1959 ES-335TD proto build

Guitar is brushed to remove any dust from the pores



I'll seal it with golden shellac (2lbs cut) to match the original late 50's process.
Shellac will seal the wood from being dyed by the dark neck pore filler and will pop out the flames nicely



Two quick coats are sufficient. The first coat takes more shellac as it soaks in and the second is to even things up nicely.



15 minutes is more than enough for shellac to dry



While it dries I'll do a cherry filler on a burst and take comparison photos of the colors



Body neck joint lines are masked to prevent the dark brown filler from staining the maple




Oil based Filler is mixed and brushed over the entire neck



Wiped to remove excess filler. I only want it in the pores.



Like this



Masking removed to reveal very clean border lines



Here's the two fillers, 335 dark brown on left and cherry on right



Foam strips are used to block the F holes while spraying



First coat is a misty sanding sealer. I can't do a wet coat immediately because the brown filler might run a little into the maple creating a fuzzy joint line... Not good.



This is when the flames begin to pop out and the body is starting to look 3D



10 minutes later I follow with the primary single wet coat







I inspect it to make sure it doesn't need any sanding (I'm lazy... so I try to spray well (-; )





and let it hang for 24 hours before the Nitro clear coats

 

The filler is a very dark brown but the shellac prevents it from staining the surface. It only fills the pores but that's enough to give the neck a darker overall deep look. If you look at the following photos of 58-59 blonde 335's you'll notice the necks are not dyed from the filler, only filled.

 

I've seen them with and without the dark filler, but I can't see how a neck can get pore filled before it is glued to the body... I'm positive the 335's were handled the same way as any other Gibsons at the Kalamazoo factory, final sanding >> pore filler >> Sealer >> sanding >> paint >> scraping >> clear >> buffing.
The masking is not a must because the shellac prevents the filler dye from penetrating the maple, so maybe a little sanding and cleaning took place in case they didn't mask taped the joint. I don't have photos showing that a tape was used but I prefer to do it this way... I'm in no hurry (-;

 

The current builders in the Gibson CS use a masking tape.
It's cream colored and hard to see but note the end of the body in the cutaways where the bindings are... it clearly has a masking tape there. It doesn't mean the old originals were made this way... but it's a minor detail.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/video/Making Of The Gibson Custo (9)/

 

Acetone glue or pure acetone.
The early PG bracket blocks were cut from celluloid plastic, roughly sanded to shape and threaded in house.

 

I'll use old lacquer (about 1 year in direct sunlight) to give the guitar a warmer golden look. The jar is dusty and dirty like good old wine bottle (-;



In this stage I'll only give it a single wet coat. Note the color is warmer but not as much as I like it to be...







Before applying the final golden clear the bindings need to be scraped.
This may sound surprising because there's no reason to scrape bindings on a blonde clear finish.... but Gibson scraped all the binding on all models regardless of the finish color. This is very evident when looking at the step left by the scraper blade where the bindings are lower than the wood. I'd like to keep that old method and achieve the old look. The scraping also cleans and smooths the binding from any previous contamination and sanding scratches.

Sides first





top and back



and the guitar is ready for the final golden coat that will make the bindings darker and blend them nicely with the maple.



note the ledge

 

It's worth mentioning that the F hole cuts on the originals were painted with oil based light creme color to hide the laminations. The paint has been applied with a brush and the top edge was wiped smooth without damaging the nitro on the top.
Note the light color of the oil paint compared to the now darkened old lacquer. Originally this color was a good match to the maple when fresh new.



Same type of paint, in different colors, is often seen in the control cavities ledge of other models where lacquer buildup had to be chipped off to allow for a better recess of the covers. The oil paint was used to hide the missing lacquer in that area.

 

Sorry for not showing you this part earlier jonal335... I just couldn't find it (-;
Here's the bracket I'll be using for this build.



The black celluloid cube is glued under the pickguard with acetone glue



This closed nut was often used in the early years but sometimes they just used two regular open nuts.

 

Headstock masked



Black lacquer sprayed very thin



and a second light coat



MOP logo scraped with a utility blade



holly inlay too



it's very whitish but will get a golden coat soon



Last golden old lacquer wet coat sprayed













Here's the headstock again with a tinted golden MOP



side dots got a little golden as well



I'll try to take better shots later.