November GOTM!

November Guitar of the Month (for Guitars and Basses finished in October)

Enter your finished guitar or bass here to be judged for the Pit Bull Guitars November Guitar of the Month.

Please remember:

For Guitars or Basses finished on (or before) the end of October.

One guitar/bass per member per month.
It must be a Pit Bull Guitars kit (mods and upgrades acceptable).
Guitar or Bass must be finished and playable.

We need at least 4 photos:
· full guitar shot from the front;
· close up of the body finish;
· shot of the back of the guitar; and
· close up of the headstock (please, no brand name logos)


Please post your photos in this thread. If you are having issues posting photos on the forum, please email them to brendan (at) pitbullguitars (dot) com

Please note: This competition is open to amateur guitar builders only. If you are making and selling guitars for profit, you are ineligible. Also while there are some stunning guitars around - you never know what the judges are looking for, so we encourage anyone who's built a Pitbull during the month to enter!

Competition for November closes at the end of October (Perth Western Australian time).

The sorts of things we judge on include:
· How well have the body and neck been prepared
· Is the choice of finish for the style of guitar appropriate
· How well has the finish been applied
· How well has all the hardware, pickups, etc, been installed
· Does it have the 'Wow Factor'· Which guitar would you make a beeline for in a guitar shop. That is, which one would you most like to take home.

BTW - remember that the winner is invited to be a guest judge the following month!

This is a left-handed JM-1A. Ash body, HSS pickups. I finished it just with poly because I really liked the grain and the colour. I also made up the headstock shape myself.

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Hi everyone. During a 08 month tour in Australia I purchased a TL-1 without accessories. I wanted to make a fabric top with an aboriginal fabric i found in Sidney. Back home in Seattle I pushed the theme further by carving the head-stock in the shape of a kangaroo footprint, a boomerang control plate and an aboriginal symbol on the back.
The top consists of the fabric with 2 coats of polyester resin and a 2K clear coat. I had to remove the binding and replace it once the resin cured. The neck is finished with true oil and 2K clearcoat.
Pickups and bridge are medium prices and purchased online. I wanted to show the most of the fabric possible so decided to get a pickup ring for the neck pickup and made the control cavity out of included pickguard.

Soundbite: https://youtube.com/video/4e0qYjEvAtU

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That's fantastic! Well done. What a great one off peice of art.

Beautiful instruments jarro and prodpk! excellent work!

OK here's my shot:
PB4A Frankenbass
This is a tribute to the 'Frankenstrat' played by Van Halen, as it was in the early 1980's. There wasn't ever an official bass version, so I borrowed some of the key ideas from that guitar including:
- the striped pattern (as close as possible!)
- incorrect fit of tele neck on strat body rout
- quarter screwed to body (as a thumb rest in this case)
- eyelets for attaching strap
- Body routed and filled to resemble the standard holes in a strat body
- dummy front pickup and wire loop
- single volume control (labelled 'tone') in a cut down strat scratchplate
- Strat output jack
- Reflectors, blue paint, damage and rusted parts as the original

In the spirit of the build I used the Floyd Rose string retainer instead of the button on the headstock. the neck is unfinished timber, stained with coffee and dirt, and sanded to a silky smooth finish
Bone nut, volume capacitor and bournes pot from PBG
MM style bridge from my RC4-A kit, installed with mismatched rusty screws (including one off a 19th century hinge :) and through body ferrules. Interestingly the kit bass strings don’t have windings long enough to go through the body and make it over the nut, so I used some rotosounds 45-105
Machineheads are Allparts, Tonerider PB pickup, the front is a dummy from my RC4-A kit
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FBM-1 Build submitted by Warni from France

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Hello!
I send you a few pictures or my recently purchased FBM-1 from Pitbull Guitars..
Raw Wallnut finish on the body and laquer on the neck..
Sounds great!
Hopefully it Will appear on your Guitar or the Month page!!
Cheers!
Warni

Hi,
Here is my newest guitar. I was lucky to grab a junior kit before they disappeared.

I put a bit of thought into this as i wanted a specific look and sound.
The body and head stock pre-drilled holes were filled in.
I put a maple veneer over the mahogany.
Finish is Crimson spirit stains and duplicolor topcoat.
I added a natural binding and stained that yellow.

I offset the vintage style locking tuners. Body contoured and neck pocket re-shaped. The neck is attached with machine bolts. Red shim is alder to change the action/break from the original wraparound bridge.

