1Way

Maybe to make it lighter, maybe I could add some air grips to the SG, like this one maybe...

Here's a link to an ebay auction of a model that I like, only I wish it was not so "vintage" and thus be lower in price. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...3765882174&rd=1 Also, is 7.2 lbs is the normal weight for these guitars?

I've pretty much narrowed my search for my next electric guitar, to a Gibson SG. But now the question seems to be which model, or configuration, would work best for my budget. I like my guitars to be lightweight as I have back problems. Here are my current thoughts over what I would like to have. Financial I do not even want to spend a grand, the cheaper the better, but I do not want a lower line instrument that is 20-30% not as good quality as the more expensive stuff. Typically you get what you pay for and I do not want a beginner or economy, just good enough, guitar. I want something with great tone and playability. So far I am targeting a Gibson SG standard, or an Epiphone made with Korina wood, which is considerably lighter than Mahogany. I don't think I could afford a Gibson Korina SG, some prices of Gibson Korina guitars are outrageously high. I am willing to pay $500-$800 or so, and then maybe later fit it with upgraded pickups and whatever else it needs. Custom Build option I am intrigued by the idea of building an SG copy, except that I don't think I could do it since I have no shop to work in, and very few tools. I would make it (or have it made) out of a lighter wood, like Korina or similar lightweight wood. This is what I like in SG's Lightweight PAF style humbuckers, like classic 57's, or maybe Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck or Seth Lover, but I'm not 2 or 3 duel humbuckers I'm not ruling out active EMG's Rosewood fingerboard 24 frets better than 22 Natural or cherry or brown color, I don't like any solid color I'm undecided about a whammy bar, but I like the Bigbsys, if only they would have a greater range, I don't think they change the pitch as much as most other trems. I went down to the local music shop and played some SG's recently. I liked the pickups on the Supreme guitar the best (Gibson 57's), but I only got to try out the 490 r and t, and 498 and maybe a 500, not sure about that one though. The 57's made the other pups seem like minor league stuff in comparison. It was the first bridge pickup that I was pleased with. But it almost sounded a bit overly tight or sterile. They seemed louder than the other pickups, and certainly had the most bass, which is a bonus that I really like. Plus they had great clarity and punch. I have never tried out a Jeff Beck or a Seth Lover yet. Anyone tried out these pickups and could compare them for me? If it's relatively easy to make a good quality guitar as some suggest, then why isn't everyone doing it and making better guitars than the major guitar makers? I suspect that the quality that is involved in making a fine musical instrument is a non-tangible that may be nearly impossible for the average unskilled person to replicate with a commensurate amount of competence. Used or new I just came back from a guitar swap meet from Toledo and they really didn't have anything in my price range that was like what I wanted. And I don't want a vintage guitar as much as I want just a great working instrument to play with. I would consider buying a new Gibson standard, but as soon as it gets used, you loose about half the value! Buy used and you stand a good chance at retaining your investment. So I suspect that I will want to buy a decent used Gibson SG. But, which one is for me? Is there a time period that I should focus on or stay away from? And are there other lightweight wood options besides Korina? Should I only be looking for an SG Standard, or are you others that I should consider? Epiphone elitist copy alternative I liked the Epiphone SG 61 reissue. It was very impressive all the way around, comes with a great hard shell case and plays and sounds and feels and looks excellent, and all at a lower price tag. If I bought that guitar, I would probably just end up replacing the bridge pickup, maybe the nut too. I can get into one for about $725+tax, brand new, but it says Epiphone, not Gibson on the headstock. Their Elitist guitars are really very nice. Some say they are as good or better than some of the Gibson counterparts, and by my experience with this particular guitar, that might be pretty accurate. If I bought a brand new standard, I would end up replacing the bridge pickup with a better one. I don't know what they used to put in these guitars years ago. Thanks in advance for helpful insight and suggestions.

