Simon B's ES-3 build

[blinddrew]

To be fair, it would have taken me about four years to get a finish like that too...

[JimC]

This is such a good result. I saw this guitar in some of its less happy intermediate stages, and I was wondering what on earth could be done. I know I would have been tempted to reach for the matches.

[Simon Barden]

Yesterday, it almost was matchsticks.

[robin]

Hey Simon, glad you stuck with this build, she turned out absolutely stunning. Great job.

rob

[Simon Barden]

Far from perfect. Looks better than it really is. Binding scraped too many times, a couple of areas where I've sanded through the black, scrapes and a couple of chips and holes in the paint (despite it all looking perfectly smooth when sanded flat). But it is what it is. Just need to make it playable and it will do. But I'm struggling because of the wrong neck angle. Having to cut really deep notches in the saddles as the bridge is sitting on the body.

[fender3x]

Well the pics are pretty stunning. For all it's fits and starts, this is one of your more organic builds. Perhaps not what you thought it would be when you started, but interesting and unique. The guitars I like best on this forum are the ones that look "right" without looking like something I've seen before.

[OliSam]

Well the pics are pretty stunning. For all it's fits and starts, this is one of your more organic builds. Perhaps not what you thought it would be when you started, but interesting and unique. The guitars I like best on this forum are the ones that look "right" without looking like something I've seen before.

I absolutely agree.


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[DarkMark]

Glad to see you’ve almost reached the end of this one, looks superb!
I know the struggle with the neck angle, I’m sure you’ll fine a clever solution. Would love to hear it in action.

[Simon Barden]

No clever solution, buts brute force and filing the base of the bridge at the ends by a couple of mm so the bridge is just sitting on the top of the body and using my nut files to file slots in the saddles.

I've been thinking about it and it would be very hard to have modified the neck to have a greater angle with the neck heel being such a big beast and with the various cut-aways/insets at the front and the top. The whole way the top and the neck interact is wrong.



You can see that the neck is simply not angled enough for the height the bridge is at - and that's with the bridge having been made to sit lower. That's a Tone Pros bridge, but the kit bridge is no lower. The kit is basically not made well.

I had the same height pickup surround at the bridge as at the neck, and it was angled the other way as well, so I fitted a thinner ring and angled it as shown so that the tops of the rings are roughly parallel and almost the same height. The pickguard will sit on top of those on the treble side (in true 175-style), so they need to be fairly level for that to work. Maybe 1mm difference now but small enough for it to work.

I've just fitted another nut as I cut the slots in the last one before I finished adjusting the truss rod, and a couple of strings ended up buzzing slightly on the first fret. So the new one has been glued in place and is drying before the slots are cut tomorrow. This nut is also centred properly, the other was very slightly offset. The action will come down from that in the photo as a result, but it will never be as good on the higher frets as on my other guitars. I may also need to do another fret level on the lower frets as there's at least one that's slightly high on the treble side.

You can also see a bit of sand-through in the finish that will need some touching up, along with some other areas of sand-through. But it is what it is, and despite being finished last, it was the first of my kits, so I think I'm allowed some latitude.

[king casey]

But it is what it is, and despite being finished last, it was the first of my kits, so I think I'm allowed some latitude.

Commiserations. So definitely a cautionary tale.
So if DarkMark chimes in, it's not an isolated incident.

If I attempted one of these I would now be vigilant and probably shim the heel end of the neck for sure.
Trouble is when folks highlight issues such as this, I'm tempted to dive into one myself rather than do the sensible thing and run for the hills.

cheers Mark.