My Build Diary, RD-1

Hi everyone,

so this is my new RD-1, my first build,which I hope will be...well, playable at the very least ! I'm not aiming for "great" just yet.

I unpacked all the bits and pieces, checked and double-checked that all the parts and screws were there, and did a mock build, which turned out all right. The neck fits quite snugly into the pocket, the wood shows no trace or scratches. So far, so good !

There is, however, someting wrong with the headstock : the top two machinehead holes are misaligned by a couple of millimeters. Beside any aesthetic consideration (it's not THAT noticeable), I hope this won't have any effect on the playability or on the tuning stabilty of the guitar. Has any of you ever experienced this problem ?

Apart from that, I've started gouging away some of the body for a belly cutaway. Also, the Gibson RDs I've seen have a much more angular shape, the body edges on the pitbull kit are much more rounded. So I've started altering the upper contours on the body using a powered sander, although I'm not sure about what I'm doing. I don't really have woodworking tools at hand, so if anyone has advice for me on how to proceed, I'd be very grateful :)

I also want a pickguard but couldn't find any pre-cut, RD-shaped pickguards online, so I ordered a 3-ply sheet from Axetec and will have to find a way to cut it (bandsaw ? jigsaw?).
And then...I will get started on the sanding !

That's it for now, thanks in advance for any advice. I'm frankly amazed at the level of craftsmanship displayed by some of you guys !

Misaligned tuner holes are a known issue with these kits, but it’s normally the 6 in a row headstocks. Are you talking about the middle ones being slightly more inboard than the end ones? Because that is normal on a paddle headstock. If it’s botheri you, it’s pretty simple to glue some dowel in and re drill. They normally only need a mm or so, so any evidence is covered by the tuner and washer.

I can see what you are saying, the top two tuner holes are different distances from the edges. The mids look right as do the ones closest to the nut but the top two are definitely out.
That’s a definite dowel and redrill job unless you want to flick it back to Adam, or forget about it if you can put up with it.
Personally speaking, even the photo of it is giving me a tic, so I’d be cutting the plug for it as we speak. 😵😂

Oh yeah.. I can see it now I'm on the computer. I guess it depends on how much of a perfectionist you are, but yeah, that'd bother me as well.

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

I can see what you are saying, the top two tuner holes are different distances from the edges. The mids look right as do the ones closest to the nut but the top two are definitely out.
That’s a definite dowel and redrill job unless you want to flick it back to Adam, or forget about it if you can put up with it.
Personally speaking, even the photo of it is giving me a tic, so I’d be cutting the plug for it as we speak. 😵😂

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To be honest, it took me a while to notice it, and that was after I removed the machineheads. Plus I'm not confident enough to re-drill the headstock (I can already imagine a potentially catastrophic mess :D !) so...I'll keep it like that and work on a couple of other things instead. Thanks for your advice anyway ;)

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Originally Posted by AlexCab

To be honest, it took me a while to notice it, and that was after I removed the machineheads. Plus I'm not confident enough to re-drill the headstock (I can already imagine a potentially catastrophic mess :D !) so...I'll keep it like that and work on a couple of other things instead. Thanks for your advice anyway ;)

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Depending on where you are there may be a better equipped forum member who may be able to help you out with it. If you can deal with it as is then all good.
look forward to seeing how the rest of your build goes👍🏾😁

Despite currently building my 2nd Pitbull kit, I consider myself a veteran in drilling/re-dowelling.
It doesn't require a great deal of skill.
A bag of 10mm dowels and some Aquadhere.
The filing done with a coarse rasp, however the Dremel 'grinding kit' did speed up the process.

Once done you'll be asking why the hesitation.

cheers, Mark.

It's been a while since I last posted here. Having no workshop of any kind at home, working on my guitar on the dining-room table is always a bit of a pain... So this is taking me quite a long time, but then I expected it to. Ok, on the plus side, I've managed to contour the body, or the upper half at least, and I think it looks cool as is, so I'm going to leave it like that.Attachment 29972
I've also carved the belly contour which also feels nice and smooth (though far from perfect) Attachment 29973

Oh, and of course, I drew and cut a pickguard, which was harder than I expected. The shape was really not that easy to get right... It still isn't perfect, but I still have some 3-ply plastic that I can use should I decide to make another one. Attachment 29974

Ok, and now, some problems I've had. I haven't touched the headstock and I still don't know if I want to take the risk of re-drilling new holes for the machineheads ! However, I've noticed a couple of other issues.
First, I sanded and oiled the back of the neck with a mix of tung oil and linseed oil, and it feels really fantastic, super smooth and comfortable.
However, as soon as I turned my attention to the fingerboard, I noticed a couple of things. First, the wood between the nut and the first fret is badly scratched, and there is a long crack (a couple of inches). It looks bad, and I only saw it once I had started oiling the fingerboard and it had become darker. The scratches I can live with, but the crack... Attachment 29975

And that's not all, the OTHER end of the fretboard is also badly scratched between the 20th-22nd frets, and the wood appears to have been chipped, like there's a whole square of wood missing : Attachment 29976

So, a couple of questions for you master-builders out there (you know who you are ;) ) : do you think that crack in the wood is going to affect the playability / stability of the neck in the long run ? Aesthetically, I think it's really problematic, but is there anything that can be done about it, or should I ask PBG to send me another, less flawed, neck ?

Here are a couple more photos : Attachment 29977
Attachment 29978

Hi Alex, is that an engineered rosewood board, or an actual rosewood one?

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

Hi Alex, is that an engineered rosewood board, or an actual rosewood one?

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Since I live in Europe, it must be engineered rosewood. I hadn't really given it a thought until you asked ! What is "blackwood" anyway ?

The Blackwood referred to on the site is the engineered rosewood substitute.

There actual Australian Blackwood (acacia melanoxylon), which is a substitute for Hawaiian Koa wood and is similar colouring to mahogany, but can be stripey or streaked.

It looks to me like that board has been repaired at that corner in factory, you can wick some thin super glue into the crack to stabilise it if you are concerned. Not sure if you can dye or coat over the top of blackwood to even the colour out.

As far as the scratches go, i'd be getting little strips of sand paper and going over those areas to smooth them out. The only other way to do it would be to pull all of the frets and sand the length of the board to get it even, you don't want to do that if you don't have the tools or the experience to do it.

On my RD kit, the fretboard was also damaged on the 2nd fret. Not as bad as yours though!
I like the scratch plate, good job with that.
Keep those pictures coming! 🍺