ES-3 second build custom.

[Sonic Mountain]

Ohhh that's really pretty. Nice work.

[stan]

Some nice work here, headstock looks great

[Fretworn]

Very nice work there. Will it be shiny or satin?

[DarkMark]

Very nice work there. Will it be shiny or satin?

Thanks everyone. I’ve got satin and glossy wipe on poly. Back of the neck will be satin, I really did not like Tru Oil polished finish on the back of my ES-5V neck, I had to rub it with steel wool. Glossy on the body and headstock...I think. I’m not really sure how either will look. I’ve got some time off work next week so I might get some time to test both of the poly’s.

[DarkMark]

What do people think would be the minimum number of coats you could practically use on the neck of the guitar? I’ve put three coats of satin wipe on poly on the neck and I feel like I don’t want to put much more on. An advice based on experience?

I’m also considering sanding around the 600/800 grit and giving it one or two more coats.

[DarkMark]

Personal record keeping.
11 coats on the body.
8 coats on the neck.
First wet sand 1200 grit.
Dog hair gone.

[wazkelly]

Might need a few more coats for when you end up sacrificing some of them to the 1500 & 2000 wet sanding gods.

[DarkMark]

After wet sanding today I’ve come to the same conclusion. The wipe on poly has gone on quite thin and I’ve cut back to timber in a couple of small spots. Having said it’s a really smooth base to build up from now as I find it hard to sand the surface of these hollow bodies flat due to the nature of the grain on the surface. Neck feels good after sanding, can’t imagine I’ll do any more to it after it reaches the 2000 grit wet sand stage. One good thing I’ve learnt is the thinness of the wipe on poly seems to avoid a lumpy ridge build up I got using Tru Oil.

[JohnH]

Headstock needs a little tidy up and truss rod cover complete.

Looks amazing!

Out of curiosity, how did you do the corners of the purfling?

[DarkMark]

Looks amazing!

Out of curiosity, how did you do the corners of the purfling?

Thank you JohnH. The corners... The purfling needs to be pre bent a bit into shape. I don’t have a heat gun so I used boiled water to heat a small strip of purfling, quickly bend it back on itself about 180 degrees and hold it in place with one of those black paper clips with wire handles used to hold lots of papers. This formed a U shape to go over the bumps. By now I had to heat the purfling sticking out of the clip again to give it a gentle bend by hand curving around in the opposite direction. Left that overnight. Removed the clip, cut the purfling at the ‘U’ bend to fit the bump and accommodate the tight bend. It will overhang past the edge of the headstock which can be cut after attachment.

I kept the headstock off cuts, glued them in position onto a strip of wood, wrapped them in aluminium foil to prevent sticking. You can see in my photos I have a square piece of wood with dowel glued in place to fit in The turner holes. I use acetone to glue my piece of purfling into position (I also use a little acetone/purfling slurry) quickly place headstock off cut mould into position and clamp into position using G clamps against the back of the mold and edge of the square piece of wood. Leave overnight (probably not necessary) and repeat the process for the other side. Curve the piece for the round middle section and join to the two edge pieces using the mold (seen in photo). Made some molds out of dense polystyrene for the rest of the edges. Three separate pieces of purfling across the top, two pieces down each side.

Acetone melts purfling and is good for joining edges. If you don’t understand my bending process I can mock something up and post a photo.

Hope this answers your question and thanks for your interest.