My first "Les Paul". 

Many years ago I removed a fireplace from my front room that had a thick, jet black, block of wood as a mantle piece.  It was around 45 mm thick, 1.4m long and about 200mm wide.  Some years later, I planed off the thick black painted coating and underneath exposed a block of mahogany!  I put it to one side for something special. 

Some years after, as my guitar making hobby was developing, I remembered this block of mahogany.  I bought a book-matched flame maple top, a mahogany neck blank, lots of bits and set about making a Les Paul copy for my brother. 

The hardest part was shaping the domed contour of the top. I practiced on a plane ash blank and using a combination of microplanes, chisels and sandpaper, I got the shape reasonably close.  

I made a scarf jointed neck and used a two way adjustable truss rod.  I hand carved the neck profile once the truss rod channel was routed. 

I decided on a ruby red, transparent finish to the top and an "Ice White" back and neck.  With gold hardware I thought this would look really smart.  The red colour was achieved by staining the flame maple with red dye, then over spraying a clear cellulose lacquer.  I used cream plastic binding for the body and neck, a fingerboard of Indian Rosewood with MOP inlay, and a Rosewood head veneer. 

The finished guitar sounds fantastic.  It was a proud moment when I handed it over to my brother!