First Build RSA IB-5

Hello Everyone.

I have already started my first Guitar Build. I ordered two kits from pitbull Guitars, the IB-5 and AGB-30 and started the IB-5 Build.

Have done a semi mock build to check that everything is there and to get familiar with the parts, where they go and how they fit together.

I have positioned the Tuners the way I like them, angled a bit forward, similar to how the Warwick Rock Bass' tuners are arranged.

I used a 2mm drill bit to drill the holes and mounted them to check that they are good.

In hindsite I think I should have used a 1mm drill bit but they seem to have enough meat in the hole to be study. I not, I will fill the holes with Wood glue and saw dust to make the screws tighter.

I am a little worried about the way I mounted the Neck in he neck pocket. The neck sits a little loose but I put the neck screw into the holes in the body with them sticking out about a mill or two. I pushed the neck into the pocket toward the pickup cavity and then down onto the screws marking where the holes need to be drilled.

Removed the neck from the body again and drilled the the 4 holes where the neck screws had made their mark.Drilled with a 3 mill drill bit. Then screw the neck on.

The screws went in with out a problem.Did not tighten them fully yet and I don't want the holes in the Neck to be made too loose for the final "screw together".

I mounted the neck like this so that I could measure to where the bridge would need to be placed without the neck moving and causing my measurements to be out.

I did not do the messurements using string from the nut to a known square point on the body to ensure the neck is square. I will still do that but hope no adjustments will be necessary.

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The tuner screws are there to stop it twisting. They are mainly held in place by the bolt-down screw on the top, so they only need to prevent sideways movement, and only really need enough purchase to stop themselves falling out. As you are starting from new, though, I'd be tempted to fill with glue and sawdust or a wooden cocktail stick and redrill a slightly smaller hole. The kit tuner screws are generally made form very weak alloy, so you don't want to go too small a hole. If you've got a 1.5mm drill, then I'd use that. Try fitting the screws without the tuners in place first, and don't drive them all the way in, so that if a screw head does break off, then you should still have some thread to grip with pliers. I'd recommend looking to see if you can get some better replacements to begin with as the cross-slots will round off very quickly in those kit screw heads.

You may need to enlarge the neck mounting holes in the body. The screws should just fit through the holes without binding at all, and you certainly shouldn't have to screw them through the holes (relative hole size varies from kit to kit so you may not have to do this with yours). This allows the screws to fully pull the neck down into the pocket. If the screw has to also screw through the body, then the screw may stop turning before the neck is fully pulled down.

I don't know what sort of finish you are thinking for the neck, but any acrylic, poly, nitro or TruOil-style coating applied to the sides of the neck will make it wider and fit more snugly in the pocket. You don't want it super-tight to begin with, otherwise you'll never get it in the pocket when it's got finish on!

If the neck is very slightly loose in the pocket, then you can help get the strings running true down the neck by pulling left or right on the neck as you tighten the mounting screws up. You can often get a degree or two of adjustment, which is normally enough to get you sorted.

Thanx for the advice Simon.

I did find that the screw for the neck did not glide through the holes in body and thought to open them up slightly but have not as yet. I will most certainly open the holes up as suggested as the neck will be removed and remounted during the build process.

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... back to build details...

I noticed with this kit, the control cavity did not have a ridge routed for the cover to recess into. I thought that having it recessed would be much better so, I decided to create a recess for the cover to sit in.

Not having a router, I would be doing this by hand with a chisel. Quite a daunting task considering my lack of experience with a chisel.

Marked the outline for where the plate is going to be and scored the outline with a box cutter knife. (would love to have a scalpel but can't seem to find any) This is to minimise tearout from the chisel. Worked methodically to chisel out the recess and the used a mouse sander to smooth the recess.

There was some chips and tearout on the outside of the recess that I need to figure out how to fix and make look better. To do however want to replace with plastic cover with a wood cover so could enlarge the recess a bit and make the wood cover slightly bigger and be extra carefull with the chisel.

Started sanding all the guitar surfaces bar the fretboard. Tried sanding with the mouse sander and with a random orbital sander but with the curves and contours, sanding by hand, with and without a sanding block, seemed to be work better.

This kit does not have a vanier on it so don't need to be to carefull when sanding.

