Building Electric Guitars From Kits.
- DrNomis
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I've been doing some netsurfing for some replacement guitar parts and found some kits for electric guitars, I've never even thought of building a guitar from a kit of parts until now and I'm interested in giving it a go, just wondering if there are any FSB members that have built guitars from a kit of parts, and what have their experiences been like, how hard/easy are the kits to assemble?, is there anything I need to know how to do beforehand?, also what's the best way to finish a guitar body/neck that has had one coat of sealer applied?.....
I believe that I'm competent enough to do all the electrical wiring......
I believe that I'm competent enough to do all the electrical wiring......
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- DrNomis
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benobo wrote:Hey Doc,
What model do you plan to build?
There's two kits that I want to build, one is for a PRS style guitar, the other one is for a headless style guitar, they're about $250.00 Australian each on eBay, the headless guitar kit is from a company in Dublin, Ireland and they quote free posting to Australia,the PRS style kit is from a company called JWebber Guitars and DIY kits.....
They look cool.....
Links to the two kits I'm interested in:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Electric-Gu ... 4ac1606f70
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Unfinished- ... 5aeb73c565
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- rcustoms
- Resistor Ronker
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DrNomis wrote:benobo wrote:Hey Doc,
What model do you plan to build?
There's two kits that I want to build, one is for a PRS style guitar, the other one is for a headless style guitar, they're about $250.00 Australian each on eBay, the headless guitar kit is from a company in Dublin, Ireland and they quote free posting to Australia,the PRS style kit is from a company called JWebber Guitars and DIY kits.....
They look cool.....
Links to the two kits I'm interested in:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Electric-Gu ... 4ac1606f70
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Unfinished- ... 5aeb73c565
hi dr. let me help you a little few ,i built many guitars from kits or parts purchased in different stores,your first choice is very easy to set,but look out ,The neck should be attached to the body with glue and you need to find a couples of clamps to put together that parts ,having previously painted each separately, without the paint cover the glue area.i think this kit is a little complex for the first time ,the other one is neck is screwed and more simple.the next is paint,you need to apply a wood sealer and if you like to add some color use dye ,compatible with the sealant and go to finish with waterborne or urethane finish. send me a pm with your email and I send to you some books that detail the process better.look some pictures in my blog.sorry for my english
- Lucifer
- Cap Cooler
Hi Doc,
Alternatively, you could buy a used guitar (or fairly cheap new one), put decent pickups on it and give it a proper set-up.
I used to have an old Jedson Telecaster, which cost me £50 new - and sounded like kangaroo dung. But with a bit of TLC, I had people complimenting me on the sound (one even said it sounded better than his real Tele).
Whatever you do, have fun, and keep us posted.
Good luck buddy
Alternatively, you could buy a used guitar (or fairly cheap new one), put decent pickups on it and give it a proper set-up.
I used to have an old Jedson Telecaster, which cost me £50 new - and sounded like kangaroo dung. But with a bit of TLC, I had people complimenting me on the sound (one even said it sounded better than his real Tele).
Whatever you do, have fun, and keep us posted.
Good luck buddy
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- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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- my favorite amplifier: Self-Built Valve Amp Head :)
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- Location: Darwin,Northern Territory Australia
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rcustoms wrote:DrNomis wrote:benobo wrote:Hey Doc,
What model do you plan to build?
There's two kits that I want to build, one is for a PRS style guitar, the other one is for a headless style guitar, they're about $250.00 Australian each on eBay, the headless guitar kit is from a company in Dublin, Ireland and they quote free posting to Australia,the PRS style kit is from a company called JWebber Guitars and DIY kits.....
They look cool.....
Links to the two kits I'm interested in:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Electric-Gu ... 4ac1606f70
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Unfinished- ... 5aeb73c565
hi dr. let me help you a little few ,i built many guitars from kits or parts purchased in different stores,your first choice is very easy to set,but look out ,The neck should be attached to the body with glue and you need to find a couples of clamps to put together that parts ,having previously painted each separately, without the paint cover the glue area.i think this kit is a little complex for the first time ,the other one is neck is screwed and more simple.the next is paint,you need to apply a wood sealer and if you like to add some color use dye ,compatible with the sealant and go to finish with waterborne or urethane finish. send me a pm with your email and I send to you some books that detail the process better.look some pictures in my blog.sorry for my english
Hi rcustoms,
Firstly, your english is fine mate.....
Secondly, you have some good points there, I'll see if I can buy some suitable clamps from my local Bunnings store before I start building the kits( I've still got to buy them though).....
I'm just going to pm my email address, cheers mate......
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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- Posts: 6807
- Joined: 16 Jul 2009, 04:56
- my favorite amplifier: Self-Built Valve Amp Head :)
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- Location: Darwin,Northern Territory Australia
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Lucifer wrote:Hi Doc,
Alternatively, you could buy a used guitar (or fairly cheap new one), put decent pickups on it and give it a proper set-up.
