My first kit build - GS-7Q

It’s been a few weeks since I received my kit from Pitbull Guitars here in Canada, but I have moved to a new house and didn’t have time to really start the project.
Apart from a few minor glitches, I am really happy and looking forward to this.
Some of the small issues I’ve seen so far:
1) A couple of cracks in the Mahogany body. I did fill them with woodfiller, hoping it will be good enough.
2) The dots at 12th frets are completely out of line. Maybe I’ll route something with a personal design to cover this up.
3) The 3-way switch hole has not been routed deep enough, but it should be fairly simple to remove more material so that the switch can be attached on the top.
4) The 24th fret was completely out of its pocket. It was an easy fix, I’ll see later if it needs some glue too.

Éric

I’ve been working a little on the headstock to personalize it. My goal was to have the Mahogany to show along with the Quilted maple.

And also, I am planning on reshaping the heal of the neck to make it align perfectly with the neck pocket. My new Japanese saw rasp should be useful to do this.

Headstock is looking great! well done Eric :)

Agreed, headstock looks great!

A few days late, but...

Yes, nice work. You obviously have some woodworking skills which will be a big asset with your build.
I look forward to seeing this progress.

Cheers,
Mick

Thanks Mick and all! If I have some skills, I am discovering them as I go, as it is a first for me to work with wood. But I like beautiful things, so I naturally make my life more difficult whenever I can!!! It should progess faster when I’ll have time to reshape the heel of the neck.

Éric

Update
I have now reshaped the heel to join the neck pocket more seemlessly. I have also done the first pass of grain filler on the mahogany part of the body. Slowly getting there...

Some progress. Pore-filling and first tung-oil coats.

Oh we liking this...especially that reprofiled neck heel. The FrankenLab loves a smooth transition!

Nice work Eric!

I have a question for the most experienced here. I am planning in advance for installing the electronics, and noticed that there is no hole routed for the ground to the bridge post. Can I drill a hole in any of the four holes out there? All videos I’ve seen were putting the ground wire in the bushing hole where the strings are attached, but it is very far away for drilling a clean channel for the wire.
Could I simply use the hole leading to the bridge pickup and drill from there to the nearest bushing hole (see picture)?

That should not be a problem Eric, it will just be a bit painful getting set up to do that.
I’ve used long series 3 mm drill bits to do the same.
Would it be easier to try and come to that post hole from the control cavity perhaps?

So it doesn’t matter to which of the posts I am inserting the ground wire?
I feel the shortest path for drilling is from the bridge pickup, but I’ll have a closer look soon.

It doesn’t really matter, as long as you get good contact between post and earth connection.
I would question going in via the pick up as it might mean you can’t get enough angle on the drill to get it low down in the cavity.
I avoid it if I can just because I don’t like extra wires in behind the pups. That’s just a personal thing, if you can get it in through there easy enough then go for it.

Thanks Franken, it helps a lot!
I just finished my red burst. Can’t wait to see how it will look like with the polyurethane!

It starts to shine. Approaching time to put this together, after a good fret leveling job.

Oooooo, that’s some nice work there Eric, great job!

A few progress photos. I did the final polishing on the top and headstock, along with a quick assembly to have an overall look of where it is going. Next step: gluing the neck and body. Then the electronics. I have new pots and a 2-contact jack so I wil redo all the wiring from scratch. Also waiting for pickups upgrade, a set of Warman Deadly Sinners.

Nicely done. Great gloss.

How did you apply the poly?

I did my own mix of water-based Polyurethane and Mineral Spirits (60-40 eye-balled)
I applied it with a paper rag, wiping it after 5-8 minutes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

Nicely done. Great gloss.

How did you apply the poly?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eric67

I did my own mix of water-based Polyurethane and Mineral Spirits (60-40 eye-balled)
I applied it with a paper rag, wiping it after 5-8 minutes.

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I've never used water based poly, but everything I've read says it can only be thinned with water.
Mineral Spirits (what we call Mineral Turpentine) is used for thinning oil based products. It certainly looks like it worked, but I'm curious how.

It doesn't seem possible from a chemistry view. (However, I am not a chemist)

Hello Eric,
I have the exact same kit and am still in the process of choosing finishing materials. At the moment I have only a white stain that I had mixed for me to use to create a whitewash for a burst effect.
I really want to bring out the quilted maple. I am completely unfamiliar with staining wood, beyond basic furniture or decking. What materials and steps do you recommend to get that grain to pop as you have. I was under the impression that maple didn't require a grain filler.
Thanks in advance for ANY advice that you care to offer.
Cheers!

