Blackdog

Thanks Osorio ! Regarding the tuning stability it's still too early to tell. I just strung it up yesterday and could only play it a little bit. Light wobbling doesn't seem to immediately throw it out of tune, but I don't keep my expectations too high... The extremely long distance between the Bigsby and the bridge may help a bit (shallower break angle than on a Les Paul design), and I took good care in leaving the nut slots as shallow as possible. But we'll have to see.

Hmmmmm, most of my methods are patented, copyrighted, trademarked or whatever applies... What exactly is that you gunna use ? The positioning of the bridge according to intonation was a bit of a necessity in the case of these builds, due to the rather inconsistent fret spacing vs. scale length. This was easy enough to do, still Gibson used a template to position the bridge posts holes using the 12th fret as the reference at the old factory. Then there's another story with the bridge posts. These are (and have always been) rather short for this application. Here you see three sets of posts, L-R: Faber (4mm), StewMac (4mm) and Gibson (6-32). The gibson is actually the shortest, at 27mm. This is clearly not a problem with a solidbody, or when mounting them to a solid, hardwood base for archtop use. But then again the 335s are neither. At the point where the bridge sits on the top we have pretty much the full thickness of the spruce contour bracing (13mm), and the top plate is about 5mm thick. So if you leave 15mm of post exposed, it will only go through the plate and end somewhere in the middle of the spruce bracing. It never reaches the maple centerblock. If you're lucky enough not to find one of the kerfs in the spruce right where your post goes, that's all the support you get, much less if you're less lucky. This is just one more in the list of engineering problems that these guitars have. On this build I drilled and tapped the holes all the way down to the centerblock. If I happen to find this "pseudo-floating" bridge approach lacking in any way, I will make longer posts out of those 2" long 6-32 steel screws....

Thanks P ! I know what you mean about the logo, it is indeed a difficult issue with this replica build thing. Obviously there are different positions on the subject. Some people would want to see a "perfect replica" down to all the cosmetic details, i.e. a Gibson logo. Apart from the obvious ethical and legal implications, I'd personally not give credit to Gibson (or whoever) for a guitar that I built. But on these ones I still wanted to keep the visual identity, to keep the overall cosmetics of the headstock as consistent with the original as possible. And to me that meant a logo that "looked like" but that clearly "was not" the original. Just to make sure that, if for any reason this guitar gets sold down the road by someone other than me, it can't be sold as something it is not. Not that I need to justify myself but rather to share my opinion, I am a very "visual" person, when I look at a familiar headstock I like seeing a logo that doesn't immediately stand out as "wrong". I understand why others may find it a bit cheesy, but it works for me. ....and on the "cheap Asian copy" subject. I was attending a Dutch guitar builders gathering this Saturday, and there was this chinese ES-355 kit for sale. All the bindings, the solid block down the center and including the shaped and fretted neck. Properly assembled and finished it could make a reasonably convincing 335 type guitar: All for 250 euros !!! So discouraging !!!

A couple more pics . (By the way, the pickups were just dropped loose in the cavities to look good on the pictures )

Used a pair of 6-32 steel screws to tap the holes. And mounted the posts so that just 15mm of them remained exposed. Put the thumbweels in and the bridge could now be mounted. Next I installed the remaining strings and slotted the nut accordingly. Used the StewMac string spacing ruler, very useful thing. I used it again to locate the remaining strings on the saddles and slotted them too. Finally I adjusted the depth of the nut slots, took it out and adjusted the overall shape of it so that the strings are supported just by half of their diameter or less. So now I'm almost there with the woodwork. I only need to drill the hole for running the ground wire to the Bigsby and the strap button holes. Then it will be ready for fine sanding and finishing.

I got some more work done on this one. Now with the neck set I redrew the centerline, just to be sure. But it was the same as when the neck was loose. Centered the Bigsby and screwed it in place. Installed the tuners and TRC. Next I patiently shaped the nut slot for a tight fit of the nut blank. And shaped the nut accordingly. I placed a dummy nut (with some slots) in there and run a couple of strings (both E's), with the bridge mounted on some spacers (to allow the strings to vibrate freely open and at the 12th fret). I also cut the two slots on the bridge saddles for these strings to get the desired E-to-E spacing. The high E saddle was positioned almost all the way to the front of the bridge, and the low E saddle almost all the way to the back. With this configuration I tuned the strings up (not necessarily to pitch) and moved the bridge around until the intonation of the two strings was correct. The bridge was held in this position just by the strings pressure, so I placed the guitar very carefully under the drill press and drilled the holes for the posts right through the bridge holes. These are the standard Gibson posts (6-32), so the drill bit was a bit smaller (2.7mm). And of course, I drilled the holes perpendicular to the neck plane.

