Marcel's ES-1TL

[Dedman]

Sssssssweeet!

[Kick]

Sweet indeed!

[Guvna19]

Marcel, that looks so good!

[Adam Barnes]

That looks great marcel

[Marcel]

Probably not as great as yours Adam. Mine still needs a lot of work.

I got it to the stage of having strings on it so it would have tension on the neck and to test the electronics. Intending to leave it settle a while before doing a fret job and if I will replace the nut with a bone one. Giving it some time will also allow the Shellac to cure harder before I give it a wax polish. It is already quite glossy as you can see by the reflection of the bigsby tension bars. Action at the 12th fret is a bit high and the bridge is already quite low, and the PU's do need adjusting to correct heights. The protective plastic is still on the PU's and the pick guard.

I am quite surprised on how well it stays in tune even after severe 'dive bombing' on the trem...

[wazkelly]

Hi Marcel, looks great and impressed that it stays in tune after savage trem use.

Have you played it through a bigger amp yet to fully appreciate those Tonerider Alnico 2's?

[Marcel]

I did this afternoon Waz. After giving the PU heights a tweak I plugged it into my home built 50W head. Definitely needs a job done on the frets but it has plenty of level to make the amp break up. Still going with the clear sounding of the Alinco 2's however there is also a distinct lack of brightness that I was sorta hoping for. Didn't play with the EQ on the amp, just kept it flat at 12 o'clock. Had to put it down when the daughter and 2yo grandson turned up as all of us had to watch him as he tried out his new (Ebay AU$32 + freight) child size drum kit.... ;-)

While I was mucking around on the 50W I did get to feel a strong creative vibe building, I suspect that through the clean channel of the JVM210 the ES with the Alinco 2's will feel & sound completely different.

[wazkelly]

Good to hear you had a chance to crank it up. Clean through an all valve amp should have lots of depth and warmth without being too dark and muddy. Does it have much volume acoustically when played unplugged? And what is its natural unplugged tone like? Always had a longing to get a semi hollow body but not quite there just yet.

[Marcel]

Not a lot of volume when unplugged Waz. If making comparisons between a unplugged Strat and a standard acoustic then my ES is probably somewhere in the 25 to 35% range between the two, similar in level to normal quiet conversation. You could certainly practice late at night in the bedroom with it without an amp and not disturb anyone. Tone wise it does have a reasonable acoustic ring but without the normal acoustic volume.

Clean through an amp I was hoping for a little more brightness, but like you said Waz, it does have depth and warmth without being dark and muddy. I suppose I could reach out to the treble control on the amp and shift it off 12 o'clock...

[andrewdosborne]

Nice job Marcel. For my ES, the acoustic volume increased vastly when I upgraded to Gotoh tuners, bridge and saddle