My first PB build - ES-1GT with modifications

[Ricky]

Well, the big day has arrived and so has my kit!!!!!!!
It hung around in Perth for a couple of weeks waiting for a flight and then nearly a week in customs but it arrived today and I must say, I am impressed.

I checked it all carefully including the hardware although I am replacing most of that.

The veneer to binding is near perfect with none of the splintering that others have seen. It will have a 2 colour stained finish and then multiple coats of 2k lacquer sprayed on - plus some artwork on the back.

So .... I got to work measuring the scale length, neck fit and angle and then the fit of the pu's.
Problem.

The kit says 628mm scale length so I set it up for that (photo below) with the bridge high E would all the way forward.
It is a roller bridge but I tried the supplied tune-o-matic bridge with the same result.
The neck sits into the pu cavity.
The crown of the 12th fret sits at 312.5mm (625mm scale length????).

Now I could just extend the neck pu cavity backwards a bit but that still leaves a small hole right up by the neck/pu surround/guitar face (photo below).
Or maybe cut unto the neck just under the end binding and recess the pu surround under it if that makes sense.
Or maybe shorten the rear of the neck after first removing the binding etc.

Any help from you Guys would be fantastic.

Or maybe I am missing something....

[Ricky]

Todays progress.

I decided to go with my option 2 in my previous mail - cut into the neck just under the binding at the back of the fretboard.
It is only a small rebate, maybe 3mm at most. The allows the neck to remain in the right position for scale length, saddle range etc.
The neck angle looks good but I will give it a proper check tomorrow and take some more photos.

Still not made a decision on the headstock but probably something traditional. I will veneer it though.

Is it worth upgrading the tuners to locking tuners? I have never had a problem with my guitars going out of tune and I spend a bit of time making sure the wind-on is neat and tight.
This guitar will have a Bigsby style tremelo though.

I could not find any glue spots on the veneer anywhere. I guess this means I have not looked hard enough.

[Simon Barden]

Locking tuners only make sense with trems IMO, and although the Bigsby won't provide a lot of string movement, you may well benefit slightly from locking over conventional, though a well-cut nut will prevent the majority of tuning issues.

[Simon Barden]

Personally I'd just move the neck back by 1mm or so, so that you can just get the edge of the pickup ring over the wood with none of the rout showing. You should still have enough adjustment on the bridge.

[Ricky]

Thanks Simon.
I think I will leave the locking tuners for now then and see how it goes.

More progress yesterday.
I have veneered the headstock. Not sure what the wood is but it has some nice flaming going on.
Spent ages thinking about the shape for the headstock - not really sure how (or why) I ended up with this one though!

Last job of the evening was setting the neck. It all went smoothly in the end after a couple of dry runs to make sure I knew where the clamps were going etc.
I added a couple of strips of veneer to the front of the tongue just to create as much glue contact area as possible.

Dry assembled the pu's and bridge etc for the photos and it all fits well.
No more little gap at the corner of the fretboard/pu cavity.

Now to go and write another thread elsewhere in the forum and rant about shoddy TOM bridge assemblies.

Cheers
Ricky

[Ricky]

I had decided way before I even ordered the guitar kit that it had to be stained Purple. To the extent that I had ordered the stains before the kit arrived.
I had also decided that I would be attempting another piece of artwork on the back so this is where I am at.
The whole guitar has been stained with Stunning Stains water based purple and cherry red with amber for part of the neck.

Next was the clear coat. I have spray equipment and positive pressure air masks so I use urethane 2k by Omi-Cron.
Do not try that stuff without the right masks and filters.

The pictures below show 3 coats on the front and about 10 coats on the back. I need a very flat surface on the back before I can spray the artwork and particularly so because the fur is scratched on and any dimples in the clear coat would cause a problem there.
I practiced the picture twice on art card before attempting this for real so we will see how it goes.

For those interested, the steps are as follows

1. Stain back.
2. Clear coat to lock colour in.
3. Airbrush the basic shape of the dog (or wolf). Use the colours that will be revealed in the fur.
4. Clear coat the back again. Then the scratching will not go through the fur colour . Use plenty of coats.
5. Wet sand the clear coat to as flat as possible.
6. Airbrush on the moon - covering the edge of the dog so that you can scratch through to get the fur edge.
7. Airbrush the space and add stars with an old tooth brush or similar by flicking the bristles with white paint.
8. Get scratching and adding black with the airbrush to create folds.

There is always the possibility that this artwork will not come out the way i want it to in which case I can rub it down the the red stain and start again.

The last picture below shows where I am at with the first layer of fur - there will be about 4 layers in total.
This scratching session was about 2 hours.

Cheers
Ricky

[McCreed]

Geez, you're pretty handy with the airbrush!

Let me know if you need stick figures on your next build. That is the limit to my drawing/painting abilities!

[jugglindan]

I hope your blues name is Howlin' Wolf

[Ricky]

I hope your blues name is Howlin' Wolf

Funny you should say that. That was exactly what I originally thought of putting on the headstock but then I saw a build in this forum somewhere of a twin neck.
I think he used that name across the two necks.

I have settled on 'Eclipse' ............................ Unless anyone can think of something better???????????????

Cheers
Ricky

[jugglindan]

If it was me, I would go with whatever name I wanted. I don't think it matters if there is another guitar somewhere in the world with the same name. I mean, how many guitars have "Telecaster" on them?