Buddy's Kit Build Journey - Show off yours as well!

BuddytheReow

BuddytheReow

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For the past few weeks months I've been looking for the next project to work on. I feel like over the past few months have been rapid fire pedal builds specifically for bass with a rat thrown into the mix as well. Then it dawned on me to try my hand at another kit build, but this time for a BASS.

Before I go any further I want to encourage others to show off their kit or partscaster builds in this thread as well in an effort to inspire others to build their own custom instrument. I will also document my experience/journey here. That being said, I do not have luthier tools or claim to be anything luthier oriented. That title here goes to @MichaelW for his phenomenal work on his many builds throughout this forum. I DO have experience with a kit build that I put together from TheFretWire. Don't both looking for them. I think they closed up shop either due to COVID or otherwise. I was not happy with the end result of that build, but that was due to the shoddy routing measurements from them. The intonation was crap, but I learned a ton throughout the whole process and many mistakes were made. The most important lesson is to take your time and have fun.
Doing a bit of research both here and the rest of the interwebs I was torn between two options, naturally: a partscaster build via Warmoth or a full on kit that I will upgrade. I chose the later. Price was not as big of an issue as you'd think since I got a small bonus from work plus the chunk of money I save each month just for myself (and the wife's approval of course, ;)). Custom neck and body from Warmoth would have been in the ballpark of $800. Not horrible, but enough for me to hesitate. Plus, I wanted to get my hands dirty and "build" something from the ground up. You learn some things going this route like part specs, but from a DIY perspective this doesn't cut it. Plus, it gives me something to do this summer when the weather is crappy. Sometime in the future I will take a stab at building a body and neck from scratch, but it's a little intimidating right now. I need some more woodworking experience before I can take that beast.

Anyways, with Warmoth out I searched around and decided to go with Solo Music Gear from Canada. There are 2 price points with their kits: a full kit or just a body/neck. The later is more expensive with the assumption you'll get a better product. I've heard good things from them, whether youtube, here, or the reviews on their site (always skeptical of those, but some seem quite honest which is what I want). I eventually decided on this kit.

The price seemed a little too good to be true (~$200), but I said screw it. If it's crap I'm out $200 or attempt to return it. I ordered it last Thursday, shipped Friday, and arrive on my doorstep on Monday via FedEx. I was super nervous yesterday because the weather at work was a few bad thunderstorms and was afraid FedEx would just leave it in the rain. It turns out they did and the box was borderline ruined (or at least soaked with rain). Upon opening the box, it seemed that nothing was damaged. In hindsight it occurred to me that nothing could really be "ruined" per se, since it's a bunch of unfinished wood and some metal parts in baggies. Yesterday was a nail biter nonetheless. I'll share my unboxing pics shortly.

BuddytheReow
 
Following. Just starting down the road of building my own partscaster (I'm still in the stage of figuring out what I want and from where to source the parts).

Mike
 
For the overall finish, I've chosen to attempt to stain the body and keep the neck a clear coat of some kind. In my head, I've wanted a purple body and a maple neck. From my first kit build, I have some TruOil left over that I will coat the neck and fretboard. The body itself is giving me a little bit of anxiety since it is basswood. From my research, basswood sucks up finish like no other, makes stains come out blotchy like pine, and has a relatively boring wood grain pattern. For the stain portion, I need some practice. The best way, IMO, is to try it out on some body blanks to see what works or doesn't work. Those cost roughly $50 a pop on the cheap end or will take forever (assuming 1-2 months) to get here from China. But, it's got to be basswood. A lumber yard would probably be the most ideal place to find a slab, but I don't have one near me. Home centers don't really have what I'm looking for. What I DID find was some basswood planks from my local craft store (Joann's Fabrics) for $7. Not the perfect solution, but enough to get me in the ballpark and some trial runs on stain. See what I mean on the wood grain?

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To counter the blotchiness of stain, it's a good idea to pick up some pre stain wood conditioner at your local home center. I've been happy using it on a number of pine projects. It's not perfect, but it will ABSOLUTELY make a difference in the overall finish if your wood doesn't stain very well. I learned the hard way on my first kit build trying to stain a neck and it turned out horrible. Had to sand the whole thing down and start again.

If staining this comes out too crappy I can always change course and try some automobile grade rattle cans for a cool, sparkly purple (Duplicolor).
 
Last year I went through a partscaster building craze, and the two Teles in my avatar were part of that.. Unfortunately, the majority have been sold off due to some unforeseen home expenses. (New dishwasher, new hot water heater, soon to be a new AC unit..)

