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Brendan
02-04-2020, 09:16 PM
"May Guitar of the Month (for Guitars and Basses finished in April)

Enter your finished guitar or bass here to be judged for the Pit Bull Guitars May Guitar of the Month.

Please remember:

For Guitars or Basses finished on (or before) the end of April.

One guitar/bass per member per month.
It must be a Pit Bull Guitars kit (mods and upgrades acceptable).
Guitar or Bass must be finished and playable.

We need at least 4 photos:
· full guitar shot from the front;
· close up of the body finish;
· shot of the back of the guitar; and
· close up of the headstock (please, no brand name logos)


Please post your photos in this thread. If you are having issues posting photos on the forum, please email them to brendan (at) pitbullguitars (dot) com

Please note: This competition is open to amateur guitar builders only. If you are making and selling guitars for profit, you are ineligible. Also while there are some stunning guitars around - you never know what the judges are looking for, so we encourage anyone who's built a Pitbull during the month to enter!

Competition for the month closes at the end of April (Perth Western Australian time).

The sorts of things we judge on include:
· How well have the body and neck been prepared
· Is the choice of finish for the style of guitar appropriate
· How well has the finish been applied
· How well has all the hardware, pickups, etc, been installed
· Does it have the 'Wow Factor'· Which guitar would you make a beeline for in a guitar shop. That is, which one would you most like to take home.

BTW - remember that the winner is invited to be a guest judge the following month!"

gonz
09-04-2020, 08:36 PM
Tl finished in march
body and neck made in epoxy resin coloured an PU varnish34428
banana platte custom made in a brass plate
micro plate was made in a carbon sheet

drusso72801
10-04-2020, 08:04 AM
This is my first bass build. It's an AGB-30 kit. It took me approximately 2.5 months to build. The R2D2 graphic is hand painted onto the guitar. Solid white paint with polyurethane finish. The pickups are custom designed silver foil mini-humbuckers made by Josh Gravelin. Upgraded hipshot bridge and tuning machines, upgraded CTS pots, added a three-way switch, and the volume and tone knobs actually go to 11. Plays beautifully. I couldn't be happier with how it came out. I hope you all like it!

3444134442344433444434445

Mike.L
10-04-2020, 08:58 AM
This was my first build, took a few months because of the paint work.
Body was high fill primed and blocked flat, then painted with a black base, a silver marble effect was painted to the face, two coats of blood red candy, then more black was airbrushed to create the fade, finally a lot of clear coat, again blocked back then buffed.
Neck was stained with golden teak stain and finished off with tru oil.
This guitar will go down as the start of my addiction lol

DarkMark
10-04-2020, 10:59 AM
Let me be the first to say we’ve found the rebel bass.

Sonic Mountain
10-04-2020, 12:02 PM
Wow, some very nice builds to kick off the month. Digging the R2 graphic. Finish on the Tele is next level.

trv
11-04-2020, 01:24 AM
Let me be the first to say we’ve found the rebel bass.

This comment should win GOTM

trv
11-04-2020, 01:39 AM
Seriously though, the guitars/bass posted are all amazing. Wish there were build diaries for all of them!

drusso72801
11-04-2020, 07:20 AM
Let me be the first to say we’ve found the rebel bass.

I love this. My guitar will forever be called "the rebel bass." I so wish I had though of that. I would have painted it somewhere on the guitar.

deepeejay
11-04-2020, 09:29 PM
Here is my HB4 Build, (in the correct month). I'm really please with how it looks, but even more pleased with how it plays and sounds. Took me about 10 months with lots of help from my friend Brian. My build diary has lots more photos. The tuning pegs are on an angle to allow it to fit into the case.
34501
34502
34503
34504
34505

FrankenWashie
11-04-2020, 09:34 PM
Finish on the Tele is next level.

isn’t it just? I’m in awe of what guys are able to do with these, So much envy.

