I finished 1st build of an ES-1F a few months ago. In retrospect, I should have chosen a simpler build for my first attempt. Anyway, water under the bridge, lesson learned and all that....
It turned out pretty good except for one (major) detail. I don't think that I got the glued neck angle quite right, resulting in a slightly higher than I would like string action even with the Tune-o-matic bridge at it's absolute lowest setting. Don't get me wrong, it's playable but it's just slightly annoying that I've run out of adjustment but the action is still a bit higher than I'd like. During the build, I tried to make sure that I got it right (I thought I did!) but clearly I messed up slightly somewhere along the way.
I'm not prepared to remove the neck and adjust it. Does anybody know any tricks or hacks that could help? I was thinking of sinking the the bridge into the body by about 3mm, I suppose that would work?
I’m afraid the wrong neck angle on the ES-1 is a common problem. Email Pit Bull and complain about it. They might eventually do something about it but I doubt it.
I had the same issue on my ES-1 kit. I tried filing bottom of the bridge where the posts fit. But for me, even if the bridge sat on the top of the body, the action was still far too high. For up to a 1mm drop, you could file the notches in the saddles deeper, but I needed 3mm or so.
In the end I fitted a Göldo Lowrider bridge, which is a very low profile Tune-O-Matic style bridge, which sorted out my problem.
But these aren’t easy to find and only a few stores in Europe sell them. I’ve bought three now (for two Pit Bull kits with neck angle issues, and one for a Gibson Firebird), from places in Germany and Italy. They are often out of stock. Neither Göldo or their distributor sell direct to the public. They use 4mm threaded posts (like the original Gibson item) and whilst Göldo do sell adapters for kit-style 8mm post inserts, these are even rarer to find, so I just bought some 8mm to 4mm screw-in adapters, which work well.
Thanks Simon. I will email Pitbull and let them know. Can you please let me know if the neck angle is supposed to be correct "out of the box" or is something that I was supposed to check and adjust before gluing? I did do a dry-fit check and it looked about right. Clearly I wasn't being critical/thorough enough though.
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