ESP LTD SC-607B Refinishing Project

[BlackMastodon]

My clothes are permanently stained. My cat also now has an orange belly. And I keep finding orange fingerprints all around the house. I hate to admit it, but maybe my roommate was right. Sanding in the house is not an indoor activity? Oh well, I have a nice garage workshop now. She wins....for now....at least until I start my wenge/purpleheart RG1527 baritone conversion neck build. Or the full build I've got planned. Or another refinish I have planned. Or a friend's refinish I want to do. She gon' be piiiissssseeeeddddd. Next angry text I get I'm uploading on here.

I wouldn't sand purpleheart indoors if I were you. I hear that stuff is poisonous.

 

[EpicFlail]

I wouldn't sand purpleheart indoors if I were you. I hear that stuff is poisonous.

What's not anymore?

Anyway, I had to wake up this morning and move my car to a different street lest I get a parking ticket at 8 AM. Not too thrilled about that. While I was out, I went to Home Depot. I picked up a 3-foot long piece of galvanized fencing, three small C-clamps, and more blue tape. I was feeling creative. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

There you have it. Fret end file. I took the idea from wedging a file in a 2x4, but that would have involved owning a decent saw, which I do not have. I clamped the file in there (course side inside) and used double sided tape to fix a piece of cardboard to slide over the fretboard. After a few minutes of tweaking, it worked like a charm. After I got them down, i turned the file over and used the finer side to further dress them. And it only cost a few bucks. I got all the fret ends down to what I did yesterday in half the time.

I then loaded the sanding block with 150-grit and started sanding them flush to the fingerboard. I found that the sanding block worked perfectly for the first 12 frets and the homemade file guide thing worked just as good for the upper frets. Maybe because they're closer together? I also used an actual fret end file to make them super smooth. They still need to be beveled/rounded, but that can wait.

The previous picture looks like the fretboard is radiused too tight, but it's correct. I mentioned earlier I got the treble side a little low. This is what I meant.

I also started the nut shelf. I stuck a fret protector in the slot to keep from sanding into the first fret.

I actually finished the shelf. I just didn't get any pictures. The shelf is a bit too long though. I started filing it shorter to match the thickness of the nut but stopped when I started getting really itchy.

I've been thinking about opting out of using the rear string ferrules I bought and machining a brass plate and routing a cavity for that. That will save me the trouble of grounding each ferrule. I really want to get this thing strung up already!

 

[peagull]

How did I miss 3 whole updates!!!

Looking awesome man. Also we definitely need to se some of these angry texts

 

[Shelvock]

Grounding each ferrule? Could you not just ground a bridge post/insert?

 

[The Only Factor]

Grounding each ferrule? Could you not just ground a bridge post/insert?

No unforunately... Due to the saddles being non-conductive, he needs to either ground each and every string ferrule, or make a plate that connects all 7 ferrules together and ground the plate instead. And since the saddles sit in the bridge, the bridge now has no conductivity to the saddles as they are an entirely separate pickup, so the tailpiece or the ferrules need to be grounded.

 

[bob123]

Just read through this... some times, you need to take things more seriously then usually. Some of these woods can seriously do harm. Like carcinogenic, serious harm to your lungs, among other things. I was pretty cavalier about sanding and cutting until i messed with goncalo alves. Its a brazilian wood, that I've been playing with. I got a face full of sanding dust in my face, and I felt sick for like 3 days.

Im not going to "parent you" or anything, just some things are worth taking extra precautions. Purpleheart... is nasty dude.

 

[EpicFlail]

Just read through this... some times, you need to take things more seriously then usually. Some of these woods can seriously do harm. Like carcinogenic, serious harm to your lungs, among other things. I was pretty cavalier about sanding and cutting until i messed with goncalo alves. Its a brazilian wood, that I've been playing with. I got a face full of sanding dust in my face, and I felt sick for like 3 days. .

Im not going to "parent you" or anything, just some things are worth taking extra precautions. Purpleheart... is nasty dude.

I understand full and well the hazards of working with certain woods. I know I take a more light-hearted approach here on the forum, but in reality, I take it very seriously. A few pages back, I cut a piece of cocobolo by hand. Wore a respirator, thick gloves, goggles, etc. When I was sweeping up the dust that night, I forgot the respirator. For the rest of the week (my vacation at that), I had nasty bronchitis symptoms. I couldn't breathe, my throat was scratchy, I was coughing up gross shit--it sucked.

