The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Alright.... working from home and lack of gigs made me start another project to beat the boredom.... It is almost finished, so I present to you my ES-330/ Casino kit guitar! I ordered the raw body and neck from a Chinese CNC-guitar manufacturer (Bian Xuebin) and I did stain and lacquer (spray can nitro) myself, as well as assembling the hardware.

    I intended a natural/blond look but made a capital error while applying the first layer of nitro with a brush.... to dilute the nitro I accidentally used terpentine instead of thinner and I was afraid the goo-ey cellulose/petrol mess it became could not be removed without sanding through the top layer of the laminate. So instead of sanding it all out, I improvised a pattern with brown stain/dye applied with a cloth (applied in a tampering fashion). Didn’t come out too bad, fortunately. (Tip: don’t store terpentine and thinner in identical bottles next to eachother..... )

    Had to level the frets a little bit, dress the fret ends and cut the nut (bone) a little deeper. It’s set up with .012 flatwounds (TI).

    Pickups are an SD Antiquity at the neck and a Fender MIC out of a Modern Player Tele at the bridge (I converted the soapbar to a dogear).

    Apart from the lacquer incident it was a fun project with a nice guitar to add to the collection as a result. I think it is absolutely good enough to gig with: it sounds great and plays like butter with low action and no fret buzz.

    It just needs the pickguard (bracket is on backorder) and in a month after the nitro has hardened I might add another clear coat and sand and polish again because it is not perfect at the moment.













    Last edited by Little Jay; 12-28-2020 at 02:08 PM.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    And this it how it sounds:



  4. #3

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    Great project Jay! Turned out nice!

  5. #4

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    Looks good and sounds great. All around winner.

    Tony D.

  6. #5

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    CONGRATS!! My dream guitar in every regard.

    Personally, I find the finish on the top to be very attractive and unique.

    Enjoyed your playing.

    Is the body fully hollow or is there a partial or full centre block? It is difficult to know from the pic.

    DIY ES-330/Casino kit guitar-screen-shot-2020-09-12-11-30-20-am-png

    I AM SO JEALOUS!!

    ENJOY!

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greco
    CONGRATS!! My dream guitar in every regard.

    Personally, I find the finish on the top to be very attractive and unique.

    Enjoyed your playing.

    Is the body fully hollow or is there a partial or full centre block? It is difficult to know from the pic.

    DIY ES-330/Casino kit guitar-screen-shot-2020-09-12-11-30-20-am-png

    I AM SO JEALOUS!!

    ENJOY!
    Thanks Greco!

    The guitar is fully hollow with only a small block and a sound post under the bridge, it’s a bit crude but works nevertheless:





    It has a surprisingly big acoustic sound and feels really acoustic when you play it.

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Little Jay
    Thanks Greco!

    The guitar is fully hollow with only a small block and a sound post under the bridge, it’s a bit crude but works nevertheless:





    It has a surprisingly big acoustic sound and feels really acoustic when you play it.
    Thanks for the response and great pics.

    I forgot to mention that your label was my laugh for the day. Very professional looking and creative.

  9. #8

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    This project is up to your usual standard of excellence, Little Jay! Nice save on the top. Well done!

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by citizenk74
    This project is up to your usual standard of excellence, Little Jay! Nice save on the top. Well done!
    Hahaha, great to hear I have a standard of excellence! Didn’t know I had one.... thank you!

  11. #10

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    Beautiful!
    Love the Look of the finish actually.

  12. #11

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    Love it, nice job man!

  13. #12

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    Forgot to post this pic of the wiring harness I made:



    Next time the harness comes out, I will replace the lineair tone pots with log pots, just like the volume pots, because now roll off of the tone only happens in the last 25% of the pot’s travel. Pots are Alphas and feel really nice. I might also fit a treble bleed, since tone rolls off substantially with rolling of the volume.

    I also made a pickguard:


    I bought a very cheap 3-ply ES-330 pickguard from AliExpress (fits pretty well, pickup cutouts just a bit too wide) and glued some 2-ply at the bottom and filed that to shape. Three plies just looked not substantial enough imho ;-) Just waiting for the bracket to arrive.

  14. #13

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    Are those caps Mallory 150s?

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by TOMMO
    Are those caps Mallory 150s?
    No they are Vishays... just happened to have those left from some amp project

    I don't believe in cap magic or mojo... as long as the value is correct I don't think there is a difference between different brands and types.

  16. #15

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    looks like burled or splayed is it ? maple !

    well played

  17. #16

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    Mounted the pickguard:


  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by pingu
    looks like burled or splayed is it ? maple !

    well played
    Unfinished - before I messed it up - it looked like this:


  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Little Jay

    I don't believe in cap magic or mojo...
    Neither do I but I swapped caps in some guitars when I had to fix some problems anyway and I used Orange Drops, Mallory 150s and a set of Hovlands (all inexpensive purchases) and for whatever reason the Mallorys made a difference (in two P 90 equipped guitars).

    Guitar looks fabulous - play it in good health!

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by TOMMO
    Neither do I but I swapped caps in some guitars when I had to fix some problems anyway and I used Orange Drops, Mallory 150s and a set of Hovlands (all inexpensive purchases) and for whatever reason the Mallorys made a difference (in two P 90 equipped guitars).

    Guitar looks fabulous - play it in good health!
    Now you got me curious! Difference in what way? Maybe they had a somewhat different value because of the tolerance?

  21. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Little Jay
    Now you got me curious! Difference in what way? Maybe they had a somewhat different value because of the tolerance?
    That's quite possible. What I noticed is that the Mallorys made for a much smoother and more gradual roll off than other other caps...

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by Little Jay






    Big fun and nicely done, J!

    You need a headstock decal. Here's three on EBay:






  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
    Big fun and nicely done, J!

    You need a headstock decal. Here's three on EBay:





    I ordered the same from Stringkraft.com that’s also on my JazzTele (only this time the vinyl variety instead of the hand painted decal). ;-)


  24. #23

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    So I officially have a Cooper line of guitars now ;-)

  25. #24

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    The finishing touch:



    And some more polishing was done:


  26. #25

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    Great look, great sound :-)