Sikkends First Build! GMS-7F Pitbull.

Hello everyone first time poster here. I just received my GMS-7F Kit, pretty excited to build a guitar, been playing for around 20 years (off and on) and just recently thought about building one. So I stumbled onto Pitbull Guitars so I pulled the trigger pretty quick. So far customer service has been awesome as I Have some issues straight away. I'm going to push through them as best as I can but thought I would post pics to see if anyone has seen these issues (which I think are fairly minor) and perhaps give advise on what can be done. Pretty much the body of the guitar is pretty solid with only minor touch ups needed, The neck however got a little damaged in shipping on the head stock, but then the fretboard its self seems damaged by something, some of the frets are not seated quite perfect, again minor... any ways have a look and let me know what you think.
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Hi and welcome.

New neck time I'd say. That's not good at all.

I was hoping no one would say that, Cant find that neck with that headstock on the site.

Pit Bull should send you out another if you email them with those pictures. They've already replaced one so far of the three similar kits that have builds posted on here, and yours should make a second.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Pit Bull should send you out another if you email them with those pictures. They've already replaced one so far of the three similar kits that have builds posted on here, and yours should make a second.

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I will send them an email and see what they say, Ill keep posted. Just a bummer cause I really wanted to get to work on it.

Well I emailed them and they do not have any necks in stock right now, they can order one but would be looking at several weeks before I would receive it, It does seem as though they plan to compensate me though. Soooo, guess I will get started with what I have now and if nothing else use it as a learning experience, Plan to burst it Like down below except to a green rather than red, Advice on that would be nice if anyone has it, The back will be painted by my artist buddy who does amazing things, Gonna do a Viking theme on it I think. So hopefully it all comes out looking and playing right.
Does anyone have advise on removing the frets so I can attempt to repair my fret board? Any ways Ill post pics as I go.
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Hey, for pulling frets I use one of these:

https://www.bunnings.com.au/trojan-2...plier_p0126938

You will need to grind down the 'front' of the pincer so it sits flat against the fret board and the cutting part can get under the fret. It can be an idea to heat the frets up with a soldering iron as you go to loosen any glue, but I've managed to pull them out pretty easily without doing that. Just go easy and watch for splintering. If you catch those bits (there are always a couple) it's pretty easy to superglue them back in and sand it all nice and flat with all the frets out. Also if you give it a bit of a radius sand you should get plenty of sawdust to use to patch those problem areas with some CA and sawdust, then sand again and it should be apples.

I'd be curious to know how to get that kind of contrast on veneer, since I'd like to do something like a deep red and black with lots of contrast on an (slightly customized) FV-1G eventually. Seems like it's easier on a maple cap since you can sand it more for depth.

To get that burst.. get black ink (stamp pad ink is good) apply with a rag, go over until it is nice and dark.
Sand it back and you will have those nice black figuring lines.
Then use green ink or stain and go over many times lighter in the middle, darker on edges. Probably use a bit of black around out side.
That is how it is done but a better way to get the green is use the "metal cast" paint from an auto store that is made for metallic/ candy paint. Just by the green paint and not the metal base coat.
Coat until you have the depth of green you want.
This gives a beautiful transparent colour so you can still see the grain figuring.
Done both ways many times with great results. A heap of clear coats, sanding between. Wax with vehicle scratch and swirl remover, buff to mirror finish.

Important to note that the flamed tops on Pitbull Guitars are very thin maple veneer (less than 1mm) and do not take much sanding before you break through them.

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Hey, for pulling frets I use one of these:

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Deja Vu!!

That's exactly what I've used on various fret-pulling exploits.

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cheers, Mark.

Sonic mountain makes a very good point. Be very careful sanding the cap. Apply black before doing any sanding. Use 320 grit and go slow. I sanded through the 1mm cap on my second build and had to go with solid colour because I was impatient and used 120 grit. I learned my lesson the hard way.