I had seen many videos of how to make home-made wipe-on poly, and I notice just now that mine is water-based and should not work with mineral spirits. But in the end it blended well and I am happy with the result, so the consequences are not dramatic.
I am refinishing the back (I sanded it back yesterday because of clamping marks, although I thought I was careful). I will try this time to thin the poly with water and see if it works differently for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

I've never used water based poly, but everything I've read says it can only be thinned with water.
Mineral Spirits (what we call Mineral Turpentine) is used for thinning oil based products. It certainly looks like it worked, but I'm curious how.

It doesn't seem possible from a chemistry view. (However, I am not a chemist)

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Hi Theorn,
I did grain-fill the top too, first to fill the wood fibers to minimize the quantity of poly absorbed, and second to bring the quilted maple to pop up. I simply added some black tint in the wood filler which was also thinned with water to be easier to apply. After that I did a light sanding (beware of the very thin veneer while doing this). I am a beginner also, so I was just experimenting with some of the stuff I have seen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Theorn

Hello Eric,
I have the exact same kit and am still in the process of choosing finishing materials. At the moment I have only a white stain that I had mixed for me to use to create a whitewash for a burst effect.
I really want to bring out the quilted maple. I am completely unfamiliar with staining wood, beyond basic furniture or decking. What materials and steps do you recommend to get that grain to pop as you have. I was under the impression that maple didn't require a grain filler.
Thanks in advance for ANY advice that you care to offer.
Cheers!

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The neck was glued on 2 days ago and first stringed yesterday. A quick setup showed good playability right on (the neck was prepared and fret polished prior to that).

Sorry I was wrong with the wipe-on poly I made. The Polyurethane was indeed oil-based.

The poly was oil-based finally. Sorry for misleading.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

I've never used water based poly, but everything I've read says it can only be thinned with water.
Mineral Spirits (what we call Mineral Turpentine) is used for thinning oil based products. It certainly looks like it worked, but I'm curious how.

It doesn't seem possible from a chemistry view. (However, I am not a chemist)

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eric67

The poly was oil-based finally. Sorry for misleading.

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Phew! That's good.
I can stop feverishly scouring the interwebs trying to figure out how to thin water based poly with turps!!! :o

What a rollercoaster of emotions!

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eric67

Hi Theorn,
I did grain-fill the top too, first to fill the wood fibers to minimize the quantity of poly absorbed, and second to bring the quilted maple to pop up. I simply added some black tint in the wood filler which was also thinned with water to be easier to apply. After that I did a light sanding (beware of the very thin veneer while doing this). I am a beginner also, so I was just experimenting with some of the stuff I have seen.

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I'll use a grain filler for the back but I think that I'll skip it for the maple veneer. My big question at this stage is, Should I use black pigment to accent the maple top before going back with my white stain. I want the finished result to be a white washed center burst with black/grey stain around the edges and back.
Thanks for the tips. You've definitely helped to steer me in the right direction. Picking up a piece of quilted maple to test different options seems like the way to approach this for sure.

I just got a kit like this for Christmas, ground wire hole wasn’t drilled and I can’t find a wiring diagram anywhere that matches the wires coming from the pickups


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Hi Blocka,
it would pay to start your own build diary and post your questions there.

I think Eric67 had the same issue with the bridge ground wire not being drilled. See post 10 of this thread.

As for the wiring diagram. Is it "Two Humbuckers to 2 Pots and a 3 way Switch" ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trevor Davies

Hi Blocka,
it would pay to start your own build diary and post your questions there.

I think Eric67 had the same issue with the bridge ground wire not being drilled. See post 10 of this thread.

As for the wiring diagram. Is it "Two Humbuckers to 2 Pots and a 3 way Switch" ?

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That’s how I found his thread, has given me much information. And good to know I’m not the only one with the issues.

It is indeed. 2 humbuckers, 2 pots and 3 way switch however the diagram in the website doesn’t have all the wires coming from the pickups


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Do the humbuckers have 4 wires with 2 already soldered together?

If that is the case - the two that are soldered together just need to have their soldered connection taped up (so it cannot be accidently grounded in the control cavity) and then ignored. Those two wires literally are just joining the two single coils of the humbucker together in series.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trevor Davies

Do the humbuckers have 4 wires with 2 already soldered together?

If that is the case - the two that are soldered together just need to have their soldered connection taped up (so it cannot be accidently grounded in the control cavity) and then ignored. Those two wires literally are just joining the two single coils of the humbucker together in series.

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Yep two twisted together and then two more on each pickup 4 wires each

Edit, they actually have 5 wires
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...362ad4fd61.jpg



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