First Build GPB-4M

[Stuart D]

Hi all

Following another user's post on a UK music forum about Pitbull Guitars, I did a bit of investigation, reading some build diaries and other threads and then ended up buying one. Always wanted to build a guitar and so thought this might be a good introduction. Never built one before, and as the first suggestion is to start with a build diary... here we are!

Quite impressed that it arrived in the UK so quickly, especially considering the lockdown and I took delivery last Friday. Fairly pleased with the quality.





The nut must have come out in transit and the pick guard needs a little work to fit. Neck seems to fit ok.

Going to follow the guide on this forum and start with the scale length, positioning of the bridge, drilling the appropriate holes for the bridge and neck.

Should I also drill the pick guard holes at this stage too? I'm sure I read that if they are left till later, then you can run the risk of damaging the finish, though presumably they'll be under the pickguard.

My plan for the finish, is to keep the natural wood finish showing. The grain looks ok to me as a non expert.

So I plan to sand it (obviously) then as ash appears to need it, use a grain filler - Rustins Oak Grain Filler in fact, to give it a slight tint. Maybe two, possibly three coats of that, then go to some wipe on poly. I was reading some articles by someone called Bob Flexnor - a US woodworker, about wipe on poly (well we're in lockdown in the UK, so I needed to entertain myself until the kit arrived!) and he recommends making your own - 50/50 blend of varnish and white spirit. I have a tin of yacht varnish which I'll use. I'll try it on some scrap wood first. Stuff I've seen by him and also online suggests around 4-5 coats of that should be sufficient?

Happy for anyone to critique, point out any flaws/advice etc. I'll try and post pics as I go along. Hoping that these photos show in my post.

Another question. I'm going to cut the headstock. I don't have a coping saw, but do have a jigsaw. The guide suggests using a jigsaw, is that a fairly standard way of doing it?

Also what are the pickups like? I was considering replacing them with something like the Seymour Duncan's 1/4 pounders - I'll see if the dimensions are the same?

[Brendan]

Great to start on a P Bass - started there myself! Jigsaw is fine - take your time to clean it up afterwards.

Nut - makes it easier to replace with bone - otherwise a drop or two of superglue and you're good to go.

Pickups can be better than expected - have kept about half of mine so far, others I've replaced. They're easy to do - so you can hold off until you've wired it all up and see if you like the sound.

[Simon Barden]

Hi and welcome, Wonks here.

I'd drill the pickguard holes later after the finish is on. All the time you're wet sanding, there's a risk of water getting in the holes and the wood swelling and the finish splitting, even if you fill the holes with wax first. But others do the opposite. Neither way is perfect. Manufacturers drill the pickguard holes last, so you'll often get some slight finish splintering around the screw holes. But as you say, they are under the guard so small imperfections can't be seen. And a sharp drill, a small punch and tape over the hole locations cam help keep things together.

Yes, you've got a really nice piece of wood for the body there, so maybe a light amber tint and it should be fine. You'll find that the grain filler doesn't really tint the ash at all, it will only colour the grain lines it fills. So you may want to do a light amber stain wash over the whole body after the filler has been applied, but if you rub the body down with turps, white spirit or meths, that will dampen the wood (without raising the grain like water does) and show you the colour you'll get if you put a clear finish on. If that looks fine, then just apply the clear coats. If it's a bit pale for you, then you might want to do an overall weak amber (or similar) stain.

You'll need to sand the grain filler right back to the wood once applied as you won't want to leave a covering of grain filler all over the body. You'll probably need at least two applications of the filler as you say. Don't try and do too much at once as the filler will shrink back a bit as it dries, but leaving it on for too long before sanding back becomes much harder work. So you want to minimise the excess filler applied each time, but then let it dry for a bit and do some sanding back, but leave enough so that it can contract a bit and still be slightly proud of any grain lines before a final sanding back.

Number of coats of finish really depends on the thickness of each layer. There's always a tendency to want to apply too much, which results in runs. You'll need enough thickness to be able to sand the finish flat before polishing it, and that is all going to depend on how well the grain filler works. The deeper the dips left after grain filling, the more coats you'll need.

[blinddrew]

Hi Stuart,
Looks like you've got a nice neck and body there. Good score.
I'm strictly talking about the guitar by the way...
Drew

[Stuart D]

Hi guys

Thanks for those tips. I understand about the pick guard holes, I think I'll leave them for the moment.

In terms of an amber wash, that's a fair point, I thought the grain filler might give it more of a tint. Without spoon feeding me, what sort of product should I be looking at for an amber stain? Or any colour come to that? I'm presuming I need an oil based one as I'm using an oil based finish?

