Hi From Sydney

[Twodogies]

Good afternoon
Hope everyone is doing OK

First time kit builder here. I am one of the unlucky ones who ordered a custom ES 3 kit at the start of the year. I fully understand the situation and I am not cancelling my order. If no luck by end of month may just have to buy a Pitbull tele kit to get me through.

But having all this spare time on my hands i was a little down at first but then it clicked. You see ever since i thought of buying a kit all my spare time and thoughts have been on reading Pitbull forum posts, watching hours on of youtube videos, thinking upgrades, colours etc it became a little obsession lol. Only problem was there were a few things I forgot.. like where and on what was I going to build.

The garage? As you can see by the pic this is where I ran into my first issue. lol

[Twodogies]

This was before the lock down. Now time to move onto the workbench. Please forgive me for the poor workmanship. I am a ex metal worker and haven't worked with wood since the late 70''s lol

All cut by hand saw only power tool used was a drill. Should have bought a power saw lol. I think I should have used smaller wood for the frame it can support a V8 engine lol

Started with the frame


Added a section for drawers


Top and bottom added


Drawers added


Tidy Garage

[Twodogies]

All locked down what to do? Going to Bunnings is essential is for my mental health lol.

Always need more drawers.

Drawer frame


Drawers complete

[Twodogies]

Bloody Bunnings. Went there to buy some fly screen wire and come away with a Ryobi router and more wood. Looks like I am building a router table.

Router table frame


Router table almost done. Sorry about the hinges had them lying around.


This is where I ran into my second issue. The router is a plunge router and had problems with designing a router lift that would fit into the space so used a car scissor jack. Once height is set I can just lock the plunger in at the right depth. Just have to hook a safety switch to the outside just in case lol


Router table done. Rough I know but hey it works lol.


Can we go back to work please. I have done more work at home since lock down then I would have done at work lol.

[Simon Barden]

Hi and welcome!

Great work there.

I suppose now you've started you may as well get the pillar drill (make sure it has a throat deep enough to fit half a guitar body in between the chuck and the pillar) and maybe a thicknesser. And a circular saw table. And ....

[Fretworn]

Welcome Twodogies

[Brendan]

Welcome along - compared to that - my workbench looks totally agricultural. Great to have you on board.

[FrankenWashie]

Welcome aboard!
love the set up, great little story there in and of itself! Look forward to seeing how your build(s) go.

[McCreed]

Wow! That's a transformation worthy of one of those "reality" make-over shows!!

You obviously don't things by halves! It will be interesting to watch your build. You seem to have skills with tools and wood already, so your first guitar should come along very naturally.

And welcome!

Cheers,
Mick

[DarkMark]

Welcome. You haven’t built a kit yet but I’m already jealous of what you’ve achieved. My custom ES-3 has come to a grinding Covid19 halt. Well, it came to a halt a little while ago, but it’s stopped me for now. Looking forward to seeing what you get up to.