Guitar Parts. DIY, sources, reviews

Started by Guido81, October 29, 2017, 02:08:32 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Guido81

First I want to thanks to Elantric (Mr. Steve) for this amazing forum   :D (I'll be a supporter too, very very soon)

As I did not find something like this, I post this so I hope It may be useful as a reference for other members.

The main idea is to tell your experiences with guitar parts you bought for your own normal guitar or Vguitar project.
This could be a database for all.
What are we looking for?

* Review on guitar parts, stores, Eg. good woods, sound, construction, durability (if possible)
* for hardware: let's say quality, good metal?
* What type of guitar did you build? Where did you buy the parts?
* Are the parts well finished, or do they need an extra job, (body, necks)
* you name it (anything of interest)

Thanks to Elantric for posting on another topic that cozart guitars and diy parts from them are out of question here (Meaning: they're no good)

I'm not new at customizing guitars, I have customized an "Aria 7 string" to specs of the Ibanez JPM (paint job, pickups, a little hardware), I've also modded an Ibanez RG, with an EVH paint job, but with Vai and satch pickups, a little hardware were modded too. But one of the firsts was a Epi SG with custom paint and seymour duncan pickups (I sold this one), all with nitro cellulose paint and the help of a friend who is a luthier. All these guitar mods were made with branded guitars, I don't have experience with diy guitar kits or parts

The final goal should be to build great guitars at a affordable price. You could spend let's say 1K $ on a custom DIY guitar. But if you ask a custom guitar with the same specs to fender, they'll build it for you for perhaps for 5K or 25K $$$. The amounts could be very different of course , this is just an idea.

I want to build a pair of custom guitars, a vguitar and a normal guitar. I've been searching for guitar parts around the web and their reviews, but I don't know if they're to be trusted.
I want to build a VG strat with the GK kit inside at the time. And opportunely a double neck SG (I'm not ready to mortgage mi house to buy a Gibson EDS-1275  ;D)

We know warmoth necks, mighty mite, and WD, and their quality, but there are other options out there as well
I've been looking at guitarfetish's XGP guitar parts and factory clearance for example:

http://www.guitarfetish.com/XGP-Guitar-Parts_c_516.html
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Factory-Buyout-Clearance-Sale_c_411.html  (thanks again Elantric for posting out this)

But still, I couldn't find thrustable reviews, any experience with them?, other options?

Your turn  :)

Edit: Also recommended by elantric on another topic
Agile or douglas guitars from rondo music;
http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html

Solid wood, moddable

Guido81

#1
Nice guitars at kiesel guitars. Their customs look beautiful. Now for their kits I prefer a finished body and neck (It's no easy to work with paint) Nice source though, good woods!

I found this nice body for a custom GK strat, it has the "swimming pool rout" so theres plenty space for electronics,
http://www.guitarfetish.com/XGP-Aztec-Gold-Metalflake-Strat-Body-Swimming-Pool-Rout-_p_24854.html
They state that these are "The best woods, The best woodworking", by looking at the pictures at least can be seen that is indeed solid wood (not laminated)
There shouldn't be much problem with bodies, but necks are delicate, and I have been reading some mixed reviews around  :-\
This neck looks beautiful with that body,
http://www.guitarfetish.com/XGP-Strat-Style-Neck-Maple-Abalone-Fingerboard-Bound-Angled-Headstock--Blem_p_26133.html
supposed to be nice neck, I don't mind to receive a neck that needs a little work here and there, but a warped neck would be dreadful

In addition, I heard that now is forbidden exporting rosewood fretboards. Too bad for us international buyers, it leaves us with fewer options.

TexasaurusRex

GFS has SO stepped up their game. Pleasant surprise, they have hooked me up with parts I couldn't get at the same quality for the same price elsewhere.

TexasaurusRex

That's a GFS body with a USA spec GFS tremolo. The saddles are BETTER,THICKER than Fender saddles.

TexasaurusRex

#4
Also, an Affinity body with lefty Squier neck,GFS brass block. After I broke off the trem arm but before they happily send me a new one,even though I screwed the arm in all the way with a 5-spring set up and broke it off within 90 seconds of a Hendrix dive bomb freakout.

Guido81

Nice strat! I bought some of the GFS's XGP parts and my luthier liked them very much. I'll post some pictures when I have them finished.


Pat the Brat

Hi !

Sorry in advance for the long post, but it is as summarize as such journey could be!   
;)

I actually jumped into the crazy project of building a guitar myself from a DIY kit bought on eBay.
I was curious of what i could get for a left-hand back up guitar for few hundres dollars and expected the learning path to be all fun.

I ordered the model i wanted and while waiting for the delivery, spent hours, hours and hours over Youtube/forums learning every steps of the process. It was delivered to my door in about 15-20 days (picture #1).

