September GOTM

September Guitar of the Month (for Guitars and Basses finished in August 2018)

Enter your finished guitar or bass here to be judged for the Pit Bull Guitars September 2018 Guitar of the Month.

Please remember:

For Guitars or Basses finished on (or before) the end of August 2018

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 June closes at the end of August 2018 (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!

Ok looks like I'm first...
Custom AG kit, ordered with block inlay bound neck, Mahogany neck and body.
Finished in Feast Watson Mahogany and cleared with spray pack Cabots poly gloss
Pickups Tonerider AC2
Bone nut (still not glued in!)
Heading toward the final set up, still a few buzzes to extinguish. Plugging it in it's exactly what I wanted as far as 'the tone' which is really exciting. There's a rough sound demo below...
Roller string saddle, otherwise all the bits are stock. The tone controls are not wired in (like Angus) and the knobs are unused castoff from my RC4 kit.
The machine heads are stock with buttons bought from eBay and adapted to fit.
Managed to lose the treble rhythm washer, but I'm ok without it!
Happy with the finish, excepting a couple of bits of stain on the neck binding near the heel - you can see them in one of the pictures
I've strung a few chords together and recorded it on my iPad, not the best sound quality but at least you can hear it works!
https://youtu.be/brJ6AjwG8NQ

Attachment 27703
Attachment 27704
Attachment 27705
Attachment 27706
Attachment 27707

Here's a couple more...
Attachment 27708
Attachment 27709
Attachment 27710
Attachment 27730
Attachment 27731

Great work Andy, super classic vibe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Great work Andy, super classic vibe.

---

Thank you Sonic! I'm happy that I achieved what I set out to do with this one... 😀

Well there is a good start to the GOTM.

Ringa ding ding! We have a winner!

That turned out really well Andy. Looks authentic.

My AGJM-1

glossy finish for the body and satin for the neck. mirror plate and gold hardware.
assembled, modified and painted by me

Color: purple métallic nacre gloss ( body )
Purple métallic nacre satin ( neck )
Black métallic nacre gloss ( head )


https://nsa39.casimages.com/img/2018...0336154116.jpg

https://nsa39.casimages.com/img/2018...0344830840.jpg

https://nsa39.casimages.com/img/2018...0351934693.jpg

https://nsa39.casimages.com/img/2018...0352293056.jpg

https://nsa39.casimages.com/img/2018...0407795171.jpg

https://nsa39.casimages.com/img/2018...0413998895.jpg

That looks great, and I like to colour too!
Let's keep it to an all SG month shall we!?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkMark

Well there is a good start to the GOTM.

---

Yepp. Gotta agree how good is simple and done well. That is a beautifullly done job. Wow.

And a second wow.....how deep and brilliant is the purple rig. Love the wrap around bridge and the single pickup of the Junior design....SG body for the win...so far so wonderful.....amazing.

Over a year and a half in the making…

Attachment 27789

Attachment 27790

Attachment 27791

Attachment 27792

Attachment 27793

Started with a Pitbull RC-4 Kit

Planed off the top of the body down to the bottom of the binding

Added tummy cut with grinder

Added forearm contour with grinder

Glued on 1/4" thick quilted maple drop top (cut kerfs in the back to bend it over the forearm contour)

Routed for 3 MM-style humbuckers (GFS -- painted with conductive shielding paint)

Rear-routed for control cavity (routed top material a bit thin, so reinforced with fiberglass -- painted with conductive shielding paint)

Stained fretboard black

Sanded everything up to 400 grit

Applied black and red dye/stain to top and the truss rod and control cavity covers made from scrap maple (StewMac ColorTone – took two tries to get it the way I wanted it)

Applied nitrocellulose lacquer, black to back of body, neck, and headstock, then everything clear gloss (SteMac ColorTone, many, many coats -- FYI, Rickenbacker sprays their fretboards, so I did, too...and I like it)

