"tin foil" explorer

[Nigel Smith]

Hi everyone!

My first Pitbull guitar, ordered an EX1A with ebony fretboard, no inlays and reverse head.
It took 6 months to come and when it did, there were a few issues with the kit.
Neck joint was incredibly loose, the neck could flap around like a windsock at an airfield.
The heel was like a wedge and curved on the back.
With the neck inserted fully, the scale length is right (24.75") but no room for pickup rings (not a big loss).
Tuner holes, 5 in a straight line, 1 off line.
The body had a few dings, a couple of deep ones and 2 weird 'ripples' where the body thickness changed.
Sounds like I'm complaining, but not really, just there's a few challenges ahead.
Will send more pictures as it happens.

Cheers everyone

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[FrankenWashie]

Yikes, that neck heel and pocket are really bad. That’s possibly one of the worst I’ve seen.
how do you plan on getting around that?

[Nigel Smith]

Hi,

On a test fit, I've got it looking ok but only if I shim the neck to secure the break angle and shim from the side to help with the wobble. May have to use stainable wood filler to help hide the gap.
All in all, it'll be a little challenging

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Nigel Smith]

Oh, forgot to add this.
Every fret is dented, I assume where they've been hammered in. Plus, there's a back bow on the neck even with zero tension on the truss rod.
Apologies for the bad picture but couldn't get it to focus right. The dents can be seen running down the right of the fretboard.
Yay, set-up will be lots and lots of fun!

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Nigel Smith]

Rather than go down the usual route of changing the pickups, I decided to try changing the magnets instead. I've put an Alnico 2 in the neck and an Alnico 4 in the bridge. Time will tell to see how it sounds, worse case scenario, I change the pickups at a later date. The covers are really just for asthetics.
The bridge is a standard one but have changed the saddles for rollers for tuning stability, this combined with the new tusq nut should really benefit.
I've changed the switch as the stock one could be moved both up and down as much as it could be moved left to right (no exaggeration!), garbage.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[wazkelly]

I would suggest sending an email to Adam as that neck looks like it will need lots of mods and work arounds to overcome those challenges.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[Nigel Smith]

Hi Wazkelly,
Sent a load of emails, with the pictures that you've seen, got a partial refund of £20. Just hope that the feedback is given to the guys making the kits. Feedback is a gift!
Sending back wasn't an option, I'm in the UK, plus I'd waited 6 months for it. Without it's faults, it's a cracking guitar.
I'm reasonably confident I can make a good guitar, crapping myself slightly about gluing the neck, but you have me good advice before which has given me a boost confidence.
Cheers

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[FrankenWashie]

Best of luck with it mate, it’s not a simple fix, but it’s doable in little steps. Look forward to the recovery!

[wazkelly]

Yeah, as Frankie says best to take your time and don't be afraid to holler for any helpful advice.

Cheers, Waz

[Simon Barden]

I feel your pain. My EX-1 neck fitted like a tight glove and stayed in place by friction alone. So they can get it right.

The neck on my ESB-4 bass was far looser than your neck, and I had to fit a strip of maple veneer on both sides of the pocket (1.2mm+ total thickness) to remove the sloppiness. The neck angle was also far too great. So they can also get it very wrong.

A bit of maple veneer glued down one side of the pocket should cure the sloppiness. Or maybe one each side then sand equally until you get a tight fit. I'd also use some veneer strips on the bottom of the heel to get it flat. Build it up a bit higher than necessary and sand it down.

Tuning holes? A common problem. Worth trying out the tuners in the holes as they are rarely a tight fit, so you can often still get them in a straight enough line. The hole variations aren't as extreme as some I've seen. But filling and re-drilling is a fairly common occurrence on the kit builds here, and is fairly straight-forward, if time consuming.

Frets? Hmmmm. Removing and replacing is one option, a severe levelling and reprofiling is another.

Neck bow? bad. You can't use the truss rod to get the neck straight to do the fret levelling. Sometimes string tension will pull the neck straight enough to be able to play it, but that's no good with the state of the frets.

In my opinion, you need a new neck, otherwise any finishing effort will be completely wasted, as the neck in it's current state is unplayable. Adam needs to send you a new neck (that has been checked for frets, tuner holes, concave bow with loose truss rod, truss rod operation and neck heel flatness). If you can measure the width of the neck pocket, then he can also check on the heel width as well, though it might be that as what I assume is a special, the body neck cavity width may just have been cut a bit wider than it should. The factories use routing templates, not CNC machines, which unfortunately leads to a wide variation of sizes and shapes as they wear or are used badly.

If not a new neck, then full compensation and throw the kit away.