Best heel advice for a Les Paul style guitar?

[Attica!]

As a few of you know, I was starting a collection of guitars, and after looking through loads of places like Warmoth USACG, etc. I'm just going to bit thebullet and get my own Les Paul made. The woods I've chosen are:

5 piece Mahogany/Maple Veneer Neck-Thru Neck;
Mahogany Wings;
Carved Maple Top;
24.75" 24 Frets;
Ebony Fingerboard.

Now as I'm having a Neck-Thru design, the heel will be a bit more customisable and I'm interested in peoples' opinions on what would be the best design to acces the upper frets much more easily? I don't want no ambitious ideas or things that look ugly; more something that maybe you can provide pictures of, etc.

Cheers, Mike

[Toe-Knee]

Just a quick thought.

Have you checked out agile?

They are doing another run of semi customs at great prices.

You can change the scale length and woods/finish etc

they also have a neck thru option with belly carves too.

[Attica!]

Just a quick thought.

Have you checked out agile?

They are doing another run of semi customs at great prices.

You can change the scale length and woods/finish etc

they also have a neck thru option with belly carves too.

Yh I actually own a couple. Pretty good prices too. I've already had a look there but I've got my mind set on the Les Paul design I've come up with and I can't find a design with all the added goodies I'm wanting :/

[Sifu Ben]

On a neck through, I always like them heel-less. Even with a set neck you can pretty much do away with the heel. Just take a look at Feline's work http://www.felineguitars.com/custombuilt/bench.htm

[Attica!]

Yh as it being Neck Thru, I'd go for the heel-less option. It's just deciding on shape and how it transitions. It would be really easy on a double cutaway to decide, but seeing a Les Paul is a single, it requires thinking about it a bit more. I want to get maximum upper fret access (well what will be allowed), as to just curving the back roud that gives it slightly better upper fret access as seen here.




What do you think of the picture below? Would you say that's a viable option?

[Sifu Ben]

Totally. You might also consider a PRS style front carved cutaway.

[Attica!]

Yh was thinking that too. But I really want to keep it looking like a Gibson Les Paul Custom from the front - Ebony with White Binding.

[Sifu Ben]

You're always going to struggle to reach the 24th fret unless you redesign the cutaway somehow, either by making it bigger or carving the front.

[HTH AMPS]

we have Feline and WezV on here that are both very talented luthiers, would be worth asking those guys direct for advice.

[Attica!]

Well I know the access isn't going to be as great as an Ibanez JEM, I just mean I'd prefer to have much better access than I get on that massive Les Paul heel.

And I was going to ask them, but I'm unsure of who to go with first, so I don't want to plague them with questions when I might not use them. I was heavily leaning to RanGuitars though.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Why not try something closer to home
Our Lion model has unparalleled access to top frets and a number of features that are head and shoulders above most other LP type guitars

Here is the rear view:


This one is an all mahogany version - my own personal axe as it goes


We do also do very pretty maple tops too


We are making a 24 fretter right now for someone who previously played ESP Eclipse models and wanted one of ours.
They come with BKPs as standard (unless requested otherwise) and no corners cut or expense spared in the making.

We can also offer loads of colour options




The back of the silver one shows off the Korina that we used for that model - as well as the batteries for LEDs etc


There are a few forum members who own one of our guitars and will happily tell you about the quality

[Attica!]

Are you able to do a heel like the one I showed above? It just seems to provide a better upper fret access. My hands are quite small just to add that haha.

Regarding colours, I'm just going for the basic Ebony Les Paul Custom style with white binding.

Shall I fill out one of your spec forms and see how much you think you could do it for? I know exactly what I'm after so it wouldn't take too much discussing. But there is one thing: Ran said regarding the neck as it's a 5 piece Mahogany/Maple, that they can gloss the neck twice followed by a satin finished to give it fast playability. Any advice on this? It's just I want the neck to be Ebony coloured as well, but not have the feel of a glossed neck!

[WezV]

not much to add really - accept a picture of a john birch les paul heel to show how much wood can be removed and still be stable (depending on the wood used)



that is one of my ongoing projects - it arrived to me with bits of the body basically hanging off.  even in that state i was able to string it up and it was perfectly playable.   no neck stability issues at all

[FELINEGUITARS]

We don't do neck through on our Lion model - not that you'd notice any difference feel wise or sustain wise
WE use a deep set tenon and our heel carve makes all the frets easily available  - even for small hands
It may be however that our guitars aren't the right one for you

Our paint finish isn't sticky at all - unlike what you find on Gibsons - we don't think you'd need a satin coat
If you are UK based or within travelling distance you'd be welcome to try one out

Prices for this style of archtop guitar start at about £2000 and go up for fancy top woods and inlays

[Alex]

I have this one. Not how the body isn't really thicker than the neck.

For a more subtle difference have a look at Nick Huber's Orca, some of them have a very slightly diminuished heel.