Guitar Kits WTF?

[pipelineaudio]

BYO Custom Shop ST Body - Guitar bodies and kits from BYOGuitar

www.byoguitar.com

???

That shop looks cool! That one doesn't have a floyd route. They have one that is, but isn't a seven string. I'd be very happy with that price, definitely worth it if they had the options I wanted

 

[Devin]

I'd like a bigger cavity if I need to put a battery in

Possibly you could use one of these things instead?

https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/rechargeable-battery-pack-for-strat/

 

[pipelineaudio]

I looked into kits a few years back just for fun and kept seeing the same complaints of garbage parts and bad routes, etc.

So, I went the way of buying old, cheap guitars and treating them like kits. The Hamer Slammer, Peavey Predator, early Ibby Gios, etc can all be had used for under $200 and at least you start off in a far better place than the average kit. Need to take time to remove the finish, but that’s a better option that having to replace all the hardware and electronics, if you ask me.

This was a Slammer:

Right now, finding donor seven string bodies with floyd routes is pain.

 

[Achilles]

That shop looks cool! That one doesn't have a floyd route. They have one that is, but isn't a seven string. I'd be very happy with that price, definitely worth it if they had the options I wanted

I'm gonna assume their custom shop could do one for you.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Possibly you could use one of these things instead?

https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/rechargeable-battery-pack-for-strat/

Most definitely, that's why I mentioned the Fishman in my original post. The trem cover version is extremely thick, so the route would be even more important. I guess I could get a recess route template for the trem cover from stewmac

 

[pipelineaudio]

Just great - now I’m GASing for a CNC machine…

The people who just moved into the shop next to mine have Google blood money and a new business turning gas cars into electrics. They just had a CNC the size of a car delivered and have a killer laser cutter. One of them is interested in cutting out guitars, I'm crossing my finders

 

[DrewJD82]

I'm happy to look at more expensive ones, but the only two I could find, one warmoth, has the dogshit block heel neck joint and no options for the routes I want and the other, Precision Guitars, has no floyd rose mount. Do you know of some others?

I don’t, but if you’re on FB I’d do a search for the partscaster/kit build groups as the guys in those are up to date with the quality/not quality kits!

 

[pipelineaudio]

I'm gonna assume their custom shop could do one for you.

I emailed them, lets see!

 

[Sascha Franck]

We see control cutouts, tremolo cavities, pilot holes for bridges, etc.

The CNC machine sees.

You still need to tell it the dimensions of each routing. And as said, unlike with vibratos, those dimensions may vary quite a bit.

 

[Iron1]

LEF sells custom kits too.

Home | LEF Custom Guitars

Custom Hand made guitars from the world's best exotic wood!

www.lefcustomguitars.com

 

[FuzzyAce]

You get what you pay for.
Not that you couldn't make the kit into a great guitar -- it's just going to take a lot of work to get it there.

Speaking of CNC machine, I have access to a big one from a local guy and they're fun to watch. But, it wouldn't make sense to get one (worth it) unless you were doing the same shapes over and over again. Setting up CAD takes more time than routing out a shape by hand.
I do want a laser cutter/engraver though. A friend has one and I've used it to make amp faceplates.

 

[pipelineaudio]

You get what you pay for.

Not in most of pro audio you don't. But yeah, I'm willing to pay more for the kit I want, I just can;t find someone to sell it to me

 

[Achilles]

Setting up CAD takes more time than routing out a shape by hand.

2nd best video of the day.

 

[FuzzyAce]

2nd best video of the day.

I've watch more of those kinds of videos than i care to admit.

 

[Eagle]

The kit hardware is utter garbage so you are going to need to spend big to end up with something. Also unless you are proficient at finishing a guitar and all aspects of fretwork it’s going to be a waste of money.

 

[laxu]

Ever wonder how they glue very thin veneered tops onto guitar bodies with relief areas?

View attachment 16682

The DIY way to do this seems to be "cut some channels on the underside of the top near the forearm contour, then wet the wood, bend it by putting heavy bags of something on top of it". On a veneer you would not have to cut any channels that let the top bend in that area.

 

[laxu]

I'm happy to look at more expensive ones, but the only two I could find, one warmoth, has the dogshit block heel neck joint and no options for the routes I want and the other, Precision Guitars, has no floyd rose mount. Do you know of some others?

If you are looking for an unfinished body, you could just shape the neck heel yourself, even if it's pre-drilled for bolts.

The block shape is actually not a problem. This is how it looks on my Kiesel AM7, and that heel is just as much out of the way as any contoured bolt-on joint I've had, because it's a lot thinner and slanted than the typical Fender block heel.

 

[dshea19]

I have never found a company that makes a kit that has Charvel So Cal. The necks are always too thick and the frets aren’t large enough.

 

[Sleezy E]

As someone who has built a couple kits, in the future I just plan on finding a deal on a quality yet undesirable used guitar to strip apart and build into something better

 

[pipelineaudio]

As someone who has built a couple kits, in the future I just plan on finding a deal on a quality yet undesirable used guitar to strip apart and build into something better

Me too, but over the last four years, nothing has shown up that doesn't cost far far far more used than it did new...its still crazy with the chip shortage and World moving to indonesia and all that