The quality

Overall I have to say I was impressed with the quality of the kit. I had read on the net lots of people saying the same I didnt really believe them. I am a bit of a perfectionist so I do have a few minor comments:

The three way switch is a bit 'clicky'. Im basing my judgements on my Les Paul so I want the same or better quality at least in components. It is a closed box three way where as my Les Paul is an open switchi think I will buy a new switch and solder it in. Doesnt cost much to change.

The knobs are better than I thought they would be but I still would prefer some round black speed knobs like you would get on some PRS, SG's and Les Paul custom models. It is important s these parts are used often on the guitar and can really improve or ruin its overall appearance.

The machineheads seem ok to me. Im going to wait until it is finished and strung to see how good they are and if they need replacing. Many people on the net have said they replaced them straight away pressuming they are rubbish. I dont want to waste money on good ones if these are ok.

Humbuckers and wiring seem solid and I cant flaw them. Im going to cut off the snap joints and solder it so that i wont ever get a loose connection inside. Dont get me wrong the connectors seem good and are well protected in the guitar but im just being a perfectionist again. I am also going to sheild all the cavities of the guitar with copper tape. This will reduce any buzz being picked up by the pickups from unwanted sourced such as tv's etc. Think this is just a good idea to always do. It cant hurt!

Body-im pleased with it. It does have a ton of sanding sealer on at the mo but I expected that. The top seems really nice. Im quite excited about doing something with that.

Neck and fret board-again spot on. No complaints at all. I was really worried about the quality as the kit was so cheap but it seems good to me.

The dry run

As many people on the net have advised-I have decided to put the guitar together to test it out. Nothing to do with the fact that I wont have chance to work on it for at least a fortnight and Im too much of a big kid.

I also wanted to make sure all the parts fit, arent damaged and that I have them all. I thought this was wise as the little plastic bags that contained the parts in the box had ripped so the parts were loose.

I began by laying out the parts on the floor. I layed the bushings for the machineheads next to each one and all the relevant screws next to each part. Luckily all the major components were there but I was missing several screws. To determine which ones went where I assembled the guitar as far as I could.

I ended up missing all the screws (3) for the truss rod cover, one for the back plate to the control cavity, and all of the screws(4)for the neck plate-making the assembly a little hard to do!

I did slot the neck in and it is a tight fit. All the parts fit fine with exception of the cavity cover which is too big. That will be easily resolved as it is just a thin piece of acrylic which i can sand down or re-cut once I have applied all the paint.

The kit

The kit I ordered is a PRS style double cutaway guitar. It has twin chrome covered humbuckers, one three way switch (les paul style), one volume knob and one tone.

The guitar also has a stop tail and bridge unit also like that found on a les paul, a paddle style headstock with 3x3 machine heads, 23 fret flat neck.

The body is made of bass wood with a flamed maple top. The neck is made of maple with a rosewood fret board.

Introduction

For ages and ages now I have been obsessed with guitars. I am not a brilliant guitarist but i make up for my lack of skill with enthusiasm!

The truth is I am probabily more interested in the guitars themselves. I am currently training to be an architect and so I have an interest in how things are put together and the design of objects. This in combination with playing the guiatr led me to deciding I would like to make one.

I heard about guitar kits ages ago when I was reading a guiat mag and decided to look up some parts that i had seen advertised just for the sake of it. I thought it sounded like a brilliant idea especially as I did not have a workshop to cut all the wood etc. Though I would love to do that aswell.

I searced the net for ages trying to find these kits-but with no luck. Instead I resorted to buying a guitar building book by Melvyn Hiscock to see how much would actually be involved if I were to make one from nothing. The answer is alot! Gutted!

Eventually I stumbled across 'the music king' website that were taking back orders so i jumped at the chance. Incidentally I also found they were the cheapest that I could find in the uk for the same kits.

I was a bit worried it would take ages to arive but I was surprised today to have a nice big box in my lounge! Impressed! So to encourage others and to maybe help others by learning from my mistakes i decided upon blogging my progress.

And thus begin'th the blog.....