First Build - Lefty JB-4L

[User Name]

Hi Guys

So after a few years of saying I would build my own guitar form a kit, I've finally gotten round to doing it. And as I dont currently own a bass, I thoguht a bass kit would be a good place to start.

I'm a lefty based in the UK and finding a supplier of lefty kits here is not easy. Pit Bull to the rescue. Kit came in 5 days, so I'm well impressed with that. However, although its a lefty kit the neck had a right handed nut in it - ie it was upside down - so my first job has been to flip the nut!

As you can see, lefty neck, righty nut.



And now the nut flipped. It was stuck in pretty well tbh. Wasn't sure it would come out without having to saw it and get a new one. But we got there!



So now I'll need to complete the test build to make sure there aren't any other glaring problems.

[McCreed]

TBH, you'd probably benefit from replacing the nut anyway as the kit nuts are plastic. A bone, graphtech or even synthetic bone will be a big improvement.

If you choose to use the kit nut, after you've flipped it be sure to check that the string slots aren't sloped the wrong way (I can't tell from the photos). If they are sloped toward the fretboard (instead of toward the headstock) they will need to be filed appropriately. However, there may not be enough material after filing the slots to provide clearance for the strings at the first fret.

You may be fine with the kit nut, but some things to be aware of.

[Simon Barden]

Hi and welcome.

TBH, you'd probably benefit from replacing the nut anyway as the kit nuts are plastic. A bone, graphtech or even synthetic bone will be a big improvement.

If you choose to use the kit nut, after you've flipped it be sure to check that the string slots aren't sloped the wrong way (I can't tell from the photos). If they are sloped toward the fretboard (instead of toward the headstock) they will need to be filed appropriately. However, there may not be enough material after filing the slots to provide clearance for the strings at the first fret.

You may be fine with the kit nut, but some things to be aware of.

The kit nuts are almost always very high, so I don't think you'll have a problem. But I agree with McCreed, a replacement nut is a good, low-cost investment. I always use bone nuts, normally found on Amazon, unless there's a size problem, and I need a taller or wider one than those available on there. It's harder than the plastic (some of the kit nuts are really soft), and you don't get the slight change in tone between open and fretted strings that you often get with basic plastic nuts.

[Keith Walters]

I built a JB-4L in 2017.
You can read about it here if you like.
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=7260

Since then I've also built a left-handed Strat copy.

Two things to watch:
1. One of the pre-drilled holes for the neck mounting screws was off-centre on my JB-4L kit. (See above link) Other people building the same model reported the same thing. Apparently you can get get the screws all in if you insert them all at once and sequentially tighten them all a little bit at a time, but the recommended procedure is to fill the hole and drill a new one, using the backing plate as a guide. A round bamboo skewer made a good dowel to fill the errant hole.
2. For some unknown reason Pitbull guitars have the tone and volume pots in their left-handed models wired back to front. For example, to make it louder you turn the volume control anti-clockwise.

I have a genuine left-handed Fender Telecaster and a 45 year old left handed Ibanez Les Paul copy, both of those have the pots wired the same as their right-handed models, so I don't know where they got that from.
The biggest problem is that the pots are logarithmic types, which only work properly the right way round.
When I first built my Strat copy, I could only get a clear sound from the pickup closest to the bridge. The other two were horribly muffled.
It wasn't until quite a bit later that I discovered that the "bright" sound on the other two pickups was only available over the very last few degrees away from fully anti-clockwise. Which is exactly what you get with a log pot wired in reverse.
I'd reversed the volume control connections, but I didn't think it would really matter with the tone controls.
You have to take the strings off before you can get at the wiring, so I'll leave that for the next string change!