Gshowell64
20-04-2020, 09:55 AM
Hey Guys. So this is my first build and it took me a long time because I was so busy and just chipped away at it a little at a time, but finally it's playable and I must say I'm really happy with how it plays - probably the best action of the dozen guitars that I have. I went through many practice blanks to get the color blending the way I wanted it. Because the spalted maple had such a nice pattern, I wanted to make it look like the dragon inlay was flying out of the flames of the body. So I was looking to create the coloring of flames in the body. If I were to do it all over again I would realize the poly darkens up the color a little and I would have left it a little brighter. I thought it was a little bright at one point and I blended in a little brown to tone it down a little and that was probably not necessary but that's what we learn right? Anyway, other mods were as follows: the truss rod cover I found online, The pickups are Dragonfire quad rails and duo rail because that seemed appropriate, and the electronics are kinda special. Both pots are push-pull. Volume down is humbucker, up splits both the bridge and neck into single coil. With the tone pot down, the configuration is like a Les Paul with only the bridge and neck selectable - the 3 middle positions of the 5way switch have both the bridge and neck selected. With the tone pot up, it's like a Strat configuration - regular 5way switch selections. My middle pickup is a humbucker and not splitable unless I add another switch so I left it. So with both pots up it is a SHS configuration and with the volume down and tone up, it is HHH. The body is hand-rubbed poly but I didn't put too many layers on the top as I wanted to keep the depth of the grain for effect. The back of the neck is TruOil and I'm really happy with how it feels. Hope you guys enjoy it.3461034611346123461334614

jugglindan
20-04-2020, 10:38 AM
I love the spalted maple, the colours (reminds me of the tobacco burst on my G&L), and the fantastic inlay.

jugglindan
20-04-2020, 10:39 AM
Let me be the first to say we’ve found the rebel bass.

Best. Comment. Ever.

Eldarknessness
24-04-2020, 10:44 AM
Built this for the lead singer of my favorite band, Night Moves. Did ivory inlay in Ebony veneer on headstock. Had to cut new holes for stacked P90's to fit. He really wanted the chrome dog ear covers. Airbrushed the finish. Had a great time building. Learned a lot about how to build and fine woodworking in general. Link to the video if you wanna see. Cheers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zrVgP5Dewg

jugglindan
24-04-2020, 10:56 AM
It looks stunning! I love the tobacco burst (or whatever you want to call it).

Eldarknessness
24-04-2020, 12:34 PM
It looks stunning! I love the tobacco burst (or whatever you want to call it).

Thanks, would recommend to anyone to buy an airbrush. It really opens up a whole new world of fading colors.

Whizgig
24-04-2020, 01:00 PM
Just amazing guy's

Andy40
26-04-2020, 05:06 AM
Such an awesome video man.

Ed_guitar
26-04-2020, 12:29 PM
Hi all here is my DJB-4 jazz bass build.

So it,s not my first build but first time posting. body is 2 piece American Ash painted in a Peal white acrylic car paint and a high gloss clear coat. The neck has color match head-stock on the front and red peal back with a amber brown stain (fast neck) with the same high gloss clear.

Hardware upgrades , Babicz FCH string through bridge, HipShot USA ultralite machine heads and string retainer, Fender noiseless pick-ups and pre-amp with 18v battery holder. Schaller strap looks and a Graph Tech TUSQ nut.

34746 34747 34748

34749 34750

The build went pretty well, the kit body and neck were in good shape and only needed sanding for finishing. The pick-ups, pre-amp and battery box required some lite routing work to fit. My only problem was with the plastic nut the kit come with was over glued in place and very hard to remove, but i was always going to upgrade to a bone nut or Graph Tech one.
The idea behind this build was to see if i could build a high end Jazz bass for half the cost it defiantly plays well and has great tone and sustains i am well pleased with the end result. next build is P bass well on it was to be finished.

Jomasgaard
28-04-2020, 08:17 PM
Looks amazing!

