GMS-7F first build

Hello there,

First, i must admit that I'm impressed how quickly the kit get here. Ordered last Tuesday, already here in Switzerland.

Now the kit in itself. First time I got a kit. There's an impression of quality when looking at the wood.

But by looking closely, there are some minor (i hope so) issues. Maybe you can advise me on what to do next.

First, the fretwork:

Frets 12 14 and 15 looks short on the high E side. Maybe not a playable issue but certainly an aesthetic one.
Attachment 37610

Second, the fretboard:

There's this white line running along the fretboard. What do you think of it ?
Attachment 37611

Also, a corner of the nut is broken
Attachment 37612

Third, the body:
There's is a bit of wood missing on the neck pocket.
Not sure if this an issue or not
Attachment 37613
Attachment 37614

I just want to know what are real issues and if i must contact PBG.

Thanks

I can’t see anything that wrong with the frets from the picture. If anything the 12th fret looks a bit long. I have the tools, so I’d run a fine file down the edge of the board to try and even things up slightly. You may not feel thus is something you could do or would be prepared to do.

The fretboard is ebony. Not all ebony is solid black, and most ebony is figured. This figured ebony has often been just thrown away before. But now with more and more woods become endangered, it is being used in guitar building. So what you have is perfectly natural. You are not going to get a dark ebony board on a low-cost guitar kit (it is mow very expensive and hard to get), but you get the benefits of the smooth dense wood for the fretboard but with more affordable and less endangered figured ebony instead. I’ve had a couple of guitars with figured ebony boards (some very figured) and I like them. There’s always the option of using a black stain if you don’t like the effect.

The nut is an awkward one as you won’t get a drop-in replacement because of the angle. You’d have to get a blank and cut your own nut slots. Which requires having a set of expensive nut files. I wouldn’t leave a nut with square edges at the ends, I’d round them off, which would take care of some of the damage. On a Gibson-style nut I’d also do a full round-off the rear of the nut, but I’d only do a very gentle rounding of the back of the nut on a Fender-style slitted nut like this. If the nut is quite tall and if the nut slots can be cut a lot deeper, then you can also file down the top of the nut so that the nut is only just tall enough to cover the strings. But without nut files, you’d need to file down the bottom of the nut to lower the slots, which means you couldn’t also file the top and remove the damage. So you’d really need to be sent a replacement nut.

The chipped veneer is the killer though. It’s not easily repairable and you shouldn’t have to. If you were planning on a sprayed sunburst finish, then you could fill in the chip and the sunburst edge should cover it. But if you were planning on a single colour top, then there’s nothing you can do but return it.

Thanks Simon,

I'm quite reassured on the fretwork and rounding the nut should just do.

For the body, i was thinking of a dark purple burst dye. I guess i could just fill the hole and do a darker (blackish) color around the neck pocket.
Even put small bits of black paint if needed...

Hi,

Doing a mock build, i realised that the nut is mounted upside down (don't know if that shows in the picture).

Attachment 37620

Is it easy to get it off and reglue it correctly?

Also, when i put the neck flush in its pocket, the pickup won't fit in.
If i want the pickup to not touch the body or the neck (picture) then i barely get my scale length on the high E side.
Attachment 37621

Note that I'm already at what the predrilled string hole allows me to be
Attachment 37622

Is it gonna be a problem for intonation?

Lastly, pickups cavities are really shallow and wire holes are poorly placed.
The bridge pickup with its wire plus the neck stand out a lot.
Attachment 37623

I think that's all. I don't know what to think...
Cavities and holes are doable.
The nut... tricky but still doable.
And for the scale length i just don't know.

Thanks for letting me know what you guys would do in the same situation.

Usually the nut is easy to get out. I lay a block of wood on the front of the nut and give it a slight knock with a rubber hammer. I then repeat on the back side. Usually that will crack the glue and I can tap it out easily. That said, I have had one case where a plastic nut was stuck really solidly to the glue, and a chunk broke off when i tapped it out. That was not a problem since I wanted to replace the nut anyway. It's only happened once to me, and others may have a better technique...but you can break a plastic nut taking it out. It's one reason I use a drop of yellow glue rather than CA to put the nut in. I want to hold it in place, but not bind so well to the nut material that I can't get it out without breaking it.

On the saddle, if the measurement is correct to the saddle it should be fine. If you nee need to move it toward the nut, you can always just replace the screw with one that is a couple of mm longer.

Hard to tell about the pickup cavities. My guess is that once you string it, you won't need to drop the pickup much lower. The strings will ride a bit higher once there is the tension of all 7 pulling. Also, did you run the wire to the cavity? If the pickup is sitting on the wire, that would put it too high. You could drop the bottom, or enlarge the holes...or make a channel for the wire, with a Dremel tool if need be.

Tap out the nut from the ends. Tapping along the main axis of the neck can help free the nut from glue but must be done very lightly as it can break off the end part of the fretboard if you use too much force. But tapping along the slot is fine, though the angled end will make it more frail and prone to breaking. I fear you may still need a new nut sent from Pit Bull.

