BuddytheReow
Moderator
I ain't boujee enough to do that, LOL
Buddy's Kit Build Journey - Show off yours as well!
- Thread starter BuddytheReow
- Start date
Harry Klippton
Not Interested
Holy cow the pdf is FORTY dollars
I tried the gentle tap tap with a hammer on my P... I had to glue it back together. might just need a little sandpaper on a dowel until the sleeves JUST slide in, for those who build in the future, and the bolt with 2 larger washers will work if you don't have clamps, Buddy's is already together
fig
Village Idiot
BuddytheReow
Moderator
Busy weekend for this project, but I'll share it in pieces. Dry fitting the electronics on the pickguard, I realized the extra pot for the P pickup won't fit in the cavity. A router can fix that, but was hesitant at first. Then it dawned on me: a pickguard will cover up any screw ups I may have. IMO, this is the "true" purpose of a pickguard rather than protecting the body from unwanted pick action. YMMV. It felt weird using a sharpie.
BuddytheReow
Moderator
OK. 6 heavier coats of poly this time and 2 days of curing. I then had a wet sanding session with 800, 1000, 1500, then 2000 grit paper. Took me about a solid half hour. Then I used some car polish and a clean rag to bring out the shine a bit. I saw that some of the stained edges were coming off, but I said screw it. It will make it look more vintage, haha. I can always touch up the stain again if I want.
BuddytheReow
Moderator
I don't have any pictures of wiring up the electronics, but it went pretty smoothly. Adjusting the pickup heights are a real PITA and I've already stripped a few screws trying to put them in. When I upgrade them soon I'll use a drill to help with the pilot holes better. Testing one here and it's wired correctly. Not too hard.
BuddytheReow
Moderator
Another drum roll please 
The kit itself is complete! I wired up the other pickup, screwed on the pickguard, strung it up with the included strings, truss rod adjustment, intonation adjusted, tuned up, and she's good to go. The truss rod adjustment happened last and was wondering why the action on this is AFU.
What can I say about the final product? First of all, it's mine. I built it. Does it function? Yes, but adjustments need to be made. First of all, the strings are pretty crappy. My low E wasn't wound correctly (the string itself, not the tuning peg). I get a lot of buzzing below this point on this string. Also, there are a lot of harmonics coming through that I'm chalking up to this issue. The other strings are pretty ok. I have a new set of strings on deck that I'll swap out before I do the pickups. I still need to fine tune the intonation, but it's working pretty well.
As I mentioned above, the pickups need to be replaced or at least screwed in much better. I'll need to take it apart a bit and drill some pilot holed better and be extra careful not to go through the other side. They gave me no springs for Pup adjustment, so a quick Amazon run fixed that. This part needs more refinement.
The kit came with 2 knobs, but I threw in an extra pot so I needed 3 total. I finally found a use for my "too big for a 6 knob pedal" knobs. They work and may adjust these down the road.
The kit itself is complete! I wired up the other pickup, screwed on the pickguard, strung it up with the included strings, truss rod adjustment, intonation adjusted, tuned up, and she's good to go. The truss rod adjustment happened last and was wondering why the action on this is AFU.
What can I say about the final product? First of all, it's mine. I built it. Does it function? Yes, but adjustments need to be made. First of all, the strings are pretty crappy. My low E wasn't wound correctly (the string itself, not the tuning peg). I get a lot of buzzing below this point on this string. Also, there are a lot of harmonics coming through that I'm chalking up to this issue. The other strings are pretty ok. I have a new set of strings on deck that I'll swap out before I do the pickups. I still need to fine tune the intonation, but it's working pretty well.
As I mentioned above, the pickups need to be replaced or at least screwed in much better. I'll need to take it apart a bit and drill some pilot holed better and be extra careful not to go through the other side. They gave me no springs for Pup adjustment, so a quick Amazon run fixed that. This part needs more refinement.
The kit came with 2 knobs, but I threw in an extra pot so I needed 3 total. I finally found a use for my "too big for a 6 knob pedal" knobs. They work and may adjust these down the road.
