I know *NOT* to mess with monsters.

@tv101 🤣 You shouldn’t appease monsters or they win! The guitar gods walk with you and give you the confidence to defeat the demons. Strike a chord, kill the beast. 

I’m not sure, but this could just be a single internal dialogue! Has anybody actually seen TV10101 and Boo in the same room?? I think an investigation might be in order! 🤣🤣🤣

I have a shelf on the mezzanine in my factory where I kept a notched tally of the number of rats that I trapped/shot during a couple of particularly enthusiastic infestations. One even got into the office down stairs and ate all the ink transfer tubes in my HP wide format printer! £450 and about two days of life to fix that one!! Now that was a monster!!

Nice work Bagpress!  My very first guitar build was based on a Les Paul arch top double cut semi hollowbody. Same type of neck tenon. I completely eyeballed it and actually turned out surprisingly ok for a beginner. Not the type of guitar for a first timer. Lessons learned, chiseling a carve top is no joke. My neck break was at 2 degrees in fear of over doing it and was totally off by 2 degrees. Action was way to high.  Should have been 4 degrees I think. I solved it by recessing the bridge post by just 1.5 mm with the bridge now set all the way down for a decent string action. Not the best resolve but worked. My go to guitar is the 335. It was the guitar that developed my love and passion to guitar playing. It is a magical instrument. One of my biggest reqrets was selling my Cherry Red 59 Dot ES-335. 

I’m not sure, but this could just be a single internal dialogue! Has anybody actually seen TV10101 and Boo in the same room??

@darrenking 

Darren, I reckon you probably know as much about the strength of laminates as anyone. And a 335 is glorified solid guitar with an ornamental shell for mounting pots, switch and scratch plate.

However, guitar players must be about the most conservative creatures out there*, so just don’t tell anyone you changed the recipe and you’ll be fine.

*One of my favourite workhorse guitars is the Yamaha RGX A2. It is has an LED in the pickup switch. You would not believe the response this gets from other guitar players, from confusion to speechless panic!

*One of my favourite workhorse guitars is the Yamaha RGX A2. It is has an LED in the pickup switch. You would not believe the response this gets from other guitar players, from confusion to speechless panic!

For the sake of clarity, the LED in the pickup switch is fairly much useless, because the one person that cannae see it is the player. I’ve rewired both my A2s, but I left the LED powered on in one of them out of sheer badness. 😉 

@darrenking

Just to get vaguely back on-topic, briefly, the top of my SA700 measures 4.3mm thick.  

I don't seem to have a photo of it anywhere, but it's a MiJ 70s/80s 335 alike.  Everything I find online re the specs just says "maple" with no reference to it be laminated or veneered, so I'm guessing that it's actually carved out of a solid piece of maple.  It's quite heavy - solid centre block.

Very interesting little video on ES335 construction.

And another one

That second video was a really interesting watch - thanks @darrenking 🙂

Thanks Darren, that second one is really useful. 

- necks tenons are finessed by hand with a chisel

- Gibson Memphis have their pre-slotted fingerboards supplied by a third party. I’m amazed Mark finds the time!

Gibson Memphis have their pre-slotted fingerboards supplied by a third party.

I know where they could buy a jig - good price - and then they’d be able to do their own!

Thanks for all the positive feed back on the Live Stream today. I have a couple of details that I need to sort out that I ma hoping you can help me with.

I have 4 or 5 downloaded 'ES335' plans and no two of them share the same body outline or overall dimensions and the 3dModel that I have used for the lamination mould is, again, different from all the others. As if dealing with Gibson scale lengths wasn't bad enough!!

The 3D model gives body dimensions of about 500mm long (to the tip of the horns) x 420mm wide. It is clearly a 335 style shape but whether it is a direct copy I can't really say. 

The question is whether what we are looking for is an ES335 style course ie hollow body semi acoustic, or if the aim is produce as close a reproduction to the Gibson as possible.

What do you all think?

Darren

I'd say ...

Use the body plans that best match the moulds you've already built.

I think we're looking to learn the techniques of guitar building, and, in this case, the techniques of building a guitar in the style of a 335, not an exact replica.

That's my view anyways ...

I think we're looking to learn the techniques of guitar building, and, in this case, the techniques of building a guitar in the style of a 335, not an exact replica.

@darrenking Darren, I’m happy with what Tony has suggested, for me it’s purely about learning the building techniques and methods, not exact replicas. Look for something new (as much as you can for this style of guitar), not convention. That’s my view anyway. 👍🎸

I like the way this poll is going! I think I might just close it now whilst I’m ahead!

My new best friend, the 3D cad man in the US, is going to modify the files slightly by extending the border and faring in the neck area to make the moulds entirely machinable on the router. All for only $100! A serious bargain and he is now someone firmly on my Chrismas card list. He’s going to be very useful!

Darren

Doesn’t has to be an exact copy in my opinion. It’s more about the proces. I am in anyway.

good work Darren!

I agree with Les (Otters).

I want to build an arch top, not a 335. But the 335 construction, and in particular the neck join, really interests me. It looks like more like a set-neck than a traditional arch top dovetail, with all the mods that implies.

I can’t wait to see what Mr Easy-Peasy-Bailey does with it.

I've never even held a 335 so would have nothing to compare it with. Having watched the Gibson videos now, I like the idea of building a hollow body archtop. I think it would be a huge challenge to me and maybe a step towards building an acoustic.