Cloud, thanks for the ideas and suggestions. I'm going to a guitar swap meet a week from this Sunday to sell my guitars so that I'll have enough to get into some sort of SG guitar. Every time I think about getting that special sound/tone, I realize that buying a prebuilt Gibson or Epi SG is a sure bet. I wish I had experience playing a Melody Maker, but I don't yet. I'll see if I can find one to play before next Sunday. Maybe in the spring I'll be looking into getting a Marshal amp equipped with "power scaling" from "London Power". This kit offers some impressive features: "power scaling", (play quietly with "cranked power tubes" sound, control any amount of output wattage from below 1% to 100%. I understand it's better and cheaper than speaker power attenuators) "drive compensation", (control any amount of preamp verses power amp proportion, and this is what helps the amp remain in the same tone/sound the more you power scale down the amp) and flexible "tube biasing" which would allow plugging in just about ANY tube and in any combination. I might get an 18 watt clone amp which is more than enough watts for me. The TMB version of the 18W is supposed to be more of a plexi preamp and thus have more gain available. The stock 18 watt amp does not come with as much preamp gain distortion that I like. Also, if I go with the 18 watt TMB, the power scaling kit is cheaper too. :-) It's like $148 for a fixed biased amps, or $90 for lower wattage cathode biased amps like the 18 watt. In the mean time, it's practice time. I've got about 8 or 9 different tab books and videos to learn from, plus this winter I'll be making a speaker cabinet for my future amp. I wonder if I'll ever be good enough to play in a band or not. At least I'm having some fun.

Cool, so far most of the MM's at ebay (USA) are the newer ones which has not been modded yet. They go for about $350 or so new. So I would need new tuners, a bridge, stop piece and pickups. These either come in TV yellow, or some kind of red or black I think. I wish they had an upgraded model with good hardware and two pickups (even if they are singles, easier to mod I would think). The Epi SG is sounding more and more like what I should start with, but it's rather expensive. Nice guitar idch. Again, I was hoping to cut out a 2nd pickup area without channeling through the top. If I built my own, which seems less likely now, then I could do as Hotrock said and just run that channel prior to assembling the side wings. I would want a clear pickguard to show off the woodgrain, and somehow carve out the channel underneath the surface. Do they make a Dremmel tool attachment that would allow me to do that? Something with a curved snake or bent elbow drive section so that I can get down inside from the back panel and maybe rout it out that way from the bridge pu to the neck rout out. hmmm...

idch, any suggestable threads or posters for moding a Melody Maker single pup configuration into having two duel humbuckers? I would want the neck pickup wires channel to stay well hidden under the surface. But how do I make the passageway? Seems like there isn't much room to do it from the front or back. Anyone know if the Melody Maker sounds anything like an SG or not? Thanks

cloud, thanks for the helpful info! ...Happy Thanks Giving Day everyone!!! idch, another great suggestion, thanks! I like LP's and SG's, and the Melody Maker is sort of right there in the middle. Although I definitely prefer a pair of humbuckers and 4 knobs to suit, they are genuine Gibson and they do sell for relatively less. (...Grin...) I'm thinking, get one of those and mod it for two duel humbuckers and another volume knob. One guitar on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW used a metal treadplate as a pickguard, which is a cool idea to help cover up the duel humbucker mod, but I didn't like how they did it, the treadplate was too large scale and the cover shape I didn't like so much. But I do like that Fleck-Stone refinish. If I bought a new model MM, I think I would get rid of the paintjob, then apply some modest stain and clear coat if the wood looks good, if not, then, I don't know, maybe apply a laminate top, then put some sort of clear stuff pickguard (Plexiglas maybe) over it to show off the woodgrain and protect it at the same time. Epiphone makes good stuff, especially if you don't get the cheapest models, and I keep hearing that their copies sound and play a lot like their original counterparts. I was really really impressed with that Epi SG 61 reissue. The neck played like a dream, the guitar was excellent, and the tone was completely there. The action was low and easy to string bend, even the fretboard looked so nice,,, ugh, I could go on and on. If I got it, I would end up replacing the bridge pickup with the best pu available which might be modest improvement, the neck pu was really full sounding and warm, very nice. Now you really have my mind going on the Melody Maker idea. I could get a newer one off of Ebay and then when I have the funds, mod in some duel humbuckers and put in another volume knob, one tone should be enough. The one's I saw come with a P90. I guess those are supposed to be really good authentic type pickups, although I think I would prefer the PAF duel humbuckers. So Now I have another guitar to test. I am really glad I bounced these ideas off you guys. I can't wait to bend some strings on a Melody Maker. I also thought about buying a used Gibson SG, I "might" like that route better than the new Epi.