Left: MJT alder body, AO 60s neck, Lollar goldfoils, Mastery bridge
Right: BloomDoom ash body, American Pro neck, Rio Grande Halfbreed neck + Suhr Low T bridge, Mastery bridge + Bigsby
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Hardtail Strat: BloomDoom ash body, AO 60s neck, Van Zandt Blues pickups
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Left: BloomDoom ash body, AO 50s neck, SD SSL-1 pickups
Right: (not built by me) MJT alder body, EJ neck, 57/62 pickups, Callaham bridge
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Even though I only have two guitars these days (an Eric Johnson RW Strat and the MJT burst Strat), I learned a lot about what I do and don’t like in a guitar.

Whenever I get a chance to build some more, I’ll be more focused and forego the bougee Fender-branded necks. The AO rosewoods were dark but oddly porous and needed extensive fret work. The American Pro and EJ necks were taken from donor guitars; they’re more in my wheelhouse comfort wise.
 
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coltonius said:
Last year I went through a partscaster building craze, and the two Teles in my avatar were part of that.. Unfortunately, the majority have been sold off due to some unforeseen home expenses. (New dishwasher, new hot water heater, soon to be a new AC unit..)

Left: MJT alder body, AO 60s neck, Lollar goldfoils, Mastery bridge
Right: BloomDoom ash body, American Pro neck, Rio Grande Halfbreed neck + Suhr Low T bridge, Mastery bridge + Bigsby
View attachment 51223
Hardtail Strat: BloomDoom ash body, AO 60s neck, Van Zandt Blues pickups
View attachment 51224
Left: BloomDoom ash body, AO 50s neck, SD SSL-1 pickups
Right: (not built by me) MJT alder body, EJ neck, 57/62 pickups, Callaham bridge
View attachment 51225

Even though I only have two guitars these days (an Eric Johnson RW Strat and the MJT burst Strat), I learned a lot about what I do and don’t like in a guitar.

Whenever I get a chance to build some more, I’ll be more focused and forego the bougee Fender-branded necks. The AO rosewoods were dark but oddly porous and needed extensive fret work. The American Pro and EJ necks were taken from donor guitars; they’re more in my wheelhouse comfort wise.
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My guy, stellar work. My parts caster builds I went with thin nitro over all parts necks. Saved a lot of money in the process. I'm entertaining a 50s strat build and waiting for the right fiesta red body to come along to get started. I'll live vicariously through you until then. My builds:
y0rszsq.jpeg
 
Just to be clear, I do not consider myself a luthier. I have a handful of tools. I'm just a tinkerer hobbyist and as @coltonius mentioned, rolling your own is a good way to find out what you do and don't like. My big epiphany came when I bought what I thought was going to be my "ultimate last strat I will ever buy" a Suhr Classic S.

Turns out I didn't like the compound radius, I didn't like the neck carve, and I didn't like the Stainless frets and I didn't like the pickups... :ROFLMAO:
I didn't dare touch it for fear of devaluing it, so it just sat for a long time until I sold it.

Then I bought "the last Tele I'll ever buy", my Nash T-63. I loved everything about it but it needed fret work. AND, I'm looking at it and thinking, "you know, you can probably do at least AS good a job if not better". So here I am 6 tele's later heh. I still have the Nash but it's on the block if I ever get off my duff and list it. I like all my own builds much better than any of the retail bolt ons.

This whole pedaling building "DIY or Die" ethos has carried over to my guitar building as well. I guess amps are next.........:rolleyes: (I may or may not have bought an amp PCB and may or may not have bit off more than I can chew.......hahahaha)
 
@BuddytheReow A word of warning Re purple stain. I've stained a few guitar bodies now and the only one which faded a lot was the Purple. I ended up redoing my purple classic vibe with a different stain after the first attempt faded out to an orangy pink colour stupidly quickly.

If you're thinking about purple I'd stain some scrap wood and get it into the sun for a few weeks to check how it does before committing to finishing the entire body in it.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
@BuddytheReow A word of warning Re purple stain. I've stained a few guitar bodies now and the only one which faded a lot was the Purple. I ended up redoing my purple classic vibe with a different stain after the first attempt faded out to an orangy pink colour stupidly quickly.

If you're thinking about purple I'd stain some scrap wood and get it into the sun for a few weeks to check how it does before committing to finishing the entire body in it.
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Was your stain premixed or did you add pigment/dye to a clear base?
 
Here's an unboxing post.

For $200, I don't have my hopes super high in terms of quality. My hope is that this kit is "undervalued", lol.