Thanks Scott, Osorio, for all the encouragement ! It is indeed a very special moment when the two major pieces are joined together. It is like it all makes sense finally. Hi Setch ! It's great to have you back ! (and if it was this thread that lured you back to PG I'm deeply honoured). The good thing of outsourcing the overlays is that the complicated logo inlay comes already done by a CNC machine. There's very little filler around the inlay, unlike the swiming pool routing I did when I made the overlay myself (in the LP build). The split diamond was also reasonable clean, as it was all straight lines. Right now the transition from stained wood to filler in completely invisible. I presume that over the years the clear will eventually crack around these joints, but in any case that will also look vintage correct… Hey Chad, you're welcome ! When I was considering my options to attach a new body to the 335 neck I rescued from the broken Gibson I evaluated the solid, carved wood option for the build. Clearly, it is a different instrument alltogether. It may sound amazing in it's own right, but it would only look like a 335. I also considered building a CS-336 copy, this is the scaled down, hollowed out, solid woods version of the 335. The neck would have also been correct for this model. But, for good or bad, this one is pretty much just a chambered solidbody. Then I came across Ken McKay and his laminations and it became pretty obvious what I wanted to do. I agree, it is the formed lamination thing that usually puts the model out of reach of the amateur/casual builder. But it is precisely what makes the ES-335 a unique instrument. There is a fantastic 58 ES-335 build over at the TDP forum, by Preeb, but he started from a completed body from Ken. Around the same time Preeb finished his prototype, I finished my rebuild (twins, of different fathers...):

After the glue set I could fine shape the heel for a good flow towards the body sides, and sand it flat to the back of the body (I had left it a bit proud on purpose). I was a bit afraid that the final size of the heel would be too small after the template mistake earlier in the project, but it ended up perfect ! A few (shameless) pics from different angles to show off a little…. And now I have something that looks suspiciously similar to a guitar... Next steps: fit the nut blank to the slot and install at least a dummy nut. Install the Bigsby and the tuners and run at least the two E strings to find and mark the proper location for the bridge by checking the intonation. @Mods: I know that I violated the 4 pics rule, sorry, but there were only 3 pics in the previous post....

Thanks Dave. Miters were not easy, the most difficult was the center of the "open-book" at the top of the headstock. I did that one a couple of times, the third attempt was a success. The others were considerably easier. Hi Chad ! Thanks for the comments. My all-time favorite guitar has always been the Les Paul, but I have to admit that lately I find the 335 more and more appealing. In any case, and for obvious reasons, a Les Paul build will never be as interesting as a 335. It is an unusual beast, and very seldomly found as a home-built project. When I was considering my options for rebuilding the destroyed ES-335 I had, I searched the internet for a thread about building one, and could not find much. I would have loved at the time to find a thread like the one I'm trying to keep here. I'm glad you find it interesting. OK, progress to report !! After letting the black tint dry (nasty stuff, it will put black stains on anything that comes in contact with it), I sealed it with a couple coats of clear. The clear really brought up the contrast between the black and the pearl pieces. Now that it was stabilized I drilled the tuner holes. In two steps, vintage style, 8mm on the front (for the threaded bushing) and 10mm on the back for the tuner body collar. This is for Grover Rotomatics, Kluson wafer-backs would have been different, but 1959=Grovers. With the headstock finished, the next step was setting the neck. I loosely masked the fretboard because it is pretty much finished (only final polishing remains), and I didn't want to marr it while sanding the heel. I had a very good neck fitting, so just one clamp was enough.

If you want to route the binding channel after carving the top you may want to consider this method (click to zoom): You just need to make sure that the height of the doughnut is about the same as the depth of your top carve. I used this method with the Les Paul seen in the pictures and with the ES335 builds. It's fast, works well and the binding channel ends up very clean. If you're going to do a recurve around the edge as part of your carving, save that until after binding. For this method it is better to have a nice flat around the edges to ride on the doughnut (it would be the same for an overhead router jig, I imagine).

