looks brilliant Grant, where do you come up with your ideas ? This neck will look so cool
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looks brilliant Grant, where do you come up with your ideas ? This neck will look so cool
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hmmm...
nice one Weirdy that snake does look like the neck
Looks awesome Grant! Just awesome!
wow Grant, remind me when you enter GOTM with this, so i dont bother...
Thanks fuzzbeard, Wokks, Scott, Arzi and Stan. The idea came from looking up sunbursts and came across a few signature models, Lee Ritenour was one, and liked the look.
You know, when I stepped back and looked at it after putting the black on, I thought the same thing about the snake.
You're getting a bit ahead of me there Stan, still lots of ways to mess it up.
No hurry with the GOTM... ;)
Man, that is so sweet. I'm so jealous.
Seriously speaking - this is winner material right here... Exeptional work. :)
Well, I did mention there were lots of ways to mess up. I found one.
Tried to clean up the binding after using the stain to black out the face of the headstock. Appears I stressed the binding too much when shaping and had plenty of cracks which happily took the stain in. So, decided to treat it as a 'restoration' project, scraping out the stain and filling with binding dissolved in acetone. After much wasting of time, it still looked pretty ordinary and took the binding off and did it again. Who was the fool who said "not doing it a third time", think that was me.
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Binding back on, this time using black acrylic lacquer for the face and took the extra precaution of using brush-on masking fluid (from a local art supply store) over the binding, for insurance. The masking fluid is latex based and is removed by rubbing it off, I was spraying the colour so not an issue.
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Also had to redo the sides of the HS after sanding the binding to fit.
So it has taken two months to get a couple coats of clear on the neck. Can't accuse me of rushing.
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Grant
W-O-W! That looks amazing Neverwas!
worth the wait Grant, it looks amazing.
that brush on latex idea is brilliant, will steal that one for a try.
Cheers Fretty and Stan.
Top effort, fantastic looking guitar.
That masking latex sounds like a great idea, reminded me of many years ago using vaseline smeared on the binding, just wipe off after spraying, it had its bad points as well like getting some on the timber surface :mad:
Thanks Tonyw.
The masking fluid is fairly thin in the bottle so you need to be careful not get any drip spots where you want put colour on. It takes a bit to rub off, may be able to use it while wiping on a stain as well, but haven't tried that yet.
Also if anyone tries using it, would recommend using a brush you don't mind throwing away afterwards, it can set in the bristles while applying it and is a bit stubborn when comes time to clean the brush. Or I could just be a bit slow brushing it on.
that neck looks superb, well done Grant
Thanks Wokks.
I now have the body polished, took a bit longer than I hoped. Couldn't work out a way to hold it firmly enough to use a powered polisher and not cause some sort of damage to the finish, so spent a couple of afternoons doing it by hand. There are a few small pock marks here and there in the clear. Tried to keep the clear coats to a minimum and might be enough on there to sand them out, but don't want to find out the hard way that there is not. Also have the wiring started, used braided cable and Bourns pots. Only tested for continuity so far and still need to hook up the pickups. Pics
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Grant
Very nice finish, top effort.
another stunning build Grant, well done, love the colours of the burst
Thanks tony and Wokks. Might be a sunburst edition of GOTM if DarthDamo and I get ours finished at the same time.:p
Really nice job on the burst.
I'm currently still trying to make some design decisions on my ES-3 build.
I like your dark headstock and inlay.....I intend to have MOP inlay on my headstock as well, but I'm not sure I want to do it the same way you have or not.....It might be easier doing it your way.
I bought several pieces of Rosewood headstock veneer, the plan was to thin down the necks headstock and glue the veneer on [otherwise the tuners won't fit on ], but after I had ebonized and inlayed it, then bind the headstock.
I'm still mulling over this, as I'm not sure that taking 2mm thickness of the top of the necks headstock wouldn't undermine the necks structural integrity, even though I would be replacing it.
The other piece of veneer was going to get the same treatment, but cut out for use as a scratch plate, but only if I do the above to the headstock.
What a finish, first class job!
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Beautiful! You'll be proud to hang that in your collection!
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Wow great job with the sunburst effect.. I toyed with the idea of doing a sunburst effect but decided against it as it was my first build and thought I'd stuff it up.. but looking at your job I'm kinda wishing I'd had a go at it!!
Well done neverwas!!
Wow that is gonna be one cool looking guitar
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Looks awesome... What did you use as a polish?
neverwas, that looks the business....I didn't catch what stains you used for the burst, what were they?
Just awesome.
Wow! That is a stunning sunburst finish Neverwas. I think if we post this on our Facebook page we are going to quickly run out of ES-3 kits very quickly.
Geez - thanks for the replies everyone.
Tweaky - I had the same thought of using a headplate. Taking 2mm off the face of the headstock, making the 'plate smaller around the edges to allow for the binding/purfling, putting the inlay in the 'plate, use locating pins to glue it in place. That way, you have an instant binding channel on the edge of the headstock to work with. Down side is taking material off the neck so close to the scarf joint. As you point out, it will be replaced, but would the same strength still be there? Don't know, so I did it the way I have.
Thanks Andrew and Darth.
Thanks Hugh, three colour bursts look great but can be fiddly to pull off, maybe on your next one (there will be a next one)!
Thanks Fuzz, it's getting there
Thanks DB07, I used Maguires Ultimate Compound and Scratch X 2.0, have to thank GavT for pointing me in that direction. There are less expensive compounds and polishes out there, but the time you can save with this stuff makes it worth it.
Thanks Andy, I used Colortone stains, from stewmac. A mix of vintage amber and lemon yellow for the main colour, then cherry red and black for the burst.
Thanks Weirdy.
Thanks Adam. I think there have been other progress shots put on FB already, but if you want to put these up, go for it.
Thanks again everyone
Grant
Sweet... I think thats the shine I want on mine. Did you use any clear acryllic, or just straight to the Meguiars?
DB07, you will need to put some sort of top coat over the stains. I used acrylic lacquer but you could go for DingoTone, polyurethane, nitro-cellulose, tru-oil, etc. With the exception of DT, you are going want to protect yourself from the nasties in these products.
A reminder to brush some of your clear coat into any drilled holes before you start wet sanding the top coats prior to polishing - got that tip from the forum, Jarrod I think. Stops the timber swelling, and try to keep the amount of water to a minimum.
(After typing DB07, I'm now thinking of Aston Martins :) )
Grant
Yeah I'm doing a GR-1SF, trying to get a red mahogany, and think it will look better if I make it shiny.
Thanks for that.
I think I might just be in lust with this guitar. I might need a clean pair of pants on hand for when we finally get to see the finished product.Quote:
Originally Posted by neverwas
A little bit of wee just escaped......
Breathtaking Grant. You've just raised the bar so far I can't see it anymore ;). Great job. Can't wait to see this one assembled.
cheers,
Gav.
Noted. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by adam
Very nice build mate. Top tier!
Man that is some inspiring work, much kudos to you. <Stands and applauds>
Cheers guys. Have made some progress. Neck has been polished and glued in. Tailpiece screwed on.
Soldered the pups to the wiring harness and installed that.
Some pics. First, earth wire to bridge post, decided to add a bullet type connector to that earth wire in case the wiring ever needs to come out.
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Pups mounted.
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And fitted the Wilkinson Imperial tuners.
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Still need to do a fret level and finish off a few other bits, but it's getting there.
Grant