ES 175 Kit?

[WeirdBits]

Quote from stan on October 25, 2013, 18:15
How does the size compare to an LP?

I did a comparison with a LP-1SS (Mahogany with Spalted cap), and the ES-2 is *slightly* smaller and its horn is a little sharper. The LP-1SS body weighs in at 2.47KG, and the ES-2 is only 1.595KG. Size comparison pics:

[WeirdBits]

I'm still not sure when I'll get a chance to build my ES-2, but it looks so good that I had to throw some hardware on it and take a few pics. Unfortunately, the hollow body style wood mount bridge I originally wanted to use doesn't look like it will work with this kit's final configuration. As you can see in the pics, the bridge is simply too tall and even if I shaved down as low as possible I still think it will be too high. It looks good though, so I may try to shape a custom low sitting version from a rosewood blank.






By the way, if you think mounting a switch in one of these will be hard... try to imagine removing it!

[WeirdBits]

And finally, here are my three alternatives for hardware (with a 335 pickguard just for fun):

Trapeze with floating wood mount bridge (looks like it's way too tall to use no matter how much I cut it down)




Trapeze with TOM bridge (looks good and is probably the option I'll go with)




Stop tail and TOM bridge (I think the trapeze looks better)

[Brendan]

#2 for me and lose the pickguard. It's obscuring the sound hole and it looks like you've got some nice grain going on the top of the guitar - don't lose it by covering it with a pickguard.

May be worthwhile looking into some gold / chrome Pup surrounds as well? The cream just looks a bit pallid and sick to me.

My 2c worth.

[stan]

option 2 for sure.
I'm going to make a low mount mahogany bridge for my lefty ES kit to cover the righty bridge holes...
Pickguard is to big, but looks good, follow the same shape but cut it down to just a fraction bigger than an LP guard.

Thanks for the awesome comparison pics, and that LP body looks awesome!

[gavinturner]

Agree with Brendan, option 2 and no pickguard. If you want to go with the floating bridge there are other lower compensated bridges that you can consider. I got an aluminium bowtie bridge for my ES175 build for the same reason - the wooden bridge base was way, way too high. Just another option to consider. Looks like a great kit! Will have to consider one in the future.

Cheers,
Gavin.