on June 25, 2024

"Fantastic value, but takes good tools and a lot of work to get a good result!I bought this for the price, praying that the neck would just be straight enough, and the body well executed enough, to be correctable to a high standard of performance. The short version: without buying ALL of the tools necessary for complete set-up (nut files, fret leveling beam, all the fret and fret leveling tools for set-up), wooden shims for the neck/body joint, etc. etc. etc.) I would not have been able to get ...

"Fantastic value, but takes good tools and a lot of work to get a good result!I bought this for the price, praying that the neck would just be straight enough, and the body well executed enough, to be correctable to a high standard of performance. The short version: without buying ALL of the tools necessary for complete set-up (nut files, fret leveling beam, all the fret and fret leveling tools for set-up), wooden shims for the neck/body joint, etc. etc. etc.) I would not have been able to get a good final result. Biggest problems: warped/uneven neck, seating very high on one side (higher on the treble and stock side than the rest of the neck); holes in fretboard; rough and uneven frets (to be expected, but not really apt to be playable with normal (3/32) action height even with warped neck/fretboard issue resolved without totally filing all the frets, total set-up). Biggest plusses: holes in neck/body basically line up well; tuning machine holes even, easy to install tuners; neck situation overall OK once shimming was done; body cleaner than expected, happy to be able to get mahogany at such a low price; no parts missing, all the electronics worked (with the exception of the pickups, which I can't speak to because I never wired them up, just went straight to changing them out). You don't have to be a luthier to get a $700-retail-rung result as far as playability with this kit, but if you don't have all the tools already you will end up paying $700, at least, by the time you're done putting together all the parts and tools needed to get to that result. I actually am very happy with the price, value, and result. It's just probably a proper public service to detail all this so that unsuspecting people know at least this much, or could, before buying.