In a serendipitous turn of events - while I was getting frustrated trying to figure out if my Strat has an intonation issue that needs a new setup or just needs new strings, I saw a post by @dennise about a guitar kit she got, and I also watched Justinās video on guitar tone where he says that weāre all in the market for a new guitar, all the time! Iāve thought about getting a guitar kit on and off over the years, because I know absolutely nothing about how an electric guitar works, and the only thing I can do āmaintenance wiseā is change strings, and I think it would be a good way to learn more. Iāve also thought about buying a cheap used electric and taking it apart and putting it back together, but I kind of like the idea of finishing the guitar too. Anyway, with this confluence of events I really had no choice (haha) and voila ā NGD!! It barely looks like a guitar now, but in time I should have a non-quality (again - haha) but playable tele-style electric guitar. With a cool finishing.
Many of you know I am not a techie, at all. My firm intent though is to be a patient learner through this process, and not fall away into complete frustration when things inevitably donāt progress perfectly. Should be a fun project!
Thatās cool Mari, looking forward to this story. Iāll sat āhappy ngdā in lower case and wait for the BIG reveal once you get cracking. Like the natural finish !
I am thinking of doing the same thing, a kit seems a good way to start. Hope you can keep us updated with progress reports and maybe I can learn something from you. Good luck with the project.
@toby thanks! I like the natural look as well but I am probably going to paint it, not stain it. A good friend of mine has a woodworking shop and Iāve already got him interested in the project, so I will get some pointers from him and also have a place to work on the finishing. I have a cool idea for the finishing but wonāt share it yet as it may change
@skinnyt you can maybe learn from my mistakes! Lol
I donāt think putting it together will take too long, the finishing might though. Iām going to put it together to make sure everythingās a good fit and it plays, see if I need to change anything, decide if I want to upgrade any of the components, etc. Then Iām going to take it apart, finish it, and put it back together again. I will definitely post pictures. No idea how long the project will be.
Looks like fun Mari as for paint I have always wanted to try this. There are lots of videos on youtube
with you building the guitar you can do the body first with out the neck.
Mari, great idea to build a kit. You will learn a lot. Perhaps even some precision soldering and how capacitance influences the sound.
I will be following your build and like others learning along the way.
@ChasetheDream Well Robert I had to look up ācapacitanceā! I wasnāt thinking in such fancy-ish words lol but I was thinking if I changed out the PUPs I would learn something about sound.
As for soldering, I decided to pay $20 more and order the solderless kit, before I thought to ask my friend if I can use his wood working studio. I donāt have high hopes for the extra $20 I spent though so I expect I will still learn about soldering anyway!
I did this 18 months ago to see what would happen and to learn from the process as wellā¦ I took a secondhand beaten up kids guitar for Ā£20 and re-worked it. I knew nothing before and a minimal amount of woodwork outside of DIY type stuff beforehand so it was good to experiment. It was rewarding and I learnt lots! Its not that playable still so at least starting with a kit you will have better luck than me!
Enjoy and am looking forward to see how it looks and sounds!
@J.W.C Jason if the finishing works out how Iām thinking - and if itās decently playable! - it will certainly be a treasure to me. In any event I will learn a few things though.
@grayal Thanks Al. I knew I wouldnāt be the only one interested in this idea as a learning tool. My kit is pretty cheap but definitely more than $20 (not counting finishing costs either), but it will be well worth it to me for the learning and hopefully to have another cool guitar, that is playable!
Mari, great idea - Iāve still got mine to do as itās been stalled for a while.
Iām looking forward to seeing how you get on with it, most of it isnāt too difficult, the setting up is the hardest part really, you may need to get a few tools!
Watching to see how you get on with it, thereās been a few nice ideas been thrown into the āmelting potā - Wasnāt that a song by Blue mink?
