January 2018 GOTM

[Brendan]

January Guitar of the Month (for Guitars and Basses finished in December 2017)

Enter your finished guitar or bass here to be judged for the Pit Bull Guitars January 2018 Guitar of the Month.

Please remember:

For Guitars or Basses finished on (or before) the end of December 2017

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 January closes at the end of December 2017 (Perth Western Australian time).

The sorts of things we judge on include:
· How well has 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!

[Sonic Mountain]

I'll kick things off with the Rellicaster. Very straight forward build resulting in a nice tidy guitar that is a lot of fun to play and sounds really distinctive. Only upgrades are Grover locking tuners. Painted in automotive acrylic. Minor mods to the bridge route for both intonation and appearance.

Lots more pics and process in the build diary.


https://i.imgur.com/NgUMT7cl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MfqRemZl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/pnNp4ZFl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/n4IFW3Jl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Vz9G3Fhl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8hrsugll.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/GLV8GdWl.jpg

[wokkaboy]

nice one Sonic good start to the new month ! Love the shade of blue and maple neck work really well

[Dedman]

and hot ( and humid) off the presses, finished this morning, the Bird! (it's the word ya know)
Kustom RD ordered by someone else and the factory used the wrong veneer.
Stained in walnut FW stain, top coated in auto acrylic clear. I didn't get it completely flat if I had more clear and it wasn't so hot and humid I may have kept going with more coats and filled the couple of deep grain divots in the top. On the back the grain is just noticeable enough to let you know its wood. Kinda suits the walnut I think.
The kit had 2 pot holes a 3 way switch hole plus a jack socket in the edge. I filled the jack socket with a peice of meranti and moved the jack to the top. The kit came with no hardware or covers, the switch housing cavity was longer than usual so I made up a cover from brass plate and used an off cut to make the truss rod cover. Tuners are open back Wilkinsons, not exactly fine ratio but the Shcaller bridge has finer tuners. Roller bridge is a Wilkinson as well. Pick up is a GFS Dearmond Dynasonic style single coil. It sounds like a cross between a P90 and a Fender Jazzmaster. I used 250K CTS pots a gold Switchcraft jack socket and a .022 Vitamin "T" capacitor as there was heaps of room in the cavity. Gold knobs from Ebay :P I was amazed to find the intonation required very very little adjustment, it's now strung with 10 to 46 Slinky's.

23539
23540
23541
23542

[Sonic Mountain]

Nice one, the brass looks great on the walnut colour.

[wokkaboy]

well done Deddy you are pumping out the axes ! Nice colour and hardware go well. Looks like another tough month to judge already !

Is the TRC and control cover brass ?

[Dedman]

yes Wokka 2mm plate brass.
Last build for a bit, too hot plus saving for my trip in April

[Buzzard]

Hi all.

Playing my LP-1SSP now. Sounds great :)

Finished in Dingotone Outback Sunset, only upgrade was to Grover tuners. All cavities Copper lined. Finish is not perfect but I suspect the weather may be playing around with the top coat a bit. I will give it another going over in a month or so.

23650

23651

23652

23653

[wokkaboy]

looks great Buzzard but no headstock shaping ? Doesn't take much effort to put you own shape on the top of the headstock

[Buzzard]

Thanks,

To be honest, I just didn't have the heart to chew up the spalting.

Others I have built, I have shaped the head. I've even got an oscillating drum sander to do it with :)

I just didn't mind the stock shape.

[Adam Barnes]

Gr1sf stained with dingotone bushfire sunrise and black stump, clear coating with true oil, up grades pickups gretsch blacktop filtertrons, bournes mini pots, braided wire, graphtec tusq nut and a roller bridge 2366923670236712367223673

[wazkelly]

Looks very nice indeed Adam.

[Andyxlh]

These all look great!

[dave.king1]

Damn, these are great.

I know now why I just build them and play them ;)

[Marcel]

The quality of the workmanship in these GOTM builds keeps getting higher and higher... great work by everyone...

I think I'll take my soldering iron and hide under a rock now...

