ESB-4SC First Build

[Arzi]

Hi Dekka

The headstock gave me problems too - especially when using a sanding block. It's not as flat as some parts of the body and easilly goes thru. I decided to do the final wet sanding without a block and just very carefully sanding a small area at a time with very little pressure and a 4cm x 4cm piece of 2000 grit paper. The polishing compound could actually be enough if the surface is already smooth - as it is a gentle abrasive it also removes inconsistencies.

By the way - tried Turtle wax's "nano polishing compound" on a small area on the TO and will never use it again! That compound was heavier on the surface than 800 grit paper! I could not use that crap with my car without damaging the laquer permanently. Auto glym is finer than the finest of an expensive pro series product sold at the same shop here. Great product all together - works for the guitar and car..

[gavinturner]

The finish is really looking great Dekka. Love the black dye job, especially the grain on the bacl of the neck. The TO is also starting to shine nicely. Great work!

cheers,
Gav.

[Dekka28]

Thank you Arzi, Fretworn and Gavin.

It is slowly getting there. I can't wait to put this together but patience is the key...

[Dekka28]

So I started applying the TO to the front of the bass. It's coming along nicely 5 coats so far. Once I have done 15 coats I will go through the last wet sanding at 2000 grit and then we are on to the assembly.

I have started the wiring but I wanted to check videos or the ESB and I can't seem to find any videos regarding wiring this type of guitars.

Does anyone know where I could find it?

thank you

[WeirdBits]

Gavin's 335 style wiring tutorial should help guide you with wiring your ESB-4SC, the approach is basically the same for both semi-hollow's and hollow's. The main difference is you can feed the wiring in via a pickup cavity in hollow-bodies rather than squeezing it through an F-hole. When/how you connect the pickup leads to the harness depends on which access point you're using etc.

[Dekka28]

Thanks weirdbits that's perfect. That will come in handy when putting everything in place. I was hoping someone might have done a video on soldering the harness like the ones available for the other type of guitars. I jumped into it and will have to see if it works.

[Dekka28]

I started on the wiring a little bit.
I don't think that I have used a soldering iron in 25 years. So it was a little bit daunting.

I went with the Master tone, Master volume and Neck and Bridge volume as it made more sense considering the layout and my needs.



I have done most of it now. I need to add the capacitors and test the pickups to see if everything is working. I have been tempted t upgrade the pickups so I am holding off on finalizing it until I make a decision.

I have been looking into a decent upgrade options for a while and luckily today I stumble on this brilliant thread that kind of confirmed my feeling.

Off to Ebay to source some bargain GRETSCH filtertron.

I however need some advice on my soldering: I am worried that the way I have approach the soldering on the bridge volume pot might be a little bit "off". Should each wire make direct contact with the pot or is the way I have done it OK? It looks a little cramped and I am not sure whether this is ok or not?

[Arzi]

Hi Dekka

I've been wondering to upgrade the stock pup on my RC-4 and thinking of doing that with Filtertron too. Seems like a good choice.

[WeirdBits]

With braided wire you want the inner core to carry your 'hot' and the outer braid to be the 'ground', that way your signal is shielded from noise and you have hot and ground in one wire. For example, to connect your output jack the inner core would connect to the 'hot' lug of the jack and the braid would connect to the jack's 'ground' lug. The other end of the wire would then have the inner core connect the 'hot' output lug of the volume pot (or switch etc.) and the braid would connect to the common ground point like the back of the pot.

It's important to push back and offset the braid from the exposed end of the inner core on any of your 'hot' wires, otherwise the braid could become 'hot' too from touching it and can then short against any conductor it touches... other braid, pots, shielding, switches etc. causing all sorts of headaches. Heatshrink tubing can also help prevent any shorts between the braid and exposed inner core.

Edit: This is a nice clean example of where the braid is soldered to the back of the pot as the 'ground' and the 'hot' inner core connects to the pot's lug. It's not a hollow body, but you get the idea.

[Dekka28]

Hi Weirdbits,

I am a little unsure as to what would be defined as hot and ground in the following diagram.



It looks like I might have to start from scratch. Which is ok as I kinda anticipated that the wiring would be a little tricky.

I will see if I can do a diagram with the way I understand your great feedback and see if I am correct