ES5V first build

[DarkMark]

Electronics in, strings on, some adjustments made. Sounds quite good but some fret buzzing on the first and second frets. Don’t/can’t go any lower with the bridge (otherwise action too high) and truss rod adjusted about as far as it will go in the concave direction.I’ll wait and hear what happens when I put some chromes on. Currently got the Chinese strings from the kit on. May need to lower the second and third fret.

[Sonic Mountain]

Give it a bit of a chance to settle with the strings on as well. I'm finding its taking 2 or 3 goes to really zero in on the setups on mine.

[DarkMark]

Yeah, I’m noticing subtle changes over time. I slight lift in the bridge position may be the answer. I’m hoping the chromes will pull a little harder on the neck. Maybe a cautionary tale for next time, after all I guess that first fret can be as high as it likes. As you say Sonic, let’s wait and see.

[Simon Barden]

Or maybe add a bit more neck relief and lower the bridge. The bridge height I find is dictated by the upper frets and the ability to cleanly fret and bend strings on those. The lower frets are more a mixture of nut slot height and neck relief. Of course, high and low frets can create their own issues.

[DarkMark]

One thing I noticed when I first straightened the neck and leveled the frets was that there was a very slight convex curve right at the end of the neck but the rest of the neck was straight. Don’t know if this is a common thing or not as I’ve never adjusted a truss rod before. I’ve turn the truss rod anti clockwise to the point that there is not resistance when it turns...should I continue turning it anti clockwise? See what happens?

[DarkMark]

Today the fret buzz has gone. I’ve taken an extra 1/1.5 mm off the nut and it feels like a completely different guitar. Action is nice and low and I feel really, really happy with it at the moment. String change to chromes and bridge modification on the cards.

[DarkMark]

Compensated bridge sliced in half to reduce height and combined with the base of the stock bridge (once again to reduce height as it was lower than the base of the compensated bridge). Truss rod cover on tomorrow and we have ourselves a finished guitar.

[DarkMark]

Tah dah! Finished!
Sorry for the excessively long thread. I certainly took the detailed build diary to heart. As a first time builder I always wanted to know every detail required as people built their guitar. Next time I shall be more succinct. A big, big thank you to everyone who took the time to offer help, answer questions and contribute to the experience. What a great environment this is spend a little time in each day.

[cork sniffer]

Long trip to an outstanding outcome.
I love it :-)
Congratulations!!!

[wazkelly]

I'm impressed with both the guitar and luscious green grass in Perth at this time of year.

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