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With body finishing taken care of, let's move on to the ES-300 neck, or more specifically; the rosewood fretboard. Here, more than 10 high frets have been identified after straightening the neck. This being the case, I've had to undertake a full fret dressing; involving leveling, recrowning and polishing.
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| Fret Dressing Completed |
Next on the list is the 'hockey stick' headstock. The factory issued generic trapezoid machine heads are really wonky and totally unreliable after years of use. They have been upgraded to a set of six-in-line Kaynes locking tuners.
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| Stock Trapezoid Machine Heads |
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| Kaynes Locking Tuners Installed |
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| Kaynes Locking Tuners - Top View |
Something new has also been added to the mix -- a TUSQ 5042-00 nut. I believe the 5042-00 will outperform the stock plastic nut in many ways, and better complement the Bigsby-style vibrato system and locking tuners.
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| TUSQ 5042-00 Nut |
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| Back of 5042-00 Package |
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| Test Fitting the TUSQ Nut |
"To shield, or not to shield, that is the question." Well, we've decided to go the whole hog and splurge on conductive paint and copper foil. It's conductive paint for the pickup and control cavities, and copper foil for the back of the pickguard and control cavity cover. The wiring scheme for this project could not be simpler -- a lone Alpha A500K volume pot connected to a Switchcraft #11 output jack. There's also an additional ground connecting the back of the volume pot to a lug screwed into the control cavity wall.
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| Pickup Cavity and Pickguard Shielding |
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| Control Cavity Shielding |
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| Control Cavity Components and Wiring |
I've just tapped in the bushings for the bridge and vibrato tailpiece mounting studs, and screwed on the pickguard. Now you have a sneak preview of what the front of the body will eventually look like. The complete installation of top-mounted hardware will have to wait until the neck is reattached and setup commences. Meanwhile, I hope you like the custom wooden control cavity cover. It's the client's idea, and a good one at that.
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| Pickguard and Bushings Installed |
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| Wooden Control Cavity Cover |
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