Build #1 ES-3

Just received the box. Really excited. Quality of the guitar looks great at first glance. This will take a while

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Check the kit very carefully.
Read the other build threads on the ES-3 and check your kit for similar issues.

It is an ambitious build for a first kit but very doable if you take your time.
Remember to ask lots of questions.
Most of us are not experts but we have made LOTS of mistakes and can probably help you to not make the same ones.

Cheers
Ricky

As DarkMark has said, the neck angle can be rather shallow. We bought our ES-3s several years apart (I took years to finish mine, which I completed a few weeks ago) - but both suffer from the same neck angle issue, so it may be a rare coincidence or it may be a general issue with the kits, I just don't know.

I'd let the kit settle in for a week or so before trying the neck join, as the body and neck can expand/contact at different rates with climatic changes during transportation, and they normally seem rather tight to begin with, but should ease with time.

Then fit the neck, clamp it in place whilst at the same time running a straight edge along the neck and seeing how well it makes contact with the bridge placed on top of the body with roughly 2-3mm of card placed underneath it (to simulate the post insert rim height and the post adjustment wheel). If the straight edge is between 0mm to 4mm above the saddles, then you're fine. Up to 1mm below and you should also be fine, but any more than that and you won't be able to lower the bridge enough to guarantee a decent action. You can make small physical adjustments to the bridge to get it sitting lower (such as filing it down at the bottom of the post-hole area), but you'll really be better off trying to adjust the neck angle, though that's no easy task. But it can be done. Made easier if you plan a solid colour or a sunburst with a dark edge so that you can cover up any filling required around the neck join.

Yes, thanks Jim. Post edited.