Damon's 7 string w/ Floyd Rose tremolo. IB-7t

Model: Pitbull IB-7
7 string
Floyd Rose Tremolo
Reminiscent of Paul Gilbert's Ibanez RG (I think that's right) sorta shape - descendant of the Stratocaster shape.
Given to me for my birthday / Christmas - a day ago...
Have watched video diaries by three different people building their own Pitbull guitars so far - so I have a fair idea of what will be involved now - generally...
I work as an aluminium cladding fabricator, so I have a good idea of how to go about marking, drilling and such, but the woodwork beyond the sanding will be new to me i.e. the staining etc.
Materials to acquire list so far:
Various grades of sandpaper from around 200 - 1200 for use in that order progressively...
'Sanding sealer'
One bloke who made his 'Gallacaster' used a shoe polish in the staining process.
polyurethane I think it was ... *
was that copper tape ? to line and encase the pickups into the guitar body for sake of less feedback when plugged in.
Going to probably wait until after Chrissie until I start investing in these bits and pieces - which'll give me time to further research and confirm materials required and decide how I start. The Gallacaster bloke started by sanding everything - which is probably what I will do - but one other bloke started by marking and drilling every spot where there'd later be something screwed in. Logic says to me that that'd be my step 2 following sanding - for the reason that their could/would be a difference in depth of hole pre/post sanding. I am a fairly quantitative-minded person. I only ever like the TV volume to be on an even number. My work fabricating cladding panels 2 and 3 metres long sometimes... featuring a width difference of 2mm between two opposite sides of a rectangular panel... I'm used to and understand the importance of being precise... and so this is how I think I am going to want to be when it comes to lining everything up etc with this guitar.
It is a really special thing to me :)
SO COOL!!!
A Seven-string with a Floyd Rose tremolo
This is my birthday / Christmas prezzie love from Katie - so much thought / love into that idea - it is something which I want for the two of us to do together - Katie is really clever, creative and knowledgeable when it comes to handy work and craft, and I can see lots of smiles and kisses through the next weeks to come while we slowly formulate ideas and plans and then carry out the building of the perfect guitar :)
Thank you so much baby!!!!! :)
I am so excited!
I've already watched videos by three different people's videos documenting their building of their own Pitbull guitars and have some idea of what will be needed materials-wise and in the carrying out of the sanding, staining, marking, drilling, attaching, wiring and perfecting :)
That extra string !!! Holy f* yeah! How much more I will be able to express out of this guitar
And the pinch harmonics pulling back on the wammy bar in the floyd rose bridge - absolutely fantastic
Katie you legend.
So Gday community, looking forward to the project and of course, the final product,

Damon, Katie

Welcome aboard damon88! You might want to engage the family filter for posting mate, just a heads up!
The IB kits are great, really nice body shape and simple electrics, look forward to seeing how your 7 string beastie goes.

Gday FrankenWashie,
What is the family filter ? and how do I do it ?

Oh just looked found the bloke I referred to earlier - whose explaining etc in his videos I found really good - Nathan Gallagher

Sorry! I just meant you should be careful about posting the f word etc, the mods like to keep the forum “family friendly” as there are younger builders building kits with dad or in cases grandad.

What are your plans for your kit? Are you going to stain or paint?

Oh! Hahah - I've just gone back and amended the post so as not to be so liberal with explicit language :)

I think I need a bit more research into specifics i.e. best method to bring out grain in the wood on the a) body and b) neck of this guitar - so far I imagine - sanding, sanding sealer, shoe polish... then perhaps... for a black around the edges and dark blue sort of look but I'm hoping that you'll be able to see the grain quite distinctively in the blue. but I haven't looked at all into the painting or chemicals or oils or coat specifics w.r.t. the woods

For a translucent look you need to go with stains, Feat Watson are used by many, the PBG dingotone dyes are good, some guys mix their own shades from packet powdered dyes. Shoe polish has has a run, as has coffee solutions, India ink washes and some other weird and wonderful stuff.
The key is to test on some scrap wood to start with to see if the effect you have in mind will work. Maple necks are hard as, so when you sand back don’t go past about 240 grit else the dye may not take.
To highlight grain you can use a timber mate mix and then sand back, or wipe on a dark dye, then use a wet rag to draw most of the dye off the surface, leaving dark highlights in the grain (experiment on scrap first!).
There are a bunch of guys that have good advice with this sort of thing here, Andy40, Dedman, VH2580 are really great resources and their threads are good reading.

Above all Enjoy the experience, but be warned it becomes addictive!

thank you very much for the advice :)

Mate, it sounds like a beasty. Good to hear you are stoked

Attachment 23905
in the midst of 'dry build'