Lastly some pics of the template if it helps.
Well, I understand it !
Lastly some pics of the template if it helps.
Well, I understand it !
As Sonny and Cher sang 'the beat goes on' and so does the double guitar build.
That's two of the same not one with two necks and/or bodies haha.
Sanded and then stained the body using Crimson Guitars water based stain in yellow on the
front/headstock and crimson red on the neck and body rear.
Then a messy couple of hours scraping the binding (sighs).
As you can see this will be a different finish to No 1.
Problem soon to rear its ugly head is that the neck is warped across it.
Lengthwise it looks OK but it is twisted across the neck.
H
What to do........hmmm.
Any suggestions ?
More staining pics, have since put some gold grain enhancing filler on the body rear and neck.
Then sanded back and stained again.
Last edited by Fatboy; 11-05-2021 at 04:30 AM.
I’m really not sure what you can do about the neck. It’s always hard to tell exactly how twisted a neck really is from a photo, and if the frets aren’t particularly level that can skew appearances. I’d suggest trying to put a flat piece of wood or small ruler at either end of the neck, maybe using plasticine or similar to hold them in place, which would give a better idea of how twisted the neck really is. But because of the 12” radius of the board, it’s not easy to guarantee that you’ve placed the wood/rulers at a proper tangent to the centre of the curve.
I did have an earlier version of this kit, and the neck was twisted on that. One reason it never got built.
If it is out by more than a very small amount, you could see if Pit Bull will send you a new (straight) neck. But a new neck may not fit that well in the pocket (oh for CNC routed kits!).
If you have a heated blanket, then you can clamp one end of the neck and twist the other end of the neck using a bolted-on (using the tuner holes) lever and a combination of heat and torque can remove small twists over time. But that’s quite complicated to set up.
Another method for small twists is to remove the frets, plane or sand the board flat and then re-radiius it with a radius sanding block, cut the fret slots deeper and fit new frets. If the fretboard would end up too thin, then replacing the fretboard would be the best option.
Both of the above require serious amounts of work and investment in tools, and still have the risk of the end result not working well.
If the twist angle is very small then you may find that an aggressive fret level will get the neck playable with a decent action at the expense of having some frets taller at one end than the other.
But I would first try and determine how twisted the neck is and then strongly complain. I fear the factory QA is slipping considerably after some improvements a few years back, and the faults aren’t getting picked up by PBG before they are shipped out.
Simon, thank you for your detailed reply, it confirms my options.
I guess the first thing to do is to measure the twist properly by clamping the neck and putting
a straight edge against it.
I think I will fit the two E string tuners, clamp the neck in place, pop the bridge on and run some nylon
between the two just to see what that looks like as well.
Pitbull were very good to replace the original kit and I do feel a bit loath to ask them to replace the neck
on the other kit especially as that was some time ago.
However, I really don't want to glue a twisted neck on.
Think I'll get my measurements and decent photos first, in case I need to send them to Pitbull.
Meanwhile, more binding scraping going on.
Cheers, FB.
Well I had a go at measuring the twist and failed miserably.
I then photographed it - the image attached shows the twist.
Then sent an email to the boys at Pitbull with said picture.
Received an email the following morning saying that they were
very sorry to hear of my woes and that a neck selected by Ben was on it's way to me.
From previous experience it will take 7-10 days to get here so
I will get on with the electrics and use the neck to try some experiments with oiling and lacquering.
After that it will make a great paint stirrer.
What can I say ?
Extremely impressed with Pitbull's responses all the way through this.
I can not fault them, well done.
The new neck arrived the other day, just under a week to get to Blighty or Perfidious Albion as some
would have it.
The neck is a very good example, slight back bow tweaked out with the truss rod so that the frets can be leveled.
I am really pleased with the one they sent.
The bottom of the heel tenon is slightly curved so will need to be sanded flat.
Even better is the fit in the neck pocket, it is perfect !
Tight but not tight enough to stop Mr Glue doing his job.
This time I would like to have a go at making the neck/body join one smooth join rather than
a stepped join, the pics explain what I am trying to say.
Leveled the frets today and have a decent fret dressing file on it's way from Crimson.
My plan is to first sort the frets then check the neck/bridge geometry and sand the tenon tongue.
Glue it in place first and then finish the guitar lacquer/polish to get a pro type neck join.
Will sand the body a bit more then seal with some sanding sealer to seal the stained
finish before lacquering.
Well, that's the plan haha....
Oh, forgot to say that all the pickup wiring is done.....
Glad you've now got a good neck.
Don't forget to leave room for a bit of pickup ring to sit on the forward edge of the pickup rout. If it's not sitting so the ring is central over the rout, you may find the pickup catches the sides of the end cut-outs, so definitely try everything with a pickup and ring in place as you may have to enlarge the rout slightly. A Dremel and drum sander is good for that.
You obviously did this on the last one, but as you are smoothing off the neck heel a bit more, it never hurts to double check that all the marks are in the right place and it all fits nicely.
That's coming together nicely. Looks like there's some nice looking grain on that maple fretboard too.
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
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