Vintage-y ES-3

[neverwas]

Then I had a go at routing the channel for the binding and purfling. Don't really have the right bits so made do with what I have and do a bit of improvising. Needed to make a caul (not sure if thats the right word), a piece to stick to the top of the head stock so the router could get right up to the end of the fingerboard and had to use some packing strap to space the router bearing out far enough to get the right rebate size.


After a bit of tidying up


Not sure if it shows up clearly, but there are sections where the inner ledge for the purfling need to be built back up, my lack of experience showing. Maybe sawdust and glue should do the trick?
Hope I didn't get anyone's hope up with the art deco inlay design, it looks fairly simple but the plan is to scribe some lines to better define the shape, if that makes any sense.

Grant

[neverwas]

Cheers Andrew. If the kit came with a flamed veneer like your beautiful Es-1G, that would be the icing on the cake.

[wokkaboy]

Hey Grant. Love the headstock inlay.
Are ypu using a plastic binding ? You can make a paste by putting small pieces in acetone to build up any low spots or gaps

[neverwas]

Thanks Wokks. Yeah the binding is plastic, ABS I think, and have noticed Arzi used that technique on his build. Only need to have a 0.5mm ledge for the purfling (2mm deep binding and 1.5mm purfling). Doesn't sound like much but it needs to be there to keep the top edges level.

[gavinturner]

Looking great Grant! Love the inlay and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the binding. Props for some mad skills dude!

cheers,
Gav.

[stan]

That is awesome work mate, plenty of people with more than hand tools can't do that, very nice result

[BenWA]

that headstock is a work of art!

[Fretworn]

Dedication there Grant. Good work!

[neverwas]

Thanks a lot everyone. Just to be clear I did use power tools as much as I could and hand tools for the fiddlier bits, I'm not in Rob's league of hand tools only. There was a LOT of head scratching before I was game to start the shaping.
Didn't mention that to get the rebates for the two circles at the top, started with a 13mm forstner bit for the purfling ledge, then ground the end of a 11mm drill bit flat to get the binding ledge (made an awful noise when drilling) and then a 8mm brad point bit for the through hole, all in the drill press.
The plan for the binding is to use one strip of black-white purfling and then binding. Bought some white binding but the binding on the neck more cream in colour. Have ordered some ivory coloured binding to see if that is closer to what's needed. Worst case is will need to try and stain the binding to match. May also need to preshape it to get it in the contours at the top edge, all new to me.
Thanks again.

Grant

[Brendan]

Looking fantastic Grant! Great work!