ES-335 kit - Marze build #3

[Marze]

So after finishing the TLA-1 build I really wanted to try a semi-hollow ES build to practice for making a ES-1TL kit that is on order. Thought I would try a kit from Stewmac just to see if there were any differences.

So kit was ordered from Stewmac that was on sale and it arrived in 4 days (Friday night order, Tuesday afternoon delivery) from the US, during COVID lockdown! That part was impressive. It came well packaged in a foam inlay and no damage from the shipping.

I have also ordered some upgrades to tonerider AC2 pickups from Pitbull and black hardware from the cream and gold that came with the kit.

The plan is to pop the flame maple veneer with some black water based dye and then stain red fading to natural in the middle. Leave the back and sides natural mahogany with tru oil finish all over.

[jugglindan]

Sounds interesting. I like the sound of the tonerider AC2 pickups, and I have always wanted an ES-335. I am looking forward to seeing how this one progresses.

[Marze]

Picture of kit unboxing.

[Marze]

Most of the kit looks really good with no bad router marks. There are some glue marks that I will have to deal with (Goof off is the way to go from reading other threads).
One issue is with the head stock. Visually it looked a little wonky, so I dug out the dimensions of Gibson headstocks and tuner hole locations and lightly penciled them on the face. It was a long way out!


None of the holes are in the right place <sigh>. None of the holes are in the right line. Left side is wider than the right side. I am thinking is was a headstock drilled and shaped after a long Friday lunch.
Looks like I will have to plug a redrill the holes. The head stock is a little short as well to cut it to a G-Style template, no problem here really as I can adapt it. The plugging is not something I really wanted to do as it is hard to match grain and colour and as the holes are so far out the tuner hardware will not cover the plugs and redrill.
So, Thinking I will put a black veneer on the headstock like a normal Gibson, just to try this as I haven't done it before. That will fix the front. The back which was going to be natural will also need to be veneered. I can't seem to find any mahogany veneer here in Qld or online, just maple or other timbers. I did find a reference that said Gibson used Holly in the 50s as the veneer and then moved to a composite fiber material in the 60s. Can't find Holly veneer here either. So maple it will be, stained black, possibly for both sides.
Any ideas out there on how to hide misdrilled tuner hole plugs?

[Simon Barden]

They'll normally get hidden on the back by the body of the tuner itself.

I've just ordered some fibreboard headstock facings from Rothco and Frost for my two SG kits. I haven't bothered about the slightly-out headstock tuner holes, as the control pot positions are too far out, plus the neck heel arrangements are all wrong, for the kits to be anything near an accurate replica.

That kit looks very similar indeed to a mahogany bodied ES-1 kit. But then I suppose even if the bodies were slightly different, this sort of kit tends to get supplied with the same generic hardware and fittings pack, and the same generic shipping box.

[Marze]

Laid out the kit and did a dry fit. Neck joint is a little loose, so will have to be careful when glueing to get it straight.
Any tips for making the picket tighter or how to make sure it is straight? Was thinking of using a bricklayer line down the centre of the guitar to the middle of the nut.


Now just got to choose between gold knobs and cream pickup mounts or all black.


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[Sonic Mountain]

You should align the neck by temporarily installing the high and low E tuners and running some ordinary string to the bridge. This will let you see that the neck is running true by checking the gap to the fretboard each side. This is also a good time to ensure the scale length is correct - I normally check to the High E as the rest will need adjustment further back for intonation.



Sometimes people use a bit of thin veneer to take up any unwanted gaps in the neck pocket, but I'd do the alignment first.

[Marze]

Thanks Sonic. This looks like a much better idea.
Off tonight to start the sanding of the sides and back! I need some good monotonous sanding music now

[FrankenWashie]

Or you can go OTT bonkers with it....



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[jugglindan]

Thanks Sonic. This looks like a much better idea.
Off tonight to start the sanding of the sides and back! I need some good monotonous sanding music now