I'm also an amateur blacksmith, so I've been around ceramic blankets (carcinogenic) and other refractory coatings (they have their own health hazards). Not to mention bituminous coal and other fuels (dangerous soot and CO gas). What I'm saying is that I'm well versed in safely using and basically being around hazardous materials. I do appreciate the thought though. And feel free to parent me. I do some stupid stuff sometimes. Sometimes I need someone to swat my nose and tell me "NO!"

In other news, I got all the frets leveled and 16 of them crowned. One thing I thought I could get away with was using a cheap crowning file. It's one of those with the interchangeable files. Never again. A diamond file would be a gift from up above right now. "No, I'll just buy the cheap one. Save some money!" That extra $40 would have made my life so much easier. You live and learn I guess. I would have done them all, but I had to go to work. Something about "paying bills" or some nonsense. I leveled them all to the same height, but looking back, I may have done it all in vain. I've read that the 16th through 24th frets should be leveled lower to make up for the neck bow. Interesting theory, but since my fretboard is thicker than normal, maybe I can get away with them all being the same. We'll see when I string it up. I did however check each fret with a rocker to make sure they were all the same height. They all (all 16 I crowned) checked out, so I have high hopes. I still need to crown the last few frets and then progressively sand them to blinding reflective polished sheen, but I'm merely one man and I can't do everything at once. No pictures as I was too busy to be bothered. I just taped the fretboard with blue tape and markered the tops of the frets black. Leveled until the black was gone, marked them again, and crowned until a tiny black line was left down the center. Pretty uneventful photo-wise. I need to buy a set of micro mesh sandpapers, some steel wool, and finer than 400-grits of sandpapers for the finishing and polishing stages to come. I'll keep you guys updated.

EDIT: When I was filing the nut shelf, I was wearing a tank top. When I came in the house to clean up, the part of my chest that was exposed had a bit of padauk dust on it. It mixed with my sweat and my chest was all red and irritated. It also itched like crazy. Just a small addendum to your warning, Bob.

EDIT 2: The Only Factor is exactly right. Since I don't have a tailpiece, grounding the ferrules are the only way to go. I was thinking about picking up a 1/2" x 1/2" brass bar and drilling out holes for the strings then routing a pocket for it to sit in. That sounds much easier than drilling ridiculously small holes and threading wire between each one. I saw that method on a Schecter forum. The string plate seems like much less work for the same outcome. I've also been considering (alluding to the blacksmith paragraph above) forging my own retainer plate out of some other metals. If I could find some copper and nickel, I could forge weld layers of them into a solid chunk and pattern it to make my own unique design. Ahh, the joys of being a middle-schooler and getting a toy capable of melting steel for Christmas. Makes me want to cry.

 

[iRaiseTheDead]

Sexy guitar is sexy

 

[Shelvock]

No unforunately... Due to the saddles being non-conductive, he needs to either ground each and every string ferrule, or make a plate that connects all 7 ferrules together and ground the plate instead. And since the saddles sit in the bridge, the bridge now has no conductivity to the saddles as they are an entirely separate pickup, so the tailpiece or the ferrules need to be grounded.

Got ya Completely forgot about the piezo system, what a ballache!

 

[eddiewarlock]

I wouldn't sand purpleheart indoors if I were you. I hear that stuff is poisonous.

It's not poisonous, otherwise, i'd be dead a LONG time ago.

I probably have built more than 10 guitars with purpleheart necks.

Some varities have a very subtle but very pleasant smell.

 

[bob123]

It's not poisonous, otherwise, i'd be dead a LONG time ago.

I probably have built more than 10 guitars with purpleheart necks.

Some varities have a very subtle but very pleasant smell.

purple heart isnt, but padauk sure as shit causes problems haha

 

[7stringDemon]

So. . . . . Uhhhhhhhhhhh. . . . . . How's the guitar doing?

 

[japs5607]

So where are the updates. I keep checking back

 

[Majkel]

Aww I thought it would be an update from EpicFlail when I saw the thread had been updated..

 

[japs5607]

I was trying to push for an update

 

[Hene]

I have lost faith in this thread. :/

 

[TheBigGroove]

I have lost faith in this thread. :/

I lost faith in the world

 

[kevdes93]

update pls

 

[Stealthtastic]

All I want for Christmas...

 

[slenderman]

I was so excited to see what this was going to look like