The Big D (ES-1G)

Hi all,

Well it's been a long time since I've posted here, but a new page in life has begun and I also have 3 new kits to build. This ES-1G, a ES-12G and a MK-1. Lots of build diaries coming up.

This one however is for the ES-1G. It is going to be a present for my father who has wanted a ES-335 type guitar for a while. Since it is a present I have chosen to upgrade the tuners to the grover mini locking tuners and have changed the pickups to the Tonerider AC-2's. The plan is to finish it with a tobacco sunburst'ish finish with Wudtone, as my dad really likes the tobacco sunburst style. Having never used Wudtone before, it will be interesting to see how the finish comes out.

The guitar arrived without a scratch on it, actually all three of them did. I'm impressed that there doesn't seem to be any real glue marks around the binding and very few machine marks.

My only concern is the neck joint. It is a tight fit but not a very clean fit. On one side it looks like it doesn't seat all the way but the other side seems to be not to bad. Looking from the bottom it also looks like the bottom of the neck pocket isn't level. Not to sure how to fix this, perhaps some careful sanding?

Well off to find my sand paper,

Cheers,
Brian

Hi Brian. Have you had the kit a while? If it's only just arrived, the wood may settle down after travelling. It did a lot on my ES-3 (though it did travel many thousand miles) and took about a week.

Before it sorted itself out, I was wondering how best to try and determine which bit needed sanding to get everything fitting well, but I never really came up with a plan that I found satisfactory. Have you tried clamping the neck (as if glueing it) to see if it improves under pressure? If it can be forced together, then maybe leave it under pressure for a few days to see if it will stay that way. If it can be forced together, it should hold when glued, though it's obviously better if it fits nicely in the first place.

Otherwise maybe try fitting a small set-square around the neck heel to see if that has been cut straight, or measure the depths, front and back, of the body neck pocket to see if one side is slightly higher than the other (plus measure the corresponding neck cutaway depths to see if they match.

I had thought on mine of maybe trying to get hold of some thin carbon/copying paper, slipping that into the joins and seeing if it marked where things touched and didn't mark where they didn't, but I never had to do that in the end.

Well I fixed the neck fit. After a close look at the neck I realised it needed a light sanding on the sides. After a minute or so of sanding with 120 grit it slid in like a charm. I clamped the neck down and then put the bridge and saddle on and put the two e strings on and everything seemed to fit nicely. Now starting the sanding on the body.

Cheers all.

Hoorah! Good luck with the rest of the build.

Yes, I love the shape and the look of these. I have an Epiphone Casino that I have owned and loved for years. I would never part with it, so I probably wouldn't build one of these kits just because it would be deflating if it didn't feel and sound similar.

I do look forward to your diary on this SRVB as its a gift it sounds as though it will be a labour of love and hence probably an absolute knockout by the end!

gotta love those hollows and semi's. I look forward to your builds!

This is indeed a labour of love. Sorry for the lack of updates but I've just been sanding. I've got the neck fitting well, and tomorrow i should be done sanding then i can start trying to accomplish a tobacco sunburstish finish. I'm very excited to try wudtone for the first time. I also just ordered all the equipment to do a fret leveling job so that will also be a first for me. I can't wait.

sounds good SRV, no point posting sanding updates !

which wudtone colours are you doing the burst with ?

Hi Wokkaboy, I'm going to be using goldenrod for the inner colour and dark onyx for the dark colour of the burst. I'm trying to get a tobacco sunburst'ish finish.

Hi SRV, those are pretty hard colours to burst being at each end of the light and dark scale. Our good friend Callum aka Pest tried that burst on his LP many years ago (he was 15yo at the time) and it was hard to get a nice blend/transition.
Have a practice run on the burst on scrap wood before you attempt the real deal. You might find a third colour red stain could work better in between the black and gold