eden guitar bodies?

[Reckless Abandon]

Anyone heard of them?

 

[loudriver23]

Re: eden guitar bodies?

I've heard of them, no personal experience with them though. Seems like a good idea, but for a few $$$ more you can get a Warmoth, USACG and KNOW what you're getting.

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: eden guitar bodies?

paying for the finish is what kills me. I want basswood with a maple top.

 

[ormsby guitars]

Re: eden guitar bodies?

Im a luthier based in Perth, Australia. Ive had the misfortune to take on three jobs now that were Eden bodies/necks. Ive seen a bunch more that guys have brought in, looking for advice to get their project finished.

Someone on one of the Aussie guitar forums asked about Eden gear, and i'll repost what i said:

You get what you pay for. These bodies are less than half the price of a square body blank.

Hopefully he will chime in, but recently i assembled a guitar for a forum member assembled from an 'bolt-on style' epiphone LP body, and an ebay neck. The neck was so cheap, he bought two. The first one was slightly warped, but we suggested we might be able to fix it with a level. We couldnt, because ALL the frets were loose. So, we fixed those, then we fret levelled, and all the finish started FALLING off the neck. We called, and he informed us there was a second neck... ok, lets have it! The second one had a hump in the neck as well, but we managed to fret level it out (plus reset five frets!), at the expense of fret life. We didnt charge for the first neck, because we felt sorry for the guy. In the end he still spent more than a Warmoth neck, and he knows his neck is prone to warping and is only a matter of time before it needs to be replaced.

I have a lot of people bring these cheap ebay and AMS necks to me. There are just too many (more than half) that are simply not usable unless you can accept the lowest quality and very bad playability. To fret level, and replace the nut, will be the best part of $200, plus the original cost of the neck... puts these at more than a high quality Warmoth.

As for the bodies, ive seen a heap of those too. The timbers are not dried properly, so a lot are cupped slightly when they arrive. Ive seen bodies split on the glue joins. Ive seen holes patched up and redrilled. Ive seen bridge holes that dont position the bridge to suit standard Fender scale lengths. Ive seen tele control cavities that are too big for standard tele control plates. Ive seen strat routs that arent deep enough to allow you to lower the pickups (so they just hit the strings), and ive seen them rout too deep so the rear trem cavity and the pickup cavities are just a half millimeter away from being a WINDOW! The timbers used can only be described as driftwood.

Buyer beware.

Im sure SOMEONE got a great cheap chinese neck or body off ebay, but we have NEVER seen one. Your time and effort in building up a project is worth more that these products will allow.

For the record, we now refuse to do ANY work on Eden products. We have been burnt too many times. Of course, im sure there will be someone who reckons they got the 'best parts ever' from Eden. We've yet to meet one though.

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: eden guitar bodies?

I will steer clear. I plan on assembling a guitar from parts by next christmas. I have everything picked out. I am buying a piece at a time. It will cost me 1200 finished. I was just thinking of a way to cut corners. I wish I still wanted a frankie type guitar. I could get a piece of alder or ash unfinished cheap. BUt Basswood looks bad unfinished.

thanks

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: eden guitar bodies?

This has nothing to do with your original question, but I am building a guitar from parts also. The neck is bird's eye maple with an ebony board from Warmouth and I am very pleased with it. I just wanted to let you know that I bought an unrouted 2-piece alder blank from Carvin for $59 and it is a super nice piece of wood. Of course, alder is not basswood with a maple top.

Good luck on your project!

The greatest challenge (now behind me) was getting the bridge located properly. Positioning the bridge with the required distance from the nut to maintain scale length was easy, but getting it aligned so that it was perpendiculr to the neck and so that the two E strings would be in the correct lines relative to the neck was more difficult. If you buy a body pre-routed you can avoid a great deal of hassle, but shaping the guitar has been fun.

The next challenge for me is cutting the string slots in the nut. I have all the files and none of the experience required. Thankfully, nuts are cheap.

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: eden guitar bodies?

Lazarus, I want to do that some day. But when I have more patience! I am glad oyu got your straight. $59 is a great price.

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: eden guitar bodies?

I just bought a body and neck from meanstreet guitars. I already had pickups so I am set for about 400 bucks (counting pups). I will let you all know how it sounds when I get it.

 

[cream123]

Re: eden guitar bodies?

I hear KNE guitars are a good buy. check it out!