First build GSM-1 Mahogany

[Antoine Rad]

Hi all,

i introduced myself in the section for that in the forum, but i can sum up quickly
First builder of the GSM-1 Mahogany kit that is my nice birthday gift, I'm french living in Italy

I contact you because I have some questions that I hope are small issues!

I got issues to upload pictures so i will put links only, sorry for that

First, this is my kit :
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/4149/wQVoPV.jpg

1- When fitting the neck in the pocket, I got this situation :

https://imageshack.com/i/pmb6GfpHj

https://imageshack.com/i/pl72mEB8j

I think I should sand on the sides of the pocket until the heel is completely flat in the pocket, correct ? not sanding at all the neck except before applying the glue, correct ?

2- I'm not sure exactly where to glue the neck, as the heel of the neck is not long enough

https://imageshack.com/i/pn71x163j

Is it normal ? I cannot find any tutorial for that, would you have that ? thanks!

3- the bone nut that i ordered from Pitbull additinally to the original one, is not the same size and is too small for frets height

https://imageshack.com/i/poriX8Cqj

https://imageshack.com/i/poyZs8sfj

https://imageshack.com/i/plwdQYU0j

Is the piece correct ? How should I solve this issue ?

Many many thanks for your help & talk to you soon!
Have a good day!

Antoine

[Sonic Mountain]

Hey Antoine, just replied to you other post, but I see you are using image shack, which works fine. You just need to type (img) then paste the image address then (/img) but use the square brackets ----> [ and the image will hotlink like this:



If you reply with quote to my post you will see what i mean about the brackets.

Cheers.

[Sonic Mountain]

This isn't ideal:



But I would give the kit a couple of days to acclimatise and settle down. They can shift around quite a bit after shipping. Can we see the other side of the heel? Can you try measuring either side of the heel to the fretboard and see if it's the same on each side?

You may have to give it a bit of a levelling sand.

This looks normal to me:



The tang on the bottom there doesn't go all the way to the back of the pickup cavity. You also need to mount the bridge temporarily (use some tape around the posts rather than pushing the receivers in at this point) And establish the scale length and get the neck properly lined up with the bridge before you glue. It's a good idea to mount the high and low E tuners and use a bit of ordinary string run to the bridge to line everything up like this :



So get it all running true then unclamp, apply glue and re-setup with the clamp and strings before it sets, you should have enough work time to wiggle it around and get it right before it sets.


This happens a bit with replacement nuts. Bear in mind that the kit nut is usually waay to high, so in terms of height that looks about right to me. You will need to wait until its more assembled to check it properly. The gap behind is pretty normal as well, I've trimmed a bit of black plastic in there before to tidy it up. Happens on commercial builds as well. Is it wide enough across the neck?

[Fretworn]

The first step with the neck join is to make sure there is nothing is the neck rout that is making the neck not sit flat. From your kit photo it looks like there may be some raised grain in the neck cavity.

[Simon Barden]

I also use Imageshack. You can cut and paste the 'forum' link that imageshack provide under 'get links/image sizes' to display the pictures.

[Antoine Rad]

Thanks all for your help! I'm sure we will find a solution together!

I did some measurements and the situation is as below :



The bottom of the pocket is flat and the angles are not perpendicular to the bottom.

From my NON-experience, i may still see 2 options, please correct me if im wrong

Option 1 : I sand the neck pocket to make it all perpendicular to the bottom ?
Option 2 : I sand the heel of the neck to make

What do you all think ? is there any other option ?

Thanks

[Sonic Mountain]

Right, so the neck pocket itself isn't square either? That's not great, and I can't say I've seen that problem before.

I'd probably be talking to Adam (Pitbull Guitars owner) at this point, but it's going to be tricky with you in France and the current global situation. I would shoot him an email and see what he thinks/suggests, he's very helpful.

Looking at your diagram, and if its accurate, I would be attempting option two of levelling the neck heel so its parallel to the fretboard. The angles on the side don't matter as much. But before you do anything discuss it with Adam.

Unfortunate you've had this issue, but it's not unfixable and there is nearly always something that needs a bit of tinkering to get right, so don't get discouraged.

[Antoine Rad]

Here are some additional photos

the other side of the neck pocket as described in the drawings




The nut that seems too small/low, but not sure (anyway for this issue i would wait to glue the neck and put the real strings



Thanks all for your help

[Antoine Rad]

Right, so the neck pocket itself isn't square either? That's not great, and I can't say I've seen that problem before.

I'd probably be talking to Adam (Pitbull Guitars owner) at this point, but it's going to be tricky with you in France and the current global situation. I would shoot him an email and see what he thinks/suggests, he's very helpful.

Looking at your diagram, and if its accurate, I would be attempting option two of levelling the neck heel so its parallel to the fretboard. The angles on the side don't matter as much. But before you do anything discuss it with Adam.

Unfortunate you've had this issue, but it's not unfixable and there is nearly always something that needs a bit of tinkering to get right, so don't get discouraged.

Thanks, I contacted Adam.
I will now wait before doing any mistake!

Have a good day!

[Fretworn]

Personally I’d say the nut looks pretty good height-wise. But photos can be a bit deceiving.