Marcel's ES-1TL

[Marcel]

Hmmm... colour..... My wife calls it a Jade Green.... It's a nice colour, and it sets off the binding, but I'm not convinced it is the right colour for a guitar...

Diverted back to my home ground of electronics today. I think the pictured wiring harness should work okay. Even though I got some CTS pots at the same time when I got the kit I'm going to stay with the kit supplied Alpha pots as I can get a better match of resistances per the Gibson Memphis factory spec. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at6-mhJ-OaU The tiny Blue dots are 0.047uF 250V caps.

[Andy40]

Nice loom Marcel, good to see the treble bleed in there

[Marcel]

Ohhh.. Nooo!!! ... the colour.... it has all gone wrong...

Now it has had ample time to dry the neck is a vastly different shade to the body, and not by a small margin. I knew the maple neck and the Basswood body would take the colour differently and I could accept a slight change in intensity, but it is now a completely different hue now with the body being lovely Jade Green and the neck almost grass Green..... Arghhhh!!

Seriously contemplating washing the whole axe in Feast Watson Japan Black or Walnut...

[FrankenWashie]

OH, SO NOT COOL!!?
What if you knock the neck back a little with some fine grade sand paper and attempt to tint it towards the body shade? I mean put the blue in first and then the green like you'd talked about earlier, or d'you think its too far gone?

One of the guys (Tweaky i think?) had mentioned pre washing maple in a weak tea solution to help even out the appearance of trans colours to get a more even tone, could you go right back to bare wood and give that a run (obviously if you have some maple scrap, test it out first).

I thought that green on the body was looking great, it would be a shame to have to pull the pin.

[wazkelly]

Late on the scene but fully endorse Frankie's comments.

I have stained a few maple necks and yes it can be difficult replicating same colour as the body. My guess is that the neck was sanded past 180 grit as on any of mine once done with 240 they didn't want to soak up much colour. Only way forward is to either sand a bit back with 180 and add some of the stain to see how it comes up or you could keep adding a bit more of slightly differing shades from where things are at until it comes around.

If using water based stains you can always wipe a lot off with a damp rag up to 24 hours after application for when it dries looking totally different to what you had planned.

The middle shot of the body had a really nice turquiose look but you need to bear in mind that TO will dial in a bit of a green tinge when applied over anything blue. Only way to prevent that is to use something else that is totally clear or colour neutral.

[Marcel]

Better late than never Waz, but you have me wondering how anyone could actually be late for a conversation... :-)

Truth be told I prefer the darker and more Blue colour the neck is now, yet at the same time the edge of the body looks gorgeous in the lighter Turquoise, and despite being the same colour as the edge it is a crying shame the front of the body isn't as even due huge unevenness in the tiny little amount of grain that is on the front.

I didn't sand the body or the neck very much. Basically all I've done is remove the raised grain on the body and other than head shaping I did clear some feathering at the base of the neck using some 280.

Looks like it's 180 time. At least I'm lucky that I don't have a 0.6mm veneer to worry about...

[Dedman]

I'd leave the top and darken the sides and burst the back and solid black the neck

[Kick]

Always a bummer if things turn out the complete other way but I agree; solid black for the neck.

[Marcel]

I'll get some better pix in daylight, and we'll see if your suggestions remain the same about the top....

[FrankenWashie]

I'll get some better pix in daylight, and we'll see if your suggestions remain the same about the top....

Good plan, shoot it from a couple of different angles if you can as that may also change the appearance and give us a better idea of what you are facing.