GUITAR BUILD KITS: ARE THEY WORTH IT? A GUITAR TEACHER’S OPINION

A popular buy amongst guitar enthusiasts are the self-build guitar kits. For those unfamiliar they contain the neck/head and body of a guitar (different styles available) as well as all of the electronics to build your own guitar.  They often need painted and it’s up to the builder to put everything together to make a functional and usable guitar.

What’s my thoughts on self-build guitar kits?

Hmmm, in theory I like the idea.  Not everyone has the tools, know-how and ability to craft a guitar from scratch.  They may also not have the knowledge to know what to buy when it comes to the electronics.  They also offer the builder the opportunity to personalise their guitar in whichever way they like.  These are all good things.

The downsides are the kits are often pretty cheaply made.  The wood is usually cheap, the electronics (pickups and wiring) are usually cheap and so the overall finish can often (not always) look and sound a bit cheap.

If you like the idea of a self-build kit I think you can do it another way which will give you the quality as well as the experience of building your own.  There are a lot of online second hand sites that allow you to buy a quality body/neck of a guitar.  Imagine you wanted to build a Fender Telecaster style guitar.  You could go to Ebay (other online sites available) and search for a Telecaster body that you could use as your starting point.   You could then search for a neck – rosewood, roasted maple, walnut, swamp ash etc.  It could be a cheaper replica neck if you’re looking to keep costs low.

You could then do some research on pickups and do a search for those pickups second hand.  Often they will include the wiring needed for the body.  You then only need tuners, control knobs and a pickup selector switch.  You can still get the body of whatever guitar you buy painted a colour of your choice and you still get the experience of building your own guitar.  Yes, it may cost slightly more and it will undoubtedly require more research to get the parts you need; but I think it’s a great half way house between the cheap self-build kits and just buying a guitar as normal.

I think if you do a good amount of research and your patient and savvy with what you spend you can get a belter of a guitar for a reasonable price.  Have a think about it and keep rockin’