1st build: DTL-7

Greetings all,

I've been entertaining the idea of building a guitar from a kit for a while now and, in parallel, I've been looking for a 7-string guitar that looks and plays more like a Fender and less like a metal axe. A Tele always seemed like a sensible first build, so the DTL-7 was one of those things that ticks all the boxes and it finally pushed me into taking the plunge into kit building.

https://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/...ash-body-copy/

The kit is already in the mail, thanks to Ben Pettit, so I thought I'd start my build diary and jot down some ideas to get organized and get some opinions.

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For my first build, I plan to stick to the standard kit for the most part, partly due to insecurity, partly because the Tele Deluxe is already pretty close to what I want from a 7-string guitar. So, I want to make sure I build a playable guitar with the parts that come with the kit before experimenting with other pickups, custom pickguards and whatever.

As a reference, I'm using the 70's Mocha Telecaster Deluxe. I've always loved the color and the goofy CBS strat headstock. So, my preliminary concerns are:

HEADSTOCK SHAPE: I'd love to cut a CBS-style headstock, but, judging from the images on the website, I just don't think there's enough wood in the paddle to pull it off. I might try to draw something inspired by it or just go with a regular Tele-style headstock, but, either way, there are no templates for seven-string Fendery headstocks on the web, I think...

NECK FINISH: It's a maple fretboard, and I'll do a matte finish. I also like that yellowing ting that maple necks get with age. Is there any way to do it with the finish? I've also been reading about people using shoe polish to add that sort of vintage tint...

BODY FINISH: I'll probably go for a glossy mocha finish, so I'll try to source a similar stain and then clear coat it. We'll see how the body looks once it's here. This is the part I'm most insecure about, because I never finished a guitar and solid painting seems to be more forgiving, but, the way I figure it, I'll see how the stain looks and, If it comes out badly, I'll just paint over it.

WIRING: I'm thinking of adding a second 3-way switch as a master series-parallel-split control for both pickups, because I'm not too keen on pull-push pots, but I still have to figure out if it will fit beside the pickup selector once the kit comes. I also considered using only a master volume pot and put the remaining one to another use (maybe something like the Dan Armstrong wiring I have on my Strat), but I never had a guitar with individual volume controls, so I thought I'd try it out before making my mind.

That's what's on my mind right now. I'm sure more tangible issues will arise once I'm in the nitty gritty, and I'll be grateful for all guidance you can offer. For now, I'm curious if any of this sticks out as a very bad idea to more experienced builders.

Thanks!

Welcome David.

Sounds like you have a solid vision for project, which always a good start IMO!
I'll comment on your ideas in the order you posted them:

Headstock Shape -
I believe your assumption is correct in that there is not enough paddle to get the CBS shape. The only way to do it with the kit neck would be to join another piece of maple, and then veneer over the front & back to hide the join line. Entirely doable, but may be a lot for your first outing.

Neck Finish -
There are basically two ways to achieve the aged or vintage colour on a maple neck, you can stain the maple before you clear coat, or tint the clear coat. (I think I did both once on the same neck?). It's personal preference as to which method is better or best. They each have their advantage.

Body Finish -
That kit has an Ash body which is a very open-pored timber and will require grain filling if you're after a mirror-like gloss If you wish to have sort of a rustic look, then you can get away without grain filling. When grain filling, you can fill with a darker colour to accentuate the grain pattern. Ash is really good for this.

As for colour, you may need to experiment a bit to find the right one that works for you. I have no idea what products are available to you in Brazil. One tip though, is if you're using a shade of brown to get the Mocha, dilute it so it goes on much lighter, and build coats to achieve the level of "dark" you want. It's much easier to go from light to dark than dark to light with stains and dyes.

Wiring -
Switch options are again a personal preference, but you should have plenty of choice with that kit. The kit photo does show 4-conductor humbuckers, so splitting should be doable, and hopefully it doesn't come with 2-conductor pickups.
I'm not keen on push-pull pots either, so mini-toggle switches have been what I use. Looking at the routing on the body, you could likely fit a mini-toggle in the wiring channel from the switch route to the neck pickup route. I can't say whether it would be in way or not without seeing it IRL, but it might work there without doing additional routing. The good thing is with the massive pickguard on those, you can lots of stuff that will be covered up.

Look forward to seeing your progress!

Thanks for all the input, McCreed!

I'm trying to keep things simple and woodworking is what intimidates me the most in this project, so I'll leave the CBS headstock alone for now.

As for finishing the neck, I might also consider a couple of layers of shellac. I have a bit of blond shellac that I've been meaning to use for a while and it might just add the tint I'm looking for.