Q1 What is a jointer? Q2 How close will I be able to come to recreating the tone I heard from that Epiphone Elitist 61 reissue SG? I could tell a difference between the Elitist LP Plus and the Elitist 61 SG. I wouldn't like spending $600-700 on a guitar and being disappointed when I was done. Q3 How do I find out how to make the guitar shape? So far I want an SG. Any guides or suggestions for doing this? Q4 Anyone know how much an SG weighs?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if it's 1% better, it'still ,,, better. If you disagree that the bolt on neck is an inferior joint, and we never said by how much, then I have to politely disagree with you. Some may prefer a bolt on even if it is an inferior joint and that is fine, yet if any of those players would say that the bolt on neck is a superior attachment method (more secure, reliable, sustain, etc.), then that would be a whole different story. I'm sure they don't do that, and I'm sure that any professional player would categorize "sustain" and a "reliably true neck" as quality traits in an electric guitar. It's simple physics, the more area given in a joint, the better, concerning leverage, the longer the joint the better. There is no doubt that the through neck design is the best for sustain and neck stability. I've played and listened to many guitars. Your right, I could play through more, but that particular SG was "most" convincing. So is Black Limba lighter than mahogany? Light is good, but so is great tone. Will it give me more of an SG sound? So far I'd rather not stray from the ingredients that makes that great sound.

Anyone know what an SG weighs? Ah, there she is...

Wow, I am really starting to think seriously about building my next guitar. But I don't think I would if I had to do all the precise work for the neck. Several questions Q1 What is a jointer? In his last post, Setch said Q2 How close will I be able to come to recreating the tone I heard from that Epiphone Elitist 61 reissue SG? I could tell a difference between the Elitist LP Plus and the Elitist 61 SG. I wouldn't like spending this much money on a guitar and being disappointed when I was done. Q3 How do I find out how to make the guitar shape? So far I want an SG. Any guides or suggestions for doing this? Hmmm, when I think about that SG, I feel like I found "the" guitar for me. So maybe I should buy first and then build another guitar later... I can really tell, I loved the feel, the way it played, and the sound, and the looks, and the weight. Most of all, the feel and the sound, it is it.

Setch, Ok, please give me the low down. What tooling and shop stuff would I need to build my own guitar if I started out with a prebuilt 24 fret nech-through from Carvin? They have one I'm interested in for about 210 bucks or so. I like rosewood FB and stainless steel frets. I could prepare it for a pair of humbuckers, but only buy the bridge PU when I can afford it. I roughly figure 225 on the neck and strings, 100 on the bridge pickup, (JB or Seth Lover) 100 on the hardware, 100 on the wood, (mahogany) 75 on the paint job + =$600 (later) 100 on a neck pickup + =$ 700 total plus labor and tooling What do you think, is that price range anywhere accurate? I was just guessing on most of it. Wow, that is almost exactly on par with the Epiphone Elitist 61 reissue SG. By adding a 100 dollar neck pickup, I would only save about 75$ over buying the Epi, only I'd have 24 instead of 22 frets, and a hand built guitar. And then I'd loose that 75$ when I bought a case to go with it...

Setch, wow, that is one stunningly good looking guitar. Did your SG look anything like this? Wow, that is most excellent, you make some awesome looking guitars. I googled Padauk SG Junior and yours was the first hit. Nice LP too. How did you get 24 frets on an SG, they normally come with 22? I'd like a 24 fret SG with such a quality woodgrain finish, only with two regular sized pickups and two volume knobs and a different stop piece, maybe a through the body stop or an adjustable hard tale with separate bridge. Very nice work. Are there kits to make a 24 fret SG?

Setch, more pics if you please. Is that an output jack that was covered up I see there? Very nice touch with the through the body string stop. More pics please. Is the front a carved maple top or is it flat mahogany? How many frets? Did I already ask for more pics? More pics please.

