My first Pit Bull build: IB-1F

Hi folks, I'm back. Well, after an injury to my arm stopped me in my tracks, Ive been waiting patiently, (that's a lie) on the sidelines hoping to be able to kick off a kit build. So now I'm finally at a point where i can hold tools and do much sanding, its time to kick things off.

The kit I've chosen is the IB-1F, with the flamed top and the floyd. I envisage a steep learning curve ahead. I did however spec it with the neck from the AIB-1F kit, as I wasn't a fan of the busy inlay on the original neck.

And here is where I need to tap in to the wealth of knowledge at my fingertips.
The top had a few marks in it, and Adam guided me to a very helpful you tube clip on how to steam small dings back to shape. I think it was pretty successful so far. Ill try to put a before and after pic in. There's also a bit of a 'crease' for want of a better term that i'm a little concerned about

So the original plan was to do the sides and back in an automotive candy style red, with a translucent red over the maple top, though some doubts are creeping in about the marks in the top. Can i fill them with timber mate and super carefully sand them smooth, then carry on? I know the veneer is incredibly thin, so any thoughts on how to make the grain pop? is it so thin that the traditional dark stain then sand back is no longer an option? ive heard of ebony timber mate being used, though im unfamiliar with the technique required. Ok thats probably way too many questions to start with. Over to the more knowledgable ones.....

the dent before steaming
https://i.imgur.com/h4J4Dls.jpg
and after
https://i.imgur.com/i0UubYo.jpg
and the crease i was talking about
https://i.imgur.com/hVAvfpS.jpg

AM i wasting my time trying to preserve the maple top. Am i better off just filling and sanding and going full opaque on the whole body?

The way I'd look at it is that there's no actual downside to giving it a go with the maple top. Isn't the worst that can happen that you decide it looks like hell and sand it back and give it a solid colour paint job? I wouldn't put filler in the dent though, dont think there's too much chance of that looking good.

Good point Jim. Can only try. Solid colour will hide it if it’s awful


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+1 to that. Those are nasty dents, but it would be a shame to waste the flame in the maple if there's still a chance of getting it.

It's also worth having a couple of goes at the steaming process, it might get better with another go.

You will want to build up a decent amount of clear coat over it anyway, so a lot of minor imperfections will disappear in that process.

I have also recently been getting into using CA (CyanoAcrylate - AKA Super glue) glue as a wood sealer. There is quite a bit of information online on how to do it. You could definitely use that to fill the depressions and then use the clear of your choice over it.

Thanks for the suggestion Sonic. I’ll look into the CA. Always good to hear of a new technique to explore. I’ll give the steam another go this weekend with my larger soldering iron. I don’t think the small one really did the technique justice


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You can also use a normal clothes iron.

Seriously! Why didn't I think of that? I can spread the heat wider with the iron and hopefully even it out. See, that's why I was hoping to tap into your knowledge banks


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Yep, always keep an old clothes iron in the workshop. Repeated short steamings - dampen, apply iron, allow to dry, repeat - can bring out some major dings and is less likely to go horribly wrong.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...ap_iron_02.jpg

Thanks WeirdBits. I'm going to give it a try with the clothes iron and see if we can't contour up a miracle or two


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So I’ve been slowly piecing together the parts I want, to upgrade this build to level I think it deserves. Pickups on the way, upgraded switches and pots and a push pull for coil splitting.
I’ve been in two minds about the pretend Floyd Rose that came with the kit. I mean, they don’t even spell Rose right!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9598ec350a.jpg
So I bought myself a Gotoh GE1996t locking trem. When it arrived I realised the posts are quite a bit larger than the kit ones, so to fit them it’ll require enlarging the holes in the body.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d704a1408a.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2c68413fe9.jpg
My worry is that it going to leave the body a bit thin around the front of the hole. The new hole will only need to be enlarged around a mm. Has anyone tried this before? If it’s too risky I’ll use the kit bridge , but my new one is soooo pretty, I really want to use it. Maybe it’s destined for another project. Decisions decisions https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...768b13a248.jpg


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Are the kit studs the same thread as the Gotoh ones?
If so, maybe you can use the kit bushes and the Gotoh studs together.