Initially, i was impressed with the flame maple top, parts were as described but you could feel pups & pots weren't high quality. Instruction booklet to describe each steps of assembly was included, but as a newbie, i needed more informations to proceed (agian Youtube and different forums).
The body was lighter than i expected but all seem ok, the neck was straight so all good for now.

Here's the specs;
Frets Count: 22
Body Material: Mahogany body & Maple flame top
Neck Material: Mahogany / rosewood
Fretboard Radius: 12 Inch
Neck Joint: Set In (glued)
Scale: 24.5


i found glue spot after black coat was applied. The picture #2 was taken after i sand off lightly to get some flame out.
I airsbrushed (more youtube and forum hours) a black sunburst to cover the glue spots among the edges, but i would need some sticker to hide the big spot behind the bridge.

Picture #3 was taken after several thin Tru-Oil coat (more youtube and forum hours).
Of course, the neck had the same treatment along the way.

After more extensive Youtube and forums reading about measurments, i sanded the heel of the neck properly and glued it in place.

All electronics were soldered as per schematics provided and i finally installed tuners, bridge, saddle, string up the new toy and performed tuning procedure and action adjustment with more youtube and forum surfing hours there as well. (picture #4)
I found sticker on ebay and applied it to complete my journey. (picture 5)

After several weeks of learning and trial/error at mostly each steps, i was finally able to plug the guitar and hear it.
With no big suprises, the sound was thinner than my main guitar, but the 24.5 scale i enjoy a lot.

When i compare the black guitar to my main guitar into my Katana amp, i have to turn down both "tones" to about "4" on the black guitar to avoid changing any channel parameters on the amp. That being said, i still would use it anytime as second guitar to a live gig and along the way, i would upgrade with good quality wiring harness kit and better pickups.

Did i saved money? Surely not when doing maths;
Wood Tint + Tru-Oil + related materials + luthier measurment tools (to level the frets and set action) etc. etc.

Was it fun? Sure it was and highly educational for a curious being like me.
So i decided to start a second one but this time, i would buy separately all parts of higher grade  that i would buy as budget permit and could have the sunburst i desired.

As you can notice in pictures #6 to #11, on the second DIY kit i was able to completely get the glue marks to dissapear working the sunburst.


For sure no professional grade stuff in the end, but really proud to practice and play on a guitar i "partially" crafted myself and now know better about details involve into guitar mysteries!

I am now back to learn how to make it sing better and better : )
''Real collaboration is when everyone who's there, is working together toward whatever is the best thing for the whole thing''  - Rick Ruben

admin

#8
Quote from: Pat the Brat on February 17, 2018, 01:35:36 PM
Hi !

Sorry in advance for the long post, but it is as summarize as such journey could be!   
;)

I actually jumped into the crazy project of building a guitar myself from a DIY kit bought on eBay.
I was curious of what i could get for a left-hand back up guitar for few hundres dollars and expected the learning path to be all fun.

I ordered the model i wanted and while waiting for the delivery, spent hours, hours and hours over Youtube/forums learning every steps of the process. It was delivered to my door in about 15-20 days (picture #1).

Initially, i was impressed with the flame maple top, parts were as described but you could feel pups & pots weren't high quality. Instruction booklet to describe each steps of assembly was included, but as a newbie, i needed more informations to proceed (agian Youtube and different forums).
The body was lighter than i expected but all seem ok, the neck was straight so all good for now.

Here's the specs;
Frets Count: 22
Body Material: Mahogany body & Maple flame top
Neck Material: Mahogany / rosewood
Fretboard Radius: 12 Inch
Neck Joint: Set In (glued)
Scale: 24.5


i found glue spot after black coat was applied. The picture #2 was taken after i sand off lightly to get some flame out.
I airsbrushed (more youtube and forum hours) a black sunburst to cover the glue spots among the edges, but i would need some sticker to hide the big spot behind the bridge.

Picture #3 was taken after several thin Tru-Oil coat (more youtube and forum hours).
Of course, the neck had the same treatment along the way.

After more extensive Youtube and forums reading about measurments, i sanded the heel of the neck properly and glued it in place.

All electronics were soldered as per schematics provided and i finally installed tuners, bridge, saddle, string up the new toy and performed tuning procedure and action adjustment with more youtube and forum surfing hours there as well. (picture #4)
I found sticker on ebay and applied it to complete my journey. (picture 5)

After several weeks of learning and trial/error at mostly each steps, i was finally able to plug the guitar and hear it.
With no big suprises, the sound was thinner than my main guitar, but the 24.5 scale i enjoy a lot.

When i compare the black guitar to my main guitar into my Katana amp, i have to turn down both "tones" to about "4" on the black guitar to avoid changing any channel parameters on the amp. That being said, i still would use it anytime as second guitar to a live gig and along the way, i would upgrade with good quality wiring harness kit and better pickups.