[Swanny]

My GRSF-1 - front stained with a combination of black, blue and red stamp pad ink, covered with True oil. Sides, rear and neck stained with some nasty smelling chemical.
Grover locking tuners
Bone nut
Roller bridge
Magnetic Brace for the Tonewood amp
Reverend guitars soft touch tremelo spring

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4679/38437665014_a87cc0d66a_c.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4686/24286067397_f4213ae2e5_c.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4587/39146328851_07cdaebab6_c.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4739/39115701322_9a9f02129e_c.jpg

[churchie]

My GRSF

WOW!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wokkaboy]

wow two stunning GR entries. Shaping up to be another quality month of entries

[Adam Barnes]

Very nice mr swan

[Swanny]

Very nice mr swan

Likewise, Mr Barnes! :cool:

[JB RETRO]

Battle of the GR1SF's is on. Awsome jobs to both of you

[JohnH]

Man, those two GR entries are spectacular!

[Sonic Mountain]

Very hard to split those hollow bodies. Be interesting to see what the judges have to say this month.

[stan]

Great work everyone, this is a ripper month for builds

[JB RETRO]

Very hard to split those hollow bodies. Be interesting to see what the judges have to say this month.
Hard to go past your Tele Sonic, very understated. I like it a lot

[WeirdBits]

shhhh... if you're very quiet Brendan won't notice the date.

[Swanny]

Hard to go past your Tele Sonic, very understated. I like it a lot

"tis a very tidy unit, that Tele!

[Sonic Mountain]

Thanks for the kind words guys, it is on a plane as we speak (or as I type) to its new owner in Darwin. I'm definitely doing one for myself at some point it was a real blast to play.

[Brendan]

shhhh... if you're very quiet Brendan won't notice the date.

Yep - sorry guys - comps closed. Will get next month's up and running shortly.

[Brendan]

So, with the results in... to the adjudicator's comments, unfiltered and unadulterated...

Sonic Mountain's TL-1M - A fairly straight forward build, but saying that undermines the quality evident here. Superb colour choice, flawless finish and clearly well put together. Love that logo too. Great effort.
Clean, simple, beautiful & well executed
You gotta love the TL kits, they never cease to please. Glad you sorted the top horn Sonic. fantastic paint job that even Jarrod would appreciate. all stock except for grover tuners if I am not mistaken. Great modern take on a classic guitar. well done Sonic.
Great looking Tele, lovely finish - love the blue. Nice to see what can be done with a standard kit.
A nice clean tasty Tele. The blue is a great colour and works nicely with the Maple, chrome and white. Surprisingly, for me, I love the headstock shape and it has a great logo to go with it. Very nice.
Nice clean, simple version of a classic shape. Love single ply scratch plates too. Beautiful shade of blue and well finished. Just not a fan of enlarged headstock.

Dedman custom RD - Not a fan of the RD shape, but this one is a definite exception. Once again, Dedman has nailed all the fine details. Great colour scheme and a nice set of well thought out upgrades.
As always a clever & unique build from Dedman. I can't fault anything here.
Well here we go again, its a custom kit so unique. love the walnut and brass combo and the binding just sets it off. Its a little bit brighter than the usual Dedman style (lol) but she's a beaut.
Great job reviving the guitar, to make something really eye catching. Lots of work here, well done
Another unique build with all the Dedman touches. The colour looks great, especially on the neck (wow) and works well with the gold and brass. Some great hardware upgrades and custom additions. It doesn't really grab me overall, yet remains strangely compelling.
You can always count on Dedman for something a bit left of centre and this one doesn’t disappoint with open back tuners, custom brass control plate and truss rod covers, plus unique pickup, bridge, tail stop and control knobs. Not black but dark enough to be another Dedman classic.

Buzzard's LP-1SSP - That orange really pops! A fine choice to bring out the somewhat lacklustre spalt patterning. Would have liked to see some shaping on the headstock. Who doesn't love P90s? Looking sharp, keep it up!
Shaping the headstock would have made a huge difference. Otherwise a strong effort.
Great job Buzzard. Dingotone Outback sunset with black P90's....mmmmmm. I know the labour of love to finish it in Dingotone so well done to you. sir. I know you'll build another one so i only hope for a build diary next time.
Great job despite the finish issues, a classy axe. Would look good with a logo.
I love a P90 LP build. Nice colour that works well with the black hardware, although it looks like the binding could use a little more scraping in places. Finish is generally good, perhaps some lingering glue along the edge of the cap. The choice of not shaping the headstock does detract from it for me, but it's still a nice build.
Nice colour and good to see some P90’s fitted in a LP for a change. DT curing issues are evident on close up of headstock and I am OK with ‘no-shaping’ look however a logo and better truss rod cover wouldn’t go astray.