I used to have an old Jedson Telecaster, which cost me £50 new - and sounded like kangaroo dung. But with a bit of TLC, I had people complimenting me on the sound (one even said it sounded better than his real Tele).
Whatever you do, have fun, and keep us posted.
Good luck buddy
Cheers Lucifer, that could be a good alternative option for me, I really want to give guitar kits a go because it's something I've never tried before and it's really piqued my interest, I sure will keep you posted, I won't be buying the kits for a while because I'll be paying off a new Marshall MA100C 100 Watt 2X12 combo amp that I'll be putting on layby this coming Tuesday, and I sure will have fun mate......
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- MoonWatcher
- Diode Debunker
I've built lots of stuff from just kit pieces all the way up to altering and combining existing necks, bodies, etc. But the set neck stuff does scare me a bit.rcustoms wrote:look out ,The neck should be attached to the body with glue and you need to find a couples of clamps to put together that parts ,having previously painted each separately, without the paint cover the glue area.
In my case, I'd like to build a nice SG from a kit, and the SG suffers from a weak neck joint as it is.
I also know a guy with a nice Gibson Les Paul who knows there are cracks in the headstock, and failure is unavoidable at some point.
I guess what I'm saying is that while it wouldn't be 100% correct with respect to the original, I always tend to look for kits or pieces that substitute a bolt-on neck for this reason. I also like to swap necks until I get one that seems to be the best fit. And there are always the potential issues of neck warping/twistin/humps that are more of a pain to deal with if it's a set neck design.
...All of that said, if anyone knows of a good kit source for set neck projects where they've tried to minimize some of these issues, I'm always interested.
Hi Doc,
I've built two guitars from diy kits, and I have to start on the third one. I purchased my kits from http://www.ml-factory.de. He is also on e-bay. The guy there is Matthias List. He has some 70 different kits. He is very quick in responding to your questions. I have no idea what the costs will be to send a kit to Australia.
In one kit (the ES copy) I had to glue the neck in the body, which went ok with white wood glue. The LP copy had the neck already glued in.
I also had ordered the book Building Electric guitars from Martin Koch, which was very useful. Hope this helps a bit,
Ad
I've built two guitars from diy kits, and I have to start on the third one. I purchased my kits from http://www.ml-factory.de. He is also on e-bay. The guy there is Matthias List. He has some 70 different kits. He is very quick in responding to your questions. I have no idea what the costs will be to send a kit to Australia.
In one kit (the ES copy) I had to glue the neck in the body, which went ok with white wood glue. The LP copy had the neck already glued in.
I also had ordered the book Building Electric guitars from Martin Koch, which was very useful. Hope this helps a bit,
Ad
- Steven_M
- Resistor Ronker
I'm about to build one of these:
http://buy.precisionguitarkits.com/shop ... tly-simple
One word of warning in regard to those Asian guitar kits. They usually mention that sanding sealer has been applied, do you know what kind of sanding sealer? Not all sanding sealers are compatible with the myriad of finishes that are available. I've read some horror stories of guys trying to sand off that sanding sealer to add their own sealer, compatible with the paint they want to use, and the sealer just turns into a gummy mess that they can't get off the body.
I'm going to do a TV style finish with a Sea Foam green Nitro lacquer on mine. The TV style finish means I can skip sanding sealer and perfectly flat grain filling. I'm also going to cheat and do a matte finish so I don't have to spend hours finish sanding!
Can't wait to get started!
http://buy.precisionguitarkits.com/shop ... tly-simple
One word of warning in regard to those Asian guitar kits. They usually mention that sanding sealer has been applied, do you know what kind of sanding sealer? Not all sanding sealers are compatible with the myriad of finishes that are available. I've read some horror stories of guys trying to sand off that sanding sealer to add their own sealer, compatible with the paint they want to use, and the sealer just turns into a gummy mess that they can't get off the body.
I'm going to do a TV style finish with a Sea Foam green Nitro lacquer on mine. The TV style finish means I can skip sanding sealer and perfectly flat grain filling. I'm also going to cheat and do a matte finish so I don't have to spend hours finish sanding!
Can't wait to get started!
- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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Cheers for the replies guys, keep them coming......
I just finished paying for the headless guitar kit I was interested in so I'm looking forward to when it arrives, will post a pic of the kit when it does, stay tuned.....
I just finished paying for the headless guitar kit I was interested in so I'm looking forward to when it arrives, will post a pic of the kit when it does, stay tuned.....
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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- Posts: 6807
- Joined: 16 Jul 2009, 04:56
- my favorite amplifier: Self-Built Valve Amp Head :)
- Completed builds: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face,Tone Bender Professional Mk 3,Tone Bender 3-Knob,Baja BK Butler Tube Driver,Baja Real Tube Overdrive,Roger Mayer Octavia,EH Soul Preacher,Tech 21 XXL Distortion,MFOS Weird Sound Generator.
