Pit Bull Guitars EXA-4 Electric Bass Guitar Kit (Custom Special)

I have swooped again on the Specials list.

Ash Body.....binding.....on one edge.....humbucker and p bass pickups.....nice.

The listing......

Pit Bull Guitars EXA-4 Custom Special Electric Bass Guitar Kit Includes:

Ash body with front white binding
Maple Neck (bolt-on)with Ebony Fretboard
MOP Block Inlays
34″ Scale with 22 frets
Black hardware
Humbucker bridge and PB neck pick ups
2 volume and 1 tone knobs
Strap buttons
All electronics (pots, caps, wires and solder)
Set of Bass Strings
FREE Shipping – Anywhere in Australia
Level of Soldering Difficulty: Pro

This kit contains everything you need to build a complete, playable guitar, except your choice of finish.

Geez Ozzie, interesting score and welcome to the ever growing Explorer Kit owners club!

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Geez Ozzie, interesting score and welcome to the ever growing Explorer Kit owners club!

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She will make 25 in my possession. This one shall be a natural front of the body and headstock....and a deep colour on the sides...back...and neck. Blue...red...green...black....who knows.

But Ash body filled with timbermate....maybe a dark colour on the front....sanded off then sealed with Tru Oil.

I could not resist when I saw her on the list......gotta think of a name for her.

Was nearly going to grab a Hoffner style with a spalted top.

This is more my speed. Pretty keen. 😎

It is similar to your TBird with that 3 point bridge and vol, vol, tone controls.

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Feast Watson golden teak would look pretty good.
Being solid ash with no veneer that leaves you with plenty of options.

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This will be fun to follow! I'm lurking for an EX1 myself so I'm curious what you are going to create with this build :)

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Feast Watson golden teak would look pretty good.
Being solid ash with no veneer that leaves you with plenty of options.

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I happen to have golden teak....and I quite like the colour....but on the front over say....walnut timbermate sanded off and then the Tru Oil dance.

Maybe a deep red on the sides, back, and neck. How did your Red ES go under Tru Oil...did it make it deeper....towards maroon in colour?

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Originally Posted by Kick

This will be fun to follow! I'm lurking for an EX1 myself so I'm curious what you are going to create with this build :)

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This is a special order that the original customer did not rate....so Ozzie did swoop.

I will warm up to this....but Ash has great grain and you can’t bury that under paint.

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

It is similar to your TBird with that 3 point bridge and vol, vol, tone controls.

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Definitely not a fan of ANY three point bridge. They are really a compromise for string height......no individual string height adjustability.

But this one has a P BASS split pickup in the neck...and one of THOSE quiet humbuckers in the bridge. This one maybe DUNCAN time. Quarter pounders in the neck and a passive blackout in the bridge.

Of course some exploratory electronics...wth guidance from yourself and weirdy....of course.

I am thinking push pull for series/parallel on the neck.....and maybe two push pulls in the bridge for the four split options weirdy gave me today. So V V T all push pull.....nice.

No preamp....just not a fan.

Hi Ozzie, understand that you are not a fan of the pre amp. Must say that I am a little underwhelmed by how it sounds and still getting used to it. Worst case scenario would be to leave both Bass & Treble controls at centre detent as that effectively bypasses it.

As for Tru Oil over shades of Red, the darker the better as on my J Bass that was the same ink & stain as used on the ES1 and after 2 or more years it still looks great and not showing any of the TO slight yellowish typical signs of ageing. As layers of TO went on the ES1 I thought it enhanced the stain, a bit like DT intensifier does, but then TO does that with most stains I have used except Blue as that just kept going greener with each additional coat.

Wiring options on this new toy......hmmm.....best to wait for Weirdy's advice.

As for replacing the Bridge Humbucker if it is the same size as what comes in EX5, IB5, and a few others it is has unusual dimensions and just did a quick measurement on EX5 that reveals PUP cavity is about 100 mm x 40 mm. Not sure if Duncans come in that size? I know that there is a passive EMG that does as I nearly bought them before choosing Custom Bensons. Bartolini also make some in that size but they are not cheap and also hard to find.

What do you plan to use for a bridge if not using the stock 3 pointer? Looks like Black hardware which limits your options to possibly something like what I have upgraded to on the EX5 which was bought from Real Parts.