EDIT: From what I've been reading, shellac seems like a very bad idea for a first build, particularly for the neck finish.

I've also considered using the shellac in lieu of the clear coat for the body - the idea would be to test it over a couple of stain options to see if I can compensate the yellow tint with a more vibrant stain... I have a beater guitar that's stripped and just begging for a refinish, so I might experiment on that a little bit. It's a different word (poplar, if I'm not mistaken), but it might help me hone my finishing skills.

A mini-toggle in the wiring channel is a good idea! I'll grab one and see of it fits.

You'd need a 4-pole double-throw on/on/on switch if you wanted a single master series/parallel/split switch that did the same thing for both pickups. You can get mini-toggle switches like this, but with four poles,it will be quite wide, so unlikely to fit in the same position as the pickup selector switch unless you increased the size of the rout.

You do have room to do this under the big scratchplate, and it doesn't have to be neat as it will all be hidden!

Two two-pole/double-throw on/on/on mini-toggles might be a better option if fitting them in the wiring channel, but fitting them near the volume and tone controls would be much neater from a wiring routing view.

The pickup leads will go to the toggle switch, then to the volume/tone controls, then to the pickup selector switch and then back down to the output jack. Having the toggle switches in that upper wiring channel will involve a lot of wire crossing. If you have space to fit them by the volume/tone controls, then the wiring becomes a lot easier and less tangled, though there's not a lot of space in that area to fit them so they aren't in the way, at least not without routing out some extra room or fitting them in the lower wiring channel and having them operate at a slight angle.

Push/pull switches are good for doing coil splitting but you only get two positions, so you can't do series/parallel/split on them. I prefer push/push switches as they are far easier to operate, but they only seem to come in 500k versions (or at least that's all my normal guitar electronics suppliers seem to stock). 500k is fine for humbuckers, so if you can live with series and split options, you can see if you can find some.

Always check the depth of your control cavity before getting push/pull or push/push pot switches. You want short-shaft pots as they are fitted direct to a scratchplate, but if you can only find medium shaft pots, they will have to be spaced off the rear of the scratchplate with a nut and washer, increasing their effective depth. Either that, or else the knobs sit very high from the scratchplate, which isn't a good look.

That's a good point, Simon. I've been thinking about how it's gonna look from the outside, but I definitely want to avoid the wiring looking like Cup Noodles below the pickguard. I'll see the best way to fit the switches when I'm ready to wire - I'm not opposed to add 2 mini-toggles either.

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Having the toggle switches in that upper wiring channel will involve a lot of wire crossing.

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Yes, good point Simon. I didn't think beyond fitting the switch! D'oh!

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As for finishing the neck, I might also consider a couple of layers of shellac. I have a bit of blond shellac that I've been meaning to use for a while and it might just add the tint I'm looking for.

EDIT: From what I've been reading, shellac seems like a very bad idea for a first build, particularly for the neck finish.

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Yes, shellac is also an option to achieving some colour. I completely forgot about it!
However, using shellac as a top coat is not a great choice IMO. It tends to be quite brittle compared to polyurethanes and lacquers.

Whilst it is very user-friendly and cheaper than poly or lacquer, if it was a cheaper and durable finish, Leo Fender would have used it extensively. He was a notorious tight-wad and counted every penny that went into the production of his instruments.

One advantage to shellac is that it is pretty much compatible with anything you put on top of it. I use it for sealing bare timber, or if doing a refinish, over any old remaining finish before applying primer & new finish.

Below is a neck I applied shellac to before spraying with satin poly. I had re-radiused the fretboard and and re-fretted, so you can see the natural colour of the maple in the first pic. Second one is after the shellac. The headstock shows the colour a bit better.
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That looks beautiful, McCreed. I might gobthat route with shellac and poly, then. Did you apply the shellac with cotton balled up inside a cloth? Did you have any trouble around the frets?

That does look good. I hadn't thought about using shellac to give a maple neck a nice "vintage" tint, but that looks like it does the job nicely. Presumably, you could lacquer over the top of it. Is that blonde shellac?

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Did you apply the shellac with cotton balled up inside a cloth? Did you have any trouble around the frets?

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I sprayed it with my small touch-up gun, but have applied by hand before. I just use small squares of clean cloth folded over into a smaller square. I’ve done wipe-on poly the same way and not had any problems around the frets.

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Presumably, you could lacquer over the top of it. Is that blonde shellac?

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Yes, lacquer goes over shellac just fine, and yes it is blonde shellac.