Started off with Grit 120 sand paper, moved up to 240 and then sanded with 300 grit. Running my hand over the surface to feel for rough spots and then touch up sanding where needed.

I then rubbed the surface down the a slightly damp cloth to bring out the grain and let the wood dry in the sun.

When dry, re-sanded with the 300 grit sand paper ensure the surfaces were all smooth.

Mounted the neck loosely and meaured for the bridge placement.

This is a 34" scale guitar, this converts to 863,6 mm.

Measured the width of the neck at the 1st fret with my cheap calipers, divided that to get the middle and marked the middle of the neck on a piece of masking tape placed on the fret board.

Did the same at the 12th fret. This gave me 2 points of reference to get the centre line for the body.

Placed masking tape on the body to draw the centre line. This centre line also gave me the placement for the strap button.

Placed my 1 metre straight edge on the fret board, pushed up against the nut and lined up with centre marks at the 1st and 12th fret. Measured out the 863,6 mm and maked the scale length on masking tape where the bridge would go.

I am still a little unsure on where to actually place the bridge, I have not yet drilled any holes for the bridge mounting.

The sadles are still as they were when they arrived in the kit with the sadle for the high string (G) is the furtherest forward (closest to the neck) and the other sadles gradually stepping back to the low string (B).

There is still a bit if of screw adjustment for each sadle forward and back.

I assumed that I would leave the sadles where they are and place the bridge with the scale length line in the middle of the where the sadles are currently on the bridge.
When setting the intenation, I would still have adjustment forward and back on the sadle to compensate and get the intenation right.

Don't know if this is best practise and what the best placement technique is.....

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Been wondering about the orientation of the pickups.

The kit comes with two 4 wire humbucker pickups. The wire coming out of the pickup is in one corner. The wire is quite long so I was planning on mounting the pickups with the wire at the top of the pickup cavity, but then wondered if the pickup should be mounted in a specify orientation where one side of the pickup would be better for "picking up" the bass strings vs the trebble strings, etc.

Or can the pickups be mounted either way?

Thanx for your assistance and advice. make the process alot easier when someone in the know gives their input,

Thanx again.

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I'd move the G saddle forwards (towards the neck) so there's a couple of mm of thread poking out (it may well be in that position already). The G string will always intonate furthest forwards, and it will probably end up a couple of mm back from the scale length position once intonated (if there were kit strings supplied only use these for basic set up checking, fit some decent strings before intonating as those cheap strings are so inconsistent in sound and diameter along their length).

So if the saddles are too far back when you measure the scale length, then you quickly run out of movement for the bass strings.

And measure the scale length from the neck side of the G string nut slot to the mid-point of the G saddle, the point where the string will leave the saddle.

In the kit photo, the B,E and A string intonation screws are shorter D and G screws, just because their saddles will end up further back when intonated.

If you are going to use the pickups as humbuckers and aren't doing anything fancy with them like add series/parallel/split switches, then it doesn't matter which way round they go at all. The only time it will have any effect is if you fit a coil split switch, in which case the pickup orientation will determine whether the single coil is nearer the neck or the bridge. It's a small distance and won't make any real difference to the sound, but some people are fussy over these things. However, I have no idea quite how you'd tell except by empirical testing. There aren't any pole pieces to tap with a screwdriver to see which coil is working, and with that plastic cover, I don't know if tapping over where the pole pieces should be would give a clear enough sound to tell with accuracy.

you may want to upgrade the bridge before you install, My IB-4 bridge was terrible, you cannot get a decent action when setting up, i went with a schaller 3d-4. Its night and day and really makes the difference in playability

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barry snook

you may want to upgrade the bridge before you install, My IB-4 bridge was terrible, you cannot get a decent action when setting up, i went with a schaller 3d-4. Its night and day and really makes the difference in playability

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Thanx for the advice Barry. I would love to upgrade the bridge, but the cost of the Schaller is more than the cost of the kit.

Being my 1st build, getting it together and setup at least playable with an OK setup would be an achievement to me.

Having said that, I am taking care to try and make it the best it can be.

Do appreciate the advice thow. Thanx a mill.

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I have started leveling frets but have a few questions.

Please see post: https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...d.php?p=213078

Not sure where the best place to post those types of questions.