This one has 18 mm string spacing... https://www.realparts.com.au/bridges...dge-black.html

Or this Gotoh one with 19 mm spacing is a little bit dearer and probably what I would choose as the other one has lots of little grub screws to hold it all in place which has caused me to baulk at final setup and intonating as that may take a lot longer than using a typical F style bridge.... https://www.realparts.com.au/bridges...dge-black.html

After seven days on deck...I arrive home and the big box has arrived. :)

I love the grain in the body....the fingerboard has such an awesome figure as well.

mmmmmm.......sanding time......

Sure looks purdy.

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Honestly I don't know what I look at when these things arrive?

Found this when I was sanding today.....apparently the factory went a little hard on this side.

mmmmm......never played with binding....maybe a chance here.

Then drowned in Ebony timbermate and hanging to dry. Sand tomorrow....I have some Golden Teak and Mahogany Prooftint stain from Feast Watson. I had an issue when I used alcohol based stain with binding in the past. The stain really found the cracking and stretching marks in the binding and did not come out.

I see here...that some others use a polish with steel wool before the stain as a way to keep the binding unmarked.

It will be interesting.

Oh bugger about the binding. But then again.. it's fixable and a skill worth having a crack at. I have a bit of a mental idea to try and do aluminium binding at some point.

Looks like you scored a rosewood fretboard rather than the composite stuff?

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Oh bugger about the binding. But then again.. it's fixable and a skill worth having a crack at. I have a bit of a mental idea to try and do aluminium binding at some point.

Looks like you scored a rosewood fretboard rather than the composite stuff?

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Before I started sanding it all looked good.....really hard to tell how deep the binding is......it just disappeared.....they must have been at it hard.

I have a Stewmac binding router guide and binding router bit on the way.

I will have to troll the net for how you get the old binding off.....would you know what glue is used to secure it....and what is a good tape to hold it on whilst it dries....I only use the low tack painters tape for covering things.

The original listing showed EBONY......whatever it is....it is better looking than the engineered stuff.....reckon it will come up great with lemon oil and dr ducks.

Oh well it probably is ebony. Very nice!

I'm sure a bit of heat would loosen up the binding glue, that's where I'd start with a hair dryer or something. I think the painters tape would probably work, you just need to use a lot of it from the pics I've seen online. Someone on here (might have been Zandit?) used too much tape and the glue solvents couldn't escape so I guess that's something to be aware of.

Binding is over rated and loves to show up all it's flaws if not adequately covered when applying stain.
I'd be tempted to sand the lot off.
Alternatively, if you really want to keep the binding gotta wonder how hard a repair job might be compared to full refit?

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Binding is over rated and loves to show up all it's flaws if not adequately covered when applying stain.
I'd be tempted to sand the lot off.
Alternatively, if you really want to keep the binding gotta wonder how hard a repair job might be compared to full refit?

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The repair is interesting. I would have to try and match the binding colour....size...shape.

Hi ozzbike.
It’s hard to tell without the guitar in hand, but could a repair be as simple as adhering binding with acetone over the damaged area (and a little past it) and then sanding to a level?

Outside the box Ozz, but you could put a forearm chamfer from that point and then blend back into the existing binding back toward the horn. Wouldn't have to be aggressive. Seems to a feature of a lot of high end gear lately with the blended binding.

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Originally Posted by vh2580

Outside the box Ozz, but you could put a forearm chamfer from that point and then blend back into the existing binding back toward the horn. Wouldn't have to be aggressive. Seems to a feature of a lot of high end gear lately with the blended binding.

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Wicked idea mate.

In between coats of timbermate today I had a really good look at the body.....looooong chamfer...the missing binding is right in the elbow of the body shape change.

I think I will finish it completely and then see what the binding options are.

Hard to match colours.......maybe have to redo the whole body.

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

Hi ozzbike.
It’s hard to tell without the guitar in hand, but could a repair be as simple as adhering binding with acetone over the damaged area (and a little past it) and then sanding to a level?

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I think the colour matching is going to be an issue......may try this first though...but probably with a routing of a binding grove...then glue the piece of binding into the hole.

First wipe of Feast Watson Golden Teak on the body front and headstock front. Found a sanding and timbermate tide mark on the body...bit of 240 to attack that I think.

One wipe of mahogany on the neck....still wet.

Flash used...so no real proper indication of colour and grain.

But here she is with three coats of Tru Oil....still wet from the last one.

I did Feast Watson Golden Teak on the front of the body and the front of the headstock. I did Feast Watson Mahogany on the rear of the headstock and neck, and on the rear of the body. I left the edges of the body with no stain.

All over has had two coats of Ebony Timbermate sanded off at 180grit then the second coat at 240 grit.

