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I built my first Pit Bull kit about 5 years ago.
I have racked up double figures now so thought I would show some of the guitars that I have put together over that time.
Armed with only an orbital sander and YouTube the first kit was a Jackson style V.
The action was terrible, intonation was dire, finish was blotchy at best. The thing was almost completely unplayable.
My brother still has it I think??
Attachment 42625
I took about 3 years to get into the next kit.
Build 2....
To usher in my 50th year on the planet I decided to do it properly and build a really nice tele.
This is my DTL-1
2 piece American Ash body and Maple neck with Maple Fretboard (Dyed).
Grover Chrome 406C Tuners
Seymour Duncan rail in the bridge fender strat neck pickup.
Wiring is a single volume, 3 way and a mini toggle for the SD North/HB/South.
Finish is Crimson stain, some fire and lots of TRU-OIL
Attachment 42626
Build 3.....
Not so much a kit but a collection of Pit Bull bits and pieces.
This is a Tele body and a maple neck matched up to an SG upgrade kit.
Finish is Black and yellow dye and Nitro.
I had a lot of fun with this and it plays great.
Attachment 42627
Build 4........
Super Strat. This was my first solid color and first trem build.
Alder body with rosewood/maple neck.
Grover Black 406C tuners
BABICZ FCH Z SERIES 6 HOLE TREMOLO
TONERIDER OCTANE pickups
Finish is Duplicolr Arctic White
Each pickup has a mini toggle for Coil split and Phase
Attachment 42628
Build 5.......
Multiscale 7 string. (I got one one before they disappeared).
A year after the Purple Tele my wife bought me this for my birthday. More confidant and better stocked with tools i set about making my first 7. Everything is out of the box on this except the truss rod and control cavity covers which i made myself to match the veneer.
Crimson stunning stain and Tru-oil polish to a high gloss.
Attachment 42629
Build 5 & 6......
Ooooops. this is when i discovered the seconds and return page.
I ordered a interesting looking SG with binding and a Mockingbird. Neither would i ever pick up in a store but hey they were both unique.
The SG had a great flame area on the mahogany body. Light weight and finished with a light burst. Pickups are a pair of Epiphone Humbuckers and I have upgraded the bridge.
The pick guard is a custom made piece of mahogany.
Attachment 42630
My second purchase was this crazy Mockingbird with a 24 fret neck, inline tuner setup instead on the traditional 3+3. This is fitted with a set of seymour duncan SH1/SH4. I have fitted an .056 top string and moved the standard E and A down a position.
Drop B tuning and rowdy as they come.
Attachment 42631
I picked up a Guitar of the Month with this build.
Build 7.....Red earth
This is a build i did for mate. I am particularly proud of this one as I wanted to make something as a gift to celebrate his ancestry and to also showcase my artistic skills.
This is an Ash tele kit that has been heavily re-shaped, carved, burnt, stained and veneered.
The veneer is a piece of Camphor Laurel, Stains are crimson, tru-oil finish.
All black hardware and modded to fit a humbucker in the neck.
Attachment 42632
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Build 8.....
LP Junior
This was the last of the line and I picked it up. Veneered with some maple. I filled in the peg holes and fitted a string through Wilkinson bridge and a wilkinson P90. Vintage locking tuners and a slim PRS style headstock.
Attachment 42636
Build 9......
This was a replica build for a friend. I got her involved with the prep and painting and a bit of the set up so she felt a part of it.
Joan Jett lives with this junior kit
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Build 10.....
This is an Ash 7 string 27" scale V. It has some beautiful figuring. I would build all my guitars from ash if it wasn't so heavy.
This came as a blank canvas so i put my own stamp on it. Angled TOM and string through body. Warman pickups and crimson stains. No grainfill so not polished after lacquer.
I fitted a strat style output jack and added the fret markers
Attachment 42638
*Another birthday present from my wife!
Build 11.......
This kit was a poor little overlooked hollow body that sat on the seconds page for months. I took pity on it and decided a gnarly fret board, veneer damage and various dents and scratches would not put me off.
To be honest I was up for a challenge to test my building skills and chance to learn how to overcome problems. Needless to say the price was right :)
This is not your normal quilted maple finish!!!!!