After cure, wet sanded and used StewMac kit for polishing

GOTOH bass tuners

All Parts BB-3533-003 Black Quick Release 4-string Bass Bridge (had to mount on 1/8" spacer because of neck angle, custom-made and painted gloss black to match bridge from left-over maple)

4 black dome knobs (I’ve got black chrome skulls with red eyes, but maybe that’s a bit too much)

3 Volume, 1 Tone (CTS pots, "Orange Drop" cap)

3 SPDT black mini toggles for coil tapping

Black electrosocket jack mount

Mushroom head style strap buttons (black)

Black Rotosound strings

Two more pics (headstock and logo):

Attachment 27794

Attachment 27795

Sorry...phone usually does a little better...gotta bust out the Nikon and take some real pics.

Wow that's fantastic!!!

so that's what's causing the tremors!

Whoa. Two builds out of nowhere this month. That's a pretty great interpretation of that kit.

Thanks, guys...this was my first try, and I really bit off more than I should have, but it was a lot of fun and I'm really happy with it (and it's as loud and obnoxious as one might imagine). Can't wait to start another one :)

Among all these glittery guitars there has to be a runner up.... So as it's finished & playable & intonated today I'll throw in a few photos of my IB-1Q build.
As they say, gotta be in it to win it...

The initial theme is I suppose is stolen from the Ibanez Jiva. An S type HSH Ibanez with fancy inlays etc.. etc.. etc ... But this has a Dragon inlay so I went with a fire breathing beast that amongst the seemingly burnt bits has a looked after yet well worn lots of use kind of feel...

The body has a Brown base stain with a light Black burst sealed in with Poly, then micro-scrubbed flat to 12000 and Duck feather wheel polished.
Back and neck is Black stain washed out to a Charcoal then rubbed back with 400 before a few coats of Tru-oil
Headstock front face is also Brown then with a sanded Black burst and then covered in Poly

As it's a Floyd bridge and locking nut I kept the kit tuners.

Copper foil in all cavities...

The two HB's were changed to a set of very hot DiMarzio IBZ PU's. The SC PU is stock from the kit. Interestingly the kit SC matches reasonably closely the HB when in SC mode, so all the PU can balance out rather nicely in the right configurations.
A pull/push switch on the 500k Bournes volume pot determines if the HB are in HB or SC mode, and the pull.push switch on the tone knob reverses the phase of the SC for additional interesting variations in the middle three positions of the kit supplied 5 way selector switch.
Needless to say that 'High-Gain' is easy to run with this build... and cleans are loud clear and distinct...

The neck isn't as thin as one would hope for a shredder yet the action is more than capable... I've set it at about 1.6mm @ 12th fret with the knowledge that 1.1mm is well within its abilities (ATM) for a soft handed strummer. Maybe one day I'll get the 120 & 240 grit out and slim down the neck but as nearly every other guitar I play regularly has a '50's neck that day may be quite a ways off...

Don't write yourself off Marcel. That's a great build.

That looks fantastic, well done. I love the body colour with that neck.

Entry from Steve G. GR-1SFG "Blue Bird"

Mods to the kit,

• Fitted binding to the head stock,
• Ebonised the fret board using Kiwi liquid black shoe polish, works beautifully,
• Raised the neck in the body to allow me to fit a timber bridge under a roller tuneamatic,
• Fitted a Tusque nut,
• Extended the heal on the neck and capped with binding,
• Replaced the 2 linier pots with audios for smoother roll off,
• Finished with automotive acrylic lacquer, I used clear acrylic lacquer to seal the timber. Translucent burst on the top and head stock, (60% clear,20% pearl and20% colour then 6 coats of clear), Solid colour back sides and neck (Grey primer, 80% colour, 20% pearl plus 6 coats of clear). Final sanding to 2000 grit then cut polish.

