Has anybody had any experience with some of these DIY guitar kits on Ebay?
- Thread starter BigBeard
- Start date
nexrex said:
I did order one, they are out of stock on the double JR's so I'm waiting till they get another one to send out for me. No sweat, they told me about it, and offered me a different kit, but I want to do the JR first.
How is the spalted LP coming along, I've been following along as much as I can, day job has been stupidly busy, I haven't passed up any runs lately so I have been coming home and sleeping instead of doing cool stuff. Which sucks. I won't have time to put a guitar together for another month anyway, so if it comes now, it'll just sit!
Tell me, was your neck pocket angled? Or do they put the angle on the neck tenon? How does the neck fit? That is my only real question at this point, that and how much I am going to have to play with the frets......
BigBeard said:
I would have to check this, but it might be hard for me to see, as neck was glued in prior to it being shipped.
Apart from some minor binding defects, and sanding the kit is pretty good.
The corian nut on is a bit mess and the action is pretty high. So I have ordered a graphtec pre-cut replacement which I will fix up before starting clear coats.
For some reason my kit turned without a wiring kit, but I do have an Epiphone one to use anyway (the original would have been garbage anyway), and once I wire in the Kent Armstrong Jazz pickups I have, it should be awesome.
A little update on my 12 string Tele kit.
Last night I took off the POS tuners it came with and put on some GFS Sperzel copies. Big improvement, though there were a couple gotchas. The buttons on the new ones are larger so everything's pretty crowded when it comes to tuning it, but the smoothness is so much nicer I'll take the trade off. Before, on the high G especially, it felt like something was certainly going to come apart as I was tuning up. With the new ones it's smooth sailing. The bad news - one of the locking mechanisms stripped when I was tightening the string down. Now I'm paranoid about tightening any of them. It never even got tight before it let go by the way so I know it wasn't me over-torquing it. I think they're also heavier than the stock tuners but I didn't check. I'll weigh the bum tuner and a stock one tonight to get a better idea of that. I think some sort of mini-tuner may be a better choice than what I got, but I like locking tuners so much I'll put up with the downsides.
Also, I put some Ernie Ball super light strings on it (8's). Oh baby, it plays like an entirely different guitar now. I'm not sure what kind of strings it came with (they measured 8.5 on the E strings) but the new ones are a huge improvement both in sound and playability. By sound I mean unplugged, I finished tuning it up at around 1am so I didn't get a chance to plug it in.
So my suggestion on this kit would be to dump the tuners and strings it comes with and upgrade instantly. The guitar feels so much nicer now. I can not over-emphasize how gritty/rough the stock tuners were. Horrible. I tried to fool myself into thinking they were ok, but now that they're gone I realize just how crappy they were.
Backing up a bit (not sure if I mentioned this yet) the guitar had a very muddy sound at first. I played around with the tone control and there wasn't a bit of difference between full on and full off. So I cut it out of the circuit. Instant improvement in tone, brighter. So last night I put new pots and caps in (added a treble bleed while I was at it). I haven't had a chance to plug it in yet, and the new strings will likely have more of an effect on the sound, but at least the tone control should work now.
I also made a few tweaks to align the strings on the neck better. No one specific mod made much of a difference, but all of them together seem to have improved how the strings fall on the neck. I basically re-assembled the neck, bride, and saddles with all the tolerances shoved to one side... The outside high E stil misses the pup pole (just barely) but I think I won't have as much of an issue with it falling off the neck like I was having.
Last night I took off the POS tuners it came with and put on some GFS Sperzel copies. Big improvement, though there were a couple gotchas. The buttons on the new ones are larger so everything's pretty crowded when it comes to tuning it, but the smoothness is so much nicer I'll take the trade off. Before, on the high G especially, it felt like something was certainly going to come apart as I was tuning up. With the new ones it's smooth sailing. The bad news - one of the locking mechanisms stripped when I was tightening the string down. Now I'm paranoid about tightening any of them. It never even got tight before it let go by the way so I know it wasn't me over-torquing it. I think they're also heavier than the stock tuners but I didn't check. I'll weigh the bum tuner and a stock one tonight to get a better idea of that. I think some sort of mini-tuner may be a better choice than what I got, but I like locking tuners so much I'll put up with the downsides.
Also, I put some Ernie Ball super light strings on it (8's). Oh baby, it plays like an entirely different guitar now. I'm not sure what kind of strings it came with (they measured 8.5 on the E strings) but the new ones are a huge improvement both in sound and playability. By sound I mean unplugged, I finished tuning it up at around 1am so I didn't get a chance to plug it in.
So my suggestion on this kit would be to dump the tuners and strings it comes with and upgrade instantly. The guitar feels so much nicer now. I can not over-emphasize how gritty/rough the stock tuners were. Horrible. I tried to fool myself into thinking they were ok, but now that they're gone I realize just how crappy they were.