No such luck unfortunately. The studs are quite are a bit bigger. At this stage I think I'll roll the dice and drill for the new studs. If it all goes pear shaped it'll end up a solid colour hard tail.


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If its' only 1mm in total, then you are only moving the hole back by 0.5mm. I don't see any real problem. In addition the new post studs are longer, so will have less overall force on the sides per unit area than the kit studs would have. If you can visualise the studs pivoting around an axis half-way down the stud, then the normal force will be towards the front of the hole at the top and towards the rear of the hole at the bottom of the studs, so you are moving the rearward force deeper and further away from that thinner area of wood (at least on the low E side).

Just make sure that the body has enough depth to accommodate the longer studs before drilling the wider longer holes, and if so, carefully measure the stud depth and don't go any deeper!

Thanks Simon. Yeah I figured the half mm should hopefully be safe. The body is deep enough to take the new studs so that's a bonus.
I'd never thought of how the force is distributed. Thanks for explaining it. I think I'll do some measuring today to check the scale length to make sure the bridge placement is spot on. Otherwise I'll probably have to plug the existing holes and redrill. But eyeballing it, it looks like it sits in the same place pretty comfortably.
Here we go!


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Sooooo, today didn't go quite to plan. After much umming and ahhhing, I decided to bite the bullet and drill for the new Gotoh bridge. Lots of checking and double checking. Drilling test holes in a scrap piece of wood and deciding what size drill to use. And i'm ready to rock n roll. I set the body up in the drill press and enlarged the holes.
Attachment 37012
Lubed up the first stud with some bees wax and started gently tapping it in. "Look at me go!" I'm thinking.
And then I hear this sort of "click", and there's a hair line crack in the body. so i flip it over and there's a slightly bigger crack on the back side.
"oh no no no no!" me thinks. Now i've always said the difference between an apprentice and a tradesman is how they react when things go pear shaped. And for a second I thought this was firewood. Twenty years ago it would have been sent flying, but this time I tried to keep my cool. While the crack was slightly open I filled it with Titebond as best i could. Then inched the stud out and saw a satisfying amount of squeeze out as it settled a little. Ok, walk away and leave it alone says I.
Attachment 37013
And after a few hours of thinking and cuppas, i decided that i really can't stuff it any more than i have, so why not try to reinforce it a little and see what happens. And enlarge the holes a smidge. Just a smidge, not a full bees dick.
So i made a little stitching piece and glued it in. Tomorrow is a new day. We'll see what happens when i tap that stud in. Ahhh we live and learn i guess
. Attachment 37014
Attachment 37015

That's not good, but congratulations on carrying on and recovering. You really can't do much if the wood's not good.

How wide were the studs and what drill did you use?

Kudos to you. That’s a horrible thing to happen and it sounds like you’ve kept your cool. Hope the fix can be hidden. If not, do we simply smile and think it’s all part of the guitars character and history? Another perfectly imperfect guitar?

The studs measure 11.3mm. StewMac recommended an 11mm hole so I drilled a test hole at that and also a 7/16” one as well. The 11mm felt snug, the 7/16 a tiny bit loose so I decided to go with the 11mm. In hindsight I think I should have gone with the 7/16 and given them a little titebond for good measure.
Chalk it up to inexperience. Perhaps modifying the kit to take a different bridge was a step too far on my second kit. I have to work this morning but I’m itching to have a go at refitting them.


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Mark I think the trem will hide it from the top and there’s a rear cover plate that should hide any sins so I’m hoping it’ll be ok. To be honest, If that’s the last mishap with this kit I’ll be pretty stoked. Still very much the beginner.


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I'd guess that even with the slightly bigger hole, you'd probably get a crack appearing once you used the trem. All down to the wood being weak rather than your actions. As long as it's now stabilised and you can hide it, then no great harm has been done.

And there's always the 'paint the cavities black' option.