ES4-B 1st Build

[fender3x]

Oh I think there is some fierce competition for that title Fender3x.

Ha! Guess that's true even at my house. My other project is a partscaster. Bought the body and neck on a great sale at Warmoth (I used to live close to their factory) in 1986. Just put primer on the body.... I take things slow sometimes...

[fender3x]

My current plan with the ESB-4 is to drill for and mount the two point bridge. Once I do that I'll get a better sense of the break angle of the strings off the bridge, and that should tell me how high off the deck the stop piece needs to be. I *think* it's going to be high enough for the only practical solution to be a trapeze...but I won't be sure until I do that.

I have gotten 3 bridges, three tailpieces and a bridge bass plate for this thing so far, and every time I think I've got it, I run into a new problem. My current thought is to cobble together a trapeze bridge out of a short (but too narrow) trapeze tail piece from ebay, an old p-bass bridge bass plate, some bolts and some scraps of maple to dress it up. I figure by sometime next week I should have figured out what's wrong with this idea ;-)

[fender3x]

Well, I had in mind to drill for the two point bridge today...but...once again I have been exploring new corollaries of Murphy's law.

I measured at least 5 times to get the bridge in the right place, I noticed that the neck, which fits tightly, was a degree or two off of the body's center line. I did not think too much about that until I marked where the holes go. That's when I realized the southern hole for the bridge mount was not going to be entirely in the center block.

After a string of expletives that would have made my old farm hand buddies blush, I revisited DB's original suggestion to glue a piece of wood onto the center block. I always like the suggestion, but I only have access to the center block through the F-hole, and have never figured out how to clamp the piece in place.

Nevertheless, I cut a 1.25"x4.5" piece of 3/8" thick poplar, which is about the thickets piece of wood I can get through the F-hole. I used Titebond because it sets up fast (about 10 min), and because it cleans up easily with water if I ended up making a mess. I painted it on the top and side with Titebond. I then put the piece in place and held it there with a finger for 20 minutes. I could only get one finger on the piece, and I had to change fingers a few times since they kept cramping up from the weird angle.

Will now leave it sitting for at least 24 hours, and maybe more like 48. In the meantime, I may practice drilling for the bridge on some scrap maple veneered plywood to make sure I have the hang of it before I make the attempt on the curved surface of the body.

Did I mention that the center block should be a bit wider in these kits? 1/2" on either side would alleviate a multitude of evils. My other suggestion would be to have them come from the factory drilled for two point bridges and either stop pieces or trapeze tailpieces (assuming they have better luck than I have with the string spacing on trapezes).

[fender3x]

...So Murphy was not done with me... my drill press is 1/2" too short to reach where the new holes need to be. Open to any suggestions... Really need to get these holes right!

[fender3x]

OK, now to the tailpiece conundrum. I only found one trapeze tailpiece short enough to work. So, I bought it on Ebay:



Unfortunately, the string spacing was too narrow the Gibson style bridge, which has standard Fender spacing. The tailpiece was much narrower. So, here’s my “solution,” at least for now.

I thought about creating a cross bar out of wood. However, I was concerned that it might not be strong enough and would be hard to ground. I went back on ebay and bought a Fender p/j bridge base plate, and then disassembled the the ebay tailpiece.



As you can see I have bent the wire tongs on the tail piece to be a bit straighter.

I drilled a couple of holes for the tongs between where E and A string holes and between the D and G string holes. At first I thought the tongs needed to be outside the strings, but I saw a Framus that was done this way, and it just spaces better between the strings. I could then assemble it as a tailpiece like this:



That would more-or-less work, I figured, but was, frankly, pretty ugly. Even for me. I also thought the long bottom plate might cause trouble.

Continued next post...

[fender3x]

...continued from previous...

I cut the bottom half of the Fender base plate off, and made a maple cover for it. The maple cover has slots to slide the tongs and strings through.



Strings touch metal, so there should not be a problem grounding either at the tailpiece or at the bridge. Here’s what the top and bottom look like





And here’s how it looks in the mock build:



This was pretty much all an ad lib so feedback will be appreciated.

[Fretworn]

My only concern is will there be enough downward angle on the strings behind the bridge.

Will you be finishing the wooden block with the same or a different finish?

[fender3x]

My plan right now is to finish the block the same as the body... Sort of maroon. I am open to suggestions, however.

Hadn't considered the break angle. I got out a protractor, but still had to eyeball it a bit to see... It looks to me like the break angle will be about 15 degrees. I could potentially get it down another degree or two by bending the part of the tailpiece that has the hook. Does 15 seem like enough?

[stan]

A nice and good looking solution to your problem
I think it should be fine as is, and you can always modify it if it isn't quite right
As long as the strings fit nicely into the saddles, and stay there, you should be ok

[fender3x]

Part one of mounting Dano pickups in a standard humbucker rout....

First thing was to get rid of the brass Dano base plate. The full sized Dano pup will fit inside the "ears" of the HB rout, but the baseplate will not. So, I replaced it with a piece of steel that I cut out with some tin snips. I drilled the four corners, and two holes for the Dano mounting bolts. Not as attractive as the original Dano mounting plate, but functional.



I used screws and springs from a set of Jazz bass pickups to mount the Dano pickups inside the HB rout. In the pic you can see the springs compressed new/ugly base plate of the bridge pup.



I put my mock up of a pickup ring that I made with some scrap wood over the neck pickup, just to see how it will look, and check for fit. The actual ring will be thinner. The nails are there to make sure that the holes are in the right place--inside the corners of the HB rout. The real pup ring will have screws, of course.

Sharp eyes may note that the pickups are not centered in the HB rout, but are as far "south" as they will go. That's because the routs don't quite line up with the neck. To get the pickups to line up with the neck and bridge properly, I had to put them as far south as they'd go. It won't be noticeable once the pup rings go on. Assuming part two, making the pup-rings goes as planned ;-)