Anyways, the neck was the most surprising piece of the whole kit. It's a maple maple neck and maple fretboard. I think the fretboard is finished already. At least it feels like that for me. The fret ends definitely needed to be filed away. I learned that lesson from my first kit build when my hands would be torn up after a playing sesh. I also really like the wood grain pattern on this one.

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The body is a little less than to be desired. It's a 3 piece basswood with all the holes predrilled. You (or at least I) can tell that it's a multipiece body. The routing job is kinda crappy in certain areas, but the pickguard covers all mistakes here. The wood grain is more interesting/pronounced that what I anticipated. It's still on the more boring side, but I'll live with it.
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The pickguard is already prewired, but holy crap is it a mess. One of the ground wires is too short which is why you can see it sticking out in one of the above pics. The bridge (J) pickup just needs to be soldered up. I'm probably going to switch pickguards, so I won't spend a lot of time on this until much later. I should probably just put everything together unfinished just to make sure it works.

1687890348846.png
 
Nitro seems popular around here, but has anyone had luck with a place that will spray poly? I have two partscasters that are almost done (will post later), they just need a finish. I looked into MJT and BloomDoom, and their work looks great (drooling over those two-tone Strats above), but I don't think the worn look is for me.
 
sticky1138 said:
Nitro seems popular around here, but has anyone had luck with a place that will spray poly? I have two partscasters that are almost done (will post later), they just need a finish. I looked into MJT and BloomDoom, and their work looks great (drooling over those two-tone Strats above), but I don't think the worn look is for me.
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Spray poly, no? Wipe on poly, yes. You can find it in almost any hardware store and I've had great results with it. Who knew an old t shirt got me such a smooth finish!
 
Early on in highschool i decided to build a Hardtail Strat, and found a good deal on a Sonic blue body from warmoth, which as a big Beatles fan, was an ideal color for me. I went with a tortoise pickguard, and when I drilled for the single volume and single tone controls, I realized it was eerily similar to Rivers Cuomo’s warmoth Strat, and since I was into Weezer too, I decided to lean into it with the choice of mismatched pickup colors. Wound up getting the strap to complete the look at some point too. Excuse the fact that the photo is from 9 years ago— i apparently don’t have many pics of it, and I couldn’t be bothered to take a new pic of it, and it looks the same today other than the fact that it has a string tree and a few battle scars.
Next to it is a little glimpse of the Eddie Van Halen frankenstrat replica that I made somewhere around the same time frame— end of middle school I think. That one was actually my first build, and my first foray into soldering and subsequently pedal building.

IMG_7744.jpeg
 
I built my first, an ash Tele last year. I've got a body and neck made by Bian Xuebin that's a strat style body with tele routes, comfort cuts, with a mohogany back and 3/8" flam maple top. I need to get on that. It's just getting tinted shellac or polymerized tung oil on it. I need to find a 6 saddle top loading bridge as well.
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MichaelW said:
Just to be clear, I do not consider myself a luthier. I have a handful of tools. I'm just a tinkerer hobbyist and as @coltonius mentioned, rolling your own is a good way to find out what you do and don't like. My big epiphany came when I bought what I thought was going to be my "ultimate last strat I will ever buy" a Suhr Classic S.

Turns out I didn't like the compound radius, I didn't like the neck carve, and I didn't like the Stainless frets and I didn't like the pickups... :ROFLMAO:
I didn't dare touch it for fear of devaluing it, so it just sat for a long time until I sold it.

Then I bought "the last Tele I'll ever buy", my Nash T-63. I loved everything about it but it needed fret work. AND, I'm looking at it and thinking, "you know, you can probably do at least AS good a job if not better". So here I am 6 tele's later heh. I still have the Nash but it's on the block if I ever get off my duff and list it. I like all my own builds much better than any of the retail bolt ons.

This whole pedaling building "DIY or Die" ethos has carried over to my guitar building as well. I guess amps are next.........:rolleyes: (I may or may not have bought an amp PCB and may or may not have bit off more than I can chew.......hahahaha)
Click to expand...
One big thing I’ve learned is that I don’t need fancy pants Fender necks to make a good build. From what I’ve experienced firsthand, I’d be perfectly happy with a Vintera Road Worn neck at a fraction of the cost of the American Originals. Not only did they cost a fortune, the amount of work they needed was embarrassing (for Fender)! I expected nut work, but one of them needed a majority of the frets to be re-glued. On a neck that cost as much as a whole-ass MIM Player series guitar.

I would love to build a Troublemaker Tele with Gibson appointments and P90s. After that, I’d love to build a Tele with a Certano Bender for B and G, like this one (not mine):

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