Did i saved money? Surely not when doing maths;
Wood Tint + Tru-Oil + related materials + luthier measurment tools (to level the frets and set action) etc. etc.

Was it fun? Sure it was and highly educational for a curious being like me.
So i decided to start a second one but this time, i would buy separately all parts of higher grade  that i would buy as budget permit and could have the sunburst i desired.

As you can notice in pictures #6 to #11, on the second DIY kit i was able to completely get the glue marks to dissapear working the sunburst.


For sure no professional grade stuff in the end, but really proud to practice and play on a guitar i "partially" crafted myself and now know better about details involve into guitar mysteries!

I am now back to learn how to make it sing better and better : )

It's like the old Heathkit days
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Allied-Catalogs/Heathkit-1969.pdf
one does not pursue a do-it-yourself solution to save money,  particularly today


but the DIY experience yields an education and knowledge which will carry with you daily on all future projects or career path.

Knowing what Not to do is valuable knowledge that often only comes from hands on direct DIY experience .
and theres an old saying - the only difference between an amateur and a professional, is the professional knows how to hide his mistakes ;)

Guido81

#9
@Pat, nice project, well done!

@Elantric remember the "Vintage" branded guitars selling at guitar fetish? well I could get one of them!  ;D
It's a beatiful sunburst ES-335 routed for P90 pickups, the thing is I'm still struggling... what pickups would work best?. I need it to play everything from Rockabilly (obviously) to hard rock (chuck berry, beatles, gary moore, boston, ac/dc, just to name some). (even ted nuggent has a hollow body with p90s and he makes it growl!) I've seen reviews and sound tests of some pickups, and so far I found the Duncan Antiquitys P90, and the dimarzio virtual P90 to be pretty good, but still can't make my mind. I'd be nice to have coil splitting, to cover more sonic territory.
Maybe there are other pickups that I don't know of.

want to hear your experiences with p90s

thanks

Guido

rolfay

#10
Hi there, I'll come to the point, I'm after a bit of help. I'm in the process of partially rebuilding the guitar below. Someone had made a start on modifying it, got as far as stripping off some of the old dark red varnished veneer and then given it up as a bad job and left it out for the bin men. I can never resist stopping for a guitar, even in challenging condition, and when I took a look was surprised to find it was, apart from missing veneer, broken machine heads and strap pegs, pretty much repairable.

And it has VOX embossed pickups!

I've tried to find an example of a Vox 12 string Rickenbacker clone without success so I assume these have been taken off another guitar, and this is a homebuilt guitar.

Anyhow, Ive replaced the machine head with some fairly similar to the remaining broken ones I took off, sanded off all the remaining horrid red varnish, removed the old veneer and re-veneered (some issues), replaced the nut (needs some work) and put it all back together.

What I need help with is a possible wiring diagram. I'm planning on removing all the old uninsulated wire and replacing, but some parts are already loose and I'm struggling to work out how to put it back together. Electronics are not my forte! I can't find a suitable diagram or even photograph on the web so I thought I might ask here. I know it's not VG but I'm aware of the massive pool of knowledge on the forum on all things luthier and thought it was worth a shout.

Thanks in advance, Roland

vtgearhead

Quote from: rolfay on March 24, 2020, 04:31:40 AM
Hi there, I'll come to the point, I'm after a bit of help. I'm in the process of partially rebuilding the guitar below. Someone had made a start on modifying it, got as far as stripping off some of the old dark red varnished veneer and then given it up as a bad job and left it out for the bin men. I can never resist stopping for a guitar, even in challenging condition, and when I took a look was surprised to find it was, apart from missing veneer, broken machine heads and strap pegs, pretty much repairable.

And it has VOX embossed pickups!

I've tried to find an example of a Vox 12 string Rickenbacker clone without success so I assume these have been taken off another guitar, and this is a homebuilt guitar.

Anyhow, Ive replaced the machine head with some fairly similar to the remaining broken ones I took off, sanded off all the remaining horrid red varnish, removed the old veneer and re-veneered (some issues), replaced the nut (needs some work) and put it all back together.

What I need help with is a possible wiring diagram. I'm planning on removing all the old uninsulated wire and replacing, but some parts are already loose and I'm struggling to work out how to put it back together. Electronics are not my forte! I can't find a suitable diagram or even photograph on the web so I thought I might ask here. I know it's not VG but I'm aware of the massive pool of knowledge on the forum on all things luthier and thought it was worth a shout.

Thanks in advance, Roland

Interesting instrument, but almost certainly a 100% custom build.  No way do I buy that neck or body being Rickenbacker products.

admin

#12

gumbo

Read slower!!!   ....I'm typing as fast as I can...

rolfay