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Alright.... working from home and lack of gigs made me start another project to beat the boredom.... It is almost finished, so I present to you my ES-330/ Casino kit guitar! I ordered the raw body and neck from a Chinese CNC-guitar manufacturer (Bian Xuebin) and I did stain and lacquer (spray can nitro) myself, as well as assembling the hardware.
I intended a natural/blond look but made a capital error while applying the first layer of nitro with a brush.... to dilute the nitro I accidentally used terpentine instead of thinner and I was afraid the goo-ey cellulose/petrol mess it became could not be removed without sanding through the top layer of the laminate. So instead of sanding it all out, I improvised a pattern with brown stain/dye applied with a cloth (applied in a tampering fashion). Didn’t come out too bad, fortunately. (Tip: don’t store terpentine and thinner in identical bottles next to eachother..... )
Had to level the frets a little bit, dress the fret ends and cut the nut (bone) a little deeper. It’s set up with .012 flatwounds (TI).
Pickups are an SD Antiquity at the neck and a Fender MIC out of a Modern Player Tele at the bridge (I converted the soapbar to a dogear).
Apart from the lacquer incident it was a fun project with a nice guitar to add to the collection as a result. I think it is absolutely good enough to gig with: it sounds great and plays like butter with low action and no fret buzz.
It just needs the pickguard (bracket is on backorder) and in a month after the nitro has hardened I might add another clear coat and sand and polish again because it is not perfect at the moment.
Last edited by Little Jay; 12-28-2020 at 02:08 PM.
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09-12-2020 06:01 AM
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And this it how it sounds:
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Great project Jay! Turned out nice!
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Looks good and sounds great. All around winner.
Tony D.
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CONGRATS!! My dream guitar in every regard.
Personally, I find the finish on the top to be very attractive and unique.
Enjoyed your playing.
Is the body fully hollow or is there a partial or full centre block? It is difficult to know from the pic.
I AM SO JEALOUS!!
ENJOY!
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Thanks Greco!
Originally Posted by Greco
CONGRATS!! My dream guitar in every regard.
Personally, I find the finish on the top to be very attractive and unique.
Enjoyed your playing.
Is the body fully hollow or is there a partial or full centre block? It is difficult to know from the pic.
I AM SO JEALOUS!!
ENJOY!
The guitar is fully hollow with only a small block and a sound post under the bridge, it’s a bit crude but works nevertheless:
It has a surprisingly big acoustic sound and feels really acoustic when you play it.
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Thanks for the response and great pics. Originally Posted by Little Jay
Thanks Greco!
The guitar is fully hollow with only a small block and a sound post under the bridge, it’s a bit crude but works nevertheless:
It has a surprisingly big acoustic sound and feels really acoustic when you play it.
I forgot to mention that your label was my laugh for the day. Very professional looking and creative.
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This project is up to your usual standard of excellence, Little Jay! Nice save on the top. Well done!
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Hahaha, great to hear I have a standard of excellence! Didn’t know I had one.... thank you! Originally Posted by citizenk74
This project is up to your usual standard of excellence, Little Jay! Nice save on the top. Well done!
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Beautiful!
Love the Look of the finish actually.
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Love it, nice job man!
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Forgot to post this pic of the wiring harness I made:
Next time the harness comes out, I will replace the lineair tone pots with log pots, just like the volume pots, because now roll off of the tone only happens in the last 25% of the pot’s travel. Pots are Alphas and feel really nice. I might also fit a treble bleed, since tone rolls off substantially with rolling of the volume.
I also made a pickguard:
I bought a very cheap 3-ply ES-330 pickguard from AliExpress (fits pretty well, pickup cutouts just a bit too wide) and glued some 2-ply at the bottom and filed that to shape. Three plies just looked not substantial enough imho ;-) Just waiting for the bracket to arrive.
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Are those caps Mallory 150s?
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No they are Vishays... just happened to have those left from some amp project Originally Posted by TOMMO
I don't believe in cap magic or mojo... as long as the value is correct I don't think there is a difference between different brands and types.
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looks like burled or splayed is it ? maple !
well played
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Mounted the pickguard:
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Unfinished - before I messed it up - it looked like this: Originally Posted by pingu
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Neither do I but I swapped caps in some guitars when I had to fix some problems anyway and I used Orange Drops, Mallory 150s and a set of Hovlands (all inexpensive purchases) and for whatever reason the Mallorys made a difference (in two P 90 equipped guitars). Originally Posted by Little Jay
Guitar looks fabulous - play it in good health!
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Now you got me curious! Difference in what way? Maybe they had a somewhat different value because of the tolerance? Originally Posted by TOMMO
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That's quite possible. What I noticed is that the Mallorys made for a much smoother and more gradual roll off than other other caps... Originally Posted by Little Jay
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Big fun and nicely done, J! Originally Posted by Little Jay
You need a headstock decal. Here's three on EBay:
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I ordered the same from Stringkraft.com that’s also on my JazzTele (only this time the vinyl variety instead of the hand painted decal). ;-) Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
Big fun and nicely done, J!
You need a headstock decal. Here's three on EBay:
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So I officially have a Cooper line of guitars now ;-)
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The finishing touch:
And some more polishing was done:
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Great look, great sound :-)
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