Did the scale length today with the help of an excellent guide by Dingobass (great name). Was reasonably straightforward, other than all my clamps are of the old metal Record G clamp screw style and are a pig to use in situations like this. Drilled the holes for the bridge and doing the neck holes tomorrow before starting on the neck.

[Simon Barden]

You can use water or spirit/alcohol based stains/dyes on it. Spirit/alcohol stains are easier to use IMO, but tend to penetrate further than water based stains, so are more messy when you've got binding to think about, but you don't. You'll want to thin the stain, so for spirit stains you can use isopropyl alcohol (hard to get ATM) but I've used meths without any issues.

Both types of stain are fine regardless of the finish going on top. The water/alcohol is only the carrying medium for the pigment and will evaporate off before you apply any other finish on top.

Always err on the weak side with stains. You can always add another application of stain, but you can't remove an application that's too intense.

I generally use these suppliers for equipment and finishes these days:

https://www.rothkoandfrost.com/
https://tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk/
https://www.chrisalsopguitar.co.uk/shop/

I've got a selection of these spirit stains at home, but I've also used the water-based ones. https://www.rothkoandfrost.com/wood-...-wood-dye-t226

[Stuart D]

Ok, I'll take the advice on stains, thank you. I'll practice on a bit of oak I've got and see how that turns out.

After the first week of pretty much letting the wood settle down (and having to work) I've had the chance to spend some time on it. Followed the guide for setting the scale length, bridge and drilled the holes for the bridge and lined up the pickups and drilled the holes for the neck.

Then decided to keep going with the instruction manual and cut the headstock. Didn't really have any great ideas for the shape, other than I wanted to keep it fairly traditional. I've got an old Mexican Fender Jazz neck with a broken truss rod (if anyone has any ideas how to replace that - can't decided whether to take the fretboard off the top or take the fillet out of the underneath to get access), so I used the shape of the headstock - more or less. (Sorry about the distracting tablecloth!)



Transferred it onto the neck....



Set it up for cutting it out with my jigsaw. Annoyingly I didn't have any of the narrower blades for cutting tighter curves, so I had to do it in various passes. However managed to get more or less close to what I wanted.



... Some tidying up with a surform, a file and some sanding...



Fairly pleased with the result at the end.

[jugglindan]

Headstock looks good. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the curve I marked looks a bit sharp. I had the same thing on my headstock before I rounded that bend a bit more with a rasp and sandpaper rolled into a tube.

[Stuart D]

Continuing on through the instruction manual I decided to tackle the frets. I don't have any specialist tools for this, so had to make do with what I've got. I made a notched straight edge by cutting notches in an old fibreglass sail batten. It wasn't quite as wide as I wanted, however it was pretty straight and I tested it against some flat surfaces first and it's pretty rigid. Seemed to work ok on the fretboard and showed a slight convex bow (as described in the guide) so I adjusted it to being flat with a small turn on the rod.



I planed an 8 inch block of wood to make it flat and attached some sandpaper to the bottom and then after taping up the fretboard (twice - I was paranoid about going through the masking tape and gouging the fretboard!) with masking tape and marking the frets with some pen, I ran it up and down a few times. Didn't seem to take much too level them, they didn't seem too bad to be honest, though I'm no expert.

I could see that I'd flattened the tops, so I had a go at reprofiling them with some files. I have plenty of files, three corner and otherwise, but obviously not a fretfile. I found it's a bit of a technique and took a little while to get it. I had a practice on the aforementioned old neck I've got and I eventually managed to do it. Went over them with 400 and 800 grit paper (I don't have any higher grades yet, coming next week) then finished off with some wire wool to polish them.

Again, I'm pretty pleased with the result. Looked at them close up and they seem reasonably round. the proof will be when I play it I guess. Took a photo, but it doesn't really show much.



Leaving it now, as I'm experimenting with different stains and finishes on a bit of old oak flooring, to see how they pan out. I'm now considering using some Rustins Danish Oil on the neck and fretboard (partly because I've got a fair amount of it!). It seems similar to Tru Oil - a varnish, oil and thinner blend and cures fairly hard. I don't want any colour to the neck so won't be using a stain or dye or anything.

Is Danish Oil a reasonable choice for the neck?

[Stuart D]

Headstock looks good. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the curve I marked looks a bit sharp. I had the same thing on my headstock before I rounded that bend a bit more with a rasp and sandpaper rolled into a tube.

It is a little sharp, you're correct. I quite like it, but none of my other guitars have a curve that sharp, so yes you're probably right. I think I might have to round it a bit more.