Guitar Nerds Anonymous

YES

I want to get one of those DIY make your own strat kits, has anyone done these before?
Any recommendations of which one to get, which wood for the body etc?
Any good mod ideas?
(this is partly inspired by Joe's mosrite copy)

I have been, and would be, very tempted to go for one of those cheap Chinese kits and then put all the hardware in yourself...

How spendy do you wanna get? Finished body and neck?

All Parts can be quite pricey but you're guaranteed decent quality, Chinese stuff is super cheap but you don't know what you're gonna get... Warmoth are quite a lot cheaper... Anything like those guys in the UK?

I want a finished neck, but I might get someone I know to put a sweet fade on the body so happy to do that bit myself.

Not spendy at all really, I might get a cheap chinese kit then upgrade as I experiment?
I'll look up warmoth and see what they have.

This place looks alright...

http://www.wdmusic.co.uk

@n3il If you fancy a cut above the Harley Benton kits etc, this guy's worth keeping an eye on. Does the woodwork himself.

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/75051/part-casters-for-sale#latest

Those look nice! Perhaps a little above my budget, and more than I could do justice to as well at the moment.

But they're so cheap! Is that £180 for neck and body?

I think so. Here's more. http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/42031/two-part-caster-for-sale#latest

are all hollowbodies/semi hollow bodies made the same way ie loads carved out then a top stuck on?
Or can they do some kind of hollowing out using a router?

Don't think you can hollow out much of a solidbody at all without sticking on a top (or a back). You can do a bit and hide it with the scratchplate - google smuggler's tele.

thats interesting. I guess anything with a big scratchplate would be good for that, to hide the holes.

Ok, now my casino list has morphed into a hankering to try A Riviera P93 with THREE p90s and a Bigsby. Mental.,

I've built a 'saga' tele which are the generic cheapo Chinese ones... kind of a waste of time - the body is actually ok - it's a c.5 piece with incredible thick sealer on it. The neck you'd bin and you'd have to replace the hardware; overall fun, but not worth the effort you'd put into finishing it.

I think Precision and Warmoth are probably the best ones if you want to end up with something decent, but they're a bit spendy.

Ben Crowe at Crimson guitars was making a big deal of making kit guitars and separate bodies / necks a while back but I think has scaled back on the idea - he might be worth hitting up though, he often does them in fairly interesting British woods.

If you're just looking for a body, perhaps somewhere like guitarfetish might be a reasonable place to go. You'd probably get stung for import tax, but they're pretty reasonable (and often finished!). A while back they bought a massive factory of old bodies from somewhere and were selling them off very cheaply.

In the past I've picked up a MIJ body on ebay for about £30 (it was a few years ago mind) and stripped and re-finished it.

here's the guitar fetish link: http://www.guitarfetish.com/Factory-Buyout-Clearance-Sale_c_410.html

I'm sure they're not amazing quality bodies, but for $30... soak them in nitromors for a couple of hours and you'd be ready to go...

I think I might see a local joiner about getting some wood and try routing the whole thing myself.

If you go that way, I have strat and tele templates. Happy to do you a copy.

Also, the wood will need to have been kept fairly dry for a reasonable length of time. It might be worth talking to a luthier supplier - I've used David Dyke for wood.

Thanks, that might be what I need.
The wood guys I know are all pretty pro so I think they should be able to supply something good. I'm yet to read up on the merits of each wood though, something for the weekend!

so tempted...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Epiphone-Riviera-P93-goldtop-with-Epiphone-hardcase-/291776784338?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368

So cheap, do it...

Ooooh, I'm seriously thinking of doing a tele body, you haz template?

I haz indeed - body and neck. I've also got a strat. And a firebird if you're feeling ambitious. Happy to knock out an mdf copy if you're interested. My workspace is sheeted up for lacquering at the minute, but I should be done with that in a couple of weeks....

Here's the one I'm doing at the minute - i think someone uppage was talking about hollowed guitars. I'm struggling to work out how to upload pictures properly...

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6h0Z9zCht3s/VmB5rFbN_sI/AAAAAAAAAF4/uBzOcEJENGI/s1600/IMAG1628.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8mHItCbuZwk/Vy9Ao28HBAI/AAAAAAAAA-c/q2b5TDNpVCoN0o3PdTrqO_m9p6Py9TkIwCK4B/s1600/IMAG2713.jpg

And it will have one of these necks, probably the birds eye:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ryDa5XYKXgU/VzeTs8qI_wI/AAAAAAAABAI/eL5P2TcMHdsZn8DaP3pPyqcVE3Byovd2wCK4B/s1600/IMAG2731.jpg

I'm no connoisseur but for affordable, really nice Fender-types you can't go far wrong with the Squier Classic Vibe series imo. I've got a P bass and a Tele, bought for around £200 s/h each and they're really really nice.

Similarly, I've got a Squier Vintage Mod Cabronita Tele, it's lovely