Please can someone advise me.

Thanx in advance.
Christohttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b387073c52.jpg

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I've been getting frustrated with the fret leveling as the sandpaper I am using seems to go smooth very quick.

And them I'm not sure if I'm taking too much off, etc.

So I decided to move onto something I know and am good at, the wiring and soldering.

I got the wiring diagram from the Pitbill sire for the IB-5 for two humbuckers, two tone pots and two volume pots.

The kit came with two A500K pots, volume, and 2 B500K pots, tone.

1 of the volume pots has a click when you turn it fully counter clockwise. Used that for Bridge Volume.

I have attached photos of the wiring. If someone could take a look and tell me if I'm on the right path.

Orange = output jack earth
White = output jack hot
Black = Bridge earth

The Output jack and picks will be soldered when installing everything on final.

Thanx for your input.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4c11ee05e6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c56bfd2d7b.jpg

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All looks OK to me so far.

I finally finished the fret job.

Probably the worst fret job ever.
Couldn't get the rocking of the fret rocker totally gone so therefore, the worst fret job ever.

Its mostly from fret 15 and higher and only a very slight rocking so I figured I wasn't going to lower the frets any further.

I should have masked the fret board before doing the fret leveling so I got some permanant marker on the fret board so, consider myself kicked.

I masked off the fret board and then proceded to crown the frets with the fret crowing file you will find on the Pit Bull Guitars website.

At 1st I thought this was not working correctly the tutorials I had seen show the a thin sharoie line left in the centre of of the fret indicating that the fret is suffiently crowned.

When I did it, all the sharpie marks seemed to be gone and I was getting very frustrated.

I carried on and the frets were indeed coming out nice.

I then put 400 grit sand paper on a flexable hard sponge and ran that over the frets from fret 1 to 25 and then back again. Then did the same with 800 grit and 1200 to get the sanding marks out.

After searching for polishing compound, I eventually found some at Builders Express. A five pack. Used my "Dremel" type tool, mine is a Ryobi, and polished the frets to finish them off to a shine.

I think the polishing came out OK. Not sure if I did it right.

I have attached a few pics of the frets after polishing and removing the masking tape.

I need some advice on what to treat the fret board with. In South Africa, we don't access to dingotone, or Crimson fretboard restorer. We do have access to Woodoc, and std hardware store type stuff. There is also a local luthier site, blackbeardsden.com, where I can get lynsead oil from. https://www.blackbeardsden.com/colle...ts/linseed-oil

This apparently is used on fret boards???

Any advice??? Fellow South Africans done this before???

I was then looking at using some of the stains they have to try give the body a redish sun burst with it natural colour in the centre of the body. Their products are here, https://www.blackbeardsden.com/colle...iant=332471097

Then sealing it with TrueOil https://www.blackbeardsden.com/colle...l-stock-finish however there are other oils there that could work.

If some more experienced guys could point this newbie in the right direction, I would be most appreciative.
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It's a rosewood fingerboard, so you don't need to put any finish on it.

Lemon oil is the standard treatment for rosewood and ebony fretboards, to stop them getting too dry and the board shrinking. The frets then start sticking over the ends.

Lemon oil is sold in guitar shops; the Jim Dunlop 65 Lemon Oil is my normal choice and is easy to get.

An alternative to that is the food-safe 'mineral oil' sold for seasoning chopping boards, which is the main constituent of guitar-orientated lemon oil. It's a lot cheaper as well. I now use both.

I've never used linseed oil, but I expect it does a very similar job. It's hard to get the pure stuff that the store sells; its normally boiled or has drying additives to give a Tru-Oil type finish. That bottle looks a reasonable size (be nice if they listed the quantity but it looks like a 500ml bottle from comparisons to some other product bottles on that page) and you don't need much. Tip onto a damp cloth held over the opening and you'll probably get one full application from it.

A fretboard straight from the factory can soak up quite a lot of oil. I normally keep wiping it on until it starts to take a long time to dry. After the initial application, its a good idea to apply it every 6-12 months depending on how hot and dry the climate is.

Oil also good for cleaning crud off fingerboards, so if you use your guitars a lot, then make oiling time a string removal, fretboard cleaning and oiling and fret polishing time.

