Hi, midway through my first pitbull build. the ES3, which im modding to a es295 style so replacing the humbuckers and rerouting for p90s and the classic style trapeze . Im pretty impressed with the kits, its a pity they dont offer one with a better wood than the basswood body but you gotta take what you can get
Im having issues loading photos into this site so until I figure that out I cant post any build pics,
One benefit of the basswood ply is that it's a lot lighter than the maple ply Gibson use, and the end result is a lot lighter but still resonant.
Beware the neck angle on the ES3 kits. It is far too shallow. I still haven't got mine playable and need to make my own very low-profile floating bridge. Others have found the same issue. So look at increasing the neck angle by at least a degree if you can.
You can host pics elsewhere and link, but to load direct to the site, you need to resize them so they are no more than 1500 pixels on the longest side and less than a 1MB file size.
They're not all bad. As Simon said, the weight is great, and I actually liked the figuring well enough on my ES to leave the back natural.
I actually wish that some of the models with flame maple tops had an option to get the "plain" basswood ply tops that match the backs. The top veneer is a lot thicker and so is not a prone to sand-throughs or problems at where it butts against the binding. The fancy veneers can be stunning, but I also really like the more natural looking traditional looking tops. I suspect I am in the minority on that though. ;-)
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