The Actual '59 Carve

These caps are intended for serious replica builders who want an accurate vintage carve without spending days constructing jigs, routing the top and refining the final shape by hand. They provide a precise, historically accurate starting point while saving a considerable amount of workshop time.

You certainly can—and many builders enjoy the challenge and satisfaction of carving a top themselves. However, not everyone has the time, tools or experience required.

A traditional approach generally involves constructing an overhead router jig, purchasing a set of isoline templates to produce the initial stepped carve, and then carefully blending the surface using scrapers and sanders. It is time-consuming, dusty work, and an expensive piece of figured maple can easily be damaged if something goes wrong.

A separate box jig is also normally required to machine the neck and pickup planes accurately. These operations have already been completed on my CNC-carved caps. This saves many hours of work and gives your replica build an accurate 1959 carved-top geometry from the outset.

Possibly. Please contact me using the details below so we can discuss your timber and determine whether it is suitable for machining.

Yes. The cap is supplied directly from the CNC machine with fine tooling marks visible on the surface. Final sanding is best completed after the cap has been glued to the body. Begin with approximately 120 grit, then progress through 180, 240 and 320 grit as required for your chosen finish. Use a soft padded sanding block or sanding sponge that follows the carved contours.

Do not sand or alter the neck and fretboard gluing surface until the neck has been fitted. The 4.2-degree neck angle is accurately machined into the cap. Altering this area could affect neck alignment, fretboard fit and final bridge height.

The body perimeter, electronics control cavity, wiring channel and toggle-switch cavity should ideally be routed before the cap is attached. The humbucker pickup cavities should be routed after the cap has been glued onto the body.

The cap is intentionally supplied approximately 2 mm oversized. This allows room for accurate alignment during glue-up and provides material for final trimming. Once the glue has fully cured, the excess maple can be removed with a suitable long flush-trim router bit.

Carefully align the centreline of the cap with the centreline of the body and check that the oversized edge is reasonably even around the perimeter. Before applying glue, two small alignment holes can be drilled through the future humbucker pickup areas. Temporary wood screws placed through these holes will prevent the cap from sliding under clamping pressure. The holes will be removed later when the pickup cavities are routed.

The four potentiometer positions and toggle-switch position are marked with small CNC reference holes. They are deep enough to remain visible after normal sanding and can later be drilled through to the required final diameters. Their locations come directly from the CNC model to help with accurate hardware placement.