Vintage-y ES-3

[neverwas]

Look forward to your updates Tweaky.

Very kind, Robin. I think your fretless would have pride of place though.

Just a tip for anyone upgrading to Bourns pots and wanting extra nuts to adjust shaft height, Jaycar sell a pack of washers and nuts to suit their 24mm pots which have a 6.35mm threaded shaft - same as Bourns. Catalogue no. RP3500, $3.50 for 12pk.

[neverwas]

It is finished, short of some minor tweaking, been waiting for some D'Addario Chromes to be delivered.

I'll go through what I've been up to, I type slow so this could take a while and a few posts.

Made a pickguard from scratch. Drew up a shape, cut out a template from MDF and routed some 2mm acrylic to get the main part. Then glued on purfling and binding.

Seemed easier to have rounded corners on the stepped side so could use continuous pieces and avoid joins. Scraped down the binding and sanded flat to 600, then up through the grits and polished.

Couple of oopses, broke the end off the purfling at the top point, glued a piece back on, looked OK at the time but when cleaned up it is noticeable. Also didn't allow for the width of the binding when I made the template and it doesn't line up with the bottom edge of the pup ring, probably won't annoy anyone but me.

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[neverwas]

Going a little overboard, made a TRC from a large piece of Mother of Pearl.
Cut and filed to shape then sanded edges and top to 800 grit.

Had a go at engraving. Got some dremel bits and practised on the acrylic offcuts and realised I would need some sort of guide. Printed off a suitable font and glueit on with pva. Took a deep breath and started engraving. Bit wonky in places.

Then used a scribe for the straight lines.

Mixed epoxy with black stain and lay a coat all over. Sanded off to 800 again.

A few spots to touch up. Wasn't all that happy at first but it's growing on me.
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[neverwas]

Final bits were to fit a brass nut and file out the slots to suit the strings. Also had to file the v's in the saddles to keep the strings from pulling out, the tailpiece has a narrower string spacing than the bridge.
Intonated and adjusted pup heights. Rocksongs sound great, need to find someone who can do a proper sound demo, my playing still sucks. Here's lots of pics...



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[Dedman]

man, that is gorgeous.

[neverwas]

Used a finial from a brass hinge to go in the top of the HS. Had to glue it in and it ended up off to one side a bit.

Something I was keeping to myself, added a piece of timber to the neck heel and put an inlay in that as well, just coz I could.

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[neverwas]

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[neverwas]

Last lot




Grant

[neverwas]

Cheers Dedman

Grant

[J.P]

man, that is gorgeous.

+ 1 on that, sweet looking guitar.