August GOTM

August GOTM

Guitar of the month Comp time again! While for this there are no fortunes (just fame - or at least within the BYOGuitar fraternity) there's an opportunity for fame for the best guitar completed in July 2017.

August Guitar of the Month (for Guitars and Basses finished in July 2017)

Enter your finished guitar or bass here to be judged for the Pit Bull Guitars August 2017 Guitar of the Month.

Please remember:

For Guitars or Basses finished on (or before) 31 July 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 August closes 31 July 2017.

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.

I'm a personal fan of demos - no matter how simple - everyone likes to hear how an axe has turned out!

Also worth thinking - we've got a range of judges and who knows what they'll like (or not), so don't be afraid to enter your guitar - no matter whether you think it's good enough to win or not - on the day, you may get a couple to swing your way!

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

First entries - apologies to Yorev and Isaac - with my PC down, I missed emails from them both with entries from last month, so I'll kick this month off with them.

Yorev's MK-2
In his own words:
Started as an MK-2, but I had a midcentury aesthetic in mind - I love old neon signs and architecture from that period - solid yellow color, chrome accents (pickup cover at the bridge found on ebay), arrowhead on the headstock, and carefully replicated lettering and stars from an old "Satellite Motel" sign I stumbled across in a forgotten beach town. I had several potential colors in mind, but I picked the yellow as it fit the aesthetic and it just so happens that its the one color of guitar I've never owned, outside of pink. (I actually considered pink for novelty, but it didn't match the theme)

Finish is a synthetic lacquer I tried that was actually pretty easy to work with, though a bit pricey. One surprise was the clearcoat actually containing a small amount of pearl flakes - the resulting light sparkle isnt very prominent, thankfully, but it is visible at times when the guitar is moved against directed light. One surprise was that its quite visible at the sides of the fretboard against the dark rosewood, so I joke that I have "sparkle frets".

Headstock design came about because I really wanted to use that old sign lettering but knew I couldnt paint it. So instead I printed the design on adhesive vinyl, carefully applied it and then clearcoated over it. The sparkle from the clearcoat is fairly obvious there, though in the photo here it kind of looks like dust (grr).

Only kit part I didnt use was the bridge pickup cover, I found a chrome one on Ebay and it matches the hardware and minihum very nicely. And I put straplocks on instead of the included strap buttons, but thats a really minor difference no one would spot.

Final result is a nice vintage low-gain tone, surprisingly bassy at the neck pickup and clear at the bridge. I'm not ruling out the possibility of putting a louder bridge pickup in, but I wont be doing that for another few months at least, if at all.

And some more photos...

And the last one:

Isaac has also entered - looks like an LP-1!

In his email he says:

Hi!
I just put together my first Pitbull kit.
It's a Les Paul Jr modded like a Sonex with Grover tuners and Iron Gear pickups.
Turned out really nice!

Thank you for a great kit!

Off to a flying start nice work!

Two cool entries to start the month.
Bman, Isaac's entry is a modified LP junior. Very cool mods

I love the LP Jr. Darth Vader could jamb with this

I put Irongear pickups in a lot of guitars in the past. Good choice!

Both of these are really sweet