Simon B's ES-3 build

[Simon Barden]

Day 56. Haven't done much for a few days as the weather is too cold to spray, so I've spent a bit of time looking at the headstock.

The general principle of using a thin layer of MOP (mother-of-pearl) and then building up the paint to match its level worked well. What didn't work so well was trying to inscribe lines into the MOP that would fill up with paint, and creating a false impression of more pieces in the design. I've seen other people do it, but this first time, it didn't work for me. Tried needle files, then tried a Dremel with an engraving bit, but without a firm support, the bit followed the contours of the MOP. The MOP has also been rubbed down so that it's more translucent, and you can now see the pencil line I drew on the headstock underneath it so that I lined it up correctly. D'oh!



Here's a slightly closer view of the MOP 'inlay'. It was all done in rather a hurry, but the onset of the cold weather, precluding the ability to spray all the clear coats on the body, means that I now have plenty of time to work on the headstock. I only used some large grit paper when sanding it back, hence the scratches on the paint, as by this point I knew I wasn't going to keep it.



So this is all going to be taken back to bare wood and I'll start again, but now I'm more confident about what I'm doing, it's going to be a more complex inlay with multiple pieces. I may even attempt to cut out a thin outline to run around the edge of the headstock, in lieu of any binding.

Onwards and upwards!

[Dedman]

I tried doing a similar thing on my ES-5 but finished up just cutting the inlay into 3 bits then filling the gap with timbermate.. Will probably do the same again on my current ES-2

[Tweaky]

At least your headstock binding routing ended up better than mine.....although I have partially fixed mine.

I think mine stuffed up because of trying to take too much wood off at one time, and the bloody Stewart Mac router thingamajig, shaking itself apart when doing the job.
Mine you, I was going for a De'Angelico style, three ply headstock binding.

As for the body colour, well I did a classic Blond on mine, using Blonde shellac, very easy to remove and do again if stuffed up.
The beauty of the shellac is, that it also works brilliantly a a sealer, so if you are so inclined, you could paint over the top of it.
See my sadly lingering ES3 build diary here due to loss of working space...and told any most dust in the lounge room would have my private parts removed.
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ghlight=blonde

[Tweaky]

Day 56. Haven't done much for a few days as the weather is too cold to spray, so I've spent a bit of time looking at the headstock.

The general principle of using a thin layer of MOP (mother-of-pearl) and then building up the paint to match its level worked well. What didn't work so well was trying to inscribe lines into the MOP that would fill up with paint, and creating a false impression of more pieces in the design. I've seen other people do it, but this first time, it didn't work for me. Tried needle files, then tried a Dremel with an engraving bit, but without a firm support, the bit followed the contours of the MOP. The MOP has also been rubbed down so that it's more translucent, and you can now see the pencil line I drew on the headstock underneath it so that I lined it up correctly. D'oh!



Here's a slightly closer view of the MOP 'inlay'. It was all done in rather a hurry, but the onset of the cold weather, precluding the ability to spray all the clear coats on the body, means that I now have plenty of time to work on the headstock. I only used some large grit paper when sanding it back, hence the scratches on the paint, as by this point I knew I wasn't going to keep it.



So this is all going to be taken back to bare wood and I'll start again, but now I'm more confident about what I'm doing, it's going to be a more complex inlay with multiple pieces. I may even attempt to cut out a thin outline to run around the edge of the headstock, in lieu of any binding.

Onwards and upwards!

That doesn't look like MOP to be, more like Black Lipped Mussll shell, or a sort of Pauia shell.
Anyway, to etch shell to the depth needed to be able to stain in with Black Shellac [which is what is used - Windsor & Newton Indian Ink is the right stuff to use - the one with the Spider on the bottle]

You really want a etching tool called a Gravure, they sell the blades individually at Jewellers suppliers, not expensive, and what you do it break one down to the size need [ recommend around 2-3 cm] and the attach it to a cheap wood handle [available at same place] so it look like this.


And hold the ball in the palm of your hand, to work the shell like below.

I work with a lot of artisans [Jewelers etc ] of different types within the same arcade, they gave me one [ as they are so cheap] and showed me how to use it....a doddle, self explanatory once you have one in your hands.

[Simon Barden]

You're right Tweaky, it's not MOP. It's a 'white abalone' sheet from here: Rothko and Frost

[wazkelly]

Still looks good irrespective whatever sea creature it came from. Not sure why you would scrap this and start again as it looks fine in the photos.

[Simon Barden]

It's not come out well in the photos but where I tried using a hand-held Dremel to engrave some lines, there's a 1.5mm wide wavy track. Plus, there's that line that's showing through from the underside. When it's your own creation, it's the little things that matter. Plus I'm pretty confident of doing something rather more elaborate now.

[wazkelly]

OK, keen to see what you end up doing.

[Simon Barden]

So do I! I've just sanded the face back to bare wood, so there's no going back!

[Simon Barden]

Have been scraping the binding and it's quite slow going because the lacquer is now very hard. It also goes better when you don't overestimate the width of the binding and keep scraping away a sizeable strip back to bare wood that you think is simply white plastic so you keep going and the white strip gets wider. I am now going to have to do some rescue repair work round the edge. D'oh!