in the back and ended up pretty much what I was after. Hopefully the next pics I share are of a burst!

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

The last of the clear lacquer coats are on as of last night! Yeah! Now I wait around a week for the finish to cure. This will give me some time to research how to install the pups and switches. Though I own a half dozen electrics, I have never poked my nose under the hood. I am fairly handy with a soldering iron, so it should go fairly easy once I know what goes where.

Ken

_________________
http://www.casperguitar.com

nice color.
keep on rolling!