Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1.

[Gunsmith1971]

I have been thinking about learning some Luthier stuff so I can work on my own guitars and buy ones that need a little TLC done to them. So I started looking up DIY electric guitar kits and tools from Stewmac. I found these kits on fleaBay and Amazon being sold here in the US that are copies of known guitar models. I figure that it would be cheaper and a good guitar to learn to file frets, do some fitting, finishing and wiring. I am handy and have been doing woodworking all my life and do stock refinishing in my shop. I also used to build fishing rods, tie flies and build custom take-down recurve bows and make my own arrows so I am used to doing fine work. I have limited funds right now since I am having to go back in for another back surgery so I will be selling some extra tools and parts in my Gunsmithing shop to pay for the tools and guitar kit. So I will be forced to take my time when working on it lol. Has anybody on here ever built one of these DIY guitar parts kits. Do they sound pretty decent and if so then can you upgrade the PU's and the rest of the hardware on them or are they cut out to only fit the low end parts that they come with. I don't play in a band and it would only be a home guitar. Just something to learn on and have some fun with. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everybody!

Dean Dime Razorback copy.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

I did a kit guitar for a friend and it turned out good. My biggest advice would be to find something that doesn't have a tremolo. A cheap hardtail is a heap easier to deal with than a cheap tremolo especially a floyd rose type.

If you really want one just get it it will be fun regardless.

 

[Gunsmith1971]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

The bodies are mahogany and I am guessing that the rosewood is probably low grade.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

The bodies are mahogany and I am guessing that the rosewood is probably low grade.

That's a bit captain obvious. :laugh:

 

[Gunsmith1971]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

Thanks Kramersteen. That's great to know that you have built one in the past. They seem to all be made by the same company in China and then sold here. I am going to call the company who is selling them and ask for the dimensions to see if I can swap out the cheap tremolo for a OFR and what the PU cut out dimensions are in the body. If they are even under than standard then I could get away with fitting some upgrade SD's in it too. They do have a hard tail Explorer that I was also looking at but I could only find it set up lefty in stock from each company. All the right handed models were all sold out. They also have a double neck SG copy kit lol. Thanks again!

 

[Gunsmith1971]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

Lol!

 

[2ndhandband]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

All of my strats are homebuilds, but I've never used a kit. Watch Precision Parts; sometimes they sell factory second bodies and that's where ALL of my bodies came from. Funny thing is they're seconds and i swear I've only in one instance been able to locate the blemish... which was minute. They're fine. I get my necks by watching Warmoth's screaming deals. You can then just take your pick of hardware and electronics. For the current project I'm trying my hand at homeroll pickups... somebody gave me a winding machine.

 

[daenius]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

My friend built one out of a kit before.

It's a LOT of work! Unless you're going for a higher quality kit like Carvin's, the parts are all pretty damn cheap so you have to do a LOT of fine tuning to get it to play nicely. If you want to slap on a half decent finish you can also easily spend about $50 on all the required paint and gear, plus days of coating, waiting to dry, sanding, more coating. I watched him do it haha. Be prepared to invest in some fret leveling and polising gear, as well as some neck shims as well.

 

[Gunsmith1971]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

Thanks Daenius. I have a lot of time on my hands these days so the more work needed on it, the happier I will be lol. I will definitely check out the Carvin kits. Maybe after doing some hands on work on one of these cheap kits, I will order a Carvin kit and build a higher quality guitar. I already started buying the tools on Stewmac, their Amazon store and I am going to order more stuff from LMII tomorrow online. As for finishing it, I am all set and have a complete firearms refinishing station, HVLP's, Iwata and Harder & Steenbeck German airbrushes, a stencil machine that can make anything in to a stencil, a 2k Brownells firearm curing oven and a spray booth with an air filtration system hooked up to an explosion proof Jenny shop fan. I also have a ton of Cerakote and Gun-Kote paint that I will end up using to refinish it. I am going to order some of the fret files to add to my tool collection. I have a huge amount of files and safe side files for building custom 1911's. I also have a Foredom set up for grinding and polishing. Then I have a polishing wheel set up and a 3 wheel buffer set up for my wood lathe that is awesome! Between being a Gunsmith, building custom take-down recurve bows and fishing rods, I have a crap load of tools lmao. Luthier tools are actually pretty cheap compared to Gunsmithing tools. Once I get my CNC set up by Christmas, I will probably take a go at making my own body if I enjoy building them. I have been thinking about doing a camo pattern or something else funky for a pattern if I go with a body without a veneer on it. I have done hydrographics and swirl finishes on outdoor stuff and AR's in the past but I will probably go with an easier finish on it. Thanks again and I will check out those Carvin kits.