Now you can put a finish or a wax on a rosewood fretboard (e.g. Rickenbacker normally lacquer their rosewood fretboards), but rosewood doesn't need the same level of protection as a maple board does, so it is a matter of personal choice to do so, rather than a necessity.

Found this on one of SA's most popular online shopping sites.

Check this out on takealot: Dunlop Lemon Oil 1oz
https://www.takealot.com/dunlop-lemo...z/PLID71426231

And

Check this out on takealot: Dunlop Formula 65 Guitar Polish & Cleaner
https://www.takealot.com/dunlop-form...r/PLID71783695

These should work. 1st one for fret board.

2nd for polishing finished body, back of neck and headstock????

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The JD lemon oil also comes in a bottle about 4x the volume for about twice the price. I used to use the spray bottle but you waste a lot, so you are better off getting the bigger bottle and using a cloth to apply it. Or spray onto a cloth, not the neck. the big bottle has a felt pad on a plastic ring stuck onto the neck, but unless you keep it upside down it takes a long time to soak the felt enough to get any onto the fretboard, so I pull the felt off with pliers and just pour it onto a cloth.

I have the polish, it came as part of a care kit as a birthday present, but I've never used it.

I've had a 4oz (118ml) bottle of Dunlop 65 from back when it just had an applicator tip. I was told I'd only ever need one bottle. That was the best part of 20 years ago. Rarely do a string change with a fresh coat. Half a dozen guitars and I've barely cleared the neck of the bottle. Great stuff and well worth it.

I tried my hand at, for me, maybe most daunting part. Staining and Oiling / sealing.

I removed the masking tape from the body that I used to mark the centre line and where I calculated the bridge should be......Guess I will have to do those calculations and measurements again.

Touched up the sanding job with 240 Grit sand paper. Seems like pulling the masking tape off pulled up the grain or something.

Was intending to do a burst with Dark Walnut stain on the outside of the body, neck and head stock with a light Mahogany on the insides of the body, neck and head stock.

Might have looked nice but, alas, I think doing a burst on the 1st build and doing a wipe on burst with water based stains is quite a chalange.

I started by applying the Dark Walnut stain on the outsides and intended, but with the Sponge Brush strokes, it did not look good.

Maybe I was a little impatient but decided to just make it all one colour.

The stain use was sourced from Blackbeard Den, a similar Kit Guitar Company in SA.

https://www.blackbeardsden.com/produ...pr_seq=uniform

I applied that and let it dry.

Being a waterbased stain, I suspected it would raise that the grain, and true to form, it did.

Once the pieces were dry, I sanded it back with 240 Grit paper, brushed off the dust and started with the Oil.

As much as I tried getting Tru-Oil, I eventually settled on Gobelins Pure Tung Oil https://www.blackbeardsden.com/produ...pr_seq=uniform.

Using a paper towel folded a few times over, I put oil on the paper towel and applied it to the headstock1st.

Seeing that all seemed good, I applied oil to the rest of the guitar.

Should have mentioned this before, I masked off the fret board with masking take. Hope the paper kind is sufficient to protect it.

Ofter leaving the oil on for a few minutes, I wiped off the excess with a clean piece of paper towel.

Allowed that to dry for a while. The surface felt mostly dry to the touch, so ran over the surface with 1200 grit paper and the applied a 2nd coat of oil using the same method.

The pics attached are were I left off.

A further addition to this build, I just need to add.

Many have said the string that come with these kits are not worth keeping on the guitar once built and setup, so, we were in the city last weekend and I found an awesome Music Shop, Bothners.

Picked up some Ernie Ball Slinky Bass Strings that will go on once all is assembled and setup.

I also managed to find a Kit to assist with Guitar Setups with Feeler Gauges, Radius Gauges, Nut files, etc. that will help with the setup.

I also managed to get some Dunlop 65 Lemon Oil for the fretboard treatment and some Dunlop Guitar polish. These I will also use on the my guitars I am playing at the moment.

So I am ready for this, hope I don't stuff it up.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7f6d16a823.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a2c3503d98.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2fd109b465.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8c3c719696.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2a1bab0c6d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f9ecc60f13.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3f85da430b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0e4f01917a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8c922c3501.jpg

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That's looking good Christo!