My Third pitbull guitar build: GR-1SF

[Eric]

Hello,

I ordered my GR-1SF kit on the 17th, it was delivered to me this morning, the 26th.
Not bad from Australia to the Netherlands.
This guitar already been around half the world, lol.

My second build I have not made a build thread on, forgot to take lots of pictures while building and the build was pretty fast done.
So I will put some finished photo's here.
Its an YB-4 bass guitar.
I stained de body with the stain from a tru-oil set for rifle stocks, also did the neck with that but kept it a lot lighter.
Then finished it with the tru-oil.
Its a satin finish.

[Eric]

But enough about that bass.

I unpacked the new kit and inspected it.

There is a 2 inch long scratch on the top of the body, that might have been done by the transport.
Although there are huge "fragile" stickers on the package, the box did not look like it was handled with care during the trip around the globe.
But the scratch is not very deep, I think it will not be a problem after some sanding.

I got a scare when I looked at the neck pocket, the binding there was not running till the corner and it looked like a piece of wood had snapped off.
But after looking how the neck fits It will not be any problem, the neck and fretboard will cover this piece 100%.

The nut looks like its floating a bit above the wood of the neck, it was the same on my ES-1GT kit.
But I was planning not to use the plastic nut anyway and will replace it with a bone nut.

Everything else looks fine.

I also ordered a roller bridge, I think that will work better then a standard bridge with the bigsby style tremelo.
I will try to do a blue finish on the top with the edges, side and back a very dark blue, almost black.
It will be my first attempt at a kind of sunburst finish.

[chrissyinbkk]

I'll be watching this with interest as it is my next planned purchase, couple of members have done these and have turned out real well, Shaz even has vids on youtube of her build, very informative

[Simon Barden]

That neck corner joint is always a place where there's likely to be a bit of damage. There was a bit on my ES-3. But as you say, it will be covered up.

Be careful when sanding the top. It's a basswood ply, so although it's thicker than a veneer, the top layer is not that much thicker and it's possible to sand through to a much plainer later beneath. It's worth trying to steam out the scratch first - using an iron and a damp cloth on top of the scratch area. It may not cure it completely, but it could reduce the amount of sanding required.

The roller bridge is a good idea and has worked well on other builds, as is a replacement nut.

Hope the build goes well.

[Eric]

Today my tusq nut blank, roller bridge and shielded wire for the electronics came in.
So I removed the plastic nut, cleaned the neck up, shaped the nut and glued it in place.

I tried the damp cloth and iron methode on the scratch, dont think it did anything.
But after some caruful sanding the scratch is 90% gone.
If the finish does not make it stand out more it will be hard to notice.

The roller bridge will probably not fit without some modification, the holes for the studs are a few 10th's of a mm further apart.
It was the closest fit I could find here
I think I will remove a little material on the bridge at the inside of each stud hole.
The bridge has retaining screws to take out any play anyway, and after mounting it will be almost invisable.

And i have been sanding, and sanding and sanding......

[Eric]

When I test fitted the neck i noticed a gap below the fretboard.
I removed some wood from the bottom of the heel so it would sit a little lower, still there is some gap.
Some more work needed on that part.

Also there is a piece where there is a tiny gap between wood and binding below the heel.
It looks bigger in the picture then it is in reality, maybe I will leave that as it is.

[Simon Barden]

Unless you are very lucky, there will always be some small gaps that will need a bit of filler. You haven't got any pressure on the neck join, so clamping it should make the gaps a bit smaller.

Before going too much further, have you tried test fitting the original bridge? From the photo, it doesn't look like the original bridge would fit that well in the pre-drilled holes. I know they are offset so the distance is a bit longer than it looks, but even so, it still doesn't look like the bridge hole centres match those of the holes. Even just laying the bridge on top of the holes so that one outer edge of a body hole is aligned with the same edge on the corresponding bridge hole should give you an idea if they have the same centres.

[Eric]

The photo is taken from a slight angle and is not representing for the actual fitting.
I have pushed in the studs halfway and then the original bridge fits ok.
The roller bridge will not fit without applying force.
I dont want to force it in place, it might push the studs out and will result in a loose fit in the wood.
If I measure between center of the holes between the 2 bridges, the roller bridge is just a little longer.
Its close enough to not be a big problem.

[Eric]

Today I spend a lot of time with staining.

This is not as easy to get perfect, some parts soak up the stain while other parts hardly take any.

In the pictures the stain is still wet. It will dry a little lighter.
Tomorrow when its dry I will do some light sanding and see if I can soften the line between dark and light a bit more. If its needed.

The sides need a lot of sanding, applying the stain made the wood grain stand up a lot and its gotten very rough.
There are a few spots that still have some glue and will not take stain, tried some extra sanding and a wire brush to roughen it up a bit, did not help much.

[Kick]

Good idea to replace that plastic nut. I reckon you have the tools to make the new nut fitting well for the strings?

And those glue spots are the PITA for us...