Smaller ES-335 (ES-337?) build

davros

Test carve done. It's very rough and not symmetrical, but a good indication of whether the templates are close enough. The pine (spruce?) carved quickly but the density varies and it doesn't scrape well.

I'm pretty happy, especially with the horns - they need to be softened with sanding though. I'll compare to some more Gibson photos to see if any big adjustments are needed before carving in maple.

Used 1.33mm steps, the middle is 18mm, the edge is 6mm.

I'm going to use this as a tester for carving the inside too.

PeteC

Nice work    Following with interest 

WezV

I think that's pretty close, should look great with the ridges on the horns softened

davros

Wasn't happy with the belly carve, sloped up too slowly, needed to be more 'rotund'. So took the painful step of redoing the templates and I'll test carve again. Hopefully it's better because I reused the MDF from the originals!!

I can always flatten it out in the carving if it's too bowl-y.

After


Before

davros

Much happier with this one. Now need some maple!

davros

Wood has arrived courtesy of David Dyke. Honduran Mahogany neck, African Mahogany body, Plain maple top and Indian rosewood slotted fretboard.

I've also continued with the test top, finding methods to hollow out the back and cut the f holes.

The body blank leaves me with a dilemma. I was planning to have a flat back, LP style and carved top. The blank, however is 50mm thick, allowing for a carved back and 1 3/4 inch ish body depth around the edges.

Going to make things a little more complicated, especially routing for binding and I'll have to rethink the backplate plan, but think the carved back would be cool.

SteveRobinson

davros said:

The body blank leaves me with a dilemma. I was planning to have a flat back, LP style and carved top. The blank, however is 50mm thick, allowing for a carved back and 1 3/4 inch ish body depth around the edges.

Going to make things a little more complicated, especially routing for binding and I'll have to rethink the backplate plan, but think the carved back would be cool.

The G&W binding routing jig would do the job, it's a brilliant bit of kit that made routing a carved top a doddle.

davros

I built this for the red LP build, planning on using it again, I'll just need to make a jig to hold the body and give it a flat bottom - got some thoughts on that.

davros

Lots of sawdust in the garage this morning, but one side of the body is done. Now I have the world's largest and most expensive desk organiser. Next up to carve the back.

The blank was extremely heavy, but it was very large. Much more managable now, and still quite a lot of meat to take off the back.

PeteC

Looking great Sir ! 

davros

Another productive few hours today. Back carve is complete and a nice practice for the top. Started carving the inside, but it's really tedious and the finger plane has given me blisters!

davros

Most important thing is the label! Just need to find some orange paper!

meltedbuzzbox

nice work!!

I can barely peel a carrot. Looking forward to seeing how it goes from here. 

davros

I'm waiting on delivery of a gouge to finish carving the inside of the body, and a surfacing router bit to flatten the top, which has warped a bit. So, might as well bind the back - I love doing binding, especially scraping it back.

Routed a 2mm rebate using the overhead router jig from a few posts back.

Using ABS binding from china on ebay, 3M reinforced tape and UHU Hart glue. Worked well for my last 2 builds so sticking with it. Little bit of heat to form around the horns and waist.

Andyjr1515

Some great work going in here

Danielsguitars

This is exactly the direction I'd go if I was building one, something in between a 339 and 335 is perfect imo, looks great 

Might try this type of build when I get time

davros

Think I might have to call it an ES-337 (halfway between 335 and 339).

Binding scraped - mmmm

The postman's brought my new surfacing bit, so can crack on with the top now!

Corvus

Nice work and a nice idea...  watching

davros

Next Ive been prepping the maple cap. Bought a new surfacing bit from wealden to use with my diy surfacing jig. The jig is basically flat piece of 18mm MDF with some aluminium angle screwed to it, with 2 more aluminium angle rails for the router to run along. worked a treat and the thickness is very consistent. Cleaned up with a scraper.

This is the bit:
https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Surface_Trim__3_Wing_250.html

Onto jointing, I have struggled in the past with sanding beams, etc. So this time, I taped a piece of the aluminium angle onto the wood, totally straight, just short of the edge, and used that as a guide with a flush trim bit in my cheapo router table. Result, a totally clean, straight and square joint in about 2 minutes.

How's this for consistent squeeze out!

davros

Been making some more progress this week.

Finished carving the inside of the back with a combination of gouges and a little 1 inch sanding disk which made the insides of the horns a lot easier. Hard to see in the pics but it is definitely carved and pretty tidy.

Onto the top, carved the same way as the back on the outside, but the inside was much easier as I could get the angle grinder in there. Refined with an orbital sander and I routed a straight ledge to work to with a gouge to smooth out the transition.

Next up f-holes!