You can do a 1970s headstock from a standard paddle, I did it in the Tele blaster build in my signature
Looking forward to following this one, never seen a 7 string Tele. I’m lost anywhere past 4…

You'll never get an exact F-style headstock, 70s or earlier, from a standard Pit Bull paddle because the pre-cut lower curve is too elongated, so it's always going to look slightly stretched. In this instance, there isn't enough wood beyond the top E string tuner hole to get just the right size of rounded bulb on the end of the headstock. And the tuner hole spacings will be slightly different as well.

But you can get something that looks very similar indeed and only real experts could tell at a glance it wasn't correct.

Plenty of online headstock templates in pdf form. Print one off at 1:1 scaling, cut it out and find the best fit on the paddle. For my GST-1 kit I stuck a template on with some paper glue after finding the best compromise position on the paddle. I then cut around that, sanded it down to the shape, and that was it.

Obviously with a 7-string paddle, you''ll have to make some slight alterations to the shape, but sliding it down to get the end of the headstock correct should then give you an idea of what slight mods you need to make at the nut end. But for that 70s look, you don't want to reduce the width of the paddle at all at the pointed end of that lower curve away from the nut. Just looking at a 70s headstock, the lower curve 'point' is roughly the same distance down from the nut as the width of the nut itself, and you've probably got that with the kit paddle. For a pre-CBS headstock, you'd need to reduce that distance.

@Andyxlh Rondo had a couple of 7-string teles, but I've never seen them in action. There's also a Brazilian builder who made a pretty cool Thin Line. Check it out: https://youtu.be/wJi4M3RKo34

A non-metal 7-string is indeed rare, but I think it would be a natural fit here in Brazil. 7-string nylon acoustics are widely used in Samba.

Hey everybody!

Just an update: the kit has arrived! I'll do a more thorough mock build when I have the time, but everything fits together and looks good.

I also want to praise Pitbull customer service: there has been a bit of a mix-up between the carrier and the Brazilian Customs that was in no way Pitbull's fault and, even then, they offered to reimburse me for all extra expenses. That's way beyond what I had any right to expect from them, so kudos to Pitbull and Ben Pettit in particular.

The only surprise with the kit was that all hardware is black. That's not a dealbreaker, but the mocha finish I was aiming for won't look as good as it would with a chrome hardware. I'll probably aim for a more butterscotch finish, because I think the contrast with the hardware will look better that way.

Speaking of the finishing process, from what I understood, it's better to do it in the dry season, right? The thing is that we've been having a lot of dust storms here in Brazil. This is something new (partly a result of the rampant deflorestation under the current administration, I believe), and there's a lot of dust in the air... Will it impact the finish? Should I seal the windows before working or something (and use a non-toxic finish)?

That 7 string tele in the video is lovely! I'm still lost past 4 though.

Black hardware usually costs extra...... Pitbull always do the right thing by the customer in my experience, nice to hear

Re the finish, I prefer a spray polyurethane finish on the guitars I do, it's nice and hard but a bit of a pain to polish and takes ages to go hard. My bias is probably from building cars and motorbikes so spraying is easiest for me.

I'm sure someone will chime in, but I'd think the best choices if things are hot, windy and/or dusty might be:

- Spray acrylic, which flashes off in a few minutes so you only need to keep the dust off for that long
- A wipe-on or brush finish, like Tru-Oil or similar. I have no experience with them, but the results I see on here are awesome
- Fast drying Polyurethane spray - similar to acrylic but takes a little longer to stop being tacky

Either way, chances are you are going to cut back the finish and polish. With spray poly on a clear day you can get it close to mirror with no polishing (until that fly lands in it :))

Re the headstock, if you can't decide, just do both like I did on this one :)
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As for the colour contrast with the black hardware, I did a zebra tele with a dark finish using black hardware and I kinda like it. Might not be everyone's cup of tea, however.

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Oh, and that tele was done with nothing but Tru-oil, since you were asking about finish options. It's not perfect - I've learnt a few things since that was built and should probably go back and do a bit more work on it. However, it's not terrible.

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Originally Posted by m0j0

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That's a very sharp looking instrument, nice job. I like the modern black on the classic lines.

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Originally Posted by Andyxlh

That's a very sharp looking instrument, nice job. I like the modern black on the classic lines.

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Yeah, but I was playing it last night for the first time in a while, and I realised how poorly I've set it up (or not set it up, more accurately). Add that to my to-do list.

Anyway, I've hi-jacked your thread, davidaviola and I apologise. Would love to see a photo of the untouched kit if you have one.

@m0j0, that looks beautiful. Things are a bit crazy today, but I'll post some photos over the weekend.

@Andyxlh, that headstock is awesome!

In terms of finishing, I'm leaning towards something you can wipe on, because everytime I use a rattle can, I mess up. What I did to my wife's bike is grounds for divorce. I'm thinking tru-oil for the neck, because it seems like it's widely used with no real issues, but I'll attempt some french polishing on the body and see where that takes me.