As there aren't any humbucker rings to fit, you can position the neck so that it lines up with the edges of the pickup rout. You have it slightly forward of those edges in the picture. If the pickup doesn't fit in the rout when you do this then the rout has been cut incorrectly for the pickup.

The intonated length of the top E will be about 1mm-1.5mm back from the nominal scale length position, so as long as you can achieve the scale length you'll be fine. But don't forget to check the bottom string for its 27" scale length position being correct.

That bridge pickup looks very near or is almost touching the string on the high E side. You'll want a bit more clearance than that, so you may have to do some deepening of the rout so you can at least run the cable underneath without it pushing up the pickup. It looks OK on the bass end so it's only the cable that's causing the problem. As Fender3x says, a Dremel is a useful tool in pickup cavities and I've used a sanding drum on one to enlarge and deepen pickup routs many times.

Don't forget the bridge grounding wire route. The wire itself doesn't need to be thick, but if you drill the hole for it to the bridge pickup cavity, make sure that it will fit in to the rout and back out the pickup lead hole without getting in the way of the pickup.

Thanks for the replies.

Those are great advices.
I'm relieved, everything can be fixed with a bit of work.

I'm maybe gonna ask for a replacement nut, between the removal and sanding to round this corner, there's too much chances i break it.

Now sorry to bring that back but what is the best way to fill this hole?

Attachment 37637

Should I glue the neck than fill? Or trying to rebuild an angle?
Which material is best?

Thanks again

The nut on mine had such little glue holding it that it was loose by the time it arrived. If yours is anything like mine it shouldn't be too hard to get it loose.

The neck pickup cavity is kind of a problem, yeah. The cavities are shallow and I'm not sure there will be room to route the cables under the pickups once they are screwed in. I expect to have to route a spot for them.

Scale length is odd. I'll remeasure with a pickup in the cavity when I get a chance but when I measured before on mine it looked perfect on the high E side and concerning on the low side. My best guess is that the "27 inch" scale has compensation for saddle needing to be back further on the heavier strings. If not I'm not sure it will go back far enough.

That neck pocket damage is really rough. I would definitely be seeking advice here from someone who is better with wood than me, but that will be difficult to make look good with a stain or dyed finish.

Nice thanks.

I'll measure length again on both sides before doing any work.

Little update:

PBG are going to send me another neck as the actual one does not meet their quality standard. Hopefully it will get here as soon as the first shipment.

Now I'm eager to start working on the body but shouldn't i wait for the new neck and re-measure everything before?

Thanks

I'd wait. They should be cut from the same template, but you never know - there may be two or three templates used by the factory that have slightly different dimensions. You could work on the body but if the neck is too loose or too large, you may need a complete new kit. But if you want to progress and risk possibly wasting some time and materials, then it's your choice. It's highly likely that the new neck will fit just as well as the old one did.

Thanks Simon, (my auto-correct already propose your name when I write thanks :)

I'm gonna wait even if it's a bit frustrating but i don't want to be denied a replacement if the new neck doesn't fit...

See y'all in a week or so (hopefully).

Hi there,

I received the new neck yesterday, everything seems to be fine.
The frets are regularly cuts on low and high sides.

Attachment 37721

Did a leveling/polishing job on the frets and it went quite quick.

Unfortunately (if I may complain), I'm in holidays and I don't want to mess up things doing poor work at home as there is a wood workshop at work with skilled people to help me.

So, see you next week.

Have an enjoyable holiday and see you soon!

I have just seen this thread so a little late to the party!

I am glad you got a replacement neck. Those frets did look short to me. Also, the board itself appeared to be made of 3 separate strips laminated together - not good.
As Simon said, the days of pure black ebony are long gone and nearly every board will have the figuring you have to some degree. You can use black ink to dye it and even the colour up or alternatively use shoe scuff dye.

The body is still the major issue you have. If your colleagues at work have access to a small splinter of maple then I am sure a nearly invisible repair could be made. Just be careful not to spread any glue on the the surface.

Have you checked the fit of the new neck to the body yet?

Good luck.

Cheers
Ricky

Hi,

Thanks Ricky for the reply. I have checked the neck and my measurements are ok as I can fit the neck pup and I got my scale length. I must say I'm happy with it.

And for the body dent, I'll fill that with "i don't know what yet" and just spray a black burst around the edges of the top. Should look nice.

I also made route for the neck pup wire in the bridge pup cavity. Now they're both flush with the top.

Attachment 37749

Attachment 37750

A little burnt smell but I'm happy.

Of course I didn't cover the top before doing that so now it's a bit dirty, but im starting to think that i don't absolutely want to go for a stained top.

Let's see how it goes...

Would be a shame to cover a lovely flamed maple top with a solid colour.

I would try the burst as you suggest (any hard wood used the fill the neck/body fault) and a thin black burst around all edges and then the dark purple as you initially wanted (I love purple - see my signature, Build #2)
Plenty of advice on here for getting the desired finish.
If it all fails or you do not like it then solid colour is still an option - difficult the other way round.

Cheers
Ricky

Hi there,

Been busy at home, busy at work, but here's a little update:

Glued the neck and managed to get a nice joint that is aesthetically pleasant and ergonomically good.