Setch, I imagine that you ran into problems when your routing and the wood grain changed directions. I would guess that routing at the end grain was worse than routing along with the grain. (Chuckles) Now please don't get upset with me (duck,,, whoosh,,, crash bang,,, fast footsteps), but I am seriously considering the SG option instead of the LP lite mod for my first serious guitar keeper. They were all Epiphone guitars, but the elitist 61 reissue SG (around $800) was superior in all respects (except looks) in my opinion, it's hard to look better than a cherry burst LP, it even did better than the elitist LP standard plus which costs nearly a thousand dollars. Both the SG and the LP sounded and played great, but with the SG, there is this extra something in the sound, something really gutsy, raw, punchy, sorta wooden sounding, something that grabs me and wont let go. I love it's guitar voicing/tone. So this LP slimfast project is probably going to be something like my third guitar or so. First would be the SG, then perhaps a dot 335 style guitar, then a light weight LP. But I'm still just as interested in this mod as before, just less urgent. BTW, have you seen the Stellar "hollow" LP with F holes? It looks like a neat guitar. It's all maple and it's economy priced, I should say it's really really cheap. I wonder how it plays and sounds!

Setch, getting somewhere we are. Thanks for hanging in there. I'm confused, you said Whilst routing out the body shape I suffered some tearout near the body horn, Were you making a guitar, or was this a mod to an existing one? What do you mean by routing out the body shape? Do you mean that you were routing off the back of the guiar starting at the extremities and then working your way inward? Then you said I routed a 3/8" deep by 1" wide rebate all around the edges of the back, then a 3/8" by 2" wide channel down the centre. This left 2 'islands' of wood to be removed with a smoothing plane, and finally I levelled everything off with a big flat sanding block. I thicknessed some offcuts from an old body blank down to 3/8" and glued these onto the back. To me, it sounds like you ,,,removed 3/8" and then youglued back on 3/8" so,,, you undid what you did. Why, what, where, ya but, why, doh, I just don't get what you were up to. But a very nice looking guitar back! Help!

Setch, it's not that I'm as ignorant and unwilling to understand, after all, I'm here openly seeking critical advice to learn and get feedback (pro or con) on this exact project. Your recent comments are more specific and helpful. I am grateful. Test first If I was to do this mod, I would prepare with a test run on the same sort of wood and jig setup just to see how the saw would react to this kind of cut. That might stop the project right there, or it may not. It would certainly be as wide as the guitar is, it would be curved shaped approximated as the guitar is, and it would have a carved top on it too, to give a truer test of the jig sandwich setup. Lets not make it harder than it already is You interjected that the band mill would have an unsupported blade. I call that inventing problems that may not apply. But your concern, however likely or not, was my concern too. Rest assured, I would not attempt this cut without blade bearing guides being set as close to the guitar as reasonably possible for maximum control of the blade. Some clarification As to a courser resaw blade, I would rather not go with an aggressive courser blade cut which will not clear quite as much wood and risk heating up quicker and therefore I would pay closer attention to adjust the blade (if any) and feed speed accordingly. I guestimate that the blade should be more of a medium cut. I believe it would offer a somewhat slower and more precise cut. I'm not in a hurry when doing this cut, so a wide tooth blade with it's rougher finish problems need not apply. I wont run something that thin and prefinished through a planer, I would set it on something that would protect the backside finish and sand off the roughness, it's a simple task. Don't cut it out, rout it out! Wow, now here is some interesting stuff. You said that you have routed the back off of a solid body guitar and then chambered it, and then replaced the back with a new quality wood back. That sounds like a great method. It was what I would have done if saving the back panel would not work. Since apparently you have not tried to cut off the back panel off of a solid body guitar, don't you think a little grace should be afforded incase it's not as hard as you imagine? Don't get me wrong, I think you are looking out for my best interested because of the shear amount of time you have spent. And for that, thanks, I appreciate it. I'll give you this much right off the bat, your routing idea does seem easier for removing the back in terms of type of equipment, setup expertise, and overall simplicity. And I'm happy to not have to enter into an unusual relationship with a tool that I am not familiar with in the case of the bandmill and cutting off a relatively thin and fragile prepainted and finished back panel. Ok, scratching my head some more. There, after further deliberation, I have to admit that you've done your job well. I think your way may be better. I can do the entire project in the garage with standard duty tools, and for a small upgrade cost, make the back look better than it started out. Sounds like a winner to me! Question Did you have to do anything special to keep a clean edge at the outside surface of the guitar? I would imagine that you would want to score it so that the chips would stop at the score.

DannoG westheman Yes, I've briefly seen them before on the internet, but I am not familiar with the ESP name brand and the quality of their guitars. The Viper 1000 seems impressive to me. It has active EMG 81's, 24 frets, abalone inlays, and an offset SG body shape. It's priced at about $50 cheaper than the Epiphone SG 1961 reissue. I also like the Ibanez Artist, although I still haven't played that one yet. But that Epi 61 reissue played great, sounded great, looked great, was great, and it comes with a hard-shell case too. The SG option is looking attractive.

