Guitarist/Musician/craftsmen opinions wanted! Is this cool or bullshit?

[OriginalGeek]

http://www.guitarkitsdirect.com/

Is it possible at all that I could really make a decent guitar? NB: I find the crafting part of it to be a good chunk of the coolness factor - Since I can't play (although I have tried over the years) I probably wouldn't know if I made a good guitar or not so the fun for me would be the making and painting and then playing with a guitar I "built". Who knows, maybe I'll practice enough with it to make a song reluctantly come out of it...

And the prices look pretty reasonable - I guess the question is: For 200 bucks can you find a seriously better, already built guitar?

I mean, better enough that it makes up for the loss of the fun of building and painting? I don't expect a Les Paul but I also don't want to blow money on a complete fraud or something that is way out of my league like that damn sushi making kit from the grocery store. (Imma leave sushi to the professionals from now on).

Thanks for you honest and harshly critical input!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Assuming you have reasonable mechanical skills, you can do this.

Looks like a fun project and the fun part alone is worth the price of admission, not to mention the pride you will have and the fact that there will not be another guitar on earth exactly like yours,

As to can you get a decent guitar for $200.00. Not in my opinion. My Flamenco guitar was $3,000.00 and it is a long way from top of the line.

As to the kit itself, it looks like the stuff that would really take skill like shaping and inletting for the pickups, etc, has all been done for you. All you need to do is finish the wood and put it together. If you ever did a model car of plane, you can do this.

Edited to add; When you finish it, take some lessons. They are not that expensive and will add immeasurablly to your experience, maybe even add some joy to your life.

[CBGLuthier]

2. solid body slap a pre-made neck on kit. Sure

just take your time and follow the directions. The hardest part will probably be the wiring and soldering. Snag some copper foil to insulate your pickup and control cavities. Also it is absolutely critical that you ground the bridge. Both for noise and safety.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Nah! The hardest part will be the patience to do it slowly and correctly.

[OriginalGeek]

4. Thanks guys!

Yes, I did mean to mention I have soldering experience and some woodworking chops - I used to work for a large luxury boat manufacturer installing everything from furniture/galleys/heads to the electronics that run it plus I went to school for electronics and still piddle around with fixing broken things here at work. I'm no Nikola Tesla but I know what flux is.

I am figuring that there are different grades of pick-ups and other hardware right? After building one and taking some lessons and actually practicing then I can think about upgrading the hardware and I should already know how to do it since i put the first ones in. Yep, this sounds like fun!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. Hell, by the time you get ready to upgrade, you will want to build another guitar!

[OriginalGeek]

7. very probably!

I have guitar player friends and they do seem to have a knack for collecting guitars. There's worse hobbies!

[hifiguy]

5. If the wood and hardware is decent

it shouldn't be a problem. Carvin still makes solid-body guitar kits AFAIK, and they are just broken down versions of their (very good) instruments, though they cost more.

[OriginalGeek]

8. Here's a product description for a Les Paul style

Joint: Bolt-on
Body: Carved Mahogany With Spalted Maple Top
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Tuning Machines: Black Die-cast Grover Style
Scale Length: 628mm/24.75"
Fret: 22
Control: 2V, 2T, 3-Way Toggle
Pickups: H-H
Hardware: Black
Bridge: Tune-O-Matic

http://www.guitarkitsdirect.com/lp-900st-diy-guitar-kit-carved-mahogany-with-spalted-maple-top/

Do I want my maple spalted? I reckon it depends who's doing the spalting...(hyuck hyuck)

[hifiguy]

9. Spalting is a wood rot that causes the wood to be

beautifully figured. The rot dies after the wood is cut and cured. This is spalted maple:


Gorgeous!

Sounds like a pretty darned good deal, and you can easily upgrade the pickups down the road should you so desire.

[Chan790]

10. OT: How was the sushi kit difficult?

I ask because I've made sushi, it's really easy but the instructions in some of the store-kits are absolute shit. The hardest part is cutting and that's only hard if you've you got shitty knives and haven't learned how to use them. Sushi-making will improve your knife skills...and make all your fingers oddly-shaped from missing slices. If you ever meet a chef with nice hands, know that he's either really good with his knives (Like better than any chef I ever met and I have a family full) or a terrible chef.

Still have the kit? http://japanesefood.about.com/od/sushiforbeginner/r/sushirice.htm
I just use plastic mixing bowls and the vent-hood on the range top. The one thing you're stuck for is the race spatula, there's nothing like it.

Take the rolling mat. Put the Nori on it ugly side up, spritz it lightly with a water-spray bottle. lay out a 2" flat strip of rice on one end about 1" from the end, put your fish and veggies (or just veggies in my case) on top of the rice. Using the mat, tightly roll the roll...you're going to f**k it up the first 10 times. Everybody does. If you still can't get it after several tries, toss the mat in the drawer, cut the nori into 1" squares and toast them in the oven to eat like potato chips, take a wooden spoon and make clumps of sushi rice, put your fillings on top in interesting designs.