- Location: Darwin,Northern Territory Australia
- Has thanked: 98 times
- Been thanked: 279 times
bluescage wrote:Hi Doc,
I've built two guitars from diy kits, and I have to start on the third one. I purchased my kits from http://www.ml-factory.de. He is also on e-bay. The guy there is Matthias List. He has some 70 different kits. He is very quick in responding to your questions. I have no idea what the costs will be to send a kit to Australia.
In one kit (the ES copy) I had to glue the neck in the body, which went ok with white wood glue. The LP copy had the neck already glued in.
I also had ordered the book Building Electric guitars from Martin Koch, which was very useful. Hope this helps a bit,
Ad
They look cool, especially the hollow-body guitar, I like the green tint colour......
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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- Posts: 6807
- Joined: 16 Jul 2009, 04:56
- my favorite amplifier: Self-Built Valve Amp Head :)
- Completed builds: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face,Tone Bender Professional Mk 3,Tone Bender 3-Knob,Baja BK Butler Tube Driver,Baja Real Tube Overdrive,Roger Mayer Octavia,EH Soul Preacher,Tech 21 XXL Distortion,MFOS Weird Sound Generator.
- Location: Darwin,Northern Territory Australia
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Just a quick update,
I received a parcel card in my mailbox yesterday so I went to the post office in Winnelie, just up the road from where I live, it turned out to be the guitar kit I ordered,goint to be buying the stuff I need to start painting the body next Tuesday, been toying around with a few ideas for how I could paint the body, I might go with the EVH 5150 paint-job style.....
Stay tuned for more updates.....
I received a parcel card in my mailbox yesterday so I went to the post office in Winnelie, just up the road from where I live, it turned out to be the guitar kit I ordered,goint to be buying the stuff I need to start painting the body next Tuesday, been toying around with a few ideas for how I could paint the body, I might go with the EVH 5150 paint-job style.....
Stay tuned for more updates.....
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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- Joined: 16 Jul 2009, 04:56
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- sinner
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Keep us updated Simon, cant wait for picture show
- rcustoms
- Resistor Ronker
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DrNomis wrote:Here's a pic of the Headless Electric Guitar kit I bought as received:
good choice ,like vito´s brata guitar from white lion.i paint a couple of guitars like van halen 5150 model ,be patient and careful to mask all the guitar between coats,to prevent splashing the other coats.
regards
rcustoms
- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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- Posts: 6807
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- my favorite amplifier: Self-Built Valve Amp Head :)
- Completed builds: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face,Tone Bender Professional Mk 3,Tone Bender 3-Knob,Baja BK Butler Tube Driver,Baja Real Tube Overdrive,Roger Mayer Octavia,EH Soul Preacher,Tech 21 XXL Distortion,MFOS Weird Sound Generator.
- Location: Darwin,Northern Territory Australia
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rcustoms wrote:DrNomis wrote:Here's a pic of the Headless Electric Guitar kit I bought as received:
good choice ,like vito´s brata guitar from white lion.i paint a couple of guitars like van halen 5150 model ,be patient and careful to mask all the guitar between coats,to prevent splashing the other coats.
regards
rcustoms
Cheers mate, I've been reading both of those PDF books you emailed to me and I totally understand the need for being careful with the masking, I'm thinking that if I take my time with this project, it should come out pretty good, I just need to wait till tuesday to get the all the sealer/primer/paint/etc I'll need, as well as the wet/dry sandpaper too, might see if I can get all the grit sizes I need up to 2500 grit, if my local Bunnings store stocks them, they might also stock the buffing compound too....
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- DrNomis
- Old Solderhand
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- Posts: 6807
- Joined: 16 Jul 2009, 04:56
- my favorite amplifier: Self-Built Valve Amp Head :)
- Completed builds: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face,Tone Bender Professional Mk 3,Tone Bender 3-Knob,Baja BK Butler Tube Driver,Baja Real Tube Overdrive,Roger Mayer Octavia,EH Soul Preacher,Tech 21 XXL Distortion,MFOS Weird Sound Generator.
- Location: Darwin,Northern Territory Australia
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sinner wrote:Keep us updated Simon, cant wait for picture show
Will do mate.....
Genius is not all about 99% perspiration, and 1% inspiration - sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face.-Frequencycentral.
- blackbunny
- Resistor Ronker
Looks good so far DrNomis! Does it have a solid timber body, or is that some kind of plywood?DrNomis wrote: by DrNomis » Yesterday, 05:48
Here's a pic of the Headless Electric Guitar kit I bought as received:
Also, is it from the Ebay store in Ireland as per your OP? And finally, did it cost much to freight it to Australia?
- roseblood11
- Tube Twister
Another choice is neck-through-body construction:
http://www.carvinworld.com/catalog/neck ... ?model=nt6
This way, it's quite easy to built a high-quality guitar with a unique body shape.
http://www.carvinworld.com/catalog/neck ... ?model=nt6
This way, it's quite easy to built a high-quality guitar with a unique body shape.