Great action great sound, I’m really pleased with the finished guitar. To protect it I purchase an Artist JC500BR Jumbo-Large Arch Top hard case, I fitted 10mm of timber flooring foam underlay into the sides and a 10mm to 20mm contoured velvet covered foam packer under the body. The guitar fits beautifully.

Attachment 27907Attachment 27908Attachment 27909Attachment 27910Attachment 27911

Wow, that's a pretty pro looking effort.

Last bids - day to go before closin' time!

Another great guitar, well done Steve!

And with that - GOTM for September is closed! I'll get to the voting cruë soon and get results out as soon as we can!

Wow !! Almost a week and still nil result.... The judges must be working hard on this months lineup....

OK to the comments from the judges - thanks to all - not an easy job as many will attest!

From one of the judges:
The judging guidelines as offered to us were all met at an outstanding level by all of the offerings this month so I have chosen to dwell only on the things that stood out to me in each of the builds.

Superb work by all and the bar has been raised yet again

AndyXLH’s Custom AG
Could very easily have been cliche, but some nice personal touches; the little Angus Devil and the Draper logo on the head stock, changing up the kit buttons for the tombstone pearl ones have really made this pop. Its a well used template for SG’s, the Angus Young look but it still makes a favourable impression when its done this well.
Oh and SHINE FOR DAYS!!! I’d definitely want to hear this thing amped up and see if i could make it Angus.
A very tasty period inspired build that is totally sympathetic with Angus Young's music beast.
Attention to detail is spot on and there is no over the top styling, nice to see the logo on the headstock, half a demerit for losing the switch ring ;-)
Finish slightly marred by what appear to be fine scratch swirls near the bridge but otherwise a brilliant effort complete with sound clip.
Great Angus replica SG. Perfect colour, very shiny, proper bell shaped truss rod cover, love the traditional font logo plus cartoon sticker. Not completely sold on the plastic tuner buttons. I get what you were trying to achieve and feel all chrome may have looked better if you couldn’t run with genuine Kluson’s. Extra points for tasty upgrades and demo video.
The colour is perfect for the style, the finish is deep and shiny and the look is completed by the aftermarket tuners, TRC, and headstock logo and motif. The finish around the neck joint is excellent. Being picky I note the occasional inconsistency in the body stain and the final finish of the scratch plate could be slightly tidier.
Classic cherry SG, came up a treat, nicely finished

D3monBikes AGJM-1
Another pearler of a finish, a bold purple metallic treatment with once again SHINE FOR DAYS!!!
Wasn’t sure at first on the Mirror scratch guard but it echoes the machine heads and the hardware. the more i looked at it the more i thought it fit. I like the restrained detailed touch; keying the screw colour to the saddle colour on the bridge, the razor sharp delineation of the headstock face black to the purple of the HS sides. A simple script logo with complementing gold lettering.
I want to pick this up and play it,
A fabulous single PUP screamer.
Love this one, the polar opposite to Andy's SG with absolute in your face look at me styling, let down slightly by what appears to be a bit of bleed from face to sides on the headstock.
Would be an absolute rock and roll beast.
Another SG done in a more vibrant colour scheme. Love the mirror scratch plate and also satin on back of neck is a really smart and useful finish. Good to see a shiny bell shaped truss rod cover plus your own custom scripted logo. Build diary would have been nice to watch as things progressed.
My word. I've never liked a purple guitar before but this is exceptional. The finish is lustrous and the mirror scratchplate and TRC set it off beautifully. With the simple headstock logo and bling hardware it carefully treads the line of good taste but stays just the right side. Perhaps gold strap buttons might have been a final touch?
another ripper SG, very well painted and the mirror guard goes really well. Top notch build