Reeek For a strat (or PRS?) styled guitar, wow, that is awesome! westhemann As far as alternatives go, I like Gibson and I dislike Fender, so a Strat copy would not naturally be appealing to me, although I might be able to acquire a taste for the duel humbucker not bolt on neck types. I like the looks of their "Artist" guitars. Warmoth has an awesome hollowed out Strat body. As to the mod being tougher than I think, perhaps, but if the back panel removal would work well, it's a power saw for goodness sakes, it should be downhill after that.

VanKirk Well, more accurately, I still view the modification as viable. I'm not sure I will do it, but it has my approval so far. I AB'd three guitars tonight and I was rather surprised by the results. The line up was all Epiphones, two Pauls and one SG, and the SG really gave the Paul's a run for the money. I may be rethinking this mod and going with an SG instead. Your precautions list is much appreciated, and for the most part I agree. As to chips and dings, I would cover the guitar so that it would be fully protected. The only exposed part would be the scored section where the bandmill blade would run. I think as long as you can safely and reliably do the bandmill cut, this mod would be relatively easy to do.

Setch, you said The 3/8" panel I was talking about was had by doing one single cut, not after two cuts. All you have to do to reattach that panel is sand down both sides, apply glue, and reattach. The neck will not be in the way, even the lowest part of the neck joint wouldn't be touched, there's every bit of 3/8" of an inch before you even get to the neck joint. You said I respectfully disagree. Is what I want to do tricky and potentially dangerous? Yes, no doubt, but is it harder than building an entire guitar, not remotely. Just considering the project number of steps and work time involved leaves no comparison between the two. Not even if I removed a 3/8" section out of the width of the guitar like you said and like I earlier suggested I might do, that's still easier and quicker and cheaper than building an entire guitar. It's all bandmill and router de-struction, and practically no con-struction. The only construction is affixing the panel back on and then redoing the paint job, and those are simple tasks. As long as everything goes well, I could do the entire project (except for the paint job) in one night if I already had a solid understanding of where all the cavities are in the guitar. But of course the glue will need to setup overnight, and then I'd have the task of replacing all the hardware too, so it's a solid weekend project, with some jig creation, CAD drawings of the chamber design and locations, guitar scoring, and hardware removal beforehand.

Catch you guys later on tonight. I'm going to check out some guitars at the worlds largest music store in South Bend Indiana (Woodwind and Brasswind). They have two Epiphone guitars that I am checking out. A cherry burst Les Paul classic plus and a 61 reissue SG cherry finish. Very nice I'm sure, most likely plugging them into a reissue JCM800 half stack... Hey, it's a tough job, but someone has got to do it.

VanKirk, very good point about the issue a relatively heavy neck being off balance. I agree that is a serious problem. How about connecting both the top and bottom strap connectors to the top one? Alternatively, as long as the balancing point would be accessible somewhere on the guitar's upper half of the body, how about rigging up a locking strap system that would connect to that point. It might be more comfortable and would be even more out of the way than a standard strap setup. PS, I think some acustics connect the front strap to the headstock right behind the nut. I think that someone on the Beatles, and or early rock and roll bands, did that...

