Drew's ES-5V first (ish) build

And we're done!
Front:
https://i.imgur.com/CtHW4ct.jpg

Back:
https://i.imgur.com/ZLtIXwx.jpg

Headstock:
https://i.imgur.com/LcSICRN.jpg

Things I'm happy with:
The way that the scratchplate curves in two dimensions to match the body:
https://i.imgur.com/Tx2ZeI4.jpg
And the way the horizontal streaks on the truss rod cover are mimiced on the scratchplate.
And the overall shininess of the finish:
https://i.imgur.com/EyV0myA.jpg

Things I'm not so happy with:
The knobs ended up sitting a bit higher than I'd have liked:
https://i.imgur.com/Kts6xhY.jpg
This side of the neck join is a little messy:
https://i.imgur.com/SD4P1i2.jpg
This side had a bit of the veneer break off almost as soon as I took it out of the box. I tried to fill it with some pine slivers but didn't do a great job:
https://i.imgur.com/CR9DgG7.jpg

But aside from that, I'm pretty happy with it. :)

I'll pop a demo link up soon and a list of "stuff I wish I'd done differently" in case anyone else fancies a go at the kit.

Ok, here's a really rough video of it: https://youtu.be/fA-H3o-k90I
Just recorded on the phone microphone so not particularly flattering but fairly realistic. The last segment is unplugged.

Now here's the benefit-of-hindsight bit...

REGRETS AND ADVICES
Having now completed my first proper build, here are a few things I've learned along the way, mostly off the back of mistakes... Some of these are specific to this model, some will apply more generally.

1. Fretboard. This was a biggie. This is one of the new blackwood tech boards. Prior to doing any oiling I taped up the neck with normal masking tape. Removing this took some big old chunks out of the fingerboard. So don't do this. If you need to tape it up, treat it first; wax appears to be a good bet.
2. Amount of oil needed. Now I have made a few mistakes along the way that have required re-sanding and working again, but I got through a 3oz bottle of sealer and then an 8oz bottle of oil and most of a 3oz bottle. It's probably had between 30 and 50 coats in different places.
3. Amount of sandpaper needed. Buy as much as you think you need. Then buy more of the low-grit stuff. And probably a bit more for luck.
4. Right size pots. This kit came with mini-pots, I replaced them with full size ones because I'm a muppet and didn't read this description properly. No a big issue, but meant making some spacers and drilling out the existing holes.
5. Wiring diagram. The one I found on the web was missing a ground line back between the tone and volume pots. Fortunately Simon spotted this. So feel free to use the diagram but remember the extra wire.
6. Logo. I should have applied this earlier. I used the laser-printer-to-tape approach but didn't apply it until about 30 coats of oil were on. Had I done so after 10 instead I think I would have ended with a smoother finish over the logo.
7. Should have glued the neck earlier. I left the gluing until I'd pretty much finished the finishing, I should have accepted the extra difficulty and glued at about 20 coats to make the joins smoother. It's not a heavy guitar so moving it around once glued isn't that tricky - as long as you've got space to swing a cat.
8. And glue into the socket not on the heel. I'm hoping this isn't going to come back and bite me. There's loads of gluing surface on these kits, but if you apply the glue to the heel, it gets scraped off as you fit it. If you apply the glue to socket it gets squeezed into any cracks and holes before exuding from the joint.

And that's about it. I'll probably drop off these forums for a bit until I start on the next project (a bit of a rescue/rebuild), but I just want to say a massive thank to everyone who has helped out with my questions and general nervousness along way. The Troll says 'cheers'. :)


Oh yes, and a final apology if anyone looks at all the photos and books a holiday in the north of England assuming it's always sunny from March to August! :D

You've done a great job with the kit, looks fantastic. And yes, I wish I'd known that about the new fretboards too.

I get a ‘this video is unavailable ‘ message when I click your glue tube link. I think the Troll looks good, so called ‘mistakes’ and all.

That is some lovely work Drew. Really well turned out guitar, i note your regrets section but i really think you may be being a bit hard on yourself with respect to the actual build stuff. It is a wonderful looking piece of work, well done!

Video should work now, I've just set it to public.

Weird, I thought I'd popped another post on earlier this morning. Ho hum. Anyway, it read, approximately something like this:

I am really happy with how it's turned out, but there are always going to be some challenges with stuff like this - and that's part of the process. Otherwise we'd just be building Lego. :)


p.s. nothing wrong with Lego of course. :)

Video upload is working and it sounds like a guitar! I’m always jealous of anyone who can sing better than me ...which is everyone. Thanks for the video blinddrew, it’s always good to see the finished product in action.

Thanks DarkMark - you must be getting there on your build now?

I remember you saying you were a bit over the varnishing and polishing stage. I now know what you mean. Layering on coats and sanding them off doesn’t feel overly rewarding. I’m about half way through that stage and it’s slow going with family and cold winter weather. Having seen The Troll today I’m feeling keen to keep it ticking along. Any plans to build another guitar? I’ve got a custom ES-3 on the way, which was my original purchase but the factory made a stuff up. I figured I’d already purchased half the things I needed and ES-5 was the closest stock kit to what I wanted. Fingers crossed the factory gets the ES-3 right this time. I’ve always told myself, “Be a guitar player, not a guitar collector.” But I’ve had fun doing this. All the best to you if you decide to drop off the seen, it’s been fun having an ES-5 brother on the other side of our Earth.

