1950 Double Esquire Build

[preeb]

LOLOLOL...
Looks like a perfect match for the black dope

[62_Inca_Esquire]

Not that it will help too much, but someone just listed one of the Fender Custom Shop Double Esquires on Ebay and it has a few photos. Not real useful at this point, but interesting to see and compare - though I personally think yours is a much more accurate and fitting tribute to the ones that started it all !

[csbluesman]

62 inca esquire, Thanks for sharing thats a nice guitar.
Wish I had the money would be a nice score for someone.

[preeb]

Originally Posted by 62_Inca_Esquire

Not that it will help too much, but someone just listed one of the Fender Custom Shop Double Esquires on Ebay and it has a few photos. Not real useful at this point, but interesting to see and compare - though I personally think yours is a much more accurate and fitting tribute to the ones that started it all !

Thanks 62_Inca_Esquire,
I wish we could have a look under the hood... but the seller is not going to turn a screw on this instrument.
At least we are sure the CS remake *did* come with steel saddles.


I postponed the assembly to next week since my wife is flying to Brazil for two weeks to support her mother who needs to have an eye operation next week... and I want to spend time with the family. This guitar can wait another day.

[Groovey Records]

I wouldn't mind putting it next to my Snake Head as a set.


Preeb did you see CS is coming out with the Snake Head and some early Esquires for 2010

[preeb]

Originally Posted by Groovey Records

I wouldn't mind putting it next to my Snake Head as a set.


Preeb did you see CS is coming out with the Snake Head and some early Esquires for 2010

Hi Groovey Records,

Snake head... again?!? No I havn't. Do you have a link?

Edit... OK... found it here

[62_Inca_Esquire]

Originally Posted by preeb

Thanks 62_Inca_Esquire,
I wish we could have a look under the hood... but the seller is not going to turn a screw on this instrument.
At least we are sure the CS remake *did* come with steel saddles.


I postponed the assembly to next week since my wife is flying to Brazil for two weeks to support her mother who needs to have an eye operation next week... and I want to spend time with the family. This guitar can wait another day.

Yeah, I thought we could at least close the "saddles" chapter with regards to the CS version.

Sorry to hear about your Mother In Law - I'm sure she'll be up and around (and seeing better !) in no time.

Family is WAY more important than guitars, my friend.

[Groovey Records]

He doesn't have to turn a screw, all he has to do is put on a set of new strings.

Thats how I know my saddles are round.

When I changed the strings and checked the intonation.

I had a little sitaring on the high e so I did bring the e/b up a touch, but thats it.

Say hello to the girls from Ipanema !

Figure for that price a set of new strings would come along

[preeb]

Originally Posted by 62_Inca_Esquire

...
Sorry to hear about your Mother In Law - I'm sure she'll be up and around (and seeing better !) in no time.

Family is WAY more important than guitars, my friend.

Thanks 62_Inca_Esquire!
Appreciated.

[preeb]

I decided to take the whole day off and do the double Esquire from buffing to playing...
Started to buff the body and noticed the buffing wheel it turning black... of course it does... I didn't use a top coat. Normally this is not an issue with nitro as I built quite a few mid 60's guitars without a clear coat over the opaque paint (as it used to be back then in most cases...) and managed to clean the wheel easily, but this dope behaves differently and sticks to the wheel. It doesn't want to go away...
I'm not going to sacrifice a set of buffing wheels for any guitar and I'm sure Leo didn't either (they used a rotary hand held buffer). This brings me to the conclusion that there must have been a clear (dope?) coat over the black.
So.... back to the drawing table... that's how it is with protos I guess...
I'm going to use a single clear dope top coat and give it a try again soon. If it turns out nice then that's probably the way to go, otherwise... I'll have to try a different approach. It is also possible that dope is not designed for high speed buffing heat... maybe Leo had the same problem and switched to standard Nitro procedure leaving only a few of those black Esquires behind... Who knows...
Anyway, I noticed another thing. After spraying the clear the dope was much more shiny. I believe that this is due to the use of black powder pigment. It does that and takes away from the shine. Same issue is typical to mid 60's non clear coated finishes... they don't yellow much but don't shine much either.
A few more days then.... Sorry... but I'd rather do it right than rushed. I plan to do a few more and want this one to be perfect for future reference.

