Drew's ES-5V first (ish) build

[Simon Barden]

Nothing a minor bit of reshaping won't take care of.

Have you removed the nut, or did it come like that?

[blinddrew]

Still on the neck though, most of it feels pretty nice (bit of fret tapping required in a couple of places) but the top edge gets a bit ropey towards the body end, though this photo doesn't show that too well:


Staying down at the base of the neck, the block isn't joined to the edges quite as well on one side, think I'll need to try and squeeze some glue into that gap:


And on the other side of the pocket the top layer has broken away slightly. Guessing this is going to be a very delicate glue job as well:

[blinddrew]

Finally, here's a couple of shots of the glue smear by the upper f-hole:

and

[blinddrew]

I bought a bone replacement nut so I popped this one off. First mistake?

[blinddrew]

I'd suggest an 8oz bottle as there's a lot of guitar to cover. The later coats can be thinned down 50/50 with turps.

I'd also suggest a 3oz bottle of the matching Birchwood Casey sealer + filler and apply a couple of coats of that after any stain and before the Tru-Oil.

Cheers Simon, I'm not planning on any staining, just want to keep the pale wood finish. So I assume my next course of action is: sand the whole thing from 180 - 300 grit, apply sealer (sand again presumably to give some contact area?), repeat, then start on the tru-oil process?

[Simon Barden]

No, not at all. Just remember to avoid putting finish on that nut ledge.

So it'sa glue smear. Could be worse. Get some propriety glue remover. Goof Off is the most popular one in Aus, you can get it here on-line, but there are other similar products. Gentle rubbing using that with a soft wire brush (brass bristles) or a hard toothbrush should get rid of it.

The first layer of ply is a bit thicker than normal veneer so will take some sanding, but it's still best to keep that to a minimum.

I wouldn't bother putting glue in that first edge crack at the moment. You'll squeeze some in when you glue the neck on. The neck block is a reasonable size so you'll have lots of body area that is glued to it, so it won't go anywhere. If you do do it now, mask off both sides of the join so you don't get glue on the wood.

[blinddrew]

I wouldn't bother putting glue in that first edge crack at the moment. You'll squeeze some in when you glue the neck on. The neck block is a reasonable size so you'll have lots of body area that is glued to it, so it won't go anywhere. If you do do it now, mask off both sides of the join so you don't get glue on the wood.

That makes sense, cheers

[blinddrew]

Hmmm. Looks like I've fairly seriously underestimated how much all this is going to cost. That little lot will wait until pay day and in the meantime I'll see if I can find a more reasonable sized and priced glue remover.
Oh well, I needed to finish mixing that EP anyway!

[Simon Barden]

You can still work on fixing the headstock and sanding the neck.

[blinddrew]

Yep, and presumably initial sanding on the body as well.
Though I must confess to being slightly confused here as well.
The main 'build your guitar' thread talks about sanding, sanding and sanding again, and whilst this makes sense to me with a solid body, it feels excessive given the ply thickness (and finish already) on a hollow body.
I'm instinctively reluctant to go at the body with anything less than a 240 grit but happy to be persuaded otherwise. :/