Building a ‘Kit’ guitar?

Crazyblue1779

My missus got me one of those kit guitars for Xmas and I’m hoping to start building it soon. 

I’ve absolutely naff all experience or skill with woodworking ( this one needs the headstock cut and neck mounting holes drilled etc). I do have a couple of more skilled people on hand for the very complicated stuff, but I want to do as much as I can myself. 

Has anyone built one of these? Any tips/advice?

All input is welcome! 

Switch625

No advice but please do take lots of pics and show us your progress as you go along. Will be interested to see the before and after (and in between).

Lesgrandepotato

Take your time. It’s pretty straightforward. When I built my thinline tele I popped a couple of strings on. Helps to line up the neck. 

Sassafras

Youtube tutorials can help.

TTony

If you move this to the "making & modding" section, there's a lot of people in there who've done something similar, encountered all the problems that you inevitably will and - this is the important bit - can help you fix those problems!

SteveRobinson

I documented the one I put together with my daughter and her friend way back in 2003 here 
https://manchesterguitartech.co.uk/2011/05/01/building-a-saga-tc-10-part-1-preparation/

Roland

This thread links to several kit builds https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/139711/q418-challenge-build-an-item-of-musical-equipment-from-a-kit

Georg_Figel

the website that sells these kits might have detailed instructions. But in general, watching a few youtube tutorials will help

Winny_Pooh

Ask questions as you go along. Oil finishes are quite stupid proof.

Teletastic

Take your time. I was once told ‘You haven’t got time to do it quickly’

Flip

I'm currently building my third kit, though none of them requires me to cut the headstock unless (as I did) you want a fancy shape. If that's what you mean, I offer you either of my build blogs at  Building a guitar (kitguitarbuilder.blogspot.com) and Building a bass guitar (secondkitguitarbuild.blogspot.com).

My current project is a strat style kit. Although it will be (to the best of my ability) properly playable (like the PRS style and the Mustang-style bass) the body is also a canvas for my artist wife who plans to treat both front and back to her poured acrylic treatment.

How she'll deal with the edge is open for ideas but one is to paint an illusion of the body splitting apart with an orange core or alternatively I'll get it back to create a genuine carved split. The blog for the new project is at Building a Strat-style guitar kit (guitar2build.blogspot.com).

I'm not an expert woodworker but I did find that patience in the preparation stage and in the staining/varnishing stages was well-repaid.

Hope that helps.