Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

J

Jethro_Dull

New member
And if you have, what is your impression of the overall quality? I have a "Strat" kit which I bought primarily for the purposes of painting it any which way I want but, obviously, performance quality of the final product is a KEY issue.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

It's just that usually people ask these questions BEFORE they buy the kit.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

Well the body looks like a single piece of wood, so that's good. I'm going to assume the electronics/pickups aren't top notch. Dunno about the neck, though I'd honestly want an all-maple neck.

I guess it all depends on how you build it. If you get the body and neck lined up nice, then get new pickups and guts for it you'll have something probably the quality of an American standard.

I'm also going to assume the tremolo is junk. Put the guitar together right with all the parts you have and if it works out great, switch out the trem, electronics, pickups, nut and tuners and it'll be a good player I imagine.

I just went and looked up RAS. It's a distributor and your kit was like $120, so that means it's a hodge-podge of Chinese and S/E Asian parts assumedly. Don't expect to get a Custom Shop Strat out of it.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

Found it online. They call it empress wood, which might be another name for paulownia. Does the body weigh less than two pounds? Paulownia is VERY soft, but is a good tonewood. I'd just use the body and neck from that kit and replace all the hardware and electronics. The grain doesn't look too bad on that. I'd sand it down with 180 then 220 then 320 and then Tru Oil it.

p_167009220_1.jpg


You can stain it beforehand, oil based stains work a little better than water based ones under Tru Oil from what I've seen.

That looks *exactly* like the kit that Guitar Fetish sells.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

I have seen these kits on Ebay. Have been skeptical honestly. But I am tempted, to get one, just for fun.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

I bought it to paint it (so I know it's no '75 hardtail Fender Strat). I paid $70 (auction) including shipping. Sometimes they go for a lot more. Auctions are hard to figure.
jon the art guy said:
Well the body looks like a single piece of wood, so that's good. I'm going to assume the electronics/pickups aren't top notch. Dunno about the neck, though I'd honestly want an all-maple neck.

I guess it all depends on how you build it. If you get the body and neck lined up nice, then get new pickups and guts for it you'll have something probably the quality of an American standard.

I'm also going to assume the tremolo is junk. Put the guitar together right with all the parts you have and if it works out great, switch out the trem, electronics, pickups, nut and tuners and it'll be a good player I imagine.

I just went and looked up RAS. It's a distributor and your kit was like $120, so that means it's a hodge-podge of Chinese and S/E Asian parts assumedly. Don't expect to get a Custom Shop Strat out of it.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

dominus said:
Found it online. They call it empress wood, which might be another name for paulownia. Does the body weigh less than two pounds? Paulownia is VERY soft, but is a good tonewood. .
Click to expand...

Yeah it is a good wood but i don't think i would trust it to hold onto a vintage 6 screw tremolo.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

kramersteen said:
Yeah it is a good wood but i don't think i would trust it to hold onto a vintage 6 screw tremolo.
Click to expand...

As opposed to a two point?

I had a few Strats made from Paulownia, they held up fine.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

I don't know about that particular kit but I know that I bought a kit good while ago that seemed to be of about the same quality and it's still under the bed. I could tell that I'd never be happy enough with the fit of the body and neck. Building from scratch will allow you to end up with a far better product.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

The headstock looks so goofy that I think I'm going to use an Ibanez neck once I put the rest together. It's configured perfectly and can only enhance what little value the guitar will have anyway.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

Jethro_Dull said:
The headstock looks so goofy that I think I'm going to use an Ibanez neck once I put the rest together. It's configured perfectly and can only enhance what little value the guitar will have anyway.
Click to expand...

It is made that way for you to shape it to your liking. They most probably cant make Start or Tele head stock shapes.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

Jethro_Dull said:
The headstock looks so goofy that I think I'm going to use an Ibanez neck once I put the rest together. It's configured perfectly and can only enhance what little value the guitar will have anyway.
Click to expand...

Others have already covered the fact that they headstock is *unshaped* and meant to be cut into the shape you want, but I just came in to say that you'd need an Ibanez neck that's 25.5" scale, 22 frets, with an overhang. You *might* find that on some of the GIO models, but I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Re: Has anyone assembled a RAS guitar kit?

Going in with GFS pickups. Looking at necks: may go with mahogany or maple. Probably peg it with Schallers, Sperzels or some such. Will upgrade the other stuff if / as necessary. Body weighs 2 lbs 5.4 oz.
 
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