Geddyfan’s RC-4
Off. The. Hook.
Good things take time, and that time has been well spent here.
A superb red and black finish, a beautiful flamed veneer, echoed across the TRC.
The extra ergo work, and the level of attention to final look is wonderful.
The only potential negative for me aesthetically is the busy set of controls, while it is well laid out aligned and tidy, i would have preferred a minimal approach here, maybe push pulls for the coil tap? But that’s a personal thing.
A year and a half well spent, the body mods are both superb and functional, fit and finish is of the same stunning level.
For me let down by not having a headstock logo and the TRC appears not to sit flush, I would have also liked to have seen black screws used.
Nice design for the logo on the control cavity but I feel it could have appeared on the headstock or TRC.
And the meek shall inherit the earth….. was well worth the whole 18 months it took to complete as that quilted top looks amazing. Lots of custom touches has resulted in a truly unique one of a kind Bass that looks like it would be a ton of fun to play.
I have a soft spot for Ricks, red guitars and flame maple tops. The unique pick-up and control layout would immediately draw me to this in shop. The finish appears to be brilliant, and I like the control cavity logo, shame there's no headstock logo and the finish on the headstock doesn't appear to be quite up to the standard of the back.
beautiful build, love the triple buckers and the colours, awesome effort

Marcels IB-1Q
Given the issues with the finish i think this has worked amazingly, though i am not a huge fan of the colour combo. The care and effort that has got into getting past these issues is obvious and deserving of high praise.
The carrying of the theme through the rear of the neck and even into the logo treatment is wonderful, but the difficulties of colour matching across basswood and maple make themselves obvious. The upgrades to Pups and controls (one imagines) would make this thing scream and my inbuilt like of Ibbys would make me want to play it.
Another guitar that meets the word and intent of the design brief, the burnt appearance of the finish conjures up images of having been breathed on and charred by the mythical beast.
The upgrades are totally in harmony of the intent of a shredder guitar and the electrics show a lot of imagination as might be expected given that Marcel has laid hands on it.
This could have been a winner in my mind but in the pics the area around the output jack lets it down a little.
Nice smoky and sultry looking quilted top. Upgraded pickups and coil splitting are in keeping with the serious attitude that goes with this style of guitar. Not a fan of stock kit supplied truss rod covers but otherwise a stunner.
The first impressions are excellent and the overall look of the guitar is perfect for the style. A couple of things mark down this entry for me: the burst effect on the headstock is a little to hard-edged for me, similarly on the rear of the body the stain is a bit inconsistent. It looks like the edge of the top may have been over-sanded in a couple of places. But I love how the neck has taken the stain around the heel and the subsequent sudden transition to the headstock. It's crying out for a more interesting TRC.
top looking Ibey and the quilt top looks fantastic, well done

Steve G’s "Blue Bird” GR-1SFG
The blue shading moving across the body is gorgeous. The subtle echo of grain through the sky blue of the arch top is like looking at waves for the beach from a drone above. The deep looking blue of the sides is rich and heavy. the colour is set off by it’s shine and polish. A wonderful, wonderful effort.
This guitar looks opulent, expensive and says Jazz, jazz, jazz.
The only let downs for me:
Stock TRC - This really deserved something custom, perhaps with pearl inlay to echo the fret markers.
No logo - This is something special, that deserved a stylish logo or personal brand for recognition and accolades.
Beautifully understated but luxurious at the same time with the gold hardware the wonderful blue finish and importantly the body cavity having a lick of black to make it like looking into the abyss.
Unfortunately I have been unable to find a build diary of any posts about the build so I can't comment on upgrades
Let down only by the lack of headstock logo.
Very nicely finished Falcon. Additional binding on the vertical neck joint and neck heel work well as does the binding added to headstock. Build diary would have been good to see how it all came together. Again, not a fan of the stock kit supplied truss rod cover with plenty of alternatives out there for not much money. Missing a logo too.
Oh for a headstock logo! I love the customisations on this, the headstock binding, the wooden bridge plate, the heel cap - and that subtle burst finish is fantastic. I am a little confused by the intonation but I'm assuming these are pre-set-up photos. Another guitar that really deserves a custom TRC though.
love the blue burst goes great on this model. No headstock logo to say you built it, otherwise a great looking axe

And the results - the runner up with a stunner of a custom AG - Andyxlh!
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...3&d=1533701475

And the winner to cap out a month of AG's - take a bow D3MONBIKES - too many AG's is obviously not enough!
https://nsa39.casimages.com/img/2018...0336154116.jpg

This was a seriously tough month to judge and probably explains why some comments from fellow judges were a bit more picky than usual.

