Anyone built a guitar from a kit?
 

I've ordered a Fretwire Telecaster kit. I've always wanted to try and build one and am open to any suggestions or experiences you might want to share.
Thanks

Good luck..

Slodave build one years ago..
simply amazing..
he has done shift knobs and boards for Singer...

Rika

I've cobbled lots of Partscasters together out of stuff I had laying around. But I've never installed new frets on a new neck. I would think it's a false economy to do it that way unless you end up totally in love with the guitar and never want to sell it. I have a Musikraft neck on order now. It will run me $450 by the time I get it and DIY the oiling process. But it's exactly what I want and it's going on a Partscaster I otherwise love except for the neck I want replaced.

Slodave didn't build his from much of a kit.

I got to fondle Slodave's LP clone build at Hugh's house a few years ago. It was as good as they come. BUT it was a major project from scratch, and would not hold anything close to the value of a real LP.

That project was a labor of love and craftsmanship.

Guys build guitars from parts all the time. Like Rick, I would recommend starting with a neck that already has frets.

I Have a kit (strat style) I bought from an outfit is Australia. Pittbull Guitars. I have had it for a while. Hardware looks good (I checked a lot of the option boxes lol). However, I have no spare time to build it, will likely get on it after the summer. I will send the body out to get painted (viper green) as I will never have time to get that perfect.

We have 16 guitars between my son and I so not highly motivated to put off other projects to get this put together....

Looking forward to the day it is done. Even if it sucks to play, It will look good on the wall :)

Cheers

It's a shame we don't live closer. I'd love to paint or clear coat it for you. I did some furniture with automotive clear coat and it looks great.

I have built up several using a complete neck.

No big deal.

If you have to instal the frets and level them? I would make a jig with a drill press to press the frets in uniformly.

Finishing is the trick. Reranch has a whole bunch of cool colors in lacquer.

maybe have it Plek after it's done..

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/what-is-plek/

Rika

Thanks for mentioning Reranch. I had not heard of them. I'm going to start with the body. Filler, sanding, filler sanding then prime, paint clear coat, wet sand polish.
Sound about right?
I'm not attempting to do anything like Slodave's build. I don't have anywhere near the skills

I've built 5 acoustic guitars from scratch; no kit. And I've not built an electric guitar. As the plek machine concept illustrates, getting the action correct is the most critical thing. When building an acoustic from scratch, you measure 100 times and glue once.

With a kit, the fit between the neck and the body should be spot on. I could see a cheap kit getting this wrong. I think the kit you have has the frets already installed. But they probably have to be filed properly. Anyway, you should pay most attention to the fit of the neck to the body. At least it's bolted on and can easily be removed to adjust the fit. When you glue the neck onto an acoustic body, put the strings on, file the frets, adjust the stress rod, and then find that the action is off, that sucks.

just my 2 cenrs, but there are a number of low priced well built teles out there now

Cool thing about kits, is-
There are a lot of options out there. Find out how deep you want to jump in.
And jump.

I use a drill press to press in frets with a stewart Mcdonald fret press.
Don't want to bother?- start with the frets already installed.
No right or wrong. Pick your pleasure.

Setup and action is where you want to spend your time (on any guitar).

Good luck.

My brother built a guitar and some effects pedals many years ago

i've built three. All three from parts. The thought of fretting a neck...no thanks. I aint that dedicated.

Finished it. I still need to do a proper set up on the neck
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1635439864.jpg

Sweet play on!

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk

I put together on of the semi-hollow body guitar kits from a company named "Bad Cat" which makes their kits in China. The fit of the neck was great, aligned just fine and only had to tweak the neck very slightly to take out some dip in the middle. It came with their own humbucker pickups that were already soldered together and sounded okay. I installed a pair of Seymour Duncan "Pearly Gates" pickups with 500k pots that could split the coils and also installed a 5 position switch. It can sound like ZZ Top or Eric Clapton if I pull the knobs up. I stained the body with a sun burst color scheme and 10 coats of clear lacquer and lots of sanding!
John