Trevor Molloy
30-04-2020, 09:56 AM
So here is my first build a TLA-1 kit.

I wasn’t going to submit this after seeing all of the incredible entries so far but figured that it would be worth it for the honest feedback that I can apply to future builds

This is an Ash kit with a walnut stain finished with Tru-oil. I was originally going to keep it satin but after seeing the potential sheen I decided to see how I would go with attempting a gloss.

Upgrades to the kit were:

Grover locking tuners
Tusq nut
Fender Twisted Tele Pickup set
3ply pickguard
Wilkinson bridge with compensated saddles
Schaller Strap Locks
CTS Pots
Oak Grigsby Switch
Switch craft jack
Electro socket jack mount
Recessed string ferrules



https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200430/4d8c6481856d9fdc9618765050241bb7.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200430/86462372b93eec4fefb66b0a7828cd75.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200430/a76257612c3e7727556cfad6b4bd0708.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200430/7c08e2ca51e843459f6955bd8fe677ba.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200430/393942211e757d01c68edcfe55039b0f.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

FrankenWashie
30-04-2020, 12:24 PM
Nice and shiny! Great job man!

PJSprog
30-04-2020, 10:41 PM
Wow, just fantastic stuff this month. You guys are amazing.

phrozin
03-05-2020, 10:35 PM
Built this for the lead singer of my favorite band, Night Moves. Did ivory inlay in Ebony veneer on headstock. Had to cut new holes for stacked P90's to fit. He really wanted the chrome dog ear covers. Airbrushed the finish. Had a great time building. Learned a lot about how to build and fine woodworking in general. Link to the video if you wanna see. Cheers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zrVgP5Dewg

That's beautiful and that's got some work in it well done sir👍

Brendan
03-05-2020, 10:48 PM
Comp closed. New one soon.

Retroman33
04-05-2020, 07:38 AM
This guitar is incredible. Well done, love the front to back differences and the stain on the neck. Really impressive kit.

Brendan
14-05-2020, 10:27 PM
Sorry all - work and home life have gotten the better of me in the last week so haven't had a chance to post the results....

So to the commentary - massive month. More than a couple amazing builds - from awesome bursts, amazing flame tops and stunningly finished guitars - we had a bit of a logjam at the top...

Gonz - TL1-TH -
Nice gentle burst goes nicely with the top. Decked out in gold bling makes it all the more special. Great work.
Interesting and appealing subtle transition/burst on the top with a great colour, and good to see that colour continued on the headstock and back of the neck. The colour on the back of the body is nice, but doesn't quite work as well with the top and neck to my eye. The gold hardware suits the top nicely.
Looks real nice. Love the custom plates. Would like to see the full set of photos though.

DRusso72801 - AGB30 -
Hand painted R2 – amazing work – there are some special guitars here this month, but this takes the cake for me in the I’ve got to pick this one up and have a look at it stakes.
The 'rebel bass' comment sums this up perfectly, it's awesome. I love a white finish continued on the neck etc. and the hand painted graphic is fantastic. Great hardware upgrades and excellent overall result. The thumb rest looks a little too white in the photos, needs a bit of use to darken it slightly.
Insane paint job. Really impressed. Thoughtful customisations. Well executed all round.

Mike.L's TL-1 -
Beautiful finish and depth of colour. Awesome work.
What an incredible looking finish - it just screams time, effort and attention. Strangely, it's the fretboard that really does it for me, love it. Although, it may be a touch too dark and vintage for the rest of the finish. The headstock shape works with the colours to give it a really aggressive feel. Stunning build.
Another great finish. Not my favourite headstock shape for this style of guitar though.

deepeejay's HB-4 -
Lovely golden orange hues in this one – would love to own a bass like this one! Beautiful work.
Classic looking bass. I love the finish on the top (excellent flame) and back and the contrast with the sides. Looks great. Angled tuners look fine as does the absence of a TRC, but a logo/decal would have been nice. Needs a drop of something rubbed into the bridge saddle block, looks a touch raw and dry compared to everything else.
Great job. Looks amazing. Really made the most of this bass.

