Has anyone ever built a kit guitar/partscaster?

Oh_Discordia!

Oh_Discordia!

Active member
I want a Tele, but am not mentally prepared to fund such a purchase with the sale of either my J.Mascis Jazzmaster or my Epi Les Paul (even though one SHOULD go).

So I thought "I like building stuff, why dont I build myself a guitar". most of the kits ive seen are either obvious trash, or 400-500$+, which defeats the purpose since i can just buy a decent one at that price.

I had an order in with thefretwire.com but their website went down and they gave me some nebulous answer about "hopefully in 2 weeks we'll have this sorted".

So, all that to ask if anyone has gone this route and can recommend a +/- 200$ kit that is decent. All I'm really concerned about is the neck and body (and fitment of the two), since of course i'm going to replace all the hardware, vibration conversion units and lightning hoses and such.
 
@MichaelW just recently posted this one.

I'd love to, but I might as well just go ahead and buy a custom shop Fender... I'd come out cheaper after all the things I'd mess up. :ROFLMAO:

Seriously though, I'm tempted, because for years I've wanted a Strat in Taos Turquoise finish... unfortunately the custom shop is the only way to get one, and a finish isn't worth $4K+ to me. I'm no wood worker though, and extremely critical, so the idea of drilling holes for the pickguard and trem just discourages me right away from it.
 
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Lowtide said:
I want a Tele, but am not mentally prepared to fund such a purchase with the sale of either my J.Mascis Jazzmaster or my Epi Les Paul (even though one SHOULD go).

So I thought "I like building stuff, why dont I build myself a guitar". most of the kits ive seen are either obvious trash, or 400-500$+, which defeats the purpose since i can just buy a decent one at that price.

I had an order in with thefretwire.com but their website went down and they gave me some nebulous answer about "hopefully in 2 weeks we'll have this sorted".

So, all that to ask if anyone has gone this route and can recommend a +/- 200$ kit that is decent. All I'm really concerned about is the neck and body (and fitment of the two), since of course i'm going to replace all the hardware, vibration conversion units and lightning hoses and such.
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For that kind of money I would not recommend any kit available on the market unless you really already have the skills to fix all the issues you will likely run into. What I'd recommend is to buy a Squire Classic Vibe Tele. Right out of the box they are great guitars. But as a platform to learn some new skills (set up, fret work, electronics upgrades) they are a great place to start. @PedalPCB linked to my recent build but I've probably got about $650-700 into that guitar. Which is actually kinda low for me, some of my other builds are easily $1000-1200. For me, it's more about getting exactly what I want than saving money. Rolling your own is NOT going to save you money. (See @thewintersoldier's thread:)). It's about the process that I enjoy. If you want a cheap Tele, the aforementioned Squire or something like a Yamaha will get you there within your budget.

Edit: I'll also add that the quality of inexpensive guitars has really gone through the roof these days. I am so impressed with what you can get $300-400 these days. I keep thinking "Gee if I had guitars that played that well when I was a kid I'd be like....more famous than Eddie Van Halen by now.....!" :)
 
Yeah, I've scoped out a few CV's. and they are great. I'll admit i'm looking for another project to dive into. I fully accept that 200 ish is for base supplies only and expect it to double/triple by the time i'm done, but i can rationalize the $ if i spread it out :) I've already gathered a full stable of amateur luthier tools and can do fretwork/nutwork/full setup etc. Neck pocket tweaks will be new, but I welcome the challenge

I think i'm going to check out the GFS bodies and allparts neck route. @MichaelW - that tele build looks excellent!

edit: i think i'm going to revise my base cost too. cry once buy once, right? right???? LOL
 
I have my mind on building a custom guitar. Not sure exactly what yet though. I'm considering a Stratocaster style guitar...but then again I don't have a Tele so there's that too. But I think what I might end up settling on is a Fender Jazz bass type thing. Most of the really good Fender Jazz basses are a bit pricey. I think with the right body and neck I can put something together for a bit less that will sound outstanding. :D
 
I built one from this kit : https://www.bargainmusician.com/inc/sdetail/gk_002_diy_guitar_kit/116/235

All the hardware is junk, including the pickguard and nut. That's pretty much evey cheap kit. Body was solid and heavy. Neck is a pretty large (comparitively). Larger than my USA Strat or my EPI LP. Neck fit well though and I didn't have any adjustment there. You're gonna be doing fret work regardless. I dropped a Twang King and Chopper-T pickup in mine and added a three way mini toggle (series/split coil/parallel) on the Chopper. I have another body and neck I got from Bian Xuebin that is much, much better build and fit. It has a 1/4" flame maple top on mahogany body for about $300 shipped. Takes a good 6-8 months to get it from him though. It's a winter project.

Honestly, my mint 2010 CV I picked up last year for $250 plays as good as my USA Strat and sounds great with the Alnico 3 pickups.

Here's the Bargain tele (green) and the Bian kit.
 

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@MichaelW hit the nail on the head. Putting together a kit guitar or partscaster usually isn't done to save money, it's done because you want something specific that isn't readily available. If your budget is $200, you're going to have a hard time finding anything worth playing, you'll be better off buying a used Squier and swapping out hardware and pickups. I think the cheapest partscaster I put together was around $400, and that was only because I got a deal on the body and used relatively cheap (Guitarfetish) pickups.

