Electric Guitar Kits Okoume wood Body maple neck & composite ebony fingerboard

This is a surprisingly nice kit for the price. I ordered the variation with the white pickguard even though I thought the black pickguard looked better because the illustration for the black pickguard kit showed a standard three saddle tele bridge. The white pickguard showed a 6 saddle bridge. So I waited to see which would be in the box when it came but it was exactly as illustrated. I had already planned to spend a few more bucks on an upgrade bridge but now I don't have to. I haven't assembled the kit yet but it looks like everything lines up very nicely. The neck fits snug but not too snug in the pocket. Even the holes for the pick guards seem to be lined up correctly on a casual observation. I've had more than one kit experience where that wasn't the case. The synthetic ebony fingerboard is glossy and hard. I think I'm going to find it to be an enjoyable surface to play on. The only reason I went four stars instead of five is because the body was surprisingly heavy to me. Okoume it's supposed to be a fairly light wood, so the fact that it feels heavy and dense gives me at least a little bit of concern that it might not be fully dry. Of course if there's any shrinking or cracking I won't know that for at least a year so I didn't want to hold up the review for that. Edit: as you can see from the picture I added this is now finished. I am even more impressed now than I was initially and increased my review from 4 to 5 stars. The okoume wood is quite beautiful, and this kit had none of the nightmare stories I hear about from other kits. All of the holes were properly aligned. All of the screws survived their initial tightening just fine. The hardware, while obviously generic as you would expect on such an inexpensive kit, is actually not bad. The guitar sounds good. Better than I expected to be perfectly honest. After I live with it for a while I may decide to upgrade things but honestly I can live with this just as it is. I expected to pick ups to be thin and ratty but they're not. My only complaint in the whole thing is that the bridge does not have enough range of adjustment for the intonation. It would be nice if they added a second shorter set of saddle screws but I was able to just get it intonated. If I hadn't been able to I could have just got out the table vice and the hacksaw and cut a centimeter off the screw. I also needed to dress the ends of the frets, but I've never bought a sub $200 guitar that was already assembled that didn't need the answer of the frets dressed, so again that to me is perfectly par for the price point. Very very happy with the purchase and very pleased with the way it turned out.

It is a simple, well-made kit and a value for the price. This is unlike the first Stratocaster kit I built from another vendor. The directions were clear and accurate and available for download from their website. The directions aren't clear on the string trees, but you can find that out easy enough. You could probably build it from the video alone. The wiring does not need soldering, there are plugs. The body and neck were well made and all of the predrilled. holes were aligned for the parts. There are no rough edges on the frets. My pickguard is black even though the directions and pictures show it white. I prefer the black. I wanted a kit to paint but it would have looked good natural or stained. I used auto touch-up paint using a Chevy color from a 1958 Bel Air with a Spraymax 2k polyurethane clear coat. I lined the cavities with copper foil tape and used D'Addario self-trimming locking tuners. I used the strings that came with it but will upgrade them to D'Addario NYXL strings. I think it sounds great with the cheap strings. The tone control is so-so. It met the purpose well.