perhellion and Setch and VanKirk and jer7440. Thanks much for your input. I'll start with perhellion, Thanks for the Carvin LP copy, way long ago, info. I'm a bit confused as to what you meant when you said I agree that trying to remove the front carved maple top might be harder to do, but I differ with cutting out the mahogany back. Frankly, I think that cutting of the back panel would be tricky, but not that difficult. Here's my plan. You cut out a thick and flat 3/4" plywood that is at least as big as the guitar. Then you take either A - that sticky stuff they use to attach a CD to magazines. or B - RV window caulking, they come in rolls and I have plenty to spare. It's like playdoe only a lot firmer. And use that to temporarily adhere the guitar to that board, both protecting the guitar from vibration trauma and securing it from movement. I would have already taken off all the guitar components, then you place another substantial board on top of the guitar, you put more of that rolled up RV window caulking stuff at outward locations on the guitar front so that you can then set the wood top on top of that. That way the guitar is solidly and protectively sandwiched in between two outer plywood pieces and you can use a pass through stick to apply moderate pressure onto this guitar sandwich that will spread the pressure to the entire outer form of the guitar to keep it still during the sawing process. Then you simply pass the guitar through the mill, and when your done, you have a ~3/8" thick back panel nicely separated from the rest of the guitar and you start the gutting process with a gleam in your eyes. I know that none of you have done this, neither have I. But, so what? It would go somewhat slowly, you don't want to burn the wood and you don't want anything to jam up. But I am reasonably confident that it would work just fine as explained. As to problems with truing up the back. The blade may move some, but it will do so equally to the top and bottom. All that needs be done after the cut to true them up for a regluing, is to sand them down to smooth. They'll fit back together as though they were cut apart by a single pass cut on a mill saw. Disappearing the joint. I agree, that will be a problem. But, if I can get a lightwight Les Paul by this process that I should be able to complete in one single weekend, I would not care if the exposed joint would not be repaired! Ok, I would care a little, but it need not look like original by any stretch. The side of my guitar is not nearly as important as the top/face. Say, here's an idea. How about stripping the entire side of the guitar from it's finish and paint job, and then simply reapply paint and finish after the mod is complete. If it's not the exact same color, so what, the different angle and exposure to light would detract from it being very noticeable. Setch, you claim that the mod will be harder than the entire build. I believe you may think that is right, but I have my doubts. So far Vankirk's intimation seems more realistic. If you care to elaborate your view further, I encourage you to do so. You can get a really decent quality Ephiphone LP copy for a great economy price. Maybe you would tell me about someone who has made a Les Paul style guitar in the quality range of an Epiphone classic plus, someone who never built a guitar before and who has (virtually) no tools and experience to do it, and then lets compare notes. I would liberally bet that moding the Epiphone would win hands down, in terms of time, money and quality expense. I'm a truck drive and don't have much spare time nor the space to learn guitar construction. Now if you were talking a kit, then I would be more easily convinced. I can get into a "Les Paul classic plus" for less than 490 bucks w/out case. I'm talking a 60's style neck with rosewood fingerboard and a nice flametop with choice of a cherry burst or maybe wine red finish (plus others too). Here's a link to walk in the store pricing for this guitar for comparison. http://www.wwbw.com/Solid-Body-Electric-Gu...6.music?o=brand Simply point me the way to a guitar maker that can beat an Epiphone classic plus price and quality point, and I'll probably buy his guitar and mod that! (chuckles) jer7440, Setch's last post does not have a link that I'm aware of. In fact, I don't see Setch posting any links (with the common underline demarcation) in this entire thread. But I would be interested in such info. Thanks.

Devon Headen, I'm not sure about a few things. Cloud was trying to help, sometimes people make mistakes, I appreciate his impute and respectful attitude, it's clear he's trying to help. As for myself, I never attempted to distinguish neck attachment types, I just wanted to make it clear that I don't like or prefer bolt on necks, ,,, because people have repeatedly recommended bolt on necks instead of what I am seeking. So your vote is that I'm not ready to modify a guitar, but I'm ready to build one... (why am I not convinced) People, I have listed the steps I suggest for making this mod. If you see a real problem with any of them, I sincerely would like to know about it. I could care less if you have an ill opinion of the general idea, I have a very positive opinion about it, so I guess we're even. Secondly, if making my own guitar is not much or any harder than this mod I'm suggesting, then that is a real eye opener for myself and I would like to understand how that could be so, please explain why building an entire guitar is to be preferred. To my understanding, warmoth only has bolt on necks for the LP style guitar. I would consider a bolt on neck, it's just that most of my favorite Gibson guitars, especially the nicer ones, never boast a bolt on neck as though that's a good selling point. The opposite seems more true, that a set neck is supposed to be better. I did see a Carvin guitar that looks just like a Les Paul, but that was on their forum, I did not see any such guitar on their products website. Setch, you "might" be right, I may need to build this guitar, but I have reasonable doubts. I need help understanding that process better. For those who understand guitar building and what I am basically after, please explain because so far, I see building an entire guitar as being 10 times harder than what envision with this mod. The largest area of doubt for me would be in the neck, fingerboard, and frets area, including the neck body joining. If I was to build the entire thing, it would help (my confidence) greatly if it was a thorough kit. Cutting out some wood seems alot less demanding than building an entire guitar.