Congratulations to all entrants as they were all worthy contenders with kudos to Andy as runner-up & D3monBikes taking out top spot.

Well done D3MONBIKES and Andyxlh... Gorgeous builds...

Congrats to the winners! From the moment I saw the pics of the purple SG, I knew it was a race for 2nd place.

I agree with a lot of the summary...if I had to do it over, I'd eliminate the switches as suggested and simplify the layout a bit, and yes, the black finish on the head stock, while it looks good in person, does show a little grain. I had originally put a veneer on it to match the body, but the figuring sucked, so I just sanded and painted it over black. I should have completely removed it. The TRC does sit flush, but it's raised a little in the pic because it was leaning against one of the tuner washers. Oh well :) All the screws are black, but they picked up some light reflections in the pic, so it's a bit hard to tell. I'll probably go back and put a logo on the TRC. I was having trouble finding a font I liked, so I put it off.

Appreciate the kind words on my first effort. It's a loud mo-fo and fun to play (two drummers in the family and this weekend we made some huge noise). Next up, a tribute to my other favorite band...Blue Oyster Cult. I've got some ideas I haven't seen anywhere on the forum. Should be crazy :)

Congrats again to the winners...here's another pic (I should have used this when I threw my bass into the ring originally):

Attachment 27969

The quality this month was too good.

Great work guys. Very difficult to split the builds again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by geddyfan

Congrats to the winners! From the moment I saw the pics of the purple SG, I knew it was a race for 2nd place.

I agree with a lot of the summary...if I had to do it over, I'd eliminate the switches as suggested and simplify the layout a bit, and yes, the black finish on the head stock, while it looks good in person, does show a little grain. I had originally put a veneer on it to match the body, but the figuring sucked, so I just sanded and painted it over black. I should have completely removed it. The TRC does sit flush, but it's raised a little in the pic because it was leaning against one of the tuner washers. Oh well :) All the screws are black, but they picked up some light reflections in the pic, so it's a bit hard to tell. I'll probably go back and put a logo on the TRC. I was having trouble finding a font I liked, so I put it off.

Appreciate the kind words on my first effort. It's a loud mo-fo and fun to play (two drummers in the family and this weekend we made some huge noise). Next up, a tribute to my other favorite band...Blue Oyster Cult. I've got some ideas I haven't seen anywhere on the forum. Should be crazy :)

Congrats again to the winners...here's another pic (I should have used this when I threw my bass into the ring originally):

Attachment 27969

---

It's a great effort and a unique, personal instrument Geddyfan. You should be thoroughly proud of it as this was a tough month to enter!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Great work guys. Very difficult to split the builds again.

---

Yep, the devil is in the details.....

Wow thanks folks! That's a surprise actually, I wouldn't have put mine towards the top in that race, although I'm still really enjoying playing it.
Thanks for the comments too. Fair play with the fine swirls in the finish... I'm still having the devils own job of getting them all out, although they are better than they were in those photos. I'm not too worried as the poly clear is very hard and so I hope I'm less likely to scratch it!
Congrats to DEMONBIKES, that's really very cool indeed, and I particularly love the RC bass...

Wouldn't fuss too much with swirl marks as once you start playing your new toy it will gradually pick up some signs of use.
Top effort as it truly does look very, very good in those photos.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

They are all brilliant builds of superb quality and I guess when that's what is put in front of the judges it's the smallest nitpicking that splits the difference.

Tough calls to make but who wouldn't be proud to own all of them.

Congrats to all

congrats to the winners, in fact all entrants because I wouldn't have liked to make a choice.