A real 1960 Les Paul in this conditon will cost 300k+

I had the pots, bridge and a few other pieces. The guitar itself had to be made. Not offered for sale. Personal project. http://www.lashingguitars.com/1960burst/index.html

I save my best woods for these types of things. Its light, feels good, sounds good and was still very expensive as all the parts I didnt have are the best replica available …. lots of $. Many hours and it all very worth it in the end.

If anyone is interested in more pictures or the gallery of this gutiar being made – here is the link White Strat Making of

Most of my work is vintage guitar restorations and recreations. Sometimes I like to go freestyle and funk it up a bit. I love Ziricote so here is Ziritele. Mahogany core, Flame maple 1/4” backplate, 1/4” ziricote top. Ziricote neck, frogs egg maple figerboard, Ziricote dots, Celluloid binding and pickguard. Nitro Cellulose Lacquer finish.
If anyone’s interested in more big photos they are at http://www.lashingguitars.com/ziritele/index.html

Just to show it could be done to anal epic proportions. I had a 1960 Stratocaster in for restoration. So I templated that very guitar and made its twin. Lots of little details in materials and build. Old school routing including tool marks of pin router slop. Brazilian Rosewood, clay dots, Celluloid Pickguard, Nylon knobs ….. had the bridge machined to the old specs. The only part on this thing off the shelf are the tuners and fretwire. Everything else had to be made. Knobs cast, pickup covers, Italian celluoid which I had made 2 years ago … Now I play it.

Certainly not anyones first choice this bench is made entirely of contruction spruce from Home Depot.

I had been using benches I made years ago that were very crude yet very sturdy. The tops were indestructable HDF ply but .. they were not flat. I got fed up not having a flat reference surface.

As a guitar maker I usually dont think furniture projects thru well. This was no exception. I underestimated the work involved simply milling the boards and them remembered how hard this green home depot timber is on blades. Junked up my planer and jointer.

Contruction grade spruce was used for 3 reasons. One it was well under $100 for everything. Two, I wanted to show it can be done and would be heavy and sturdy enough. Three, the overly soft spruce top would allow me to place guitars on top and the top will dent first. As pictured with a 1951 Telecaster I am currently working on for a customer.

Somehow, I measured the mortise in the stretchers backwards on both so the truss rods face out not in. No big deal as this is never going to be a beauty pagent winner but I still dont know how I managed that. Fortunately the fit is great and the truss rod system keeps the whole assembly very stable.

I took great effort laminating the top in section to ensure it was flat. Being home depot 2X4’s it warped anyway. Not to bad and I used my Veritas Jointer plane to get it flat. At last – a totally flat surface. No more running the the kitchen to check blanks against granite!

For all the work involved I probably wouldnt do it from Spruce again. But the bench is rock solid and it is nice to know the old Tele will do damage to the bench before the bench can harm the tele.

Next time I will probably go with the standard oak or maple. Funny thing is furniture makers rarey understand the fine adjustments required in guitars. Me, I often blunder furniture making. All my work working skill is guitar related but I like to think I can build anything.

One piece mahogany Body. Cocobolo neck with Brazilian RW fingerboard. Ziricote pickguard. That logo started silver. The cocobolo oil leached thru the finish and turned it Neon.

Everyone told me I couldnt get transluscent blue on mahogany. Can too I say.