For years I've wanted an explorer, but being left handed has made it almost an impossible dream. I decided to treat myself to a Pitbull EXM kit to realise that dream.
Looking for tips, advice and help along the way, and hopefully share the journey.
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For years I've wanted an explorer, but being left handed has made it almost an impossible dream. I decided to treat myself to a Pitbull EXM kit to realise that dream.
Looking for tips, advice and help along the way, and hopefully share the journey.
I finally received my kit today and started with a very quick mock build just to check the parts list.
the first thing i noticed is that there is a small gap between the neck and the body. It looks to be about 0.5mm on either side.
I'm not sure how much of an issue this is, but looking for advice. some other posts on the site recommend using a thin veneer as a spacer?
see image below:
Attachment 32564
Hey Michael welcome!
Fellow lefty here,.. can be a pain right?
The neck of my TL has a similar spacing but it is a bolt on neck. I was advised not to worry, but with a glue in neck I personally would use veneer to create a better bond. Check your bridge position first before you sway the neck one way or the other.
Good luck!
Welcome aboard MM! My first kit was an EXA-1 some 7-8 builds back. Look forward to seeing how you go with it.
+1 to RocknROlfs statement, wrap some masking tape around the bridge studs to get them to sit firmly in their mounting holes, then mount your bridge and check your neck alignment before you move to shim or glue anything.
Thanks RocknRolf and FrankenWashie!
Right now I'm focussing on sanding and more sanding. I'm not sure of the finish just yet. Torn between a shou sugi ban (burned) finish or just a simple cherry stain.
I've waited so long for this to arrive (I'm in South Africa) that i'm now worried about ruining it if i burn the wood.
I foresee my next few weeks being filled with sandpaper, before I need to worry too much about glue
Given your location, I'd give it a week or so for the wood of the kit to settle before making any decisions regarding filling gaps etc. The various woods in the kit can expand/contract at different rates with a major change in environment, altitude etc, so you may find things will alter a little over some time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelMaven
Lekker Meneer!
There is a mad man who goes by the screen name MetalRulz4ever who has done some un real Shou Sugi Ban builds on here, and he is also on Facebook as No Naim Brand where you can see a gallery of his work. I'm sure he'd be happy to advise, failing that there's a lot of tutorial stuff on YT.
Best of luck with it mate, sing out if you need help or have questions.
Thanks for this info WeirdBits, its makes a lot of sense, i assumed that changes in humidity and altitude would affect the would but didn't know how much. Will keep my eye on it for a week while i sand the rest of the body nice and smooth
Will search now and reach out.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
I've just gotten home and noticed some cracks in the body along the glue lines where the pieces are glued together. I can only imagine that it's from the change in humidity ( it is very dry where I am) . Any idea on what to do?
Pictures are very useful here.
Hi Simon,Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Sorry, I was literally on my way to the airport and just noticed the crack, didn't have any time to really investigate.
as soon as i'm home tomorrow afternoon i will take photos and upload for you all.
thanks for the feedback
Hope the flight was enjoyable!
Without pics or seeing it in the flesh, it's difficult to tell if they are just minor surface cracks that can be ignored or filled, or deeper ones that need some work.
If it is down to low humidity and shrinkage, it would mean that some of the glue is adhering a lot better than other parts, otherwise there's no mechanism for shrinkage to pull a joint apart with parallel body blanks.
Hi all,Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
i got home last night from my trip and had another look at the crack i mentioned. it doesn't look as bad as i remember from the beginning of the week. so either i have fishing brain (it was thiiiiiis big!) or the heat (having reduced during the week) is causing a small crack to expand and contract.
I'd love to get some advice on what to do if anything. a friend who built a guitar suggested some superglue. i thought wood glue might be better. but would really like advice from some of you
Photos Below:
Attachment 32641
Attachment 32642
Attachment 32643
Doesn't look that serious so really just needs filling. What's the planned finish for the guitar? A solid paint colour and I'd use a thick superglue. Any glue is going to get onto the surface so will ruin it for staining. Otherwise I'd use a wood filler, not a glue, just to fill the cracks and get a level surface.
