Oli's ES2

[andrewdosborne]

Thanks Andrew! That's great info.

I also want to add a pickguard to it. What size and/or type should I look for. Are the pickups spaced like the ES 135 or am I better of buying just the material and cutting my own?

Thanks dudes! (And dudettes, if applicable)

That I'm not sure of and would need to defer answer to someone more knowledgeable on this. I think I have a spare LP-1M pick-guard laying around in my workshop (cream colour), maybe suitable? I'll measure up distances and let you know. Else would be quite fun to learn how to cut own (plus you can choose more appropriate colour and upgrade on the pick-guard materials for better finish)

[oli4vd]

I'm still waiting for some stuff to arrive, so for the moment I'm still stuck.
But I finally found the time & impetus to clean up and reorganize my workshop. I replaced the electrical system, added more light and more wall plugs. Took me just over a week to get it all right.
It was necessary. Now I have a perfectly clean and workable environment.

[wokkaboy]

wow thats a pretty cool man cave Oli, looks like a cave literally. Nice to have a cleaner working environment.
With the pickguard I'd do a mock build and work out the important dimensions. Hopefully most pickguards online have dimensions so you can match one up. Otherwise as others have suggested cutting your own is a good skill to learn and not that difficult. Many blank materials and colours to choose from

[oli4vd]

We live in a house that has been built in 1786. This is the cellar, which runs all the way from the street side to the back of the land. Really cool. The previous owners had a mushroom plantation in there. It took me almost a month to get all the sand & ground out of it.
I should measure it but I think we have about 150 yards of galleries down there. Most are now used as storage, technical spaces, this room is totally mine. I plan to build a door with a fingerprint lock so the wife & kids can't enter. :-)

I've ordered different types of material to cut pickguards. But it all comes in the same order, and the bigsby has a two week delay. It should arrive soon...

[wokkaboy]

wow what a history Oli. You are from Belgium right ? You should be aging some quadruple and sour beers, sure you have space and don't pay the crazy taxes and prices to get them to our shores !
Have you got any ventilation for any dust you create ?
Sounds and looks like the ultimate man cave when you get the fingerprint lock on the door !

[stan]

150 yards? ! You officially have the coolest mancave ever!
Great work space, you will enjoy working there all the more, now that you have organised it

[oli4vd]

So. I went to hell and back on this thing this weekend.
I tried the rub on method to dye the guitar, trying to go from deep blue to black. The thing just ended up petrol-colored. After some time, the color didn't adhere anymore to the wood, and just overflowed in previous coats of paint.



Needless to say, it looked like ....

So I sanded it down again. Took me about three hours to get all the paint off and sand it back to 400 grit. I'll sand it to 1000 grit later today. My arm hurts like hell.



There is one benefit to all this, the wood has soaked up just a little of the blue paint, bringing out the grain of the wood. Really nice!

So I'm back to square 1 and-a-half and looking for input. I'm abandoning the rub-on idea and I will spray the next paint jobs.

[vh2580]

Hi Oli are you using Dye or paint for your finish? You have brought out the quilting on the front beautifully if you were going to stain the front and not paint. A light coloured dye would bring that up amazingly.

[oli4vd]

The idea was to stain. So I went to the paint shop and asked for the right product. They gave me crap, apparently. I've been using the wrong stuff.
I'll try the rub on method again, but now with stuff from a guitar shop. Too bad PBG is in Australia and it takes three weeks to get here. I can wait that long for a kit, but not for stain. :-)

[wokkaboy]

Oli I'm surprised it looks like you didn't sand through the quilted maple cap ! I'd look for a stain, now you have popped the grain with the blue I think any stain colour will look great.
What did you use, was it a paint spray can ? No point hiding that beautiful quilt !