Phaddie

It is against my nature to not jump head first. But you make great points! @charisjapan I checked out your build post and man you do great work!! Maybe I should buy a router...

Do the precision kits come with electronics?

Hey guys, I just stumbled across $150 and want to put it into this. I just noticed the neck is twisted and the frets are terrible, Some has attempted a fret job and most of the are flat and to short to do much about, and the fretboard is marked up in a few places. There are some kmise necks on amazon for $50CAD. It looks like the next options is mightey might but they all seem to be $160US plus. Any suggestions would be great. I was thinking I check pawn shops and see if I can get a whole other tele for $150 one with a serviceable neck. Thoughts?

Cheers all! Will post when there is an update again.

Thanx again. I do have one question. The bridge does not have a lot of play due to the pickup cavity being pretty snug on the pickup. In the small amount of play it does have which saddle (and positioned where from front to back) to a put exactly at scale length? Phad

The scale length checks out. The body was just cut differently around the neck. I think I do plan on stripping the fender body at some point for sure. Although I am in no way sure how to go about that. There may be more issues with the neck pocket. Phad.

The scale length checks out. The body was just cut differently around the neck. I think I do plan on stripping the fender body at some point for sure. Although I am in no way sure how to go about that. There may be more issues with the neck pocket, I will post pictures later on. Phad.

Update. Ok. I saw the body and for the money ($80 CAD) I could not say no. The neck pocket is a hair loose bur based on youtube videos I think it is manageable. Grain looks pleasing enough. It is a 3 piece body but not really symmetrical. One piece is just about 2 inches wide only. If It was for a later build I would have passed but for my practice build I think it is ok. The neck pocket on the new body is much deeper (see pics). I think this is fine because I am not sure how to line up the existing holes on the neck to the body. But if I add some wood to the neck to widen it, I can just screw in to that. (I think). One surprise, when taking apart the squire tele I realized that the pickups had been changed, after some research it looks like there were changed to the pups from a US standard Tele. So that was a bonus! I think my next steps will be to fit the neck and get that straight, then start sanding the body, it has some rough spots in the shape that need to be fixed.

I am avoiding the kit completely. I am going to see about a custom ask body that someone has made themselves supposedly to fender specs. It has no holes for the neck in the body as of yet. I realize I may need to do some work to get the neck to fit properly. The body is less than $100 so the price is attractive if the neck can be made work. Any tips on what I should look for when I attempt to fit the neck in the body?

Update. After going back to look at the kit again I was just too skeptical about the quality. I decided to go a different way. I traded a pedal board I had for a squire Tele. The neck is very good (may need a bit of fret work) and the hardware is at least better than the kit. So this guitar will be my parts. I am going tomorrow to check out an ash body which will hopefully work out, because I really like the look of dark grain filler and red dyed body on ash. I am bringing the neck with me to test the fit in the body, what else should I be looking for/at? Thanks in advance. Phad

Update. Well today I went to see that DIY kits. They are for sure on the lower end of quality but they are affordable. The veneers were VERY thin. So thin that they recommend avoiding sandpaper! So I opted for a solid alder model. Before I agreed to it my friend suggested I see if I could get the neck straight with the truss rod. I was able to. It may need a bit of fret work to level one or two frets but all it all it looked ok. This is the unit I decided on. A couple of questions. I really wanted to fill the grain dark and dye the body red. I have been reading that this does not work that well on alder. Can I attempt this and then sand it back to try something else? @curtisa You had mentioned filling the logo with epoxy. Is this something I do after or before initial sanding? I assume I can put whatever I plan to finish the guitar with (clear, tru-oil, etc) on top of the epoxy? Thank you in advance for any help. I am open to any info about getting a decent natural wood look with alder. I do understand its limitations, I just thought a solid piece of wood would give me more options than paper thin veneer I cannot sand. Phad

Small Update. The maker space has agreed to let me teach a computer building workshop in exchange for use of the space. Going tomorrow to check out the kits. Phad.

Thanks again. Money is not really the driving force here. I have secured the use of the makerspace very close to my house, so most tools are available as well. I think it comes down to not having done something like this before. Most of my new endeavours do not usually require me to be so "handy" (Last year was whiskey, year before that was learning to smoke meat, making bread before that, etc..). I want to see if I will enjoy the process, I am not expecting to build the best guitar in the world from a kit. Just to get exposure. My wife has promised me and my son 1/4 of the garage for whatever we want. If I like this, I will turn it into a workshop, if not I may make a clay pizza oven instead. I do not want to waste this wife generosity Going tomorrow to look at the kits. If they are total trash I will pass and rethink. Phad

Thanx guys! I will indeed update here as things progress. It does seems that there is a maker space very near me. I can volunteer for 10 hours a month and get free 24hr access! WooHoo! Phad

Hey Guys, I am about to start my first ever build. I have played on an off for the last 20 ish years. Went about 6 or 7 without a guitar. Just had my 40th birthday and my friends and family all pitched in a got me a Les Paul. First thing I realized was that you can forget a WHOLE bunch about playing in a short amount of time. When going through the process of selecting the guitar I realized I knew very little about setting up or maintaining a guitar. After fiddling with this gibson for a while I have decided I want to build a guitar. A few problems. 1. My experience level is at about -1 right now. I have limited experience with some of the tools needed and no experience with others. 2. I have not established access to a shop yet and my wife is skeptical about any mess I will make here in the house. My solution: Thinking about starting with a DIY kit. There is a place here near Toronto that has full kits at super cheap prices. I realize the quality will be low, but it seems like a logical place to start to see if I enjoy the process, and can develop some of the skills I need. My questions: This is the kit I was looking at. It is a tele kit with what they call an "ash burl" top. I am going in a few days to check it out but I am assuming that the top is a veneer. If this is true how much does this limit my options with finish? I was hoping to fill the grain with something very dark and stain/dye the rest a red colour. Next question. I was hoping to engrave a logo on the back and maybe the front of the guitar. See attached. My hope was to make the logo a couple of mm deep and fill it with the same colour as the grain. Then finish with clear over the entire body. I was hoping someone could point me to some tutorials on that process. I do have access to an X-Carve cnc machine and possibly a laser cutter which I think will help with the logo. Thank you in advance for any help and tips. There look to be some skilled people on this forum!! Phad