So far, stain at 240.....will do about ten coats of Tru Oil and then a wet sand with Tru Oil....400 or 600 depending on how the surface feels.

Weirdy,

If you are around Scott. :)

This one has three pot holes.....it has a humbucker pickup in the bridge and the split coil P Bass pickup in the neck.

My thoughts.......split the bridge humbucker pickup with a push pull volume pot......series/parallel on the P Bass neck pickup with a push pull volume pot.....master tone pot.....or even more sinister.....bridge and neck pickups series/parallel push pull tone pot.

This one would be fun to solder....seen the size of that control cavity.....full external job this one.

What would you recommend? I am keen on starting with the Chinese pickups and seeing what sounds they bring. After the MMB 5 I find I like them with some extra switching options.

Piccies will help me make a harness.....if you feel so inclined....please please.

P vol with series/parallel coils, bridge vol with humbucker/split, and master tone with P & bridge parallel/series link switching is very doable... maybe even with an optional extra twist.

The biggest question is: are you willing to snip your P pickup?

The short link wire between the P coils (standard on most P’s) will need to be cut and extended with wires if you want to do series/parallel switching on it. Like this:
Attachment 28691

If so, I’ll sketch out a layout for you.

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

P vol with series/parallel coils, bridge vol with humbucker/split, and master tone with P & bridge parallel/series link switching is very doable... maybe even with an optional extra twist.

The biggest question is: are you willing to snip your P pickup?

The short link wire between the P coils (standard on most P’s) will need to be cut and extended with wires if you want to do series/parallel switching on it. Like this:
Attachment 28691

If so, I’ll sketch out a layout for you.

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Yes I am a fan of the snip.

I have this push pull series/parallel option on a number of basses. The difference is very noticeable on Seymour Duncan quarter pounder....not so much on Tone Rider Precision Plus pickups. Interested to see how the Chinese pickups go.

So weirdy...bring on the chop chop chop.

Thank you again. 😎🎸🎼🎶

What colour are your pup wires? So that I can label them correctly on the diagram.

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

What colour are your pup wires? So that I can label them correctly on the diagram.

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These are the kit pickups that come in the box.

The humbucker appears to have the black separate, the red and white twisted together and soldered....and I assume the green and bare are twisted together and soldered under the shrink wrap.

The P Bass pickup has the blue joining wire, and the yellow wire that contains the white hot lead and the bare earth lead.

Photos for you. Thanks very much again again again. :)

"maybe even with an optional extra twist."


Intrigued you guru of the wiring. :)

I haven't had a chance to get sketchy as yet, hopefully will find some time over the weekend.

Injured thumb at the moment, so my drawing/hand-writing is worse than usual.

I sacrificed a PBG P pup to double check their internal config and make sure the shielded blue wire was connected they way I suspected. Don't try taking the covers off or disassembling them, they're glued together big time and will self-destruct rather than come apart.

Essentially, the white 'core' of the yellow wire is your 'hot' out from coil 1 and its bare shield wire runs through coil 1, connects to the bare shield of the blue wire which connects to coil 2. The white core of the blue wire is the 'hot' from coil 2 which then connects to the 'in' of coil 1 completing the circuit... and you have a series linked P pickup.

The yellow/blue coil I'm calling coil 1, and the blue only is coil 2. To get series/parallel switching on the P pup you'll need to cut the blue wire. Coil 2 is then ready to go but to make coil 1 work you'll need to join the bare shield and white core of the blue wire stub and then insulate it so it can't short. This will allow the bare shield of the yellow wire to connect as ground/negative of coil 1, otherwise it won't work.

Hopefully this is clear enough to understand:
Attachment 28801

Neck Volume push/pull switches the P coils from series (down) to parallel (up).
Bridge Volume push/pull switches the bridge humbucker from humbucker (down) to split (up).
Master Tone push/pull switches the link between the pickups from parallel (down) to series (up)* [this is the optional extra twist]

* This is a variation on the normal bridge & neck parallel/series switching. When in series mode the neck volume still works as master but in this version the bridge volume becomes a sort of fader for the bridge pup. Essentially, it controls how much signal goes through the bridge pup and how much bypasses it. The catch is the larger the value pot the more 'switchy' it becomes, and it does affect how the pickup is loaded so will change the sound compared to a normal series switching set up. What I mean by 'switchy' is you may not get a lot of gradual change before it bypasses completely, depending on the pot value. I have a bass wired like this.

If you'd rather have normal bridge & neck parallel/series switching without the 'fader' (like on your 'The Lot' layout), then wire it like this:
Attachment 28802
Hopefully it all makes some sense.

