First Build - ES3

Hey everyone,

Got my first kit a couple of weeks ago and a few days ago finally unboxed it and started reading the forums here. There's such a wealth of information here I thought I'd start by saying a huge thanks to everyone who contributes.

So, the first thing I picked up was to do a mock build, which I kind of did, I seem to have everything and it all seems to go together OK but I didn't go to the extent of putting on strings etc. Main reason being it only dawned on me when trying to put it together just how difficult it is to construct a hollow-body. I hadn't really thought about it before but there's no way my fat fingers are going to enable me to put most of it together. I've found info on using 5mm tubing to pull things through but wont' be able to get any for a few days at least.

Anyway, having read a bit on sanding I bought the best sandpaper I could find and I've now given everything a first go over with some 220. I then read that I shouldn't be sanding the front veneer at all??! I don't seem to have caused any damage but I'm guessing I should leave it there?

My kit seems in really good condition, there's really no glue-spots and only one minor blemish in the front wood-work. I'm thinking a further lite sand with some 320 and then 400 on the sides, back and neck should be OK? I'd love to hear your thoughts on sanding a hollow-body kit.

Thanks!

G'day mate and welcome.

Ok, first thing is 'Take your time!!'. Best to read up, watch You Tube videos or ask questions first before doing anything. Write a plan of which steps you need to do, that will really help with research, purchasing and how to tackle the 'fat finger syndrome' and other problems.

The Pitbull kits are basswood so a little soft but easily accept stain. Any sanding over 320 is doing more polishing rather than sanding but you could do the back and sides up to 800 to get to smoother. If your really like sanding that much!?!

I assume you are planning to stain the veneer so don't sand it until after applying the stain as water-based stain will raise the grain. The veneer is very thin and too easy to sand through. I'd probably use about 400 grit to do that as you have all ready had a go at the top.

Run a damp cloth over the body to help spot any glue spots and then remove with some Goof Off. When staining, stain around the neck pocket, binding and veneer joints first to find any leftover gluespots. Goof Off really sucks the colour back out and requires extra coats of colour to get the balance back.

There's lots of information here and on the googleweb for every step for building and finishing so don't worry, but best to take your time and get the info first before you make the mistakes we have made.

Good luck mate. I'm doing an ES kit at the moment too. I can't wait till it's finished but got to keep kicking myself to be patient and careful.

Hi dvob1, Basswood is very soft and surprisingly quite tight grained too therefore trying to get any colour stains to soak in means very little sanding to begin with. Personally I would stop after 120 or maybe 180, but definitely no higher. Same goes for the maple neck.

Check out this build to see what I am talking about... http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...422#post144422

Cheers, Waz

Thanks guys. I'm finding a lot of conflicting information but that diary you pointed me to Waz was really interesting. It seems I've probably over-sanded (from a staining perspective) at this point but hopefully I should be able to overcome that with a bit of patience.

My original plan was to go blue on the body (Dingotone Bondi Blue) and plain on the neck. Now I'm now sure how that is going to look but it will mean I avoid any colour match issues at least. In any case at this point I've a few things to research, such as applying the finishes and whether to bother trying to cover the binding while I do it.

One thing I'm unsure on is whether I need to fill a gap I found between the top and the neck bracing timber:

Attachment 20542

How does it look on the other side as that shot appears as though it is tapering up as it gets nearer to the neck PUP cavity? If same on other side probably how it should be and therefore filler might be required. If not and it looks to be riding too high (my suspicion) then it may need to be glued and clamped.

Hey Waz, yeah it was tapering up on the other side as well and there's a bit of wood putty or similar already in there, so I've filled it both sides. I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make but given the small effort involved was probably worth doing.

Best to have both sides matching and doing what they are supposed to do.

The ES-3 isn't supposed to have veneer, just basswood with a decent grain pattern on the outer ply. Having said that, the outer ply isn't that thick, but I'd say it is thicker than the 0.6mm veneer on the other kits. So it will take some light sanding, but if you see my ES-3 build diary (link in my signature), then you'll know that I did manage to sand through it in a couple of places (on convex body curves where it's easy to over-sand). Also I found that too much sanding weakens the grain pattern.

I'd definitely mask the binding, whether staining, spraying or a mixture of the two. 6mm 3M vinyl pinstripe tape is your friend here. I've just used it to tape up my binding (for the 3rd go at spraying) and it's really easy to use, bends nicely rounds corners and curves without any crinkling. Some (but far from all) binding seems to have small cracks in, which does absorb stain and this is difficult to remove. If you spray, then scraping the binding is in theory easy (when you look at the YouTube vids), but a lot harder in practice to the beginner. Also if spraying and scraping, don't let the paint dry for too long before scraping. Maybe wait a day after spraying the last colour coat and then scrape whilst the finish is still fairly soft. The longer you leave it, the harder it is to scrape.

When spraying or staining, always fill the body cavity with something - I used a mixture of bubble wrap and newspaper - to stop paint or stain getting on the interior wood. Also do this when wet sanding your finish (as the coloured water can also leave marks).

You could finish the body and neck separately, then fit the electronics into the body and then glue the neck on. The neck cavity gives a lot of access to the interior. You'd then just need to touch up any gaps around the join areas and just go over that area again with whatever final coat you decide to go with.

However, as it is a full hollow body, it is very easy to get the pots in through a pickup hole - no messing about with F-holes. Whilst plastic tube can make it very easy to do, I've done hollow and semi-hollow bodies before just using cotton or thin string. Having someone to help you hold things at this point is a great idea and makes things a lot easier - though you can do it by yourself.

I've made my life a little easier by enlarging the jack socket hole and fitting a Les Paul-style jack plate instead. This means that I can pull the jack socket through the hole and fit it onto the plate and screw the plate on from the outside. It's easier than trying to screw the jack socket on tight from the outside and allows much better tightening of the socket, plus making it easy to re-tighten in the future.

I also had to wait a few weeks before my neck joint fitted properly, probably due to the changes in temperature and humidity as it travelled half-way round the world to me and sat in various warehouses en-route. Yours has still travelled a few thousand miles. If you've got small gaps round the edges of the joint, then you may find it all sits better after a few days.