Adam Barnes' GR-1SF - Shiny!! Beautifully finished and put together. The truss cover mimicking the headstock is really clever. Nice list of upgrades, I bet it sounds sweet.
Superb! Lovely glossy finish. Unique truss rod cover. A lot to be proud of.
This two tone beauty is just drop dead gorgeous. the figuring on the maple front and back is a treat. I bet it plays well with those bourns minis and gretsch blacktop filtertrons. Twang central! I'm aboard!
super classy build with great upgrades make this a pro quality job - nice work indeed
Talk about bringing out the grain, that right there is an advertisement for Dingotone. I love the way the top and back look, just fantastic. I'm not sold on the black sides and neck, a bit too much maybe, but the colour may look different in person. Interesting truss rod cover. Great hardware upgrades and awesome overall look.
Wow, what a stunner. This came up looking great from every angle. Nice touch with the custom shaped truss rod cover and cool lopo. Also like how back of neck matched and blended in with colour of vertical sides. Should sound great with those upgrades.


Swanny's GR-1SF - I want this one. Excellent fit and finish. Everything works together to create more than the sum of it's parts. Sublime.
Another great job. I'd suggest upgrading the truss rod cover to one that's not straight lines and angles.
Another quality build from Swanny. Nice work with the braided wire loom and tonewood amp mod. Not a massive fan of the stamp pad ink colours on this one, but its certainly different. The gloss on this beast is second to none. Nice work Swanny.
what a great job, another pro quality GR1, cant split these, nice work , nice sensible upgrades the are well improved over stock without breaking the bank
Great custom burgundy colour on the top, in fact I think I would have liked it on the back too. The back colour looks great the way it's the highlighted the grain but seems a bit patchier on the neck. I suspect the colour changes a lot depending on the light/angle. Nice hardware and upgrades. Excellent build.
Another stunner and very hard to separate these two Falcon entries, even the same font was used for their logos! True Queenslander top colour with a great antique side and back look too. Gone for a more classic look with the scratch plate, just needed a better truss rod cover shape to fit in with the rest.

[Brendan]

And the runner up by a nose - take a bow Swanny! The judges loved your GR-1SF and couldn't find much to fault it...
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4679/38437665014_a87cc0d66a_c.jpg

And the winner - congratulations Adam Barnes. Your GR-1SF was sublime and caught the judges eye this month and has resulted in you being the first GOTM winner for 2018!

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=23672&d=1512897514

[Sonic Mountain]

Congrats guys, those were clearly the standouts for this month, the challenge is splitting them. Great work all round.

[Andy40]

Well done guys, well done

[Swanny]

Congratulations, Barnsey on such a classy build!

[Fretworn]

Congratulations all round. A really tough month to judge.

[churchie]

Well done guys.

Those GR-1SF builds will no doubt sell more of those kits!

[JohnH]

Well done guys!

[Dedman]

Congrats guys, glad I wasn't judging this one thats for sure!

[JB RETRO]

Awsome builds all round, a real tough month. AB yours was the one I would have grabbed in the the shop.

[Grubsta]

Congratulations guys some really beautiful guitars this month.

[wokkaboy]

congratulations Barnesy and Swanny, 2 sweet GR-1SF builds. Also rest of the builds were of a high standard.
I was going to enter my votes today, still on holiday mode, so looks like I missed the boat ! I would have voted the same I think

[Brendan]

I was going to enter my votes today,

Yep - the other lads beat you to it Wokks - you get the month off :).

[wazkelly]

Congrats Barnesy & Swanny ....... now that is a famous coincidence......are either one of you named James or John?

Was very hard to split those 2 beautiful GR's and also congrats to all other entrants too as the standard of entries was quite high.

Cheers, Waz

[Adam Barnes]

Wow thanks guys, i feel a bit humbled to win this month with such nice builds entered.