ESB-4SC build

[andrewdosborne]

Looking good!

Sent from Lineage OS 14.1

[Ian A]

I am feeling a bit guilty that I haven't done anything to this for a while. It has been moved out of the way, so out of sight, out of mind. I have been talking to a spray painter and at this stage need my guns looking at and at least servicing before the big gloss coats. I am still waiting for the universal mounts to arrive for the Thunder'Trons. 6 weeks by post from USA and counting. I will have a go at setting up the shed as a spray booth. My wife is already thinking of other things that need spraying.

[wazkelly]

Good that she is on side with your project. Mine goes nuts if I want to spray anything in the garage whilst I go nuts outdoors as the breeze can carry so much overspray or introduce unwanted airborne particles.

Lucky that I preferred staining and hand rubbed finishes where the only spraying done has been to seal transfer logo decals.

[Ian A]

I sprayed what I hoped was the final clear coat about 3 weeks ago but it got quite a bit of dust in it. So rubbed back again. In a couple of spots I rubbed through, so now more coats to come. This weekend the weather has been perfect, so back to the shed. I managed to lay down a couple of good clean- dust free coats. On top of the previous coats that should do the job well.
Left to dry for 2 days, then out with the wet & dry. Started with 800, then 1000, 1200. Extra-cut car polish then swirl remover. Final coat of timber furniture oil. It is looking pretty good now. I will see what it looks like tomorrow. I am hoping for a deep, lasting gloss.

[Ian A]

Gave it all another buff and oil this morning. It's not the full mirror gloss, but I am happy with it.
Then started attaching hardware: Tuners and truss rod cover. All went well. Pre-drilled to avoid screws of unknown quality breaking their heads off as I screwed into the hard maple neck. Tailpiece similarly went a-okay. I haven't wired the earth through at this stage, so must remember to do so when wiring up. The new pots have a wider shaft than those supplied so had to drill outthe holes for them. Taped over the body to avoid splits. First hole, a minor split. It will show up so have glued it down and will need to rub back and spot repair the finish. All other holes went fine. I used the drill in reverse to rub through the first layer of the plywood body before slowly forward into the cavity. Worked a treat. Still waiting for the Thunder'Tron mounting pieces. 90 days is now approaching, so might get the post office to do something. If not, get replacements. It's only two screws and two bits of brass, but very particular. Maybe help up in customs because they couldn't work out what they are.

[Simon Barden]

A shame about the wood splitting. I used a reamer to widen the pot holes in my ES-3 body (as my luthier friends always told me to do rather than use a drill), which was fine on the outside but the top internal ply layer still split quite badly. At least that won't show.

[Ian A]

The split seems to have glued down well. I have now sanded it back level with the surrounding, then re-wet rubbed the entire top with 800 ready to mask up and re-coat the entire top. This job calls for extreme patience. The time spent now will be forgotten when I get the final result (hopefully). This has become my mantra.

[Simon Barden]

A bit like childbirth with women. All the pain and labour gets forgotten when you view the finished offspring for the first time.

[Ian A]

I masked up everything except the top and resprayed yesterday. 24 hours later rubbed back with 800, 1000, 1200 (again). I think I will leave it another couple of days to cure and harden more before returning with the buff and polish.
I spent the day at Goowla looking at wooden boats and envying the deep gloss.

[stan]

Your bass is looking great Ian, some nice touches there , very slick