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Lets build something that looks like an ES-175


Freeman Keller

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Haven't heard a thing - Jesse said he would call when he was starting the "special" part of the finishing. Mostly its just a time consuming process - many many coats with sanding in between, then many more. Then two or three weeks of curing before the final sanding and buffing (and believe me, its hard to wait...). Back in my street rod days we used to say that most of a lacquer paint job ended up on the floor, but what was left was dead nuts perfect.

 

In the mean time I've started another build. Any interest?

You're going to start my Tele? Woo hoo!!! ;)

 

Would be great to see another build thread - bring it on!

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Got a call from Jesse today - its done, at least his part. He dropped it off tonight - I had to post a couple of pictures, terrible as they are

 

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Quite frankly, its simply stunning. I don't know any other way to put it. The pictures don't do it justice, have a friend who is a professional photographer and when its all done I definitely will have him take some good ones. In the mean time, the ball is back in my court...

 

by the way, for those who though the cream plastic binding was going to look cheap, my wife's comment was "the binding perfectly sets off the color and the wood". I'll accept that.

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Wow' date=' that's beautiful. :love: The f-hole binding looks pretty dang classy, in my opinion.[/quote']

 

Thank you. I told Jesse that the normal procedure was to paint over the bindings and then scrape them back before applying the clear - at least that is how Gibson does it. I told him not to try masking them - it would be too difficult. He said "I'll mask - remember that this is what I do..."

 

The binding was cream and black laminated - Jesse ran a very fine black pinstripe line around the outer binding about an 1/8 of an inch inside and around the f-hole binding. Very subtle but very nice. It would be impossible for your or me to do it, he simply did it perfectly.

 

I'll try to get some good pictures that shows all of this. Meanwhile I'm kind of afraid to touch it.

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Simply beautiful. I see I got my wish' date=' at least for the back, and that the grain shows through. And add me to the list of folks who love the F-holes and the subtle burst on the back. It's amazing what you two have done.[/quote']

 

Thanks DE. Its a special guitar for a pretty unique individual. We're both pretty happy I think.

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I put a temporary nut in it, installed the tailpiece and strung it up. Letting it sit under tension so the neck will do whatever it wants to do before I do too much futzing around with relief and frets. Besides, its cold out in the shop...

 

(I also put a humidifier in the case with the guitar - the humidity has gone way down and its time for us to pay attention to that)

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Did a little fretwork today - thought I would update the thread. First I leveled a couple of high frets using a big block of steel that is perfectly flat as a sanding block, then recrowning them with a special file

 

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Next the ends are filed at about a 50 or 60 degree angle to the fretboard flush with the binding

 

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and the ends get lightly radiused so they won't cut Jesse's fingers

 

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Finally they get polished with 800 grit sandpaper followed by steel wool. Unfortunately I didn't seem to have taken a picture but trust me - they are all smooth and shiny.

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Looks like interest in this little project has pretty much died so I won't bore you much longer. I was going to show some pictures of making the nut and doing the setup but that would be pretty repetitious - lets just say that I made a nut, adjusted the relief, installed the tailpiece and bridge, put some strings on it and adjusted everything so it was playable. Everything is a little bit on the high side - its easier to bring it down as it settles in.

 

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All that is left is a few odds and ends - I'll do that after the holidays. Meanwhile, its playable and I'm going to spend some time with it.

 

 

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IMG_2097_zps14cfe4d9.jpg

 

IMG_2096_zpsb74e5222.jpg

 

All that is left is a few odds and ends - I'll do that after the holidays. Meanwhile, its playable and I'm going to spend some time with it.

 

 

I have a lot of catching up to do in this thread, but it's looking real good from what I can see!

I like your taste in tailpieces. :)

But what was the raison-d'etre behind the fret marker skulls?

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