Backing up a bit (not sure if I mentioned this yet) the guitar had a very muddy sound at first. I played around with the tone control and there wasn't a bit of difference between full on and full off. So I cut it out of the circuit. Instant improvement in tone, brighter. So last night I put new pots and caps in (added a treble bleed while I was at it). I haven't had a chance to plug it in yet, and the new strings will likely have more of an effect on the sound, but at least the tone control should work now.
I also made a few tweaks to align the strings on the neck better. No one specific mod made much of a difference, but all of them together seem to have improved how the strings fall on the neck. I basically re-assembled the neck, bride, and saddles with all the tolerances shoved to one side... The outside high E stil misses the pup pole (just barely) but I think I won't have as much of an issue with it falling off the neck like I was having.
Ok guys so I have in my possession two DIY guitar kits. I can't find my camera anywhere, my son 'put it away' for me and he can't remember where he 'put it away' so the pics are going to have to wait till later this evening.
Well I am impressed and not impressed.
I ordered the LPJR from BYOguitar.com via ebay and that kit is actually something worth buying. The mahogany body grain is pretty nice, it's three pieces, but they took the time to do a decent glue up. Either I have good luck with necks or the QC at these factories that make necks these days have stepped it up a little. I'm really impressed with the neck from this kit. The wood parts were very lightly sealed with some sort of sealer that came off with just some 220 and my hand, no sander needed really. The tuning pegs, pots and other hardware isn't the greatest, but I expected that. I'm curious to see how the P-90 sounds, but i'm pretty sure it will get upgraded also. So I have done some work to this guitar. I have glued the neck, routed to recess a wooden pickguard and binding for the pickguard and grain filled and stained it. I did a black grain fill and Color Tone Cherry Red dripped right out of the bottle. Looks like the Strat I finished back in July, but the red is way deeper and more rich because I didn't dilute it. I still have a few little things to do before I start shooting the laquer, but I should be able to finish that stuff up today.
The SG kit I ordered from RM Olson Guitar Works. It is another set neck guitar kit. This one is a basket case though. I'm not happy with it at all! First, some smart guy decided to make the kit a bolt on neck, and drilled it for a neck plate and the neck joint and the body are clearly set up for a glue in. Also, there is no angle machined in the neck to angle it for a TOM, set up flat like a Fender. And it was sealed in this milky stuff that smells like a fiberglass resin curing when you sand it, and it's on there thick. Like five 120 grit sanding discs so far to get it off and I'm still not done getting all the sealer off of it. And it had a 'flame maple top' that was all the thickness of notebook paper, so I sanded it off back to the mahogany and found a huge knot right where the bridge is mounted. Oh well, just a ton more work for me to build a presentable instrument. I am going to stain this with 'ebony' wood stain to stain it black, I think that would be a cool finish color on a SG. I will also inlay a wooden pickguard in this guitar and I am going to fix the problems with the kit, like I'm going to glue the neck in and do the TOM like Warmoth does a recessed TOM so I can mount the neck flat in the pocket without a shim.... should make for some low strings over the body! Honestly the SG might end up as firewood because of the crap that is messed up with it, but I made templates with the bodies as soon as they arrived, so I can duplicate them no problem now. Worst case on the SG is I have to build another body and just use the neck. The neck in the SG kit is pretty ok, except for the milky sealer. Anybody know what it is? Like I said, it smells like fiberglass resin when I sand it and makes my sinuses ache from the dust. Polyester? Whatever it is, I bet they use it on the space shuttle because I'm sure it could withstand re-entry to the atmosphere no problem!
So overall, I can recommend the BYO guitar kits, they seem to have the quality in the wood parts that I was looking for. I am going to definately do another kit or two from BYO.......
One more thing about these guitars I am building. I pulled the trigger on these because I wanted to try my hand at a few set neck guitar projects. Once they are done, since they are right handed, I have absolutely no use for them. So they are for sale, and I am not looking to make a million dollars or anything on them, just to get out of them what I have in them and maybe a hundred bucks for my work. If you might be interested, feel free to make me an offer! I am going to upgrade the tuners from the get-go, and I may hold off on mounting pickups so I can just do the electrics to customer spec. I will post pics as soon as I find the camera!
Well I am impressed and not impressed.
I ordered the LPJR from BYOguitar.com via ebay and that kit is actually something worth buying. The mahogany body grain is pretty nice, it's three pieces, but they took the time to do a decent glue up. Either I have good luck with necks or the QC at these factories that make necks these days have stepped it up a little. I'm really impressed with the neck from this kit. The wood parts were very lightly sealed with some sort of sealer that came off with just some 220 and my hand, no sander needed really. The tuning pegs, pots and other hardware isn't the greatest, but I expected that. I'm curious to see how the P-90 sounds, but i'm pretty sure it will get upgraded also. So I have done some work to this guitar. I have glued the neck, routed to recess a wooden pickguard and binding for the pickguard and grain filled and stained it. I did a black grain fill and Color Tone Cherry Red dripped right out of the bottle. Looks like the Strat I finished back in July, but the red is way deeper and more rich because I didn't dilute it. I still have a few little things to do before I start shooting the laquer, but I should be able to finish that stuff up today.
