Thomann guitar kit thread built you own axe for £65

easyrider

easyrider

easyrider

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If you are a guitar fan what's not to like....you get a personilsed guitar and satisfaction of making something

I'm going for the SG...Ray is going for the tele...

SG

Tele

Strat

LP

Would be cool to have people's build logs and finished guitars to compare...come on its only 60 quid :D
 
Well i'm building my own Tele at the moment but it's from various sources, does that count? =)

I have to say though those kits look tempting at that price, as long as you don't mind a bit of fettling once it is built.
 
Tk7 said:
Well i'm building my own Tele at the moment but it's from various sources, does that count? =)

I have to say though those kits look tempting at that price, as long as you don't mind a bit of fettling once it is built.
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You've got a log haven't you ? :)
 
Wow, I hardly play but that looks very cool. Presumably the hardest bit is getting it painted up, though I suppose you could just not bother.
 
easyrider said:
You've got a log haven't you ? :)
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I'll pop some stuff in here then, quite excited about it but I only have a few bits so far. Body will come at the end of the month.

Vonhelmet, there's a few less tricky finishes that one could use. Something like teak oil can go over bare wood, you wouldn't even need grain filler or any other sort of prep, just bare sanded wood. Just wipe it on, wipe excess off, repeat many times.

You'd really need some sort of finish to the wood to protect from dirt, moisture etc.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Wow, I hardly play but that looks very cool. Presumably the hardest bit is getting it painted up, though I suppose you could just not bother.
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You can just stain it with or just apply bees wax may be? Natural wood is cool in a way.

I mean I paid more for lego so for £50 and if you can get it to work in the end, the satisfaction itself would be worth it I think, plus you get to learn how to put together a guitar.
 
Thanks for this, perfectly priced for a first guitar build project. Will buy a kit in the next month or two once my new house extension is all finished, as I'll have dedicated space to work on it! :D
 
EvilGrin said:
Thanks for this, perfectly priced for a first guitar build project. Will buy a kit in the next month or two once my new house extension is all finished, as I'll have dedicated space to work on it! :D
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Lol, I just had a house offer accepted last week, so will probably start this when that has completed.

£49 is great price to learn about guitar making, part of me wants to upgrade it and make it better but it really is pointless. I'll be totally amazed if it works first time ! lol

Going to sand down the body a bit too for a little contour going.
 
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Wow, you can get a flying V or a bass, even.

Reviews aren't exactly glowing. Pickups and machine heads seem to be a weak point, but I guess you can replace those easily enough.
 
It's a bolt on neck so nothing a bit of rizla paper and a turn of the truss rod won't fix...

Unless the neck is twisted then...send it back and get another.
 
Hmmmm, I make my own electrics and the odd commission if a friend really wants one. Its a minimum of £500 for decent woods plus hardware at cost, plus then 100 to 200 hours of work depending on finish and spec.

Saying that for the money and 30 hours of assembly and finishing time, those look like they could be great fun.

Don't underestimate how much it will cost to get the tools and materials (oils at this price e.g. wudtone) needed to finish the thing though to a playable standard. Even on a budget you will need £100 worth and that's using toolstation or screwfix rather than the luthier suppliers.

So with the HB kits you need to make sure that the truss rods work before attaching the neck, then when you do attach especially on the LP and SG, glue them in as well as bolt through. The electrics will be very average but functional. I spend more on my wire, jack socket, capacitor, switch and pots for a guitar than those whole HB kits cost.
 
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No doubt, if it works then I'll be over the moon.

I thought about getting a proper proper kit, alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, locking tuners, Fender noiseless pickups, but it adds up to about £400 in parts which defeats the entire purpose of "just want to learn".

I will probably buy a proper telecaster at some point, this will be interesting as a project, I think the knowledge gained from putting it together will be worth £50.

Much safer testing the water with one of these kit as opposed to wrecking something in the PRS/Gibson/Taylor trying to learn about guitars, the damage done to those will be far greater than £50.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
No doubt, if it works then I'll be over the moon.

I thought about getting a proper proper kit, alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, locking tuners, Fender noiseless pickups, but it adds up to about £400 in parts which defeats the entire purpose of "just want to learn".

I will probably buy a proper telecaster at some point, this will be interesting as a project, I think the knowledge gained from putting it together will be worth £50.

Much safer testing the water with one of these kit as opposed to wrecking something in the PRS/Gibson/Taylor trying to learn about guitars, the damage done to those will be far greater than £50.
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The tele kit is the one to go for out of all those, if you need any help mate just drop me an email.

Just getting a pack of reasonably expensive quality parts doesn't guarantee compatibility or quality either.

Ok, something like a warmoth neck and body will go together 99% of the time without having to work on the neck heal, or neck pocket and the frets will be pretty much perfect. Or proper official fender replacement parts, but these normally still need a bit of effort to set up, however you could buy an as new american strat for less than going kit form for a parts kit worth having.

Get yourself an antec soldering iron if you haven't already got one. Soldering with a decent iron that outputs its actual spec wattage makes a massive difference. Don't skimp on solder quality either.

The only downside of the HB kit is that it is pre sealed wood so will take an hour to sand back if you want to use oils for the finish. I wouldn't recommend lacquer for a home project plus the cost to set up a usable and safe spraying rig is £££. If sanding back, Mirka Mirox 240 grit paper is the best stuff you can easily get (toolstation).

Oil finishes are also very easy to re-finish if they get damaged. Dented wood can be heat steamed to remove dents (you may find the HB kit needs a bit of prep like this).

There are a number of guitar building / luthier books you can buy. Will cost you circa £40 for the key 3 ones off amazon and they will be all you ever need to build and set up guitars, providing you have some basic craftsman skills.
 
Scrutinize said:
The tele kit is the one to go for out of all those, if you need any help mate just drop me an email.

Just getting a pack of reasonably expensive quality parts doesn't guarantee compatibility or quality either.

Ok, something like a warmoth neck and body will go together 99% of the time without having to work on the neck heal, or neck pocket and the frets will be pretty much perfect. Or proper official fender replacement parts, but these normally still need a bit of effort to set up, however you could buy an as new american strat for less than going kit form for a parts kit worth having.

Get yourself an antec soldering iron if you haven't already got one. Soldering with a decent iron that outputs its actual spec wattage makes a massive difference. Don't skimp on solder quality either.

The only downside of the HB kit is that it is pre sealed wood so will take an hour to sand back if you want to use oils for the finish. I wouldn't recommend lacquer for a home project plus the cost to set up a usable and safe spraying rig is £££. If sanding back, Mirka Mirox 240 grit paper is the best stuff you can easily get (toolstation).

Oil finishes are also very easy to re-finish if they get damaged. Dented wood can be heat steamed to remove dents (you may find the HB kit needs a bit of prep like this).

There are a number of guitar building / luthier books you can buy. Will cost you circa £40 for the key 3 ones off amazon and they will be all you ever need to build and set up guitars, providing you have some basic craftsman skills.
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The tele is the one i am going for. I will have it next few weeks but doubt i can begin until the summer as I plan to move house, new place will have more space so will wait until I am settled down before starting the project.

I totally agree that a natural finish/stain would be easiest finish to go for, don't think i will even attempt a lacquer finish, it's just way too many tools and chemicals required. I really just want to make a guitar using the smallest budget in parts and tools, its all about the learning experience, less of the final product. In a way, it might be interesting to see how little tools one will actually need to make a guitar.
 
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