Building Guitar

viewaskew2k5

viewaskew2k5

New member
Alright, im thinking of building a guitar, im getting all the tools i need ( especially a soldering iron) but i have never done this before. So for my first try, im thinking of getting either a les paul or a tele ' bu ild your own guitar' kit.
What do you guys think? Would that be the best way to go for a bigginer?
 
Re: Building Guitar

A saga kit or other? I have built a les paul and a strat Saga kit. The les paul kit is pretty cool, but in my case, the wiring diagram was very screwed up other than that the saga kits are pretty easy.
 
Re: Building Guitar

The Carvin Bolt kit is probably the best. It comes with complete instructions, probably the only tool you need is a screwdriver, and it may even come with it.

The advantage with the Carvin is the parts are made extremely well, to tight tolerances, it's the same parts they make their bolt on guitars from. The fret work is perfect, and you can pretty much play the guitar immediately after bolting it all together, and it's a pro guitar. I've seen the Saga kit, it's just a toy. They have them at http://www.universaljems.com . I'd save up for the Carvin. Warmoth is good, but expensive.

I think All Parts or Mighty Mite have kits also, they're about the price of a Carvin, but I can't say the quality is as high.
 
Re: Building Guitar

jmh151 said:
The Carvin Bolt kit is probably the best. It comes with complete instructions, probably the only tool you need is a screwdriver, and it may even come with it.

The advantage with the Carvin is the parts are made extremely well, to tight tolerances, it's the same parts they make their bolt on guitars from. The fret work is perfect, and you can pretty much play the guitar immediately after bolting it all together, and it's a pro guitar. I've seen the Saga kit, it's just a toy. They have them at http://www.universaljems.com . I'd save up for the Carvin. Warmoth is good, but expensive.

I think All Parts or Mighty Mite have kits also, they're about the price of a Carvin, but I can't say the quality is as high.
Click to expand...

You just said everything that i was going to,only better.I agree completely.
 
Re: Building Guitar

While i have never put together or even seen a Carvin kit i am sure that it is of higher quality than the Saga kits. However, it depends what you want to use the kit for. In my case i wanted,with a strat kit, i wanted different pickups,a different pickguard and i had some stuff laying around, so what i wanted our of a kit was a body,a neck and a bridge, which is a pretty good deal for 79 bucks. Obviously if youve dealt with Carvins and want that sound/feel you should go with the Carvin.

The other thing is too is if you are just trying out putting your own guitar together, i think spending 79 bucks vs. 350 is the better bet. Either way they are pretty simple and i thought a lot of fun.

I dont have experience with the tele kit but the Les Paul kit has pretty good parts, Tuners stay tuned, the bridge p'up is pretty good although the neck is muddy on mine, the wood is good, the electronics are ok and only one hole was drilled kinda off(the upper truss rod cover hole....whoopee), and the neck and frets were not bad at all(my neck was a bit bowed when i got it, but fixed up nice) You do have to have the nut filed though, and there is the aforementioned wiring diagram problems.

The strat kit i got is also pretty good. The p'ups are not that great, but i do not like single coils very much. That being said the middle p'up was ok. The tuners really suck though. I would probably replace them, but they might be good with your kit.

Also please do not buy your kit from Torres Engineering, they gave me a kit without all the parts and were terrible to deal with. I had better luck with Online Guitar and Universal Jems is said to be very very good(he also runs the Project Guitar Forum).

Have fun
 
Re: Building Guitar

For my first parts guitar I bought a used MIM strat body and a finished licensed neck on eBay. But I then had to find and buy PUPs, electronics, pickguard, tuners, bridge. But I wanted to learn more about wiring versus wood finishing. But that cost more than a Saga kit.
 
Re: Building Guitar

So you guys think ishould go with the Warmoth? More expensive but worth it??? Iw ould rather pay for something half decent yaknow what i mean?
 
Re: Building Guitar

viewaskew2k5 said:
So you guys think ishould go with the Warmoth? More expensive but worth it??? Iw ould rather pay for something half decent yaknow what i mean?
Click to expand...


Warmoth will be top-notch parts, but will probably get you up into the $750-$1000 price range.
 
Re: Building Guitar

yeah i was thinking that. I would be better off getting a custome ' one peice' instead of a bolt on wouldnt i??
 
Re: Building Guitar

Stewmac is relatively cheap too, although you have limited options and there's no set kit. Mixing and matching parts is half the fun though!
 
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