My most recent partscaster was a thinline tele, and all-in I think I spent close to $1k on that because I wanted high quality. I ended up with a higher quality guitar than I could have bought for $1k, but it was more about getting it my way than it was about saving money.
 
vigilante398 said:
@MichaelW hit the nail on the head. Putting together a kit guitar or partscaster usually isn't done to save money, it's done because you want something specific that isn't readily available. If your budget is $200, you're going to have a hard time finding anything worth playing, you'll be better off buying a used Squier and swapping out hardware and pickups. I think the cheapest partscaster I put together was around $400, and that was only because I got a deal on the body and used relatively cheap (Guitarfetish) pickups.

My most recent partscaster was a thinline tele, and all-in I think I spent close to $1k on that because I wanted high quality. I ended up with a higher quality guitar than I could have bought for $1k, but it was more about getting it my way than it was about saving money.
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Yep, that's the reason I got the kit from Bian. I wanted an S shap body with the comfort cuts, but tele pickup routes and a toploader bridge. It'll probably be the last kit I do because the quality of instruments in the low/mid price brackets is so good now.
 
Blooze said:
Yep, that's the reason I got the kit from Bian. I wanted an S shap body with the comfort cuts, but tele pickup routes and a toploader bridge. It'll probably be the last kit I do because the quality of instruments in the low/mid price brackets is so good now.
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It is a sexy one, that flame is gorgeous. That will be a very cool project.

I guess another reason I do partscasters is because it's easier to justify it to my wife. If I spend $1k on a new guitar I'll get in trouble, but if I spend $300 on a body this week, then $300 on a neck next week, $300 on pickups the week after that, etc. then it's just "another one of those project things."
 
thewintersoldier said:
As @vigilante398 and @MichaelW have echoed rolling your own isn't as much about money as it is making a guitar suited to your needs. I've done this with 4 guitars, two teles, a strat and a jazzmaster. My philosophy is, why buy something and change things along the way when I can get what I want from jump street. I've often found that if I buy something cheaper and then upgrade the pickups, wiring, bridge/saddles, tuners and other little stuff then I could have just made what I wanted and be happy from the start for the same price or maybe even less. Although getting a squire or Epiphone is a great way to find out if you are into that style of guitar. All of my guitars are using top of the line parts to my specific needs or playing style and imo rival custom shop guitars in tone and feel but are a fraction of the price. If you do roll your own, get what you want and don't cheat yourself.
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Another note along those lines, you generally get what you pay for with parts. The $350 tele body I bought was perfect, the fit and everything was flawless. I tried to save some money on a strat build and bought a $50 body, and it was awful. Neck pocket was the wrong size, bridge routing was the wrong size, the bridge was slightly off-center from the neck pocket, wood wasn't sanded evenly and was left rough in some spots, and I ended up hating the finished product. I tried to convince myself it was fine, but I ended up throwing away the body and keeping everything else until I decide to build a new one.
 
vigilante398 said:
It is a sexy one, that flame is gorgeous. That will be a very cool project.

I guess another reason I do partscasters is because it's easier to justify it to my wife. If I spend $1k on a new guitar I'll get in trouble, but if I spend $300 on a body this week, then $300 on a neck next week, $300 on pickups the week after that, etc. then it's just "another one of those project things."
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This is hilarious because I literally just did this very thing with new amp GAS.
"Honey, I decided to just do some upgrades on my amp."
Alnico Gold: $300
New output transformer: $100
Amplified parts order: $200
Other bits: $100
 
I’ll echo the same advice. That cheap kit I bought was a lot of work for a mediocre guitar. I knew what I wanted with the S shape body kit and thought the cheap kit would be good practice as my first build. It was.
 
jubal81 said:
This is hilarious because I literally just did this very thing with new amp GAS.
"Honey, I decided to just do some upgrades on my amp."
Alnico Gold: $300
New output transformer: $100
Amplified parts order: $200
Other bits: $100
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I do this with all my projects. I have two hifi tube amps and a preamp and two guitar amps in stages of “buying” parts. Not to mention speakers.
 
I’ve heard good things about Solo Guitars. The kits they have, like everywhere else, are good platforms for learning how to build and mod and so on…
 
I’ve built many. BYOguitar haa some, that’s where o got started. Built several from guitar fetish. My dad built some from the fret wire, not terrible quality. Sure, it’s cheaper to just buy one, but you can build one with the exact specs you want.
 
I built one from the fret wire. Was a fun build, but the intonation is crap on it and I can't shorten the scale length any more. It can do the chuggas pretty good tho
 
I've said this before when a similar question was asked. I like kits just fine but they knock out the fun part and leave the annoying part. Maybe I'm weird but I really enjoy shaping necks by hand and loathe the entire finishing process.
 
jimilee said:
I’ve built many. BYOguitar haa some, that’s where o got started. Built several from guitar fetish. My dad built some from the fret wire, not terrible quality. Sure, it’s cheaper to just buy one, but you can build one with the exact specs you want.
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This one from BYO is one I've had my eye on for a while now. But every time I configure it with what I want it winds up being over $1100. That's before throwing away all the hardware and electronics that it comes with :p. Inspiration is the Nick Huber Krautster II model.
 
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