ES1 "Ziltoid" attempt

[vh2580]

thanks Gav will try on weekend.

[pablopepper]

Holy dooley, do you think it's salvageable? Lol. Tony, have you considered how you are going to get at the electronics with the 'F' holes blocked up? Material wise, immediately I would say 3mm thick acrylic which I have approximately that colour, but for thinner, 0.8mm polypropylene in a slightly lighter orange. The PP is flexible, but at that kinda size I don't think it will matter too much. For the fretboard inlay, acrylic is the way to go though, just sand to the radius with the fretboard.

[vh2580]

Hi Pabs bit of a sand and will be ok. For electronics at this stage will be using the cut out holes for the coloured insert and also currently looking at the slim (sideways battery) battery box that would fit in the end of the guitar. As the back will be black still may put in a small black cavity cover which may neagte the need for battery box. winging it at the moment. Will make the call once the fretlight kits turn up and how cumbersome the pieces are. with the 3mm acrylic will it light up well with a small lightsource or is it fairly opaque.

[FrankenWashie]

Uhhhm!. While my auto sense iron is fantastic for doing work shirts pretty crap for rosewood. Spent an hour trying to get enough heat in to lift the board but to no avail. So chiseled down to thin the fretboard and will have another crack on the weekend and hope to get more heat into it

Oh crikey! That looks grim😱

[pablopepper]

The acrylic will light up well.

[dingobass]

Have fun with the fretglow kits....
I used them once but found the optic fiber to be on the thick side, which meant removing a lot of meat from the fretboard. Totally doable but a right royal pain in the qoight.
I now use TV/ sound system optic fiber, its only about .5mm and requires a lot less removal of timber to fit it in.
It is really important to bundle the ends of the fibers together and epoxy them into a piece of tubing.
This makes it a heck of a lot easier to cut the ends flush and get a really nice polish on them.

[vh2580]

Have fun with the fretglow kits....
I used them once but found the optic fiber to be on the thick side, which meant removing a lot of meat from the fretboard. Totally doable but a right royal pain in the qoight.
I now use TV/ sound system optic fiber, its only about .5mm and requires a lot less removal of timber to fit it in.
It is really important to bundle the ends of the fibers together and epoxy them into a piece of tubing.
This makes it a heck of a lot easier to cut the ends flush and get a really nice polish on them.

Hi DB, where do you get your strand from, struggling to find some of the smaller diameter without buying a spool.

[vh2580]

So starting to get all the materials sourced for the build. Got some 10V Led sets for the body lighting and got both white and red to see which gives the best effect under the acrylic.
Marked up a roughy outline on the body for the shape of the acrylic inserts and templated and sent of to Pablo.

[vh2580]

Pablo did up a mock of the fretboard inlay and then some templates to size against my current neck and new ebony fretboard to ensure the correct sizing.
Now to source some smaller diameter optic fibre for lighting the side dots.
Now working out the lighting of the inlay and will either use LED or optic strand ( more likely LED)

[FrankenWashie]

This Axe is just going to be uberfunky, I may however cry when you post photos of cutting into the top for the zed's.