Trev Wilkinson Guitar kits

paulnb57

These look pretty good kits from Wilkinson….on sale soon apparently….

https://youtu.be/AcM54PJIIag

BillDL

I wonder how many other kits for sale by different retailers and under different brands are made by HMI (Harmony Musical Instruments), Chennai, India?  Trevor Wilkinson has certainly been instrumental in breathing a new life into other brands like Encore, and developing new ones like Vintage for John Hornby Skewes and his own Fret King brand (now owned by JHS), so I'm pretty sure he will have taken a lot of time to choose his OEM factory carefully.

His pricing is crucial.  Given that he is including Wilkinson hardware and pickups, he is clearly aiming the kits at those who will be far less likely to feel any need to factor in additional costs for upgrades, so he will be able to market them as "premium" kits.  If he can undercut companies like Crimson that sell "premium" kits for quite a lot of money it should be a success and I would be very interested in buying one or more.

sixstringsupplies

I saw these at the London International Guitar show last month and noticed the electronics were top quality - CRL/CTS/Switchcraft etc...

Whether or not that was done by the company at the show or that is what comes in the kits I'm not sure.

paulnb57

I only watched a bit of the video, he waxes lyrical the quality of the hardwear, CTS pots, CRL switch, Wilkinson hardwear including his “Platinum” pickups, which are apparently not available separately and that there should be no need to upgrade parts, he hinted the price would be around 450 £/$ not too bad a price really, considering its a 2 piece American Alder body, 1 piece Maple neck etc

GSPBASSES

Well, that's fucked it, if anybody has been in correspondence with me lately or seen some of my comments, you would've seen, I was offering more or less exactly the same kit. A few differences, the most obvious one is on my neck's and bodies are made my by me, know CNC, no importing bodies and neck's in from the Far East. I was offering all Wilkinson hardware as per his kits, possibly different pick ups. But I was also offering a major upgrade on the pick ups by having a choice of either Bare Knuckle or Oil City. Most of the neck's I supply have Rosewood finger boards, also a choice of roasted maple with a Rosewood fingerboard. And of course, I was offering Thinline TC or F hole TC, with a choice of a frame Maple cap. I will most likely still offer these kits in the future, but offering a choice of body and necks woods to make mine slightly different, they won't come in a fancy box. At least I've still got one over him that I offer Gibson style guitars kits. Early next year, I will be have some full fat Les Paul standard style kits available. Of course, I'll still be offering in the style of Flying V, Explorers, SG's, Thunderbirds, PBasses, Jazz Basses well, basically anything you can think of.

BillDL

Aaah, I must have missed the price guide while skipping through the video (will watch it in full later).  That takes it to somewhere around £150 less than a Player Telecaster and you then need to add the costs for finishing it.  It's highly likely to easily as good as if not better than a Player Telecaster if finished well, but that's an awkward price for me to consider because if I was going to spend that amount it's almost to the stage where I would probably be considering a 2nd hand Telecaster from a higher price bracket or a high quality tele copy, and I would most likely be finishing a kit of that quality in fairly standard colours anyway.

paulnb57

GSPBASSES said:

Well, that's fucked it, if anybody has been in correspondence with me lately or seen some of my comments, you would've seen, I was offering more or less exactly the same kit. A few differences, the most obvious one is on my neck's and bodies are made my by me, know CNC, no importing bodies and neck's in from the Far East. I was offering all Wilkinson hardware as per his kits, possibly different pick ups. But I was also offering a major upgrade on the pick ups by having a choice of either Bare Knuckle or Oil City. Most of the neck's I supply have Rosewood finger boards, also a choice of roasted maple with a Rosewood fingerboard. And of course, I was offering Thinline TC or F hole TC, with a choice of a frame Maple cap. I will most likely still offer these kits in the future, but offering a choice of body and necks woods to make mine slightly different, they won't come in a fancy box. At least I've still got one over him that I offer Gibson style guitars kits. Early next year, I will be have some full fat Les Paul standard style kits available. Of course, I'll still be offering in the style of Flying V, Explorers, SG's, Thunderbirds, PBasses, Jazz Basses well, basically anything you can think of.

I would choose your offerings without hesitation Graham

GSPBASSES

paulnb57 said:

GSPBASSES said:

Well, that's fucked it, if anybody has been in correspondence with me lately or seen some of my comments, you would've seen, I was offering more or less exactly the same kit. A few differences, the most obvious one is on my neck's and bodies are made my by me, know CNC, no importing bodies and neck's in from the Far East. I was offering all Wilkinson hardware as per his kits, possibly different pick ups. But I was also offering a major upgrade on the pick ups by having a choice of either Bare Knuckle or Oil City. Most of the neck's I supply have Rosewood finger boards, also a choice of roasted maple with a Rosewood fingerboard. And of course, I was offering Thinline TC or F hole TC, with a choice of a frame Maple cap. I will most likely still offer these kits in the future, but offering a choice of body and necks woods to make mine slightly different, they won't come in a fancy box. At least I've still got one over him that I offer Gibson style guitars kits. Early next year, I will be have some full fat Les Paul standard style kits available. Of course, I'll still be offering in the style of Flying V, Explorers, SG's, Thunderbirds, PBasses, Jazz Basses well, basically anything you can think of.

I would choose your offerings without hesitation Graham

Thank you for that, it's nice to know my work is appreciated.

normula1

Me too, the Strat neck and hardtail body I got from you turned into one of my go to guitars.

paulnb57

@GSPBASSES ;

pm’d

I need a project

gavin_axecaster

OK, only watched the first minute or so and have to comment.

Tele headstock is a bit too close imo. I highly doubt Fender/their lawyers will say the shape is different enough to not cause confusion.

That said Stew Mac has had these kits on sale for a few years now with no issues afaik.

https://www.stewmac.com/kits-and-projects/instrument-kits/electric-guitar-kits/wilkinson-modern-t-guitar-kit

HMI is iirc an Indian company. - I looked into them when I first saw these kits on StewMac.

£450 isn't bad if the body and neck are sound - everything else looks good quality (no idea about the pickups though).

Wilkinson hardware is no longer a budget brand - the price increases for trade over the last 2 years have been eye-watering, especially for the machine heads.

gavin_axecaster

Actually the retail price seems to be a bit better than I assumed. (How weird that Scan is the first place to have them listed in the UK. Are they going to be sold elsewhere I wonder?)

https://www.scan.co.uk/shop-by-brand/wilkinson-guitar