Definitely not that bad. Truth is probably only you will see it when this beautiful guitar is fnished. I guess it goes without saying that we all make mistakes. Sometimes the corrective action improves matters, other times just the opposite. I have already assumed that the impossibility to complete a build without any mistakes is in the very nature of handbuilding... That guitar will still be gorgeous, don't worry more than necessary.

This definitely was a lot of work. But in the end it was very rewarding. I did the multi-ply binding on the overlay first, as it required the mitering on the different joints and this was easier to do on a stand-alone piece. And then I glued it to the headstock. I used four screws in the tuner pilot holes for alignment and to avoid slippage while clamping. On the headstock I applied the external white binding, to ensure a good bonding to the headstock too. After scraping and sanding the headstock binding was ready. Then it was stained black. This time I decided to stain the wood itself. I used the StewMac transtint black, almost undiluted. The holly wood takes the stain very evenly. Then I cleaned the pearl with wet Q-tips and paper towels. The binding had to be scraped clean with a utility knife in the old school way. Now I'll let it dry overnight and tomorrow I will shoot a couple of coats of clear to the headstock face to seal the black in. Then I'll be able to drill the tuner holes and finish the neck sanding before setting the neck to the body.

Now the overlay is ready for applying the binding. And I am back on track !!

Glued the pieces in place with the usual trick of the epoxy mixed with ebony dust. And now I have a "custom" headstock overlay, I think the end result is quite acceptable. Only a bit too thin though, so I laminated it to some maple veneer to make up the needed thickness. Just like I did with the pickguard, with the original headstock template I cut another one with the ledge for the binding using the binding router bit. Glued the rough cut overlay to it with some double sided tape and used the binding router bit again to trim the overlay to the final size.

Well, the different parts I have been waiting for are being delivered, albeit rather slowly... But the Bigsby arrived, and also the bridge and the pickguard bracket. What is taking forever are the headstock overlays... And I was essentially stopped by this. I first tried to source the loose pearl logos from DePaule, and this is the logo I used on the LP build. But then I commissioned the overlays (holly rectangle with the logo already inlaid) from a german shell supplier. I ordered some "standard style", 1.5mm thick, with just the logo and some "custom style" overlays, 2.5mm thick with the logo and the split diamond. Right after sending the payment I lost contact with these guys, and when I was considering contacting Paypal for a claim I finally got through to them. They are WAY behind schedule, some problem with some machine, they tell me. Eventually they delivered the "standard" overlays, but it is unclear when they will finally deliver the remaining ones. These are the overlays, the quality of the work is quite good, though. Since it is unknown to me when the proper "custom" overlays will be delivered I decided to unblock things and proceed with one of the overlays I already have.... Cutting the 5 pieces of the split diamond proved to be easy enough: it's all straight lines. I thought about breaking out the "sexy" band saw again, but the jewelers saw and the belt sander did the job perfectly. Since the symmetry of the array is rather critical I opted for just gluing the drawing of the split diamond on the overlay and scribe the limits of the routings using a ruler. As I was scribing I noticed that this holly wood is not only rather soft, but it also exhibits very little additional resistance when cutting across the grain. Soon it became obvious that the cavities could be just cut-out with the sharp, scalpel type knife. I also cut the opening for the TR adjustment, this one free hand with the dremel on the router base.

Hi there, I am also based in The Netherlands and so far I have sourced my rattlecan nitro from these guys. They have a good color selection, and for pretty much everything they are much more reasonably priced than Vox Humana. I've only used clear-glossy, but have gotten consistently good results. Good luck with your project.

What a beautiful V ! I think I missed the color you have in mind for it. But unless you make it really dark, black hardware will look just perfect on this guitar.