BuddytheReow
Moderator
It's probably worth a separate post on my review of Solo Music Gear kit so here it goes.
Price: This wasn't bad at all. Sub $200 US. With a couple of extra finishing items thrown in the cart, plus free shipping over $50. There are higher priced kits there, but with no hardware included. In hindsight it would have been a higher quality body, but for this price point I'm not going to complain too much. 4 out of 5.
Shipping: Shipping was pretty fast. I ordered this on a Thursday night and shipped the next day (Friday). I assumed it sat around in customs over that weekend (Canada to US), and it arrived that Monday. For free shipping and no duties/taxes owed, this get a 5 out of 5.
Quality: This gets a 3 out of 5 from me. In my research and own experience, kit builds are on the cheaper side if using everything from the box. Regardless if you're building a guitar, bass, dulcimer, ukulele, etc. you'll need to replace the strings at a minimum. All hardware that came in the box was functional. The neck/fretboard gets the top marks for me. The body, less so. It's basswood and is on the lower spectrum of quality out there. The pickguard I upgraded to needed some different holes drilled and everything doesn't line up 100%. A small piece of the routed body is sticking out. A little annoyed, but hey, what are you gonna do?
Finishing: 3 out of 5, but this is user error and not reflective of Solo. They have guides on their site how to finish, plus other sites. I should have taken more care in applying the poly, but after 15 coats I had had enough
Assembly: 2 out of 5. Reading reviews of the various kits out there you come across "I built this in an hour with my kid." Yea, right. The pickguard wiring was pretty awful and the solder joints weren't very strong. Rewiring a new pickguard does not count against Solo, but the solder quality and rats nest does. Screwing things by hand is the safe way to go to not damage anything, but they could have done a better job with pilot hole alignment and width.
Overall: I'll give this a 3.5 out of 5. Considering this is a kit build and not a Warmoth partscaster build, I'm satisfied overall and would recommend them to you guys. This is definitely a step up from my first kit build from TheFretWire. Don't bother looking for them; they're no longer in business for whatever reason. The good part about kit builds is you can apply a finish in whatever manner you want. The down side is the quality of hardware and the body prep for that hardware. It may be worth your while upgrading the parts first before committing with a drill. Overall recommendation: this is a $200 kit that plays pretty well. Upgrading some parts are needed to make it play like a $500 instrument.
Price: This wasn't bad at all. Sub $200 US. With a couple of extra finishing items thrown in the cart, plus free shipping over $50. There are higher priced kits there, but with no hardware included. In hindsight it would have been a higher quality body, but for this price point I'm not going to complain too much. 4 out of 5.
Shipping: Shipping was pretty fast. I ordered this on a Thursday night and shipped the next day (Friday). I assumed it sat around in customs over that weekend (Canada to US), and it arrived that Monday. For free shipping and no duties/taxes owed, this get a 5 out of 5.
Quality: This gets a 3 out of 5 from me. In my research and own experience, kit builds are on the cheaper side if using everything from the box. Regardless if you're building a guitar, bass, dulcimer, ukulele, etc. you'll need to replace the strings at a minimum. All hardware that came in the box was functional. The neck/fretboard gets the top marks for me. The body, less so. It's basswood and is on the lower spectrum of quality out there. The pickguard I upgraded to needed some different holes drilled and everything doesn't line up 100%. A small piece of the routed body is sticking out. A little annoyed, but hey, what are you gonna do?
Finishing: 3 out of 5, but this is user error and not reflective of Solo. They have guides on their site how to finish, plus other sites. I should have taken more care in applying the poly, but after 15 coats I had had enough
Assembly: 2 out of 5. Reading reviews of the various kits out there you come across "I built this in an hour with my kid." Yea, right. The pickguard wiring was pretty awful and the solder joints weren't very strong. Rewiring a new pickguard does not count against Solo, but the solder quality and rats nest does. Screwing things by hand is the safe way to go to not damage anything, but they could have done a better job with pilot hole alignment and width.
