Sonic's ES-1F Hollowbody Adventure

[Sonic Mountain]

Not much movement on this one yet, still waiting for some bits to arrive. Did receive the new roller bridge and some ferrules for the locking tuners.

Also big thanks to vh2580 for donating a scratch plate.

Did a bit of messing around on some scrap ply with various stains, I think the dark brown/black burst will look the best but will see what the future owner prefers.



Also stripped the donor guitar down and started cleaning it up to receive the kit electrics. Will be my first time sneaking electrics into a hollowbody.. looks like heaps of fun. I bought some 5mm hose to help as suggested in some other threads.

[Sonic Mountain]

Swapped all the kit wiring and pickups into the Cort this afternoon, so it's back to being a playable guitar. Just need to put a few bits back on and do the intonation. Then I'll dig the kit and all my packages out and see what we are still missing.

learnt some valuable lessons about installing electrics in a hollow body. So much fun!

[Sonic Mountain]

Still ticking along slowly on this. I've been busy with a lot of other things going on and as this is a 'friendly' job it's last priority.

I got an airbrush to help with doing the burst and we've settled on a stain combo. Hard to photograph, but this is the sample. So this on the front then the rest of the body in the dark brown all done in satin poly then a black gloss headstock with decal.





Current mock up for the headstock. The logo is representative of his family and 'Yonder' is what he plans to name his farm.



Headstock shaped, little bit of fine tuning to go.



And otherwise we have everything except for a decent nut and a couple of mounting screws. Lot's of upgrades going in, using the Gibson 490s that were in his other guitar, roller bridge, vintage locking tuners etc, should be a really decent guitar when its done.





And here is where it's at, checking neck alignment, fit and scale length. Just need to bite the bullet and glue and we can get onto some of the fun stuff.

[Sonic Mountain]

Ok still moving along at pretty glacial speed on this one. I'm trying to involved the owner as much as possible so we have to wait for opportunities when we both have some time. I elected not to glue the neck first as originally planned. Probably sensible.

Got him around for staining yesterday. Went pretty well. I'm very happy with the custom tint on the front. It almost looks like a gold top. Will go a bit less green with the poly on I think.













A few bits of glue made themselves known, even though I thought I had got it all.

This bit in particular I thought was a flaw in the veneer, which I think it is.. that someone has wiped glue over :/

First pass.



A bit of elbow grease and acetone and it's improved a lot, still a little ding. Owner is not at all bothered as he essentially wants to relic the shit out of it once we are done. I'm trying to make it as nicely as possible though, just for my own satisfaction. It'll get beat up quick enough being gigged relentlessly. Hoping to have it done for a tour in December, we'll see.




First and second coats of dark brown, still a little uneven, but one more pass and it should be apples.





I'm hoping to spray the burst this afternoon, will post results if I get there.

[McCreed]

Looking good Sonic.

[Sonic Mountain]

Cheers, he's happy. Burst sprayed and binding scraped. In spite of very careful taping there is a bit of bleed into the binding cracks and a couple of stain touch ups needed. Overall it's looking pretty good.

[Sonic Mountain]

Neck is set....

[Andy40]

OMG Epic save with that glue spot sonic!

[Sonic Mountain]

Yeah, it's OK. Bit disappointed, had it been on the other side it'd be covered by the pickguard. But it's acceptable. They guy I am building it for/with is totally unfazed so I'm not letting it bother me. If you go an look at the 'inspiration' pic for this one it's really battered, and he plans to treat it rough to achieve the same look, so a few minor imperfections are not a big deal. It just has to play really really well. I've done a lot of work on the frets already filing the ends and a basic level and dress, but the setup process will be where I make or break the build.

[DarkMark]

Glue spot aside, that’s some nice staining and air brush work.