Venus Orange high gloss, Stupidly powered warman pickups. .056 strings tuned to drop D. This is the chuggiest guitar in my arsenal.
Amazing clean neck tone and brutal driven tone.
Attachment 42639
As well as the Pit Bull gear I have also scratch built a few as well. My first scratch body was a Bunya pine tele.
I used a Pitbull baritone neck, Babicz bridge and a set of tonerider pickups for this.
Burnt burst - oil finished
Attachment 42640
Attachment 42642
Full build, 7 string own design. Alder body, Laurel veener, Alumitone pickup. 24 fret neck.
Attachment 42643
Scrappycaster - Pitbull neck and leftover parts
Attachment 42644
Copperbusrt - All my leftover Pitbull parts
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Bunningscaster - Pitbull neck on this one - This now a clock in my workshop
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This is a 2 piece mahogany PRS style LP I made.
Attachment 42648
The Kraken. I made and carved this out of an old garden table. The neck is a PitBull off the bunningscaster that is now a clock.
Attachment 42649
24 fret set neck PRS styled semi hollow tele powered by EMGs
Attachment 42650
Steam punk strat. Wiring is through the pipe work. P90 neck and HB bridge. Mahogany body
Good God man! You've been busy!
There's some terrific pieces of art there, and if they sound good, that's the bonus!
Good on ya!
(lot of exclamation points used!!!!)
Great post! Thanks for sharing and well done.
Thank you. I am pleased you like them.Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
Thank you. I will have have more soon :)Quote:
Originally Posted by dbeltrami
This is my latest completed build. I had a lot of fun doing this. I took months to plan it and gather all the parts i wanted.
The great thing about kit guitars is they give you the confidence to push yourself and try new things.
Even though I can build from scratch I think the challenge of making a kit unique is just as rewarding.
This is my interpretation of Fender's acoustasonic.
Body is very light weigh Akoume, i routed the cavity to about 6mm. The top is 5mm spruce with a book matched flamed camphor laurel veneer. Sound hole was made from several pieces of laminated pine. Bridge and pickup mount are rosewood. Neck is maple with MOP inlays. Locking tuners with MOP keys.
Finish is gloss acrylic, unpolished to retain the natural texture in the top.
Electrics are DiMarzio Chopper and a set of piezo's mounted in the body. Push pull volume that converts to tone, Blend pot and mini to split and parallel the humbucker.
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That's a very cool project, and gives me more ideas...
Where did you source the akoume?
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That's really nice. I've been looking out for a kit that approximates an acoustasonic for a while. From your description, it sounds like the finished instrument is quite a long way from the initial kit. Nonetheless, I'd be grateful for a link to the kit you based this on.
Not really a kit as such as I sourced the spruce top and veneer and all the hardware separately. I fabricated some of the parts like the sound hole, control knobs and back cover plate.Quote:
Originally Posted by jonwhitear
You could easily base it on a TL1 when they come back in stock.
https://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/...ic-guitar-kit/
Or a TL1HA which is alder and in stock by the look of it.
https://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/...ic-guitar-kit/
I routed out the internals of the body which i templated and made a jig for, also did all the book matching and gluing up for the top.
I literally got a reasonably OK body and removed most of it leaving a 6-7mm shell as I didn't want to use and expensive blank to make saw dust.
Cool, thanks. Rather more significant surgery than I had thought ;-).
78 EVH Frankenstrat replica
ST-1M kit. Only changes are the scratch plate and pickup. Total cost of build was well under $300
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Link to the build diary https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ad.php?t=12008
I HAVE BEEN BUSY ON BUILDS SINCE MY LAST POST
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This is a crackle burst custom body I made. Neck and pickups (Toneriders) are from a previous Pitbull guitar build.
Attachment 43595
This is the other half of the build. New Jackson style neck and an EMG 85 in the metal pick guard. Custom paint job. The body, tuners (grover locking) and bridge (Babicz) from the original kit
Attachment 43596
Custom built body and paint work. Neck and hardware are Fender, pickups are Fralin
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This is a custom Pitbull kit. Baritone 7 sting with Petrucci DiMarzio pickups.
Attachment 43598
The drummer in our band found a nasty old strat in a skip. So after some fun with power tools this is our mascot guitar.
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A pitbull explorer hot of the bench. Still needs a setup and a nice long play.