CopperCoat Green Esquire Project has begun

[EsquireOK]

Hi,

Just wanted to start an assembly thread regarding my new Esquire project. It'll be a Francis Rossi-inspired Esquire. I have a lacquered maple fat U neck and an ash Esquire body with no neck pickup rout on the way. I got a tin of Rustoleum CopperCoat to stain the wood. I bought a barely used Seymour Duncan Broadcaster pickup for $35 a few months ago in anticipation of this project. I'm gonna try to go with a G&L ASAT Classic bridge, jack plate, and neck plate, and locking Gotoh old-style tuners. Single-ply white guard. No, I won't be drilling those holes through the body like Rossi's. It's not designed to be a clone; it's just based on the color scheme of his guitar. I am guessing after all is said and done, It'll only cost me around $600, and it'll likely be of Custom Shop quality based on my past experiences with the company that is making the body and neck.

I'll start posting pix once the parts come in.

[EsquireOK]

Update: Bridge, neck plate, control panel, knobs, and bridge cover are on the way. All I need now are strap buttons, a pickguard, two solid shaft pots, and the tuners. So far I am in $320 for the body and nitro-finished neck, $10 for the CopperCoat, $40 for the pickup, and $125 for the hardware. The value of the parts I already had on hand (wire, caps, and switch) is probably about $15. I think I need to spend about $100 more on the last batch of parts I mentioned. A custom decal maybe another $35. Looks like it is gonna come in a bit over budget, but not too bad. Probably under $650 in the end.

[glen smith]

Looking forward to seeing the progress.

[EsquireOK]

I'll get some pix up as soon as I get the body and neck. I'm looking forward to the first gig with it!

[rebelwoclue]

I'll be watiching for it!

[hugocaster]

Waiting for the pic here

[EsquireOK]

pix coming soon...

[Ironbird]

I'm very curious!

[EsquireOK]

The body and neck are done. I just need to find the time to go down and pick them up. Should be some time this week or early next week.

[R.P.V.]

Now go down and pick'em.

[R.P.V.]

Speaking of the color green.
I always liked Tomkin's take of the Tele especially in that color.
Looks as if it had survived a barn fire.

[EsquireOK]

Finally got the body and neck today.

Body ended up being one piece ash with some nice looking grain on the back (never to be seen, unfortunately). Don't know why I got one piece when I ordered two piece. It happens every time I get an ash body from this place. But I ain't complaining! Sure would have been nice if they had flipped the good grain to the other side before routing, though. Oh well. The good grain on the back will just have to be my little secret.









The neck is a flatsawn U, 9.5 in. radius, 6230 frets, 0.980 in. all the way down, with a clear nitrocellulose finish. I ordered it without any fret beveling, dressing, crowning, or polishing, and no nut, as I prefer to do that stuff myself once the whole thing is together. The '80's truss rod plug is an eyesore, though...ugh.











SD Broadcaster pickup, G&L ASAT Classic bridge, G&L control plate, Fender switch, Fender bridge cover. Not pictured are the G&L neck plate and the knobs.



The hardware sort of in place on the guitar. The pickup height screws are too long for the cavity, so I may chop them down, or maybe deepen the rout, depending one where I want to set the pickup. I don't want it falling off the ends of the screws.



Cost of these items: $325
Cost of the hardware so far (that shown plus a neck plate, knobs, and Electrosocket): $130 incl. shipping
Cost of the pickup (used): $36 incl. shipping
Cost of the green wood preservative: $10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total so far: $501

Obviously, this will end up costing more than I estimated in the beginning. I still need tuners, a nut, string ferrules, strap buttons, a string tree, a switch tip, and a Callaham lacquered Bakelite pickguard to replace the white guard I'll be stealing off of my other Esquire to use on this guitar.

[wallis222]

Wow wow wow!

Now where would a fellow buy a one (or two) piece ash body, and a beautiful neck like that for $320?

Gorgeous! I'll be following this thread.

[EsquireOK]

Originally Posted by wallis222

Wow wow wow!

Now where would a fellow buy a one (or two) piece ash body, and a beautiful neck like that for $320?

Gorgeous! I'll be following this thread.

Hi,

I am glad you dig the parts. I do too!

I did well on this purchase for sure. I waited till the company was having a 20% off sale to order. They periodically have 15% off sales, and they have 20% off probably once a year. So I always wait for a sale, especially with expensive items like finished parts.

However, also remember that I deleted fretwork and a nut from the order. That would have saved me $145 before discount, but since there was a discount, it saved me $116.

As for the one piece body, that's just luck of the draw. Weird, huh? It's a $100 option, but I ended up getting it for nothing. Maybe he felt bad that I had to wait so long? I don't know. But the same thing also happened with my two ash P Bass bodies.

FWIW, it's not a particularly light body. I was surprised by its weight when I first picked it up.

I went to Bernie Hefner in Whittier, CA (greater L.A. area).

[wallis222]

Originally Posted by EsquireOK

Hi,

I am glad you dig the parts. I do too!

I did well on this purchase for sure. I waited till the company was having a 20% off sale to order. They periodically have 15% off sales, and they have 20% off probably once a year. So I always wait for a sale, especially with expensive items like finished parts.

However, also remember that I deleted fretwork and a nut from the order. That would have saved me $145 before discount, but since there was a discount, it saved me $116.

As for the one piece body, that's just luck of the draw. Weird, huh? It's a $100 option, but I ended up getting it for nothing. Maybe he felt bad that I had to wait so long? I don't know. But the same thing also happened with my two ash P Bass bodies.

I went to Bernie Hefner in Whittier, CA (greater L.A. area).

Yes, B. Hefner stuff is outstanding regardless of price. I was thinking that's probably where you got it. This will be a sweet guitar, granted I do have a slight Esquire bias.

[ThreePlyGuy]

Watching this one, going to be nice.

[EsquireOK]

The more I look at it, the more that '70's/'80's style truss rod plug bums me out. It looks bad IMO, and it is totally wrong. I really didn't expect that from a company that claims to make the most accurate vintage style parts. Maybe I will put the guitar together with this neck for now, but get a proper '50's style neck at a later date.

[EsquireOK]

OK, good news on two fronts.

First, I mentioned the issues I had with a few of the features, and Bernie says he can fix this neck for me, instead of having to build a new one. That is great, as I love the grain on this neck, and I'd hate for it to end up going unused.

Next, I have put on three coats of the green stuff. It is a little turquoise at the moment, but the blue fades and it turns a richer green once it oxidizes a bit. I like how the edges of the swaths of grain are still a bit yellow because they don't take the stain as well. If you look at it at an angle, you can see the pearlescent sheen from the copper. Kind of cool.

I'll keep putting coats on until it appears that I am not adding any opacity, then I'll give it a good time to completely dry and oxidize. If the green still isn't right at that point (I want a pretty "green green," not turquoise or gray-green), I'll use some green stain. Finally, a clear gloss finish to give it some shine, darken the color, deepen the appearance of the grain, and provide some protection for the CopperCoat (and my arm). I may use pure tung oil, boiled linseed oil, Tru-Oil, or a rubbing lacquer. Possibly a can of clear spray from Reranch; I haven't decided yet.

[wallis222]

Sweet!!!

[R.P.V.]

That's coming out GREAT