Before
Attachment 37826

After
Attachment 37827

Seems a lot of wood gone but in reality, not so much.

Will do a little more sanding and then, go to paint job.

Much nicer! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lickmydoo

Hi there,

Been busy at home, busy at work, but here's a little update:

Glued the neck and managed to get a nice joint that is aesthetically pleasant and ergonomically good.

Before
Attachment 37826

After
Attachment 37827

Seems a lot of wood gone but in reality, not so much.

Will do a little more sanding and then, go to paint job.

---

Thats drop dead sexy, that is! Nice work there mate!

Nice one, well done.

Thanks guys.

I can't wait to start dying and painting but the paint guy at work has his holidays and I don't want to mess things up by doing myself without advices...

It's a game of patience

Hello there,

I started finishing the guitar.

Did a lot of sanding, dying, sanding again. I cannot say I'm totally happy with the result but I'm think I'm done.

First step:

Attachment 37880

Several steps later:

Attachment 37881

Next i will spray some black around the edges.

Hello there,

Back on track after two quarantine (20 days of isolation). I didn't touch the guitar as i wanted to have some quality times with my family (all in all it was a great experience andopportunity).

So last week I got back to work on my kit. Dying was not pleasing me so I'd go with a solid color.

After first layer of primer, it appeared that every inch of the binding was either not leveled with the body on the side or not flush with the top.

So I'd put a lot of wood mastic for the top but also on the neck joint. For the side i sanded flush and mastic the gaps.

Now it looks quite good.

My plans now are:
Spraying another layer of primer. If it looks good I'll spray some white acryl paint and some black crackling effect on top.

I'm glad I took a "pause" to gather info and ideas so I'm really excited to resume working on the project.

See y'all folks

Binding is meant to be scraped and sanded back, so ideally it should be slightly proud of the body before any finish is applied. Of course if you just stain and then clear coat over the top, you'll want to do that pretty much as part of the staining process, but if you are doing a solid colour or a sunburst where there will be some depth to the finish, then apply that, then scrape and sand the binding level, then clear coat over the top (if you are doing clear coat).

If you make the binding level with the body before applying your finish, even 0.3mm of finish thickness will mean the binding is then below the finish and you'll have a slight edge around the binding. It just makes it a lot harder to get a neat edge as the edge is then more vulnerable.

Hello there,

Significant update:

My painting is done :

Attachment 38341

Attachment 38342

It isn't as regular as I wanted to be. But still good looking.

Next step, lacquer.

Hello there,

Little update after first layer of lacquer.

Attachment 38417

It seems the lacquer added a bit of contrast.
I'm pleased by how this is going.

Next layer tomorrow

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lickmydoo

Hello there,

Little update after first layer of lacquer.

Attachment 38417

It seems the lacquer added a bit of contrast.
I'm pleased by how this is going.

Next layer tomorrow

---

Really liking that finish lick!

Hello there,

As we say in French : VOILÀ

Attachment 38546

(Sorry for the mess in background)

I had a rough time leveling the frets as i started sanding only to realise that one fret was not correctly slotted and after pushing it down it was too low so i had to level again.

Now i got a pretty low action no fret buzz exept when I hit the low B too hard. Bridge was correctly placed, intonation is ok.

As i expected, machine heads are low quality and pups are somehow not so bad as i thought, maybe a bit muddy on the low end but a screamer type od just do the trick.

It was a great experience. I learned a lot about guitar tech but also about myself.

Thanks to everybody (mention to Mr Barden) for support and info and insight etc.

Have a great holidays, special thoughts for the UK members and hopefully next year will be better than the last.

Well that didn’t turn out as you originally planned. Very impressive none the less. Amazing finish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

Well that didn’t turn out as you originally planned. Very impressive none the less. Amazing finish.

---

Thanks.

I'll try to post some better pictures in the future

Nice finish. Reminds me of some 1980s Washburns, the EC29 and EC36, though on a closer look, the painting technique was very different but with a quite similar end result.

https://images.reverb.com/image/uplo...9xalw3oi9k.jpg

Well done!

That turned out really well. How are you finding playing it. How is the learning curve to fan frets and 7 strings?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

That turned out really well. How are you finding playing it. How is the learning curve to fan frets and 7 strings?

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About the fanned frets:

It takes me about 5 minutes to not think about it.
Some strange chords shapes i struggle with on a standard fretboard now goes surprisingly quick.
And when you goes up the neck, the frets gets closer giving a sense of fluidity for soloing.

As for the 7th string,
It took me a little time to calibrate myself on the low E which isn't the last string anymore. And I must think about my left hand thumb position more than I want to really cover all the width of the fretboard. But that's something I should do on a regular guitar too. Scale wise, i tuned it in B. So the scales just goes as the first two strings. Quite natural.

Last thing about the fanned bridge is to palm mute the low strings. You have to really get your right hand back otherwise you are really muting the string.

In the end, it's really enjoyable and I'm not disoriented when playing back on a regular fretboard. I'm surprised by the learning curve and the fact that I'm not overthinking the playability lets me just play.

Great