Bought this when it was $109 w/free shipping. Might buy again at $109, but probably not at $139, as it was recently listed. It was fun to put together and I learned a lot. Had to study up on how to paint/finish it, and enjoyed that. Came out quite nice I think. I would get the flying v version if it were cheaper and not $29.99 to ship. Pros: Neck was great. No sharp frets at all, edges of fretboard were flawless, nice satin finish, nice headstock. Frets were a little gritty, but not a big deal, it played itself out. Body was nicely done, cut, routed, etc. Nice three-ply pickguard. Easy to assemble. Instructions provided but almost not needed. Tuners are fine, no complaints there and no problems tuning or staying in tune. Cons: Nut is WAY too high, making open chords ridiculously out of tune. This would be an easy fix for some, but not for me, as I don't know how to file down a nut and would't have the tools even if I did. Tone control was non-functional. I upgraded the entire control plate, but had to enlarge the cavity to make it fit. High e-string tends to slip off fretboard at first two frets, but this began only after I upgraded the bridge and changed strings, it was not happening with the original bridge (maybe someone who knows more than me can offer some insight to this). Pre-drilled holes for neck joint were slightly out of square but it put together okay regardless. Pre-drilled holes for bridge were slightly angled, so bridge is not quite parallel to neck. Screws for jack plate are threatening to fall out but haven't yet. Biggest problem is my own inexperience with setting action/intonation. I raised the action and adjusted truss road to eliminate fret buzz, but action is too high now. I should have leveled the frets before assembling, but I didn't know any better at the time. All in all, if I can get the action down and eliminate the fret buzz, I'll be happy. However, if I had to do it all over, I think I'd buy my own parts and not go with a kit. Final note, if you want a good-looking finish, you can expect to spend at least another $50 or more.

I just finished assembling and setting it up. It took about an hour to assemble and a couple more hours to do set up. I’m playing it now until I take it apart to paint it when the weather is warmer. Over all, it’s much more than I was expecting for $85. Instructions were very good, the holes were accurate, and I like that they put a light coat of lacquer on it so I can play it until I finish it. The neck alignment to the strings from the predrilled holes was a little off but doesn’t affect playability. It’s holding tune. Top strings are a little dull but I’ll put good ones on after I finish it and check the nut grooves. The bridge saddles didn’t have enough adjustment for setting intonation. I’ve never seen bridge posts that didn’t thread through the saddle. I was able to shorten the bolts with a Dremel cutting wheel to get the intonation set. Third and fifth frets were still a tiny bit off from open strings better after tuning to the fifth fret. Neck didn’t need any adjustment and I liked having connectors between the pickups and controls. I’d buy another kit like this any day.

3mo. update; The good with this kit is that you can put this together in an hour or two and have an electric guitar to plug in and play. Other than a good neck joint, that's the end of the good news. 2 real shortcomings with my kit were the nut height, way to high, and the weight of the body, to light, causing neck dive, 2 problems that really would cause a beginner problems. Other notable problems, the saddle adjustment screws (for intonation) on the bass side were too short for proper adjustment. I cut them off and carefully re-threaded them. I kept the original bridge after that and got the grounding wire nice and flat. I replaced the pickups and wow what a difference. I spent $99 on real Fender Tex-Mex single coils, really nice sound now. I polished the frets and smoothed the sides of them too. After putting more time in it I'm pretty happy with it outside of the neck dive. Pls see other positives and negatives below and best of luck! Just finished mine and I like it but there are some important things to know or consider. The neck and body are mostly ok and fit together well (most important). The body had a couple issues, first the neck pickup cavity was not deep enough or the pickup screws were too long. The seller did send shorter ones right along. another body problem was the jack plate connection, which was flat on the body but the plate had a curve. eventually I'll replace it. There is also alot of sealant on the body, just be informed if your going to re finish it, otherwise the body/neck is good. Hardware is so/so. Tuners had noticeable slop and felt like plastic, I bought some metal locking tuners on the cheap but they're better and dropped right in. The bridge seemed good but after it's all together it's buzzing a bit, I have to look at that, probably replace it too. The rest of the hardware is ok, including the pickups, ok but not great, it's pretty inexpensive so. Assembly; you COULD just put this together and play it. Everything is well packaged, instructions are ok. 1 failure is there are string trees included but no pilot holes and no mention in the instructions. Another hiccup I had was I wanted the black pickguard but ordered the white accidently. The seller provided me a link to buy one of their pickguards and I was fine with that, knowing it would fit. Problem was that front pickup would not fit into it and the seller was adamant that it would. I returned it and I'll pick up a black or whatever in the future. Playability as a kit, the nut was twice as high as it should be making it difficult, especially for a beginner. The neck relief and string height needed big adjustments. Fortunately the instructions tell you how to make adjustments but don't give you the parameters. I already replaced the nut with a real one, not plastic and I have my eye on some real pickups. The guitar looks good and because I understand the basics of guitar set-up it plays well. Have fun with it and watch some videos if you want to make more of it, it's a good place to start.