Overall: I'll give this a 3.5 out of 5. Considering this is a kit build and not a Warmoth partscaster build, I'm satisfied overall and would recommend them to you guys. This is definitely a step up from my first kit build from TheFretWire. Don't bother looking for them; they're no longer in business for whatever reason. The good part about kit builds is you can apply a finish in whatever manner you want. The down side is the quality of hardware and the body prep for that hardware. It may be worth your while upgrading the parts first before committing with a drill. Overall recommendation: this is a $200 kit that plays pretty well. Upgrading some parts are needed to make it play like a $500 instrument.
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it's about right Buddy, my solo p bass had some mess when I looked at the box, so I let it sit until my mail order of EMG Butler sigs(came with wiring and pots
) and a set of rotosounds arrived. wierd you received basswood, mine was mahogany.. almost clear enough I was ready to just bury it in 5-7 coats of semi gloss lacquer...
Congratulations for dealing with a proper starter kit and a very nice end product.
) and a set of rotosounds arrived. wierd you received basswood, mine was mahogany.. almost clear enough I was ready to just bury it in 5-7 coats of semi gloss lacquer...Congratulations for dealing with a proper starter kit and a very nice end product.
BuddytheReow
Moderator
As I mentioned above, replacing the strings on my build was necessary. The ones that come in the kit are garbage. I threw them on just to see what the full kit played like. These strings tore up my hands.
So, new strings on. Truss rod readjusted. Intonation readjusted. Action readjusted. Pickup heights readjusted again to accommodate the new action. I think she's home now. She'll need some new pickups, but for now I think she's complete. Doesn't she look good with her family?
So, new strings on. Truss rod readjusted. Intonation readjusted. Action readjusted. Pickup heights readjusted again to accommodate the new action. I think she's home now. She'll need some new pickups, but for now I think she's complete. Doesn't she look good with her family?
drgonzo1969
Well-known member
Nailed it! Love the purple! My wife keeps telling me I have too many black guitars and natural guitars. Maybe I will go purple on the next one. Great job on your build and report
BuddytheReow
Moderator
Thanks! We all tend to gravitate toward a certain style. I went this route simply because it's different.
cwsquared
Well-known member
Excellent work!
I think this may be why I am explicitly expanding the colors with the kits though. Forest green for the 5 string bass and soon to be candy apple red for the Tele kit. The future probably holds a purple 6 string bass, a blue 335, and an orange Stingray bass.
I don't know what you are talking about.... black Strat, black P-bass, black PJ bass. Although I do also have a goldtop LP.
I think this may be why I am explicitly expanding the colors with the kits though. Forest green for the 5 string bass and soon to be candy apple red for the Tele kit. The future probably holds a purple 6 string bass, a blue 335, and an orange Stingray bass.
BuddytheReow
Moderator
Interesting day yesterday for me. First of all, I finally got some new pickups in the mail. While the ones provided in the kit were functional, they did not have the toan I was after. These are DiMarzio DP126 for a PJ bass. From my research, these are very good "standard" bass Pups.
Lo and behold, the jazz pickup didn't fit in the cavity, but just barely. So, I took my router to widen the opening just enough to fit. For the record, taking a router on a finished guitar body is incredibly nerve wracking. I had to redrill where the screws would go, but that wasn't a big deal. Then the wiring. My goodness....the amount of wire pickups have is ridiculous, but I understand why. It's just unnecessary.
Pups did not come with springs for the screws to keep the pickup height, but I bought some screws via Amazon and they worked just fine. I had to trim some of them, but no big deal.
Stick a fork in her. She's done!
Lo and behold, the jazz pickup didn't fit in the cavity, but just barely. So, I took my router to widen the opening just enough to fit. For the record, taking a router on a finished guitar body is incredibly nerve wracking. I had to redrill where the screws would go, but that wasn't a big deal. Then the wiring. My goodness....the amount of wire pickups have is ridiculous, but I understand why. It's just unnecessary.
Pups did not come with springs for the screws to keep the pickup height, but I bought some screws via Amazon and they worked just fine. I had to trim some of them, but no big deal.
Stick a fork in her. She's done!
