July GOTM

[Brendan]

July Guitar of the Month (for Guitars and Basses finished in June 2018)

Enter your finished guitar or bass here to be judged for the Pit Bull Guitars July 2018 Guitar of the Month.

Please remember:

For Guitars or Basses finished on (or before) the end of June 2018

One guitar/bass per member per month
It must be a Pit Bull Guitars kit (mods and upgrades acceptable)
Guitar or Bass must be finished and playable

We need at least 4 photos:
· full guitar shot from the front;
· close up of the body finish;
· shot of the back of the guitar; and
· close up of the headstock (please, no brand name logos)


Please post your photos in this thread. If you are having issues posting photos on the forum, please email them to brendan (at) pitbullguitars (dot) com

Please note: This competition is open to amateur guitar builders only. If you are making and selling guitars for profit, you are ineligible. Also while there are some stunning guitars around - you never know what the judges are looking for, so we encourage anyone who's built a Pitbull during the month to enter!

Competition for June closes at the end of June 2018 (Perth Western Australian time).

The sorts of things we judge on include:
· How well have the body and neck been prepared
· Is the choice of finish for the style of guitar appropriate
· How well has the finish been applied
· How well has all the hardware, pickups, etc, been installed
· Does it have the "Wow Factor"
· Which guitar would you make a beeline for in a guitar shop. That is, which one would you most like to take home.


BTW - remember that the winner is invited to be a guest judge the following month!

[Spychocyco]

OK, I'll go first with my MM-1Q, lovingly called the Haxis, that I just completed over the weekend. I once wondered if I'd ever finish either of these guitars, now I've gotten them both done within a month of each other. This was supposed to be my first build, and I chose it because I'm a full-fledged member of the cult of Music Man, and I thought an Axis-style guitar was the perfect build for me. I actually just added the JK-1 from last month's contest on impulse.

The plan for this one was royal purple stain with a back that looked like natural mahogany because I like that look on some of the higher-end guitars that I've seen. I ran into some challenges with that, though. After much mixing and experimenting with stains, I never got quite the color I wanted for either. I got a purple that I liked for the front, and it is purple, even though it looks more like a dark red in the sunlight. I've included a bench shot of it that shows the purple tint, but it's really hard to get it to look in pics like it looks in person. As it turns out, it seems pretty much impossible to stain basswood to the color of mahogany, so I had to go with a painted back. When I ordered, the only MM1 kit available had black binding, so I didn't want to paint it black. I played around with a lot of colors until I found this hammered pewter that looked interesting on my test pieces. It was supposed to be a textured paint, and was on the pine that I played on, but the texture didn't pop on the basswood. Still, I'm not unhappy with the way it turned out. It's finished with Tru-Oil -- a whole bunch of coats and lots of sanding and buffing.

This kit definitely had more issues than the JK-1. As you can see, there are some glue spot issues that I decided to live with because I was afraid to do much sanding on the quilt veneer as I didn't want to cut through it. I worked them as best I could with a wire brush and did a little sanding, but I just couldn't get the stain to take on them. Also, the neck holes were too far to the side and not straight. I had to plug those and re-drill.

The neck is sanded to 2000 grit and finished with a Birchwood-Casey oil and wax blend, just like a real deal MM. I've gotten pretty good with that finish on the three projects I'm working on and plan to give it to a few other guitars I have laying around. The red spots that you see on the fretboard are stray pen marks from my fret-leveling. Unfortunately, it's permanent marker. I tried to sand it out, but didn't want to cut too deeply. Hopefully, they'll fade with time and play.

As far as upgrades, this kit is mostly stock. I upgraded the electronics to a CTS pot and Switchcraft switch and jack, and I put some Dragonfire Classic PAFs in it. Very different from the Screamers I put in the JK-1, these are warm, a little looser and better for classic rock/Southern rock-style dirt. I briefly considered putting humbucker-sized P90s in it, but decided that wasn't a good idea with the Floyd. It will probably get a Floyd upgrade in the future, but that's a large chunk of change, and we're still in the bonding phase.

Apologies also for my junky, old ATV in the background, but I was trying to get the best sun that day and didn't realize my background was not ideal until later.

Probably not a high bar for the other competitors this month to top, but there it is.

[Spychocyco]

[wazkelly]

Top effort and looks good.

Building 2 at the same time makes sense and has lots of benefits with applying the learning much quicker across both projects, plus something else to work on when one is drying or curing.

[Wayne.Mumford]

Nice one Spycho,you got a nice flame finish ther. Any problems with the Floyd Rose, did you have to add extra springs to pull the bridge down when tuning?
Wayno.

[CascadiaGuitarGeek]

Nice work Spychocyco. I love the contrast between the red top and grey back. A very unique colour combo.

[Spychocyco]

Nice one Spycho,you got a nice flame finish ther. Any problems with the Floyd Rose, did you have to add extra springs to pull the bridge down when tuning?
Wayno.

Thanks. The FR was surprisingly easy. I was worried about that. It took a bit of trial and error adjusting of the springs and the claw, to get everything right, but it wasn't the nightmare that I was worried about. I ended up with all three springs on it and the claw almost all the way in to get the action right. It doesn't have a ton of back action now, but enough for the rare times I use it that way. The stock Floyd is definitely not the best I've used. The fine tuners are pretty rough and it just doesn't seem really sturdy, but it works.

[Hardcoretroubadour]

Love those colours, especially the matt look to the back colour, well done mate

[Guvna19]

Wow Spycho, great way to start another month. I doubt anyone wouldn't love that flame top, what a ripper!! Love the zebras too!

cheers
Guvna

[Andyxlh]

That looks fantastic. I'm a huge fan of the VH model, I have an OLP Axis which is great. Mine is purple too!
Great job, and a wonderful start to the comp!