Hey yall! I wanted to ask the experts on this board a few questions regarding DIY guitar kits.
For background, I've played guitar for about 20 years, but my heaviest years of playing were from 06-12. I did some minor gigging/recording, but those days are long gone. Nowadays, I'm more of a campfire guitarist. I just learn a few songs for family get-togethers. Recently, I have had a renewed interest in playing my Les Paul-style axe, and I have the setup and the time to commit to it a little bit more than I did in the past.
Anyway, I've always wanted a strat-style, but I've never had the cash to spend on a new guitar. I've had the same guitars since 04-05 when my parents purchased them for me. However, what's intrigued me recently are these DIY guitar kits. It seems that they are reasonable, some have decent reviews, and the prospect of putting a guitar together and being able to play it sounds exciting. I'm really into cooking, so it's a similar high to me.
It also seems a little intimidating. I wouldn't want to spend a few hundred only to not be able to put the thing together.
- How much expertise do you need to put together one of these kits? I'm obviously not a luthier, so I don't want to have to do any fret leveling or major soldering (minor is okay, I could figure it out). In a perfect world, I'd be able to screw the parts together and be good to go, but I'm not sure how reasonable that is.
- Any recommendations for brands to look at? Brands to avoid? Any specific kit recommendations would be great.
- There's also an aspect to this of saving money. Seems to me that they are taking out a lot of the work of putting the guitar together, so I hope (perhaps naively) that the parts I can get are of high quality. But, if the parts aren't any better than what I could get purchasing an already-built guitar for the same price, then obviously at that point it's not worth it to me.
Any overall advice, even if it's to deter me, is sincerely appreciated. I'm intentionally leaving the budget out because this is still hypothetical. I'm just here to learn. Thank you!