So here's my Pitbull Guitar kit build. It is obviously a copy of that brand with an R that produced the legendary frying pan. I've wanted one of those (not the frying pan, the more common guitars) for a long time, but the originals are very expencive.
The kit did indeed contain everything needed apart from paint. However I was not happy with the tailpiece and the fact that that carved part of the body underneath the tailpiece is mahogany and therefore much darker than the top. I therefore went for a B-style tremolo which looks nicer than the included one, conceals most of the darker wood and is a cool Tremolo. I decided to go for the Guitarfetish Vintage X-Trem. I then added a wilkinson rollerbridge (had to fit dowels in the original bridgepost holes and drill new holes because the post distance is slightly different.
The pickups are also from Guitarfetish (minitron Liverpool), as well as the pots. The knobs and toggle switchare from Stewmac.
For the finish I used waterbased pigments, diluted with some water and applied them with a sponge. So the sunburst is basically a watercolours painting. I then appplied a waterbased Polyuretane finish, again with a sponge, in multiple layers. Turned out OK but definitely not as nice as if I could have sprayed it.
About the controls: I wanted the original 5 knob wiring with the blend knob. Once I was done with that and started trying the knobs I didn't like the way the blend knob works and changed the wiring so the 5th knob would funtion as a master volume. That is much better.
Finally the headstock: I changed the shape to a non symmetrical shape that is pretty close to the original. From an old piece of pickguard I made the big, white truss rod cover and engraved it. If you look properly you will notice that the writing is not only shaky and irregular, it is also not spelt like the real thing. Since the name giving founder of the company that makes the original was born in my home town in Switzerland I decided to spell his name like we pronounce it here. So no copyright infringement here. And now the pics.
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