Gshowell64's IB-1S -
Burst from yellow to red / brown / black is flawless and then repeated on the headstock. Amazing and looks the business to play.
Fantastically wild transition, especially with the matching headstock. Great colours. Looks like there may be some glue traces on the edges of the top and I wish the back had the same transition, that would have been truly epic. Nice upgrades and it makes it look like a whole lot of pickups with all those rails. Great build.
Amazing colour transition on the front. Really well done

Elderdarknessness ES-1 -
In a month of special guitars, hard to go past this one. Love the level of detail and the level of the burst. Overall stunning guitar that would be pride of place in many collections.
Beautiful classic looking build, although we lose some of its glory with the dark background of the photos. Would love to have seen the back. Beautiful finish and nicely modded to achieve the desired result. Really special build.
Near perfect sunburst. Looks incredible. Would love to see it in full light as well.

Ed_guitar's DJB-4 -
Well decked out Jazz bass looks the business – nice finish and all seems to have come together beautifully here in a simple, but awesome guitar.
Definitely a month of epic finishes. Fantastic looking white pearl, although it looks like a touch of ash grain contour is showing through on the back. Red pickguard works nicely and its echo on the back of the headstock has really grown on me. Headstock face and shape look fantastic. Great overall look and nicely modded. Excellent build.
On the surface it looks plainer, but this is a well thought out and executed build. And the finish all around looks amazing.

Trevor Molloy's TLA-1 -
Beautiful, simple and classic. Well executed and looks like a real workhorse and player. Great job.
A really beautiful Tru-Oil gloss with classic colours. Clean, neat and classy. Nicely recessed string-thru, although appears to be a slight tear-out on the high e. Volume knob perhaps set a little low on the shaft and dragging on the control plate? Would be nice to see a logo or decal on the headstock to claim your excellent build. Good choice of upgrades. Really nice result, and something to be proud of.
Beautiful, glassy finish. Very well done. Makes the wood grain a real feature.

Brendan
14-05-2020, 10:30 PM
And the runner up by the slimmest of margins...
Elderdarknessness ES-1 -
Amazing burst and the photo's not bad either. Pretty much any other month and a winner...
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=34669&stc=1&d=1587696224

And the winner -
DRusso72801 - AGB30 -
The level of detail in the paint job and overall effect draws one to this guitar - amazing job DRusso...
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=34442&d=1586476451

drusso72801
14-05-2020, 11:59 PM
Thank you so much for picking the "Rebel Bass" as the winner! To be honest, after seeing the competition, I didn't think I had a chance. The builds this month were simply amazing, so congratulations to everyone! Your kind words are appreciated. I put my heart and soul into this thing and, as my first build, it has sparked a new passion/hobby.

I've already started work on another bass. I like short scale bass guitars, so much to my chagrin I had to go with another manufacturer. I want you and everyone on this forum to know that Pitbull Guitar kits are truly second to none. The quality of this new kit I purchased doesn't hold a candle to Pitbull.

Fretworn
16-05-2020, 04:50 PM
Congrats. So many great entries this month.

Andy40
16-05-2020, 06:50 PM
Unbelievably high bar. great work guys.

jugglindan
17-05-2020, 07:15 AM
I am very humbled by how many of these awesome guitars are first builds. Inspired, but humbled. Great work everyone, and congrats to drusso. The Rebel Bass is amazing!

phrozin
26-05-2020, 11:42 PM
First build and first post. New to both.
Stain burst. Satin lacquer spray. Thru body strings added. Stainless steel 3/16 pop rivets used as ferrules. Worked a treat.

Hi mate this one's closed you need to pop it into June got, welcome man nice job interesting on the ferrules

Andy40
27-05-2020, 03:44 AM
That build....and that couch are awesome