 

[Gunsmith1971]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

Thanks. I checked out Warmoth's again last night and found some good stuff on there. I really like their Nomad Explorer body and neck. I might go with one of them with a hard tail for my second build. I want a small low fret with low action rhythm guitar to add to my collection. I checked out some reviews from people who have used Warmoth's products and they all seem to really like them so I will go with their stuff. Thanks again!

 

[2ndhandband]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

Thanks. I checked out Warmoth's again last night and found some good stuff on there. I really like their Nomad Explorer body and neck. I might go with one of them with a hard tail for my second build. I want a small low fret with low action rhythm guitar to add to my collection. I checked out some reviews from people who have used Warmoth's products and they all seem to really like them so I will go with their stuff. Thanks again!

I use Warmoth exclusively for my Strat builds. Miles ahead of anything else out there.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

My three "builds" were all actually assemblies, but rather than going with kits I just purchased the parts separately. I just assumed that the pickups in the kits would suck and it always seemed like the hardware in them wasn't what I wanted. However, I was also trying to keep the cost down so I used GuitarFetish for most of the parts.

From left to right:

Mary Ann - Body from GuitarFetish's factory buyout clearance section ($25... had to do the finishing myself) and the neck is their LP-style maple neck. Pickups are GFS Dream 90s.

Ashleigh - Body purchased used from Reverb.com ($50). Neck from GuitarFetish's factory buyout clearance section ($15 and had to do the finishing myself). Pickups are GFS Gold Foil single coils.

Ginger - Body is XGP (from GuitarFetish) and the neck is their deluxe 22-fret Tele Neck. Pickups are GFS Lil' Puncher XLs.

Each was in the $400ish range by the time they were complete, depending a lot on my hardware and wiring choices, but I really enjoyed making each one and I even use them all for gigs as part of the rotation.


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[Gunsmith1971]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

I use Warmoth exclusively for my Strat builds. Miles ahead of anything else out there.

Thanks again. Yeah their stuff looks like a higher quality with a ton of options which is awesome! I can see myself building a bunch of them lol. I also wouldn't mind building a nice guitar for soloing on. Once I get my CNC set up going this year, I will probably make my own body out of some of the wood I have laying around. I have some huge slabs that I got over the years for buiding bow risers from. The company who sells all the bow parts, sells big blocks of all kinds of exotic wood for a cheap price and if you contact them, they will price out the size you need and ship it to you. I have a huge chunk of Australian Coolibah Burl Red that I am making custom 1911 grips out of that I got from a wood supply company. But that stuff costs a pretty penny! Thanks again and have a great day.

 

[Gunsmith1971]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

My three "builds" were all actually assemblies, but rather than going with kits I just purchased the parts separately. I just assumed that the pickups in the kits would suck and it always seemed like the hardware in them wasn't what I wanted. However, I was also trying to keep the cost down so I used GuitarFetish for most of the parts.

From left to right:

Mary Ann - Body from GuitarFetish's factory buyout clearance section ($25... had to do the finishing myself) and the neck is their LP-style maple neck. Pickups are GFS Dream 90s.

Ashleigh - Body purchased used from Reverb.com ($50). Neck from GuitarFetish's factory buyout clearance section ($15 and had to do the finishing myself). Pickups are GFS Gold Foil single coils.

Ginger - Body is XGP (from GuitarFetish) and the neck is their deluxe 22-fret Tele Neck. Pickups are GFS Lil' Puncher XLs.

Each was in the $400ish range by the time they were complete, depending a lot on my hardware and wiring choices, but I really enjoyed making each one and I even use them all for gigs as part of the rotation.


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Damn those look nice! I will definitely add them to my list. I can see myself spending a lot of money over the next few years lol. Thanks fo posting the pics and giving me other places to look for builds. Much appreciated!

 

[daenius]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

Man you got the whole shebang with all the tools you need! Yeah why not get one of these cheapo kits to practice with and then start build your own quality axes!

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

Damn those look nice! I will definitely add them to my list. I can see myself spending a lot of money over the next few years lol. Thanks fo posting the pics and giving me other places to look for builds. Much appreciated!

Thanks! Keep in mind that the Warmoth stuff will almost certainly have higher quality woods and better workmanship, but since you mentioned trying to keep the price down I thought I'd throw out an option for you that would give you lower cost (easy to spend $400+ on just a body from Warmoth), but better parts than you're likely to find in a kit.

Either way, I think you'll find building your own guitar(s) to be a challenging and rewarding hobby! [emoji41]


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[AlexR]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

As you already seem to be on the right track it is somewhat pointless, but my experience is that cheap kit are just that....cheap. They are not 'value'. Eve some more expensive ones without the parts included need a lot of work. And I have had some quite expensive ones that needed every cavity re-routed to fit the hardware you'd expect to fit on that type of guitar.

