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Below is an example of a modification to a Gibson Les Paul Standard.
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Having removed all the hardware the first step was to make a jig to hold the guitar flat without damaging the finish. Next a template was made and fixed to the bottom of the jig to guide the router. |
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Once the template was in place the four large cavities were routed out of the body. To minimise the effect to the tone and sustain of the guitar no timber was removed from the region the hardware is fixed to the front of the instrument. |
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The next step was to glue light weight Balsa wood in the cavities then remove the timber from the back of the guitar to the depth of the plate recesses. Once this was done a new back was made from a single piece of matching Mahogany. The plate recesses were routed and checked for size before the new back was glued and clamped in place making sure the recesses matched the original positions so the existing screw holes could be used. Once the glue was dry the new edge of the guitar had a radius routed before the whole back was sanded and prepared for spraying. |
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The owner wanted the guitar to weigh as little as possible with the minimum effect to the sustain and tone. |
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The original weight of the guitar was about 5.5 KG. When finished it was slightly less than 3.5 KG. The sustain seems unaffected and the tone is unchanged except the guitar now has a stronger tendency for octave harmonic feedback. The only sign other than the difference in weight that any work has been done is a small line around the edge where the new back was added. |