[OriginalGeek]

11. I didn't read

the instructions lol
I also mucked up the rice.
And my shit fell apart.
I only tried once...guess I shoulda stuck with it...I just figured that 30 years ago I could roll a perfect joint so this shouldn't be any harder...

I gave the kit to my friend and he threw it in one of his kitchen drawers - he doesn't need a kit as his mom is Japanese (Actually, I think she is Chinese but she grew up in Japan) and she comes over and makes all that stuff for him. I love visiting him on those days.

BUT that last thing you said about toasting the nori sounds fantastic AND easy...Imma wait til my wife is gone for the day and try that - she hates sushi and gets all irritating making gaggy noises when I even talk about it (maybe why I didn't try harder) but my daughter and I love it and we can have a sushi day.

Just gotta remember NOT to get my ingredients from that guy on the side of the road in the van with the ice-chest and the hand-made sign that reads "Krab and see-fud! Cheeper than store!"

eta: Thanks for that link too. I will give it another go...

[Orsino]

12. One of the most famous of all rock guitars was homemade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Special

[OriginalGeek]

15. Wow, way cool!

A knife and motorcycle springs! It doesn't get much more badass than that.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

21. You DO know that's Doctor Brian May, don't you???

Ph.D. in Astrophysics. Wrote his dissertation on black holes. I'm not surprised that he would build his own guitar and be enough of an electronics nerd to change it around.

[Orsino]

26. A Ph.D. in Astrophsics, and a knighthood in Rocking Out. n/t

[Manifestor_of_Light]

22. Thanks, I had no idea that my favorite Englishman built his own guitar.

But it figures that he is a physics/electronics nerd/guitarist. I live with one of those myself!! I hear all about relativity and trig solving hyperbolic functions, differential and integral calculus, and capacitance and inductance.

Lots of good stuff I don't understand. "Sure, honey, ya got me fooled. Ya sound like you know what you're talking about."

[mikeytherat]

13. The kits look pretty nice, and I love that some of the Jazz/P bass replica bodies are ash (my fave),

but the lopped-off end of the headstock is really inelegant. The other bass kits have much nicer headstocks.

mikey_the_rat

[bluesbassman]

14. Sounds like fun, and should turn out a decent instrument for $200.

I'm in the process of retrofitting a fretless Jazz bass to a fretted neck. The important part is making sure the neck is lined up properly to the bridge (my new neck had no pre-drilled mounting holes). If your kit parts are all jig pre-drilled you should have a lot less to worry about. Good luck and have fun.

[Hula Popper]

16. cool or bullsh!t

Hello OG,
You might also look at Grizzly.com. Guitars........fiddlebacks, lovely stuff.

[OriginalGeek]

18. Looking now

their president has made some beautiful guitars!

Mine ain't gonna be that fancy...

I see their electric guitar bodies are made of alder...no idea if that's better or worse or the same...

lol! there's a ukulele kit for under 30 bucks...maybe I should start small!

[mikeytherat]

23. Alder is nice. I prefer swamp ash for my basses, but I do have a Jazz Bass with an alder body

and it sounds very sweet.

mikey_the_rat

[Manifestor_of_Light]

17. I have a fretless jazz bass---Fender, indigo colored

Hubby is a guitarist; he figured out what gauge strings to put on it b//c it is tuned like a cello --
CGDA, because I am a violinist and I cannot think in fourths, only in fifths. It has fret bar markings on it, but they are not raised.

[bluesbassman]

19. Do you play much in pentatonic scales? Seems that they would be difficult in fifth tuning.

Never tried violin or a bass tuned in fifths. Seems that scales would run more efficiently with a vertical approach.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

20. no.

[SwissTony]

24. Univeral converter gives me $AUD1 = $US0.968

and the site states $AUD19 for world wide shipping. Not bad at all.

[zzaapp]

25. Hi Geek

I'm no expert, but I have had some experience with this.
I recently, bought a "first act" (cheap) guitar at a pawn shop
for $10.00. It was ugly looking, cheap pickups, cheap tuning pegs etc. BUT the neck was straight (very important). I then stripped and sanded the body down to bare wood.

I then searched the internet for new pickups that would fit in the guitar without modifying the pickup holes. I found some NICE ones for $40.00 apiece (they are very easy to replace yourself) . I'll send you the link if you want.
I replaced the tuning pegs for about $30.00. Then I gave the body 3 coats of regular (quality) spray paint. After the paint dried, I gave it three coats of clear spray finish. The next step is to take it to a trusted guitar store and have them adjust the "set up" on the neck. This will bring the strings closer to the fret board, thus easier to play. Long and short of it is, I felt like I actually made the guitar at a small cost.
Sound? AWSOME !!

Hope this helps.