But of course !! After careful measurement of several vintage examples I built-in a "tone-hole" of the resulting average dimensions !! You know what, there's even some speculation that the "tone-hole" was there for a purpose: Some people say that, since Gibson inserted the necks top to bottom with the guitar held vertical, the gap in the pocket was a buffer to collect the excess glue. Make your own conclusions... I have the feeling that some "vintage enthusiasts" try to find clever justifications to things that were, more probably, sloppiness and chance. It is amazing indeed that something this complex was actually put in production (and kept in the catalog all these years). Ted McCarty came up with the brilliant idea of the semi-hollow, but the craftmen who had to actually make it happen must have hated him !! (I try not to leave shavings inside the cavities, there's a limit to being "vintage correct")

Positioned the template directly on the top, the neck pickup will end up slanted towards the neck, just like on the originals. And the neck pickup cavity was routed. Same thing with the bridge pickup, taking good care with the alignment with the "new" centerline. Now I am pretty much stopped until some orders get delivered. I'm expecting the Bigsby, the bridge, and the headstock overlay (this one is seriously delayed)… Until some of that arrives, the only thing I can do is advance the fretwork...

Hey guys, thanks !! You're way too kind. I'm just finding my way around these things at every step. Don't think for a moment that I have everything so clear before starting !! But I do like to think the steps through in every possible detail before putting tool to wood. In most cases it pays off !! In other cases it just serves the purpose of avoiding old mistakes in favor of making all new ones… Not a lot of progress to report. Just routed the pickup cavities. First I reworked the humbucker cavity template a bit. The openings for the "legs" were a bit too wide and the standard plastic rings just barely covered them. I have been using wooden rings in past builds, and these seem to be a bit wider. Now there's still enough slack and the rings cover the cavities with adequate margin. The first task before removing any wood was to draw the "real" centerline on the top. This is the centerline of the neck, against which all the hardware needs to be aligned. In practice, this can be a bit off the centerline of the body. On the oldies, Gibson routed the pickup cavities using the centerline of the body assembly, clearly before fitting the neck. The bridge posts and taipiece bushings were aligned against the centerline of the neck, for obvious practical reasons. This resulted in some "misaligned" pickups in some of the original late 50s and 60s guitars. Have a look at these examples (click to zoom): I wanted to avoid that, so I drew the true centerline by putting a long straight edge against the sides of the neck and projecting these lines on the top, all the way past the bridge position. Then found the centerpoint between these two slightly diverging lines in a couple of spots, from the neck tenon to around the bridge position. Used this points to draw the centerline. In the case of this build there's a total offset of around 3mm at the butt end of the guitar. Not too bad.

Used the template to cut the tortoise piece. And also to pre-shape the bindings in the usual manner. After a messy session of CA glue (the acetone did not dissolve the tortoise plastic) and acetone glue, the binding was applied. Everything was sanded down flush, and then the pickguard was wet sanded and polished with micromesh up to 12000. It ended up pretty well.

Now, with the binding in place, I adjusted the neck-to-body flow a bit better. It's pretty much done now. And started work on the pickguard. For an ES-355 the pickguard is made of tortoise-like plastic (acetate in the 50s, some more stable plastic today) with real multi-ply binding. The binding of the oldies was a 5-ply of 0.09"W, 0.04"B, and 0.02" W/B/W. Why did it have a wider black band in there is a mystery. I decided to go with the same binding that will be used on the headstock, 0.08"W and 0.02" B/W/B/W. This is how the reissues are done anyway. But first, a template had to be made. First for the final outline: And then with a ledge for the tortoise part only:

Thanks guys ! I'm very happy with the results of the binding. Looking in retrospect I should have probably done the binding/purfling thing on the back too, it would have produced a bit cleaner side glue line. Next time, I guess... Yeah, it's sexy until you actually use it. It spills and leaks everywhere. After you're done with the cut you spend 1/2 hour cleaning the saw and surroundings !! It is originally intended for cutting glass, with a diamond coated saw blade. A great idea, but a not so great implementation. Unfortunately it seems to be the only product of it's kind in the market. I would not say it is a must, but it is definitely handy. When you have to laminate the thin (0.5mm 0.02") stuff you need some kind of device like this to keep both of your hands free to guide and keep the pieces aligned as they are pressed together after the acetone is applied. You can certainly make your own version, it's no rocket science, you just need to work with a plastic that will not be dissolved by acetone.

Hi Chris ! I'm not sure I follow your comment. Can you clarify a bit more ?

After scraping with a razor blade and sanding, I have the body binding sorted out.