Once you get a finish on it, the wood will stop reacting so much to temperature and humidity changes.
Looks like you've got some sanding to do to get rid of the machining marks, so you may well reduce the crack depth to almost nothing at the end of that process.
Thanks Simon. I intend to finish the sanding and then stain it a mid brown. then Tru Oil to keep that natural grain.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
so i'll use a wood filler on it.
Thanks for the advice
Awkward crack because some of it is wood rather than joint. What to do depends, as Simon says, on your planned finish. If its going to be a relic finish then nothing[grin].
I wonder if one could mix tru oil sealer filler with sanding dust to make a better matching filler? Youd have to somehow contrive to get a suitable amount of the dye into the mix though which might be very tricky to get right.
Hi All,
Been a bit busy, but wanted to show some of my progress so far.
So I completed sanding down to 1500 grit. Guitar body and neck looking really nice now. the crack I found definitely seemed to be caused by the heat in the work room. with heat building up in the daytime and very little airflow, I think the body just expanded a bit. Moving it inside the house after, rather than leaving it in the workroom made a huge difference.
I also measured the neck position and set the neck. Super stressful knowing that you can't come back from that... but I measured about 10 times, so hopefully I got it all right.
I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether to stain and then glue, or glue first. Eventually, after reading many posts of different opinions and watching too many videos explaining the different processes, I decided to glue first and stain later, and I'm pretty happy with the result.
Attachment 32677
Next, I gave it a light sanding at the neck joint to remove any glue and smooth out the joint, and get it as clean and smooth as possible. I didn't manage to get it perfect and you can see where it has been glued, but it isn't very noticeable, so I'm pretty happy.
After that, I ordered a stain from a local kit supplier (they don't have many lefty kits which is why I imported from Australia, and stained the body and neck. I decided to go for a mid brown mahogany colour which has a slight reddish tint to it as well. Originally, I wanted to do a Shou Sugi Ban effect, but decided against it for fear of damaging the guitar and then having to get a new body/neck.
Attachment 32678
Next was Finishing the body and neck. For that I again spent way too many hours watching videos of various techniques and products. In the end I decided to use Tru-Oil as this seemed to give the effect I wanted,and seemed to come pretty well recommended.
Attachment 32679
Lastly, I've finally started fitting the hardware for setup. I've fitted the machine heads, bridge, tailpiece and pickups, and hole covers. I've also shielded the cavities.
Attachment 32680
I'm really happy that I placed a second order for the black hardware. I think it is looking amazing at the moment, and I can't wait to finish up the wiring and start setting it up.
Keen to hear your thoughts and get your feedback
Nice colour choice, looks great with the black hardwear. I'm a fan of explorers as you can see from my builds. Hope you didn't put the pickup ring screw through the bridge pickup like I did :)
That's actually exactly what I did. Fortunately I didn't damage my working like you did. Bit of a design flaw in my opinion, but nothing too serious.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcoretroubadour
Hi all,
so the guitar is finished and i'm really happy with how it all turned out.
i noticed one issue though:
the bridge and the tail piece are not perfectly aligned with each other, leading to a slight angle of the strings between the 2. originally i thought that this would be a minor aesthetic issue and nothing to worry about. however, if i play really hard and get a little too into the music sometimes the top strings (E B G) will pop out of the bridge...
you can see the slight angle in the photo below (as i mentioned, it is very slight)
Attachment 32758
i'm not too sure what can be done here but i have 2 ideas, and wanted to check in with you all.
1. file the grooves in the bridge deeper to make it more difficult for the strings to pop out
2. bring the tail piece closer to the body of the guitar to add some additional tension on the string pulling it tighter into the bridge (i hope i'm making sense)
let me know your thoughts.
Well, option 1) is always possible but it's not that easy to get the grooves all the same depth. It will help with the problem. You won't need much extra depth, probably just a couple of strokes with a v-shaped needle file
Is the tailpiece already screwed right down to the body?
