Electric Guitar Kits????

[wildbill1962]

Howdy everyone, My grandson wants to build himself a nice electric guitar. So I was thinking of getting him one for christmas. Looking for a complete kit that does not require special tools ect. Where is the best place to locate one of these kits. I am a real DUMMY when it comes to electric guitars. So all advice will be very helpful.

Thanks in advance
Bill

Not sure about kits, and I know you can buy all the parts seperately if you know what you need, but that probably doesn't help you much.

But, several of the guitar shops in my area have "build your own electric guitar" seminars where you pay a fee, they supply a selection of parts, and walk you through the assembly process, so that in the end, you literally build it yourself. You might want to check with some shops in your area.

If you don't get good answers here, try the this Tele site.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/index.php
A lot of folks here build their own and can certainly steer you in the right direction.

John

[rolleiguy54]

i bought and assembled a Carvin kit. It was quite easy. I am a dope when it comes to assembly. Plays and sounds great.

[lotech]

I don't know if they have packaged kits, but I know of a talented young man on another forum who built himself a guitar from Warmouth parts (http://www.warmoth.com/), during a Summer vacation. It's now his main guitar, even though he also has a Gibson SG.

[Mosspoh]

Carvin and Warmouth are probably the way to go for personalized parts. If you have a set guitar in mind, then you can gradually pick up parts from ebay or old guitars from pawn shops and what not. My friend took the neck of a squire, bought an american body with the color he wanted off of ebay, found some nice pickups etc. and just gradually assembled it over about 3 or 4 months. It was fun to kind of see it take shape. In the end the guitar not only plays great, but the fact he assembled it and chose all the parts makes it special and unique to him.

I really would like to do it sometime.

[wildbill1962]

Thanks for all of the great info and advice guys. As always, AGF members are the greatest!!

I would like to be able to pickup a complete kit. Something that has everything included. I looked
at e-bay and they have some that are Saga ect. But
would like to deal with a real music store if I can before
I have to go the e-bay route. You just never know who
you are dealing with on e-bay these days.

Thanks again
Bill

[lotech]

Here's an outfit that sells package Fender-style kits. I dont have a clue as to the quality, but all the pieces are there, you get a choice of woods, and your your grandson can design his own headstock if he wants:

http://www.internationalluthiers.com/electrickits.php

[jackstrat]

The before mentioned Carvin kit has received very good reviews.

On the lower end, the Saga Guitar kits also have received good reviews.

http://www.sagamusic.com/catalog/pro...D=2&BrandID=77

The Grizzly kits are similar (the owner of Grizzly builds some pretty incredible guitars as a hobby).

http://grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=235040


jack

[jackstrat]

By the way, as an avid woodworker I have often thought about building a custom electric guitar and will some day. But what has stopped me so far, as fun as it would be, and especially in regards to a kit (not a full on custom build), for the same price or slightly more you can get a great guitar with better components, and a warranty.

For instance, you can purchase a genuine Fender Tele or Strat for $400. You can buy a Fender Squier Strat/Tele for $200 and change, and at least as far as the Tele is concerned, it is a very usuable guitar, I know, I have one.

Jack

[runamuck]

These are some of the nicest kits I've seen.

http://grizzlyindustrial.com/product...q=guitar%20kit

Jim McCarthy

[ayavner]

Or you can do it like this:

http://web.mac.com/adnrebyavner/iWeb...a%20Strat.html

yup, made it myself

[JimLin]

Nice work ayavner!

[jackstrat]

Originally Posted by ayavner

Or you can do it like this:

http://web.mac.com/adnrebyavner/iWeb...a%20Strat.html

yup, made it myself

Very cool!!!!

jack

[open strings]

I built a Saga kit bass 25 years ago and still use it.

[bluende]

Originally Posted by wildbill1962

Howdy everyone, My grandson wants to build himself a nice electric guitar. So I was thinking of getting him one for christmas. Looking for a complete kit that does not require special tools ect. Where is the best place to locate one of these kits. I am a real DUMMY when it comes to electric guitars. So all advice will be very helpful.

Thanks in advance
Bill

Hi Bill - I think it really comes down to whether or not your grandson's main emphasis is on the "build" or "nice" part of the sentence.

The experience of building your own guitar from a kit is great but there are some good reasons why the kits don't cost very much. I built one of the Saga tele-style kits a couple of years ago, learned a lot and had a lot of fun. I'm not sure I'd do another now, though.

The tuning machines are really junky. I didn't end up using them at all. On the Saga kits, the headstock is left in a paddle shape and has to be cut and sanded to whatever final shape you like. The fretboard radius is VERY flat; much more like an acoustic guitar (approaching classical guitar-flatness)...I eventually got a different neck altogether. Then there is the cost/time of finishing; the body comes with indestructible sanding sealer applied. The electronics were fine (snap-together instead of solder) and functioned all right (although I swapped all that out later, too).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was a great learning platform for me, over time and with further investment. I don't think I would have felt comfortable playing it with only the stock kit components, but I know plenty of people do, so perhaps I was just too picky.

If I wanted to get a nice playing tele right now, but one that I could also feel comfortable taking apart and learning about, I'd be looking very hard at the new Squier Classic Vibe Tele that just came out. It's not that much more than those kits you're looking into (esp factoring in time and possibly needing to swap parts), and I'd say the components are all much better quality. They also have a Strat in that series, plus a reissue DuoSonic.

Hope this helps!
Jane