First build DJT-1 bk

[Christian_cgs]

Hi every one, my kit arrived yesterday and I already love it!

For the finish, im thinking a seafoam green stain with tru-oil on top, hopefully extra glossy. Hardware is black so I think there will be a nice color contrast over all.

Im going to use the stock hardware first but there's a Dimarzio Tone Zone T pickup waiting in line so, high gain it is! Maybe just the bridge pickup, volume and coil split (no tone) configuration. A lot to decide yet.

Body looks grate, really liking the grain draw, there's a dark odd line by the arm rest area, but im sure there's some technique to make it softer or disappear.
Neck fit looks good, im a bit concerned about 6th and 7th frets beeing a bit short but maybe not critical, don't know really, guess a string alignment test will tell better.

The nut is taller on the bass side but the grooves seems to be deeper and kind of even with the treble side, guess I have to sand the top to make it look good with the neck radius? Ordered the bone nut upgrade and it looks the same, is this normal?

And the journey begins,
Im going to instal the neck and bridge to check alignment, nut height, etc.

Any advice will be awesome, cheers!

[Wayne.Mumford]

Welcome Christian, enjoy your journey and take your time. Don’t hesitate to ask questions.

[McCreed]

Hi Christian, and welcome!

For the finish, im thinking a seafoam green stain with tru-oil on top, hopefully extra glossy.

Just be aware that Tru Oil has a slight amber tint to it so can alter the base colour slightly. There have been numerous accounts of blue guitars turning green over time. I don't know how sea foam would react with the amber, but I thought it worth mentioning.

...im a bit concerned about 6th and 7th frets beeing a bit short but maybe not critical..

I can't see the fret ends clear enough in that photo to determine if there will be a problem. If they're too short, send a close-up photo to PBG and I'm sure they can help you.

The nut is taller on the bass side but the grooves seems to be deeper and kind of even with the treble side, guess I have to sand the top to make it look good with the neck radius? Ordered the bone nut upgrade and it looks the same, is this normal?

With regard to the nut, that's not uncommon. Different manufacturers cut/shape their nuts differently.
Looking at your photo, I would bet that if you measured from the bottom of the two E string nut slots to the bottom of the nut, the distance would very close if not equal.

Also, pre-cut nut slots are mostly a guide for string-to-string spacing and 99% of the time require adjustment to the individual string slots to achieve correct nut action.

Edit to add:
Profiling or finishing the top of nuts is whole other conversation. Like most things there are varied opinions and approaches on what is "correct".

[dozymuppet]

Other than checking for fit and bridge/neck alignment, you can leave nut adjustments until the end, during final set up and intonation.

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[Christian_cgs]

Hey! thanks everybody for your welcome and help.
I´ve done the neck / bridge alignment check and seems to be fine, a bit to the treble side but guess it is tolerable with this kits.
Nut grooves on both E strings are almost the same height measuring from the bottom, good guess. im going to deal with that later as suggested.

I think that the conflictive frets are not a big deal, actually there´s a small bow on the side of the Fretboard that makes it looks worst, think I can live with it.

Made a U turn on the finish thoughts, im not going to fool my self with the seafoam green (I know how this ends). Im going to use a black stain, and tru-oil (my place is not really spray friendly). Maybe I can put a green knob somewhere jajajaj.
Thanks for the tru-oil tint warning, I don't think amber can contribute in a good way to seafoam green. Maybe on a vintage look, but that's not what im looking for.

So now i´m going to cut the headstock and sand everything up to 240. Im a bit confuse about grain filler, should I use it before the stain? Can I use it before and after? Was thinking if I put a first coat of stain and sand it just to get a deep black in the grains, then a stainable filler, and then stain again, it could generate some kind of a 3D fx... maybe it doesn't work that way, will make some tests before.

[McCreed]

That string alignment looks acceptable to me, but personally I'd not be satisfied with that wonky fretboard edge.
I think it would be worth contacting Adam at PBG and getting his opinion.

re: grain filling - Traditional wisdom and procedure it would be done before staining. However there are more grain filler products available now can be applied after. So now before/after depends on what product you choose.

If you want to use a traditional filler (eg: Timbermate) definitely applied first, and it comes in a black colour (ebony) that will give you the contrast you are looking for.

This is my PBG TLA-1 with ebony Timbermate (Ash body) and water based dye and poly clear coat:

[Christian_cgs]

Thanks a lot Mc Creed,
Wrote to PBG and they agreed that the neck wasn’t right, they are sending me a new one. This is my first kit so I didn’t really knew what to expect.
Ben replied my email and was really kind and helpful.

Will definitely follow your advice on the finish, that Tele looks great!

[wazkelly]

Hi Christian,
Wise choice not proceeding with Sea Foam & Tru Oil. I have what once was a nice blue Tele that these days is now green due to how TO ages and adds more of it's amber hue.
Same thing over black where amber may cause things to look more dark brown than black which is what happened on my 2nd Tele.
Not unhappy with either but in hindsight would have thought more about a true clear top coat to lock in the original look.
Things to bear in mind when using TO.
Cheers Waz

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[McCreed]

Wrote to PBG and they agreed that the neck wasn’t right, they are sending me a new one.

Ben replied my email and was really kind and helpful.

That's the Pitbull way!

I got two replacement necks from Adam for my PRS-1TS kit 3 years ago. No hassles at all. They're a good mob.

[Christian_cgs]

Thanks for the advise, going to look for another product and use the TO just on the neck. Any ideas what could I use? wipe on poly maybe?
I had TO in mind cause it looks like safe to work with (?) I´m in Chile so I have to look for alternatives, most of the time international shipping is more expensive than this kind of products.