January 2021 GOTM

[Rodc]

This is a ES1-GT kit I ordered for my son for xmas. It had a couple of problems with it out of the box so I decided to start building it early December after I sorted out a couple of problems. The intentions were to build it after xmas but once I start on a kit I can't stop.
My son wanted a faded denim stain so we set about trying different artist oil paint combos and came up with this colour. The back, sides and neck were done with artist oil paints too. All finished with 20 coats of Tru Oil. I did the surrounds and centre of the headstock in gold leaf. Also the pickup surrounds and trust rod cover. Not real gold luckily! The amount of stuff ups I made it would have cost a small fortune.
I fitted Grover tuners, Gotoh bridge and Realtone PAF pickups. Action is 1.5 on the low E and 1.2mm on the high E. I put in 2 push pull volume pots for coil splitting. It plays great and sounds awesome.
The young bloke is very happy with it..

[PJSprog]

Nice! Both look great.

[Fretworn]

I’ll make up the numbers....

GTH-1
Tonerider AlnicoII neck
Tonerider AlnicoIV bridge

Yellow stain from GuitarAust
TruOil top coat and neck coat
The photos don’t do the colour justice. It’s a deeper almost gold colour in real life.

[rod_farmer]

Beautiful guys. Absolutely timely as I’m about to do my first ever build - the ST 3/4 for my son. We wanted to do the Fender Surf Green Peal, so I couldn’t believe my luck in seeing this.

Thanks for the overview in products, too.

[JamesRoy]

Fantastic choice of colour, and great finish, JT.

[Brendan]

Couple here from Richard Arnold:

This is my ES 1Q just finished.
Its finished with dingo tone coolangata gold with a Jarrah tint over that. Grover locking machine heads and Artist pickups. It plays as good as it looks and I'm very happy with it.
Oh and about 10 coats of tru oil.

[Brendan]

And some from Vichammer

My first build using the zebra wood kit. Using custom automotive paint with a mini jet. A real heavy weight weighing in at 10.5 lbs.

[Brendan]

And some more photos:

[Brendan]

Comp closed.

[Brendan]

So to the comments - first off a great thanks to those who judge month in / month out - you know who you are. This is a great comp for amateur builders and to get the range of comments takes time and we appreciate all the feedback we get.

HereIsJT's ST-1JR -
So much to love here – headstock has come out beautifully. Colour and spray are awesome. Overall effect looks awesome. Hope that it is getting hammered!
This is a gorgeous little beast, with the headstock a spectacular stand-out. Great finish and the maple works so well with the blue. Nice choices and upgrades, it's a really fantastic looking build. Lucky kids.
Beautiful clean lines and aesthetics. It is very difficult to achieve a professional-looking finish like this at home. Very well set up and just asking to be played. Any child would be lucky to have this guitar. Well done!
Very nicely put together junior guitar, great finish, inventive head stock and fantastic attention to detail. A very cohesive build. My only gripe, and it’s a minor one, is that the gap between the pickguard and the bridge isn’t even all the way around.

Rodc's ES1-GT -
Everything from the photography through to the colour choices for the finish have been done well. Nice little addition on the electronics and overall effect is fantastic. Great job.
A striking looking guitar. I love the faded denim and I love the brown and gold. Less so all together, but only slightly. Clearly a lot of effort with the gold touches and upgrades. Nice result.
This is clearly a labour of love. Beautiful paint/stain job which is very even and without noticeable glue stains - this can often be difficult to achieve on kit guitars. I appreciate the lovely clean binding, including the f-hole bindings. Gold leaf gilding takes it up a level. I prefer low string action so extra brownie points there. I would instantly gravitate towards this guitar in a shop. Excellent work, thanks for making my day!
Another really cohesive build where the finish, colour choice, hardware and assembly all complement each other nicely. Great head stock treatment, alludes to the brand that shall not be named without actually trying to be a copy. A very solid effort.

Fretworn's GTH-1 -
More than making up the numbers Fretworn – I love the elegant simplicity of black on golden yellow. New pickguard with a few little unexpected curves really makes this yours and I like the overall effect. Great work.
I look at this and I think 'workhorse'. Eat, sleep, play, repeat and it's always ready to go. Great colour and I love the smooth lines of the headstock. Black hardware compliments it nicely. Excellent.
Beautiful finish highlighting the natural grain of the wood. Set up looks immaculate. Would love to play this in a shop. Wonderful execution.
A clean build with appropriate upgrades, I’d expect nothing less from one of the forums consistent contributors. Lucked out with the grain and the finishing serves to highlight it really well. This is a great build, but perhaps missing some of the ‘wow’ factor that would draw me to it in a music store.

Richard Arnold's ES-1Q -
Love the colour and the overall effect of the quilting. May need a few more photos (closer up) to give a better overall effect and higher scoring, but great work otherwise.
The colour and finish combinations have really produced a rolling fire to the flame top. Really nice looking build, it's a shame there aren't more photos.
This may be the best quilt maple top finish I have seen on a kit guitar! The top really pops - something I always find difficult with veneers as they limit the amount of sanding. Nice clean binding lines. Set up looks flawless. This belongs in a catalogue! Marvellous.
Wow, get a load of that quilt! This looks to be a pretty well realised build, but there aren’t really enough photos to get a good look at the detail, which often makes or breaks a build for me. It does look pretty spectacular in these images, so definitely a good effort.

Vichammer's DJZ-4 -
The month for blue guitars! Blue is nicely done and great work on the black which is notoriously difficult to get right. Great logo, just struggle personally with the headstock fitting in with the theme from the rest of the guitar.
I love the black and blue of the body in the first series of shots, it really works. But, in the second set it looks almost blue-grey and is less striking. Flash vs fluoro maybe? The headstock shape and colour is a bit overwhelming for me, and I think the black hardware on the maple may have been enough. It's still nicely done. Great result.
Excellent first effort at guitar building! Paint and finish look even and clean. Love the color scheme - simple yet enticing. Set up is impeccable. For your next kit consider shaping the headstock - not that is there anything wrong with the current one, but our eyes are conditioned to expect certain headstock shapes and when it doesn't conform it is jarring. Well done, I look forward to seeing more of your work!
Quite a striking looking guitar. I’m a bit confused as to why it’s a solid colour over zebra wood? I am guessing there were some finishing gremlins. That said the blue and black does look nice, particularly in the first set of images. There are a few things that don’t work for me personally, the headstock shape is a bit heavy and awkward and I’m not sure about the blending to wood on the back where it transitions to the neck. Interesting idea though and I do like it when people try something different. So, points for creativity but overall it doesn’t jibe quite as well as it could for me. A good effort .