Has Anyone built one of these? ES3-B4

[FrankenWashie]

https://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/...ss-guitar-kit/

I've found a lot of ESB but not the ES3-B4.
Having never built a hollow body, or a bass, I'm curious as to how difficult these are to manage.

[Dedman]

I haven't done a bass but I've done a full size hollow body ( ES-5) and it was no different to any other glue in neck kit. Some fun binding scraping ( I hate them F holes LOL) .Nice thing is they are nice and light and having a lab to swing it around in you could fit the neck before paint/stain. Igor want bass!

[FrankenWashie]

I haven't done a bass but I've done a full size hollow body ( ES-5) and it was no different to any other glue in neck kit. Some fun binding scraping ( I hate them F holes LOL) .Nice thing is they are nice and light and having a lab to swing it around in you could fit the neck before paint/stain. Igor want bass!

I'm more concerned about the wiring TBH Deddy, Paint stain is not so much a concern as the picture in my head says Blonde Satin finish with Gold hardware.
It's a curiosity only at this point, many other things to complete before a new kit gets ordered.

Edit: scratch the Gold, there is only Chrome.

[Dedman]

I didn't have any aquarium tube to use to feed the pot into the holes so I just used string, it worked! On all my hollow bodies, I've made the harness on cardboard. I admit I cheat a bit and cut the pick up wires short so I can have the whole harness in place and then just join the wires on the pick ups ( or use GFS pickups with the plugs on them) once everything is in.

[FrankenWashie]

Yeah, I have used the EMG system where everything just plugs together and it makes life nice and easy. I would probably do something similar assuming i go ahead with this one.
It's all just theoretical at this point.

<"Oh thertainly thir, theoretical, yeth of courth it ith, juth a pathing fanthy....." says Igor quietly to himself>

[Dedman]

don't feel bad, just order it, I just ordered 2 custom kits for later in the year LOL

[FrankenWashie]

don't feel bad, just order it, I just ordered 2 custom kits for later in the year LOL

Yeah Nah. I need to clear the decks a little first. I want to get down to only 2 builds happening simultaneously.

[Dedman]

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[FrankenWashie]

yes there is still an accursed LP to revive.....

[Simon Barden]

Things to note with the kit are:-

1) Non-splitable mini humbuckers. Not an easy size to get bass pickup replacements for. Especially as...
2) Rear pickup rout is into the bridge block, but neck pickup rout is into the hollow body. So you'll need pickup rings, so all body-mounted pickups are out of consideration (though you could have mismatched pickups). If it wasn't for this, and both pickups routs were into a hollow body then feeding the electrics in would be easy through a pickup hole. As it is, you'll need to use the F-hole and connect the pickups to the pots in-situ.
3) F-holes look wider than normal, so feeding in the electrics should be relatively easy.
4) No hole for a pickup selector (or switch provided in the kit). Easy enough to drill your own hole for one but I doubt the electronics provided give a coherent solution to the four knobs provided. In fact there are no kit photos of any pots or jacks at all.
5) No apparent output jack hole provided, so again, you can chose your own position to drill one; top or side mounted.
6) You could cut a hole for a battery box if you wanted to fit active electronics, but with curved sides and arched back and front, there isn't a really suitable place to put one that won't leave a gap around the sides of the box unless you first install an adaptor plate.