Just received my ES 5V kit

[wokkaboy]

Hi Doug the build coming along very nicely now the neck is set !

I've removed the plastic cover of a PBG P90 pickup so not sure about yours, I would think the plastic cover is glued onto the pickup. Maybe apply some mild heat to the cover and see if the cover can be wiggled and removed from the pickup. Don't force it. I'd say the 2 phillips screws on the back are internal mounting maybe for the pickup bobbin

[Dougr]

Thanks Wok, you're right. I eased it off after realising that it was 'just'glued to hold it together.

[wokkaboy]

good stuff Doug glad the cover came off with no issues

[Dougr]

Have carefully shaped the P90 cover to make it sit comfortably on the curve of the body, then fitted the Grover machine heads & tailpiece to get everything lined up for the intonation stage. Now assessing any future problems I might face. One worry is that I might have the neck sitting too high, although the socket & neck went together like a hand in a glove! I did notice that I had a gap of a millimetre or so where the very end of the fingerboard meets the main body but it seemed insignificant at the time. I tried to obtain a drawing of the neck angle to make sure before I glued it but couldn't find anything apart from one site mentioning a 3 degree slope downwards. This is roughly what I ended up with so here's hoping!!
The mock up of the bridge fitting seems quite high to me in order to clear the last fret wires but I wont know until I put strings on it & try to get it in tune. I have not gone into sanding the frets just yet, but, if push comes to shove, I will invest in a decent flat bar to accomplish this task as I really want to be able to have this beauty as my 3rd gig guitar.

[stan]

nice work Doug, I wouldn't be too concerned about the gap at the fingerboard.
You might find the bridge height and location changes slightly as you put strings on and intonate.

[wokkaboy]

nice one Doug that looks very cool. As Stan says bridge height can be tweaked later. Think you are winning the ES-5V race have it closest to making noise !
Is the wiring complete I can see the 2 pots are fitted ?

[Dougr]

Yep, tested & making a noise when tapped with a screwdriver! That's even though my soldering work is s...t!

[Dedman]

Yup Doug is going to be first one finished, and its looking great

[andrewdosborne]

This is looking great Doug. You're way ahead of me on this build. I've done precisely nothing since my last post due to the distraction of my fretless bass...

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

[Dougr]

Hi guys, I put the strings & bridge in today & it works. I need to do some fine tuning, (forgive the pun) but it has a nice acoustic sound, with & without amplification. I had to set the bridge at a very high level to avoid fret buzz but it will be comfortable to play & with a bit of work sanding the frets & maybe even going for a bone nut it might get even better. Again the electrics leave a lot to be desired but not having $3000 to $6000 USD to spend on a real one this is a pretty good alternative & I had some fun building it. If nothing else 'It's just another Guitar on the wall.'
I look forward to seeing the results of your efforts with this model over time guys. Meanwhile I might consider what I might like to build next.
Ps, you will notice that the bridge is angled somewhat. This is because of the scale length of 627mm on my unit. I watched a video yesterday in which a guy in the USA said that the tailpiece can also be adjusted by shifting the position of the nuts holding the bar in position, ie tightening or loosening them so that the string anchor bar can be at an angle which should help when setting the intonation. I have not fiddled with intonation yet but tomorrow is another day!