Marcel's ES-1TL

[Marcel]

Postie delivered today.... Qty 1 x ES-1TL .... yay team Aussie post... only took 8 days from PBG HQ to Rocky.

Parts count and Mock build done. All looks sweet so far in that arena ...

Neck fit is a wee bit tight, 50kg of pressure still didn't get it all the way home, but that can be fixed a lot easier than if it were loose.
Doesn't appear to be much glue spill around any of the binding ....
The grain in the top seems centred above the top of pickup line... I'm thinking the Black pick guard may be needed to even up the final look.

I ordered vintage grovers due to a lack of 406's, but I think that may have been a mistake as the photo illustrates. I suppose option 2 will need to be put into effect.

Now the hard part.... What colour and finish do I give her.... Was thinking a lighter Green, but now I'm thinking a deep medium Blue goes better with the cream & chrome...

[wokkaboy]

kit looks great Marcel, was the mock build pick taken by Ads at the warehouse or have you got a stash of kits ?
The spacings of the Grovers look pretty wide, is there a model with closer spacings that will fit ?
I reckon go the Dave Grohl look and go a blue finish

[Thijs]

Great kit!

I was planning on ordering this one as a next build as well.
And also with the Dave Grohl-look that Wokkaboy just mentioned.

So my advice would be: go green!!

[Marcel]

What you talkin about Wokka??? I took dat photo.... See my Alder Strat body sticking its nose in tryin to make a family shot of sorts. .....lol ...

I did stage it just a little... more to hide the junk behind it than anything else..

Yeah, the Grovers were the only disappointment... It's not the Grovers fault, but that spacing... Only 5 will fit into where 6 need to go.

To get the full DG look I'll need to find mini vintage tuners, and I know where I can get a Kluson chrome set, which leaves me with what to do with this set of Grover vintage 6 in line. I'll have a chat with Adam and see where I end up..

[wokkaboy]

nice one Marcel, nice stash of kits and projects on the go !

[Simon Barden]

I'd just give it a few days for the wood to settle down before taking any remedial action on the neck fit. It's probably suffered a lot of temperature and humidity changes on its journey. Leave it a few days and try the neck fit again. My ES-3 didn't fit well when I first received it but I tried it again a week later and it fitted like a glove.

[Marcel]

You may be right there Simon. My location is right on the Southern border of the Tropics where single digit Celsius temperatures are a rareity kept for the most special of mid-winter nights, and the humidity knows only two settings those being either wet or dry....

[Simon Barden]

In that case it may stay a tight fit until the humidity drops. But I'd still give it a week indoors before taking any action.

[Kick]

Too bad on the Grovers...

[Marcel]

After a few emails with Adam and a bit of other mucking around it looks hopeful on the tuner front... and leave that there until things happen further.

I had a closer look at the neck and body and made a worrysome discovery. As can be seen in the photos there is a ugly gap between the binding and the neck that will need filling. It is only about 1.5mm wide and it needs to be there as the neck when fully home doesn't meet up with the binding. So I was wondering what others have done to make this look right. I don't want to fill it with glue so was thinking a thin smear of Selleys spak filler or maybe Timbermate before I stained and top coated.

As for the final look I'm going to go Red in a manner similar to the original 1967 version. I have a number of grandkids and they all know of my interest in guitars, and they know some of my guitars are as old as I am... So, with that in mind I intend to make this build akin to what I remember seeing in guitar shops when I was a kid back in the '70's. I look after my instruments and my grandkids all know that too as they have seen and touched and played them with me... With any luck when they or their parents see or touch or play or hear this guitar they will think this is the one I've been hiding in my bedroom cupboard all these years and will believe it is something special....