Is Tru Oil readily available in Brazil, or do you have to import it?

If supply of Tru Oil is difficult, you could look for wipe-on polyurethane which may be easier to source. It will give a very similar result and the application is virtually the same as well.

Also, whilst I've never used it, there are water based polyurethanes that maybe more conducive to working inside a house or apartment as they don't have a turpentine component which has higher VOC level.

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Originally Posted by m0j0

Yeah, but I was playing it last night for the first time in a while, and I realised how poorly I've set it up (or not set it up, more accurately). Add that to my to-do list.

Anyway, I've hi-jacked your thread, davidaviola and I apologise. Would love to see a photo of the untouched kit if you have one.

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Isn’t it nice when you revisit a project and can improve it? It means you are getting better at it, which is very rewarding

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Originally Posted by davidaviola

In terms of finishing, I'm leaning towards something you can wipe on, because everytime I use a rattle can, I mess up. What I did to my wife's bike is grounds for divorce. I'm thinking tru-oil for the neck, because it seems like it's widely used with no real issues, but I'll attempt some french polishing on the body and see where that takes me.

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That sounds like a sensible choice. I haven’t used wipe on stuff, but one of the students at school finished their maple guitar neck in Carnuba wax, it was really easy and looked great. Smelt nice too!

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That sounds like a sensible choice. I haven’t used wipe on stuff, but one of the students at school finished their maple guitar neck in Carnuba wax, it was really easy and looked great. Smelt nice too!

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I know people do it (use wax) but FWIW, aftermarket parts vendors like Warmoth and Mighty Mite (both Fender Licensed) won't warranty their necks if finished with wax.

Probably not that relevant here (or in the student's case) but thought I'd mention it anyway.

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Originally Posted by McCreed

I know people do it (use wax) but FWIW, aftermarket parts vendors like Warmoth and Mighty Mite (both Fender Licensed) won't warranty their necks if finished with wax.

Probably not that relevant here (or in the student's case) but thought I'd mention it anyway.

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I wonder why? Van halen used sweat and dirt to seal his necks 😁

McCreed, you're right. Tru-oil is imported down here and it is a bit expensive. I've seen some local luthiers sharing recipes for "homemade tru-oil", but poly might be less risky.

I'll also try to read up on finishing with Carnauba Wax. I always have a can of that stuff around that I use to touch up the furniture every now and then, but I didn't realize it was a finishing option. I'll try to find out how well it withstands the playing...

Thanks, all.

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McCreed, you're right. Tru-oil is imported down here and it is a bit expensive. I've seen some local luthiers sharing recipes for "homemade tru-oil", but poly might be less risky.

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I tried the DIY Tru Oil a few years ago with very limited success. However, I know of at least one member here that uses it and sings its praises.
My experience was that it dried much slower and didn't build up at the same rate as genuine Tru Oil. These two factors negated any cost savings benefit in mixing my own.

As for poly, I do mix my own "homebrew wipe-on poly" but I use oiled based poly and turpentine so I didn't recommend it as an option for you, thinking you'd be using it indoors (not sure what facilities you have for a workspace).

FWIW, my wipe-on poly costs about 1/3 of the store-bought stuff and performs exactly the same.

Carnauba wax isn't a normal finishing option for guitars. Whilst it is one of the hardest of waxes, it is still a wax and will be softer than other finish options. I'd definitely try it out on scrap wood first. Once you put it on, I'd imagine it would be very hard to remove to apply a different finish, and being a wax, I don't think many finishes would stick to it if applied on top.

It will probably need regular maintenance. From pictures of it in natural form, it looks yellow in any quantity, so will almost certainly tint the finish, and any deep pores in the grain may look light yellow due to an increased thickness of the wax. So it may work well on nice flat and fine-grained maple, but not be so good on mahogany or ash.

But until you try these things you don't know for sure. I'd suggest testing on some some scrap wood and see what you think. It shouldn't take too long to apply.

Thanks for the heads up, Simon. I've been reading up on finishing with wax and it's just like you said: if you apply it directly on wood, it will get in the pores and there will be no going back. Since this is my first build, I want something that's undoable if it goes very wrong, so I'd be sure to apply some sort of sealant before waxing it.

As for Carnauba Wax, at least in Brazil, you can either get it natural or transparent.

Sorry if I seem a little aimless regarding the finishing. I'll figure it out in the coming months! I have a crazy couple of months coming up in terms of work, so I'll concentrate on sanding, maybe doing the headstock and sourcing everything I'll need, but I'll leave the finishing for November, when I'll have the time to be disciplined about it.