Edit: by the way, what is the other word and meaning under ‘Troll’ on your headstock decal?

Sand and oil, sand and oil, sand and oil... At least you can see the progress as you do it though. :)
I've got another project lined up but probably not until next year. A couple of years ago I got a cheap tele kit and a battery powered amp and combined the two. I'm happy with the sound and it's sort of playable but it's completely unfinished, so I'm now tempted to strip it back and do a decent job on it.
But I'm also thinking about hacking apart a stereo amplifier and building a mono auratone-type speaker (one channel of the amp is dead), and I have a band EP to finish mixing and four solo EPs to record and mix.
So it might be a while before I get round to it! :)

The logo says 'Yorvik', which was the old viking name for York - just though it was a bit more interesting. :)

Good luck with the ES-3, there's a lot of sense in having a couple of builds on the go as you can make progress on one whilst the other is drying.

Nice demo Drew, particularly like the sound at about 2.54 and reckon you have done a great job.

Cheers Waz, the overall signal level is quite low but the swing side is that you can push the amp a bit.

Gotta love a P90 for those nice mellow warm tones.

Hmmm, turns out I'm not quite done yet...
When i turn up the tone pot (i.e. to a brighter setting) I'm getting a lot of noise, which disappears completely when the knob is at its other extreme. Any suggestions?

Yeah, there is always things you wish you could have done better, but you should be proud. This is a very fine looking guitar.

Thanks Fretworn. :)

I think "Oops" might be the appropriate word. Can you spot what's missing?
https://i.imgur.com/nxRBYYE.jpg
Whilst juggling guitars for practice last week (and absolutely shattered) I dropped one of my guitar bags.
Guess which one...
Surprisingly everything else looks okay and it should be a pretty easy fix to glue the pick up back in the shell, but I just wanted to ask if anyone had any recommendations on what type of glue to use?

Sticky stuff that won't break when you drop the guitar case!

Maybe it's time to think about upgrading the pickup? A proper dog ear P90 has metal ears that fit under the plastic dog ears, so it can't fall inside the body. Note that the height of the plastic dog ear determines the length of the metal base plate support arms, so you'll need to look for a pickup with a cover of the correct height, as you can't mix and match the covers with different arm heights, as they always have to add up to the same overall height.

Sadly excess expenditure is off the cards at the moment whilst I'm still in job limbo. I guess I was wondering if I should be looking at a glue with a bit of inherent flexibility or something that sets rigid.
Or will it make no difference either way?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blinddrew

Hmmm, turns out I'm not quite done yet...
When i turn up the tone pot (i.e. to a brighter setting) I'm getting a lot of noise, which disappears completely when the knob is at its other extreme. Any suggestions?

---

Well, your tone control when set to 0 is filtering off all the HF, so it's not surprising the noise disappears. But it means that it's general RFI, and not mains hum, which is good. You'd still hear and substantial 50Hz noise with the tone control down.

P90s with their wide coil do pick up a lot more noise compared to say a Fender single coil. Have you checked that the strings are still grounded?

Of course you could swap to a P90 with a nickel cover (avoid other often steel covers as they seriously affect the sound). I'm sure I looked round and you can get black painted nickel covers (to keep the same vibe) and one of those should cut out most of the noise. But the cover needs to go right down to the base plate of the pickup so it can be grounded, so again you've got the problem of matching a cover to the height of the dog ear arms. You can do a certain amount of bending of the arms to get the height right, but you don't want to do it too much so that the metal ears aren't supported by the body or stick out under the plastic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by blinddrew

Sadly excess expenditure is off the cards at the moment whilst I'm still in job limbo. I guess I was wondering if I should be looking at a glue with a bit of inherent flexibility or something that sets rigid.
Or will it make no difference either way?

---

I'd probably use some epoxy, though I'm not sure how well that would stick to the plastic cover. Obviously the original glue didn't stick that well! So definitely rough up the underside. But you may find a silicone glue works better.

Cheers as always Simon. :)

Oh Bugger! (Note to self, “Don’t drop my guitars.”).
I’m rather happy with the stock pickup, I’d also be trying to glue it back together.

FYI, the GFS p90s are inexpensive and quite nice. I have a vintage dogear in my LP JR build.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by churchie

FYI, the GFS p90s are inexpensive and quite nice. I have a vintage dogear in my LP JR build.

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Some of them aren’t P90s, they are ST style single coils in a P90 housing (Dream90s).

Fender did the same with their Japanese Jazzmasters - Strat style coil under a big Jazzmaster pickup cover.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

Oh Bugger! (Note to self, “Don’t drop my guitars.”).
I’m rather happy with the stock pickup, I’d also be trying to glue it back together.

---

Yep, fortunately everything else seems to have survived ok.
First I need to put my motorbike back together but I might get chance to fix it tomorrow.

I have a spare PBG black dog ear P90 from my AGJR-1 that I would be happy to give you as a replacement.

Unfortunately, I am in Australia.:(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blinddrew

Yep, fortunately everything else seems to have survived ok.
First I need to put my motorbike back together but I might get chance to fix it tomorrow.

---

Commiserations. I (once upon a time) crashed my motorcycle on the way home from a gig with my saxophone on board.

Good luck with it.

cheers, Mark.

Cheers folks, fortunately it's nothing major for either of them. Just the usual juggling of time. :)

Pick-up reglued with gel superglue because my epoxy had solidified.
All seems to be holding nicely. :)