The new bridge is a Wilkinson string through matched with a polished bar string holder. Pickup is also Wilkinson through a 500k concentric pot. Orange drop cap give a really warm fat sound. Last touch was a 3 ply pick guard.
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Presenting.. a bass guitar... 65 million years in the making...
Stained with the blood of its prey.. the JurassicAxe Thunderaptor

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This is my first kit build - a TB4, stained in Karijini red then coated in Tru Oil. Build started in August and finished early October.
This build is heavily upgraded from the original kit:
- Gotoh Machine heads
- Gotoh Black neck plate
- EMG 35HZ Pickups and electronics
- Babicz FCH Bridge
- Custom TR-IV truss rod cover (TB-4 didn't make sense on this build).
- DR Black Beauties strings
- Tusq nut (Bone just didn't look right)

I've never been a fan of Thunderbirds. I especially never really took to the pickguards. I decided to get as far away as possible from the traditional Thunderbird style - a single stained colour across the body rather than dual toned or burst and no pickguard. Initially I planned on a more traditional truss rod style and was going to make one, but decided that simple was better, and gave me more space on the headstock.
I also wanted to go with a single colour over everything. When I first started staining the body it was really quite an intense red and I decided that intensity made it interesting, so I went with it.

It's by no means worthy of competing against the other builds this month, but nothing ventured nothing gained..
There are plenty of things that are not quite right, but it was a learning experience and I've wound up with a bass that I enjoy playing and my silly aversion to Thunderbirds is gone (except for those pickguards).

The Chimera, Offset Tele with tons of attitude.

Body routed for humbuckers, with fret access carve, finished in automotive pearl white and satin clear coat,
Stained and satin clear coated neck,
Guyker professional locking tuners,
Custom bridge with stainless steal saddles,
Bourns pots,
Orange drop cap,
Tusq nut,
Pitbull fidelity upgrade,
Mini toggle for coil splitting,
Oak Grigsby 3-way switch,
Switch craft output jack,
Custom neck plate,
Iron gear “Steam Hammer” hot ceramic pickups.

I needed a high output guitar to add to my collection, inspired by Jim Roots Jazzmaster.

Comp closed. New one up shortly.

Comments - albeit a bit delayed.

jarro_2783's JM-1A -
Neck looks good, that headstock is pretty clean and well executed
Over all finish looks grate, nice body color, goes well with the body stile. Super classic.
Hardware installation looks good
For me, it doesn’t have the wow factor, I’ve seen a lot of guitars that looks like this. But yes, I would take a look if I saw it on a store
Clean, simple & tidy finish. Nice headstock shape. Good job.
Classic and simple – nothing not to like here. Great work!

prodpk's TL-1 -
This tele is crazy, thematic is not my cup of tea, too much butterfly going on- That being said, that headstock look like a lot of work and it looks clean, the fabric top is pretty cool.
It has the wow factor, but it’s not for me.
Very well done. Headstock carving is unique.
Unique look and love the outcome. A lot of thought has gone into this one!

Andyxlh's PB-4A -
Really don’t know what to say about it, it’s all over the place, I understand the homage but this is not for me.
I really put value on the effort in getting this look
An interesting tribute, relicing is even acceptable on this. A defintie one of a kind. Very eye catching.
Classic retake of the EVH strat. Nicely executed and quite a unique piece!

Warni's FBM-1 -
This is cool, definitely would take a look at this one in a store
In general, it looks grate, nice color and the headstock looks nice, very similar to the original.
I would have put some custom details maybe to make some different.
Great finish. It looks worn in without being hacked up. I wish I'd made this.
Like the slightly worn in look – well executed and nicely done!

Johnbamb's JR-1 -
I dig this one! Love the minimalistic style, nice upgrades and cool headstock shape.
The burst looks a bit raw, but its just personal preference, overall it looks very well executed. Backside of the body looks awesome
Great job. The finish looks quite porous, but this may be what you were aiming for. To me the headstock feels like it belong on a different guitar, but otherwise this is close to perfect.
Elegant, simple and beautifully classic.

lunaticds' TB-4 -
Looks cool, love the black hardware in combination with the color.
Not a big fan of the orange but I think it work.
Loving Dino details here, big plus right there.
Nice pop to the grain – great outcome and love the look.
Love how the grain has come out in the body. Good colour choices.

Mike.L's DJT-1 -
This one is totally my taste, that neck and headstock look insane, super well prepared
Really cool upgrades and details.
That neck plate and headstock logos incredible
Would definitely buy this one, for me, this is the winner.
Love the "roasted" neck look. Finish looks incredibly well done. Interesting body carving.
Love the outcome on the neck – has really brought out the maple. Overall simple colour palette and has come out well through the use of white in the logo and black hardware.

So to the runner up:
prodpk's TL-1 - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...0&d=1633740089
Unique look and a great overall guitar.

And the winner! Classic styling and clean colour choices - nicely done Mike.L!
Mike.L's DJT-1 - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...1&d=1635416085

Just like to say thanks to all the judges for the kind words, also to Pitbull for sourcing such great kits (even during these trying times) and having truly fantastic customer service.
Since I started this hobby I’ve not used anyone else, keep up the good work.

Lovely build Mike. I do love white guitars and black hardware.

Lovely guitars in there, well done to the winners! :)

[QUOTE=lunaticds;217201]Presenting.. a bass guitar... 65 million years in the making...
Stained with the blood of it’s prey…

Hahaha, I can so relate to that. Great month everyone.

Nice job everyone! Well done Prodpk and Mike, great instruments!

Well done everyone; love admiring the GOTM builds