0.5mm to 0.6mm is more like the veneer thickness as they come on the kits, so any sanding has to be minimal. You really have one go at it. So I wouldn’t do more than one fairly thin application of black otherwise you won’t be able to sand back to expose natural bare maple again before sanding through the veneer. Different if you’ve got at least a 2-3mm thick maple cap, but you haven’t. If you don’t expose the maple (the figuring will take up more of the black), you just end up with a dull, dark version of the main colour. Even some darkening of the figuring will give very nice highlights to the grain. Just don’t expect to get some of the more extreme figuring achievable with thick maple caps.

So inks work better than dye for the black? That would make sense, going over the dye with more dye could pull some of the first application out.

I might have to see about getting some stamp ink or india ink.

Yeah I tried both and the stain was the one I sanded through. Ink seems to not penetrate as deep but brings out figuring nicely.
If you google "blue burst Les Paul" there is YouTube video of a guy doing his LP using black then blue ink.
That was where I got the idea from for my first build and came out awesome.
There is also a YouTube video of a guy doing a sunburst LP with several different colour inks and blending that helped me on some more adventurous finishes.

Thanks for all the reply's, I went ahead and glued the neck in tonight so, just going to hope that my neck issues wont cause any playability issues, Im sure it will be fine, have decided to go ahead and accept this kit as a learning tool so if it don't come out perfect then that's fine, Ill post pics once I dye it.

Ok so quick question what should I use to clear the guitar with? I have stained it didnt get quite what i wanted but actually like the results so far.

I would do tru oil. I love how it really brings out a 3d effect when layered on. Need 10 to 15 coats and long cure time.

You could use clear coat in a can from the auto shop. This is a quick way if you're itching to get playing sooner.

Or wipe on Polly. Min wax brand if you can find it. Harder wearing and less coats needed than tru oil.

Danish oil.

There are heaps of YouTube videos of people doing any of those finishes that show you in detail how to go about it.

Doesn't matter which one you do as you will soon be building more guitars and trying all those methods. Guitar building is more addictive than crack 😛

Tru-Oil is an easy to apply choice, but you may want to coat it with a couple of coats of some some spray shellac first before any Tru-Oil goes on to seal the stain in. It's quite easy to move some stain around when rubbing the first coats of Tru-Oil on, so a spray is a good way to stop that happening as there's no physical wiping action. Shellac is compatible with almost every finish, so there won't be any issues with Tru-Oil. Some people will put 30+ coats of Tru-Oil on if they want a smooth glossy finish, less if you want a more satin look. Each coat is very thin, so you need to apply a lot more coats than you would if you used a spray can (which add a much thicker layer). Then again, it's something you can do inside when its cold and damp, unlike spraying.

So many ways to finish a guitar, none of them wrong, just some are more appropriate for the available workspace and the sort of final look you want.

Ok I will look into Tru-oil. Has anyone had an experience with nitrocellulose finish. like https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...r-lacquer.html

Yes, I use it all the time, though I now use a mini-spray gun and buy it in bottles/tins. Nasty stuff to spray (OK once its dry), so you need to use a proper vapour mask (though you really should with any spray) and spray outside on a warm day or in a very well ventilated workshop. I use a pop-up camping toilet tent as a temporary booth to prevent draughts. Not for spraying indoors. It works out quite expensive to do it with aerosols as it's at least double the cost of acrylic auto lacquers. You'd probably need three x 13 oz/400ml cans of clear; two for the body and one for the neck.

You don't want to spray when it's too cold, too hot, too windy or too humid. Between 14°C/57°F and 25°C/77°F is fine, though nearer 20°C/68°F is best. Too cold or anything above 70%rH is likely to cause some fogging of the finish with trapped moisture. To warm and you can get propellant/solvent bubbles trapped under a surface skin.

The end finish is great though IMO. It's also pretty easy to repair if necessary. It's not as tough as other finishes, but being softer, tends to dent rather than chip off; so looks a lot better as the guitar ages (again IMO). But for small knocks, it will probably mark where harder finishes remain intact.