Here's the shine of the clear dope coat



compared to the paint coat prior to the clear

[olaftheholy]

What if the pine is still weeping?
Will the dope cure fully or does it remain rubbery because of the pitch?
I have pine bodies sitting in shellac,allowing it to breathe.
That smell (like when routing) is no longer there.
Only if i open up the guitar's control cavity or take off the bridge/pickguard i smell that fresh pine smell.
This is a sure tell that it still is weeping. (the smell is)
I have older pine that is fully dry and does not have that smell or sticky feel.
The older pine does smell different when routed

[preeb]

Hmm... No, pine is desert dry. It had no smell before I started the first primer coat.
The dope dried very hard... no problem there...
I'll try do lower the buffing speed next time or use my manual rotary buffer which spins much slower than the big wheels and is more period correct for that 50's procedure.
I have a good feeling that the clear coat is going to do the trick.
I'm also doing a test with a different black liquid pigment I got. It's the same stuff used on Gibson black lacquer LP Customs. I'll mix that with the dope and use it on the second prototype... We'll see...

[Joefaity]

Very stupid question, but why do they call whatever you're using dope? Is it the hemp of the finish world?

[olaftheholy]

Originally Posted by preeb

It's the same stuff used on Gibson black lacquer LP Customs. I'll mix that with the dope and use it on the second prototype... We'll see...

Now that would be Anathema would it not?

[preeb]

Originally Posted by Joefaity

Very stupid question, but why do they call whatever you're using dope? Is it the hemp of the finish world?

I think the answer is somewhere in this thread.

[RodeoTex]

Hi Gil, I haven't checked in yet but I am following this thread closely.
As a bit of a heads-up I thought I'd let you know that there is a conspiracy over on the 'Have you ever built a Les Paul?' thread where members are wanting you to do a Les Paul build so we can follow along.

Thanks for all the extra time and effort you put into documenting your builds. We appreciate it and learn a lot.

[irishtele]

This is really an awesome thread! Every time I come on I check it for all the knew developments! :P Great work Mr. Yaron!
Another vote for a LP build! I would love to see how you do it!! :)

[preeb]

Originally Posted by RodeoTex

Hi Gil, I haven't checked in yet but I am following this thread closely.
As a bit of a heads-up I thought I'd let you know that there is a conspiracy over on the 'Have you ever built a Les Paul?' thread where members are wanting you to do a Les Paul build so we can follow along.

Thanks for all the extra time and effort you put into documenting your builds. We appreciate it and learn a lot.

Originally Posted by irishtele

This is really an awesome thread! Every time I come on I check it for all the knew developments! :P Great work Mr. Yaron!
Another vote for a LP build! I would love to see how you do it!! :)

Thanks guys.
Regarding the LP build thread... I will not post a Burst build on the Telecaster forum, but I will post a link to a more appropriate site if you wish. It's on my list (-;

[preeb]

Not much done yesterday except the additional clear coat... but here's a little nice detail.
50's necks were lacquered after fretting and the frets got covered with lacquer. Now, if you look closely on a 50's original neck you'll probably notice that the frets are not totally exposed and that there's a little lacquer curve left where the fret meets the neck.
The lacquer line is not smooth since they used to roughly scrape it with a special steel grooved fingernail tool. They did this very quickly and didn't even bother to cover the fingerboard... I've seen a few little scars along the fret sides on early guitars to prove that statement (-;
Anyway... I wish to get that little detail on this guitar so I'll use the same tool



but without damaging the board (I use a steel fret mask I move from fret to fret as I scrape them)



I'll buff the neck with the body when it cures soon.

[yonie]

Originally Posted by preeb

50's necks were lacquered after fretting and the frets got covered with lacquer. Now, if you look closely on a 50's original neck you'll probably notice that the frets are not totally exposed and that there's a little lacquer curve left where the fret meets the neck.
The lacquer line is not smooth since they used to roughly scrape it with a special steel grooved fingernail tool. They did this very quickly and didn't even bother to cover the fingerboard... I've seen a few little scars along the fret sides on early guitars to prove that statement (-;

Is it possible this is also being done on current Baja model guitars? I noticed there's some stuff around the frets on those as well.

I don't have a really clear photo, hope this helps to show what i mean: http://home.tiscali.nl/ronaldk/tele/DSC03750.JPG

[preeb]

No... there are always tooling marks on the sides of all frets where the fingernail tool was used + it looks real bad... unlike your nice clean neck (-;

See reference shots of a 54 (The Jones...)

[bmgblues]

Thanks for sharing your talent on this thread. Its much appreciated here in Twangtown!