What you don't want is the tailpiece so low that the strings touch the back of the bridge. You have an ABR style tune-o-matic bridge, and it's for this reason that the bridge is normally turned round so the intonation screws face the pickups. Otherwise as they are located up high and stick out a bit, the strings are more likely to touch the screws when the tailpiece is set low. As long as you can slide a piece of paper between the back of the bridge and the strings you're OK, but if the paper catches, then the tailpiece needs to be raised until it doesn't. This does put a limit on how close to the bridge the tailpiece can be moved, as too close and too low, the strings will catch the back of the bridge and you'll get buzzing and the strings will wear grooves in the bridge. So I'd certainly rotate the bridge before filing the slots deeper.
The Nashville style of tune-o-matic has the adjustment screws located lower, and they don't stick out from the body of the bridge so much. So, on a Nashville bridge these screws are normally set facing the tailpiece.
Any chance of a couple of close-ups of the bridge and tailpiece from the top and side (to show the current height and string angle)?
Thanks for all the info Simon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Tail piece is pretty high up (reason being that i didn't want the strings touching the tail piece as it was creating a bit of buzz) and go go a long way down.
but you are saying that my bridge is in fact the wrong way around? - i'll change it up tonight and see what difference it make.
The buzz on the tailpiece was from the top of the string touching the tailpiece where the string goes in. it might have just been because it was touching only lightly and would vibrate when i played. maybe i needed to lower it further to remove the buzz.
i'll get some photos tonight, and then switch the bridge around and play around with the tail piece height. will post the results later this evening
It's not 'wrong', just better the other way round because of the possible string interference with the intonation screws. Apart from that, that type of bridge works both ways round.
You want the strings just clearing the rear edge of the bridge, not touching.
Thanks again Simon, you've been a great help through this build. many great pieces of help and advice. i've been watching a few videos on bridge and tailpiece setup (probably should have started there).Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
I'll play around tonight with the tailpiece height tonight and get some photos before and after.
Will feedback ASAP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelMaven
So I played around the the tailpiece height last night, and lowered it right down. strings are not touching the intonation screws which is great. Action is good, although i'll probably tweak a little. But most importantly, the string sit tight in their pockets and there is no buzz from the tail piece.
All in all i'm really happy.
Before and after photos of the bridge and tail piece
Before
Attachment 32781
After
Attachment 32782
On that Note. here are a few final shots of the Guitar in its finished state. i hope you enjoy.
Attachment 32783
Attachment 32784
Attachment 32785
Attachment 32786
Attachment 32787
Well done!
Hi all,
i'm making a few changes and wanted to get some wiring help.
i didn't like the original 3-way switch that came with the kit so i bought an on-on-on DPDT switch similar to the one below.
Attachment 32991
I've been searching around and cannot seem to find a diagram that shows exactly how i need to wire it up.
I have a standard double humbucker setup with a volume and tone pot.
wired according to the pitbull standard wiring diagram below
https://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-co..._tele_2014.pdf
Any help or direction would be appreciated.
Have a look at this diagram. It explains how that type of switch is wired. It doesn't matter which type it is
Attachment 32992
I've marked up a switch with the necessary connections. Strip the input and output cables back enough so the bare wire can reach across both sets of terminals as shown, and solder them on.
Attachment 32994
Green is the output cable running off to the volume and tone pot (the centre blue wire in the PBG diagram).
The blue wire is the signal cable from the neck pickup, and the magenta wire is the signal cable from the bridge pickup.
The switch doesn't appear to have a ground tag, so there's no need to run a ground wire to it.
Note that this wiring is with respect to the switch 'up' and 'down' positions. First mark the end of the switch you want to be 'up' with a marker pen or bit of tape etc. and then wire accordingly. Then install it with the 'up' end facing up in the guitar. If you get it wrong, you only have to rotate the switch 180° to correct things.
Thank you so much Simon. Spent the last hour searching reading trying to understand the differences between double and single poles, and throws enough to make sense of the diagrams i had seen.
clearly my electronics knowledge is seriously lacking, will need to rectify that...