Father & Son EX-5 Build

[Fellowsoldier]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly but here is the start of our build diary. My son wanted a flat black look with just the top of the body and head painted leaving the rest natural. We did a mock up and it looks pretty cool with the chrome accessories. I'll post photos as we go.

[FrankenWashie]

Hey Fellowsoldier, you're doing just fine. I like your young man's vision for this EX, its very clean and very simple.
It all looks great so far. What treatment are you going to do for the back?

[Ghaynas]

Curious vision of an EX, with the convination of Black and natural finish. The result must be cool.

[gavinturner]

Looking great so far! Really digging the colour combo. Should look amazing, especially if the natural part is gloss. Watching your build diary with interest!

cheers,
Gav.

[Andyxlh]

That will look great! You could just seal the timber with gun oil or similar......

[Simon Barden]

Good work so far. You'll really need to treat the 'natural' wood in some way to help protect it, otherwise its going to look rather dirty in a very short time. Also, it really needs protecting from moisture and the worst excesses of high and low humidity. If you don't, a simple spilled drink could stain the wood and also cause it to swell up.

So I'd suggest a clear flat lacquer finish or some form of gun stock oil (e.g. Tru-Oil) as Andyxlh suggested.

Of course you may have already been going down this route, it's hard to tell from the photos, but you did mention only painting the front faces.

[wazkelly]

Welcome along to the small EX-5 owners club.

Looking good and also curious to know what you have planned for the sides and back where there is plenty of nice grain happening.

The standard kit supplied truss rod covers look a bit out of place of these radical shapes and substitutes can be easily found on the net or eBay. Also, keep an eye out on the upper frets as once you have flattened the deck hopefully that will eliminate any buzzing in the upper registers, at least that was the culprit on mine.

If you get the action low enough the standard PUP's sound quite good.

Good luck with the rest of the build, these EX-5's are awesome fun to play.

Finally, hardcases are not big enough to accommodate these and I ended up having to buy a gig bag on Amazon from the US. Mind you the Epiphone Explorer case for my EX-1 is a very, very snug fit but it would need at least 5mm to 10mm sanded off the snout just to make it fit without touching the inside edges of the case. Let me know if you are interested and I will take photos to show what I am talking about.

[Fellowsoldier]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. My son doesn't want a "shiny" look so we're trying to avoid finishes that would give that appearance. I put one coat of Watco Danish oil, Natural, on the back, neck and head. After that dried I took some fine steel wool and gave it a good rub down. I'm not real sure how many more coats I'll put on, probably just one more.

My son chose the paint scheme after looking at photos online of other instruments. I'm a fan of the simplistic look, plus he's not really into the flashy look of things.

I purchased a soldering iron today, this has me a little nervous. I really appreciate all of the advice, please keep it coming. The wiring aspect is going to be a challenge but we're both trying to learn so it'll be good for both of us.

Thanks again guys.

[FrankenWashie]

Simple is often best. I really like that clean uncomplicated look you've achieved with it. Don't stress the electrickery work, there's plenty of assistance on the forum. Great job so far!

[Brendan]

Looking great so far. Soldering is similar to many skills - don't rush and you should be right. Also having good light helps.