[preeb]

You're very welcome bmgblues.
Thanks!

[preeb]

Body is almost cured. passed the fingernail test easily yesterday and I gave it the mandatory extra day...(-;
Neck was buffed the old way... I assembled the hand held buffer and used one run with the red and a final run with the cream compound. I forgot how this method results with a super shiny finish. Due to the low speed, the buffer is moved much slower on the neck allowing for that super detailed buffing job. I'm going to leave it like that since I'm sure the original was buffed to death too.... especially being a NAMM show model...

[preeb]

A note regarding the neck construction...
When frets are installed the tang and barbs of each fret are squeezed into the fret slot applying a slight pressure on the slot walls. The sum of the above force from all frets is creating a slight back bow on a perfectly straight neck. This is why I tighten the truss rod about 1/4 of a turn before I shape the radius with the swinging arm. This creates a positive bow which compensates for the frets negative bowing force.

Now... in this case there is no truss-rod and no way to avoid the back bowing BUT...
in this case it is also very much NEEDED!!!
The strings tension will pull the neck back into straight and true condition. without this back bow the strings will create a bow that I will not be able to adjust without a truss rod.
So... everything kind of falls into place here... amazingly if I may add. Leo's original design seams to be perfect... I hope this proves correct when the guitar will get strung up soon... We'll see..

Check those shots of the slight back bow

[olaftheholy]

Showoff!!!!

Originally Posted by preeb

I hope this proves correct when the guitar will get strung up soon... We'll see..

If not and the strings rattle much, you might want to consider leveling the frets utilizing that backbow so when strung you get instant fret relief/relieve.

As reffered to by Rod distefano on frettech....

[olaftheholy]

Oh and by the way, if you end up disliking this guitar, can i call dibs?

[preeb]

Originally Posted by olaftheholy

Showoff!!!!
If not and the strings rattle much, you might want to consider leveling the frets utilizing that backbow so when strung you get instant fret relief/relieve.

As reffered to by Rod distefano on frettech....

No. I don't use frets dressing to make a neck straight...
This issue can be solved by a heat treatment.

[preeb]

Originally Posted by olaftheholy

Oh and by the way, if you end up disliking this guitar, can i call dibs?

Even if I like it... no problem... I'll make another.

[preeb]

Body is ready for buffing by now. I'll use two buffing pads, one for the coarse red compound to flatten the finish and one for the cream compound to make it shine.
Basically, the same process used for the neck.

Here's the buff stuff



Quick run with the red. The finish is very flat to begin with so it only "breaks" a few minor overspray high spots.



A second run with the fine cream pad and it's shining like a mirror (see the clouds in the reflection...)



a side view




OK... We learned that the dope can shine exactly like nitro.

[preeb]

Milled input Jack is hammered in gently



String ferrules are "burned" in



Like that

[preeb]

I keep two types of tubes, the standard dark orange and the light (and somewhat harder) early 50's kind that turns into a "cake" very quickly... I'll use the light type of course



and use it as springs for the bridge pu



Note how the nail holes got filled with red and cream buffing compound residue and the famous 50's round swirl marks from the circular buffing... I love it (-l

[preeb]

Neck pu leads are run through the long drill to the bridge pu cavity and I'll use the period correct #3 X 1" partially threaded round heads + the right springs



Stepped drilling for the screws and the springs...



Bridge assembly is added and pu leads are passed through the channel into the control cavity



Bridge is mounted with the slotted screws

[preeb]

Strap button screw holes are drilled 3/4" deep



and buttons installed (I'll cut new flat ones next week...)



pu's were soldered to control assembly and a final fit test is done before the screw holes are drilled.... tomorrow



Stay tuned... we're almost there (-;

[Hans_Ronnback]

Hi Preeb.
Excellent work. Really good pictures of a truly awesome build.
Thanks for sharing. Hans

[funff]

Love it! Great work Gil as always. I love these threads.. I don't like the GAS they give me, though...

[preeb]

Originally Posted by Hans_Ronnback

Hi Preeb.
Excellent work. Really good pictures of a truly awesome build.
Thanks for sharing. Hans

Thanks Hans_Ronnback !

[Groovey Records]

I can see your reflection in the strap pin

You must be feeling pretty good

[preeb]

Originally Posted by funff

Love it! Great work Gil as always. I love these threads.. I don't like the GAS they give me, though...

Thanks funff,
Carbon pills.

[Lostheart]

I luv it - it's so shiny!