Both Precision and Warmoth are the ones I have found either to have consistency, or to let you know in bold letters what you have to buy to make the resultant guitar go together and work properly.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

I think it;s a bit hit or miss but wouldn't they all be cnc made? Their must be some tight ones. When i picked the thinline body i looked through a few boxed and got the one i thought would work best for my mate.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

I'd say about 10-20% hit. For a bolt-on its usually less tragic to have gaps, but I've seen some truly atrocious cheap glue-ins.......where every single mating surface is crooked and/or has gaps.
That sort of thing is fine if you know the steps you have to do to remedy such a situation and which if the surfaces are the more critical ones to get right, but to the novice its better to have something that perfectly mates as the key is practicing the skills of putting together.....not the skill of troubleshooting.

PVX is another kit of high repute.....PRS inspired
http://www.pvxguitars.com/

 

[Gunsmith1971]

Re: Thinking about putting together 1 of these cheap DIY guitar kits. Anybody built 1

Thanks everyone. All your help pointing me in the right direction is much appreciated! I just found out that GFS is in Westborough MA. I live in Texas but am originally from MA and will be going up there for a family members wedding in September so I might swing by the place and pick through their stuff to get a nice matching set that's workable to build. Not to brag but I am pretty darn handy when it comes to woodworking and doing things with my hands. I think ahead and will also be reading some good books and watching some videos on building them. My wife just informed me that she needed to make an order on Amazon over $600 so she could get 12 month financing so I put a bunch of Luthier tools in the cart and 2 Donner effects pedals lmao. YAY ME!!!! I'm a tool-a-holic which I got from my Dad who is also a constant tinkerer and builder lol. That's why I love doing Gunsmithing, archery and fly fishing. If any of you are ever in the Houston area and want to learn how to fly fish around the area or saltwater fly fishing then message me. I actually enjoy teaching and have all the gear needed. For free of course lol. So last night I watched a guy who is a Do-It-Yourself video maker (his own words) who showed how to build a GFS PRS copy kit build and he really screwed it up because he really didn't think it out too well. He lined up the center of the neck, measured and squared off the bridge points to drill, drilled the holes and then glued the neck on without doing a rough fitting before that. So in the end when he strung it up, the strings went south east when looking at the guitar head on. So the low e string was a 1/4" over on the high frets. Basically the 6th string and all the other strings took a dive down when following down the frets to the bridge. So he also had a hard time with the pickups lining up. If it was my build, I would have glued the neck on the body, installed the bridge, mounted the pickups and then string it up with a cheap costing set like EB S-Slinky's and checked how everything lined up before throwing a finish on it. Then if it didn't line up right, you could fill the holes, sand it down and reposition everything so it all runs down correctly. First thing I wouldn't do is buy a cheap kit with a glue on neck because probably 9 out of 10 it's not going to line up right and you will have to spend a lot of time correcting it. A bolt on neck would seem like a better choice so you could throw it on, check the alignment and then remove the neck and be able to fix it without having to worry about it having to be glued on to the body to string it and see how it all runs together. You can always fill the holes in a neck and body if you need to move the angle of the neck and have to do some adjustments to the pocket for the neck in the body. Makes sense....right? I guess other people who have built that same PRS kit from them all had the same problems. So the machines were not set up properly when routing out the areas. He also had spots where they sanded right through the veneer top on the body along with wrinkles and gouges in the binding. I will end up hand picking a body and neck when I go up in September but I think I am going to go with a Warmoth neck and body for my first build since it won't come with a boat load of headaches lol. I might also buy the Razorback kit and buy a neck from Warmoth and see if it fits together. If not then I will buy the ML copy body and put the spare neck on that body. I know that I really want a shaved down Strat like an Ibanez for my collection now that I have been thinking about building some guitars lol. I also checked out some reviews on the GFS humbuckrs and they sounded pretty good and might use them in the GFS build but for a Warmoth build, I will go with SD's all day for PU's since they sound so awesome! Okay I am now addicted and I haven't even started my first build hahahahahaha!!!! Luckily my wife plays guitar, classical violin and piano and understands why you would want more than one guitar for your collection. I will be putting together a video of the build and will post the link later if anybody is interested in watching it. I am really getting stoked to build my first guitar. I have a huge slab of Purple Heart and my wife wants me to build her a nice Strat body out of it once I get my CNC kit hooked up. The stuff is hell to work with but looks beautiful once you get a clear coat on it. I built a T/D recurve riser for my buddy out of it and it took forever to form it. It was hell on my jointer/planer and table saw blades! But it was worth it in the end. Thanks again for all your help and what do you think about setting it up before you finish one. Doesn't that sound like the right way to go? I think the guy got too excited and rushed it which caused him to over look certain steps. I did the same thing when I built my first fly rod. Well I am done rambling here and wish you all a great night! Thank God for the internet because being stuck on your back in bed while waiting for the meds to kick in can get really darn boring!!!!