Oops, made a boo boo.

I forgot that with the bridge & neck para/series switching the ground connection for C1- also needed to switch to match C2- rather than be fixed on the neck vol push/pull. Here are the corrected diagrams:
Attachment 28803

Attachment 28804

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

Oops, made a boo boo.

I forgot that with the bridge & neck para/series switching the ground connection for C1- also needed to switch to match C2- rather than be fixed on the neck vol push/pull. Here are the corrected diagrams:
Attachment 28803

Attachment 28804

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I really do appreciate your work mate. Thank you so much.

I am still at work for another four days.

Thank you so much....hope the injury heals quickly.

Weirdy,

One more day at work...home tomorrow. Parts order has been made.

In your wonderful wiring diags you mentioned the “the switchiness” being effected by the value of the pot. I have ordered three 250k push pull pots....trying Gotoh this time....as the bourns minis are out of stock....will these be okay?

The idea of a fader intrigues me....shall do this one....as I like the idea and it is different. Thank you for feeding my sound obsessions.....muhaha.

By the way thank you for dismembering a P Bass pickup of your own. The sacrifice is much appreciated. R.I.P. Chinese P Bass pickup.

This build is going so quick. I suppose bolt on necks and having a well learnt pattern of sanding and a random orbital sander helps.

This one was a lot better with glue dags....just a couple. The white line between sections of body wood was hard to remove....think I did well though...goof off...tiny wire brush....sanding.

One issue...the jack socket hole looks to have been filled with a glue or body filler after a whack of tear out. The resulting mess is too big to use my...and Wazkellys....favourite recessed TELE socket. This time I will use a switchcraft jack socket....but with a surface mount cover....bugger.

The wiring changes...thanks Weirdy....and a graphite nut shall be the only changes at this stage.

I was considering a Black with brass saddles Wilkinson fender style Bass bridge.....not a bad price either....but I will have to remember to measure to see if it will cover the existing three point bridge holes....undecided about filling the holes.....mmmmm.

Oh....I found an explorer Bass style truss rod cover.....black Gibbo bell shape style. The Bass t cover seems to use three screws.....one at top and two at bottom. Can’t find them outside original.....got a cheapie two screw one....black with white edge.

Naming.....was thinking something unoriginal and dull....DORA The Explorer.....but naaaahhhh.

The top is a golden yellow....edge is natural Tru Oil over sanded ebony timbermate....so quite dark....back of body neck and headstock is very red mahogany......so use the old name I had to apply to a double bound hollow body....the JAM SANNICH.

Any wonderful cheeky ideas accepted....need to make decals for her....they don’t stand out too well on dark colours....so I only have the little yellow banana headstock front. “Nothing Fl4sh” and handcrafted in Buderim and serial number plus a name to go on.

I'd probably also order a 500K push/pull for the bridge volume and start with that value first, as the humbucker will probably work best with that. It's always good to be able to try different values if you're not happy with the sound.

If the fader is too switchy you could try to smooth it out by adding a resistor across it that's only activated when you switch to series mode. That would reduce the effective value of the pot and make the response more linear, rather than log/audio. Like this:
Attachment 28846
If you're using a 500K bridge volume pot you could try a 120K-130K resistor, or around 200K for a 250K volume pot. That will then give you around 100K across the pickup at max volume. If you want to do some tests before committing you can use a spare 250K pot instead of a fixed resistor (a B250K would be best). Connect the middle and right lugs (as drawn, with no ground connection) in place of the resistor and then you can vary the resistance to see if it helps and what value works best with the bridge volume. Clips leads are your friend for stuff like this.
Attachment 28847

Weirdy,

I made the wiring harness in a piece of measured cardboard.

I did get a 500k push pull pot for the humbucker pickup.

The coil 1 and coil 2 split was easily done....ended the circuit on the blue wire...and extended the other wires....all shrink wrapped and ready to go.

Thanks for you ideas yet again. Love how your mind works and the sounds it enables me to produce.🎼🎸🎶

I have sanded the body and the neck through to 1200 grit with Tru Oil as the lubricant.

The back of the neck and the body is the Mahogany Prooftint stain from Feast Watson....nice deep cherry red....nearly plum on maple.

The edges of the body are natural with just the timbermate filler.

The top has been sanded back as the golden teak prooftint was very yellow. But it is sanded back prooftint over ebony timbermate.

Still have not had the guts to play with the binding yet....job for after xmas I think.