Ok... had a blast putting this altogether! Well worth the cost!!! It was my first ever guitar build eventhough I did not make anything I assembled I still call it a build... that said... this guitar is perfect for any beginner builder or player but if you have played for a long time there are a few issues that you should expect when you compare this kit to a completely finished purchase from a music store or online factory made name brand guitar.. 1 it is a light weight wood that for some may feel good! But I did not like the head stock out weighing the body and diving on me.. electronics work!!! And are very easy to install and connect!!! Sound is unique but the pots are not very dynamic as you would expect from other more expensive kits or name brands so I will be upgrading electronics at some point. Tuners work!!! But are suspect... a little twerking to get strings set up but that was why I purchased this model or a kit to start with. So all and all worth it!! But if you have very high expectations spend the money for a little better wood than the body of this guitar has... if you are looking to learn more about how to build or take care of a guitar and want an easy easy easy build that totally is playable and gives you a chance to experience and grow a better knowledge of this type of musical instrument. This is ideal... fyi... I added custom leather and copper rivets to this guitar to add the weight I needed to get the body to out weight the headstock for balance and a bass bridge cover ..

It's far better than I expected for the price, overall I am very pleased with it. I expected to have to adjust the neck, but it's straight from side to side, it did not need to be shimmed to raise it up or down, and the action did not need to be adjusted. The machines are of better quality than I expected, and the nut is well cut. All the screw holes are pre-drilled, except for the string retainers on the head, and all of the screw holes are in the right places. I didn't install the string retainers, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. I wanted something basic to play, and the finish on the body and neck, which is mostly sealer, seemed fine to me. The strings are not great, but they are all right, and if you don't like them, you can always buy better. the electrical parts go together with connectors, and soldering is not necessary. A cable is even included. I went to Walmart and got a stand and a guitar strap. I downloaded the Fender tuning app on to my phone to get it in tune. I ordered Fender strings, but I haven't put them on yet.

I'll go into all the details so you know what you are getting into: Everything came god, all the pieces in different little bags with their correspondent screws, making it super easy to organize. The instructions are vague, but the YT content for DIY kits is infinite so nothing bad about that. The body was good, needs sanding and don't skip on this. The edges on the top arround the area where the body makes contact with the neck where rough, like they where cut with a saw, but took 1 minute with some 120 to get it smooth and then rounded it with finer sandpaper. Also on the top section I had to sand the borders a bit to get them smooth rounded like the rest of the body. I went with a reliq type finish with some stain and polyurethane finish. The neck was incredibly good, smooth and shiny from the get go and no fret edges, if you really want a high end instrument you'll need to do a fret leveling, but out of the box is usable. The included strings, and tuners are absolute trash would not even recommend installing them and just buy some strings and cheap locking tuners (I got a set for $20 on Aliexpress), I was expecting this of course so it wasn't a problem for me. I never tried the included pickups and knobs cause I installed other ones, that means I was prepared to do some soldering, but if you are not, I advice you to, my factory electronics where messed up, the volume and tone pots where reversed. I know some people like Audio/Taper pots on tone, but linear pots on volume will mess up your control of it. I'll asume this was a mess up in QC, but so much for "solderless" if that's the case. It's not adviced, but the string tree's holes are not donne, you'll have to make them yourself. Didn't see this in the description. I had fun making it, even took the liberty to use some shotgun shell as the knobs. The reason I'm taking one star out of it...the nut is total garbage, I know in all the factory guitars can use a better nut and everything, but in this case the holes are done so poorly that the high strings sound muffled. Seems from the reviews that I was unlucky on this but well, some work to do, some fun to have.

Very nice looking kit, can’t wait to get it assembled.