The SG kit I ordered from RM Olson Guitar Works. It is another set neck guitar kit. This one is a basket case though. I'm not happy with it at all! First, some smart guy decided to make the kit a bolt on neck, and drilled it for a neck plate and the neck joint and the body are clearly set up for a glue in. Also, there is no angle machined in the neck to angle it for a TOM, set up flat like a Fender. And it was sealed in this milky stuff that smells like a fiberglass resin curing when you sand it, and it's on there thick. Like five 120 grit sanding discs so far to get it off and I'm still not done getting all the sealer off of it. And it had a 'flame maple top' that was all the thickness of notebook paper, so I sanded it off back to the mahogany and found a huge knot right where the bridge is mounted. Oh well, just a ton more work for me to build a presentable instrument. I am going to stain this with 'ebony' wood stain to stain it black, I think that would be a cool finish color on a SG. I will also inlay a wooden pickguard in this guitar and I am going to fix the problems with the kit, like I'm going to glue the neck in and do the TOM like Warmoth does a recessed TOM so I can mount the neck flat in the pocket without a shim.... should make for some low strings over the body! Honestly the SG might end up as firewood because of the crap that is messed up with it, but I made templates with the bodies as soon as they arrived, so I can duplicate them no problem now. Worst case on the SG is I have to build another body and just use the neck. The neck in the SG kit is pretty ok, except for the milky sealer. Anybody know what it is? Like I said, it smells like fiberglass resin when I sand it and makes my sinuses ache from the dust. Polyester? Whatever it is, I bet they use it on the space shuttle because I'm sure it could withstand re-entry to the atmosphere no problem!
So overall, I can recommend the BYO guitar kits, they seem to have the quality in the wood parts that I was looking for. I am going to definately do another kit or two from BYO.......
One more thing about these guitars I am building. I pulled the trigger on these because I wanted to try my hand at a few set neck guitar projects. Once they are done, since they are right handed, I have absolutely no use for them. So they are for sale, and I am not looking to make a million dollars or anything on them, just to get out of them what I have in them and maybe a hundred bucks for my work. If you might be interested, feel free to make me an offer! I am going to upgrade the tuners from the get-go, and I may hold off on mounting pickups so I can just do the electrics to customer spec. I will post pics as soon as I find the camera!
hannaugh said:
I figured, "Hey, why not?"
The JR should be ready for laquer tomorrow actually. I have to glue in the pickguard and piss around with it's binding then it's time to make it shine!
My overall goal is to show it to someone and them not know it was a cheap DIY guitar kit. So far, so good! I'm actually pretty impressed with the parts and my work for once!
DangerousR6
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Ya, but the quality of the guitar is not going to be near as good as Warmoth...You know the old addage "you get what you pay for"... :dontknow:Cagey said:
Cagey
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Ya, but the quality of the guitar is not going to be near as good as Warmoth...You know the old addage "you get what you pay for"... :dontknow:
[/quote]
I wouldn't expect them to be. But, I have a barely used jumbo-fretted ebony over maple Carvin neck sitting around here just rotting, and I want to build something I'll string and leave tuned up "Nashville". Since it won't be a "main" sort of guitar and won't see a whole lot of use, I don't want to spend a great deal of money on it.
Actually, the more I think about it, maybe the thing to do is just buy an Agile Strat and change the nut. Probably end up costing less, save me a lot of trouble, and still be a decent guitar. Of course, then I'll still have that Carvin neck sitting around...
[/quote]
I wouldn't expect them to be. But, I have a barely used jumbo-fretted ebony over maple Carvin neck sitting around here just rotting, and I want to build something I'll string and leave tuned up "Nashville". Since it won't be a "main" sort of guitar and won't see a whole lot of use, I don't want to spend a great deal of money on it.
Actually, the more I think about it, maybe the thing to do is just buy an Agile Strat and change the nut. Probably end up costing less, save me a lot of trouble, and still be a decent guitar. Of course, then I'll still have that Carvin neck sitting around...
DangerousR6
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Cagey said:
I wouldn't expect them to be. But, I have a barely used jumbo-fretted ebony over maple Carvin neck sitting around here just rotting, and I want to build something I'll string and leave tuned up "Nashville". Since it won't be a "main" sort of guitar and won't see a whole lot of use, I don't want to spend a great deal of money on it.
Actually, the more I think about it, maybe the thing to do is just buy an Agile Strat and change the nut. Probably end up costing less, save me a lot of trouble, and still be a decent guitar. Of course, then I'll still have that Carvin neck sitting around...
[/quote]start a fire with it.... :laughing11:
I don't know......... as far as builds go, this JR is the most fun I have had....... a lot of that has to do with not worring about screwing up some high dollar parts. Worst case I really tear something up, I go to the lumber yard and get some more mahogany. Only thing i'm dissappointed about is how simple of a project the JR is so far..... I'll be done with it before I realize it.
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