So the guitar kit arrived:
… now what?
My daytime job’s description is “Analyst”. Well, so go to work, Mr. Analyst 🙂
First step: assessment.
So what have I got here?
The obvious parts – a body:
… and a neck:
plus the hardware necessary to complete the guitar, even including strings and a cable:
The body, made out of three pieces of basswood, looks surprisingly well. Based on the picture on the web site I ordered it from, I would have expected something less beautiful. Pickups and electronics are already mounted, since this is a beginners’ kit.They will be replaced, however, since I got a populated original Fender Stratocaster scratchplate lying around. That should be guaranteed to sound better – at THAT price, the lowest quality can be safely assumed.
The neck … OK so far. I didn’t expect much here; the web site says “poplar laminate fretboard”, and that’s what I got.
Should look OK when finished; how it will look after a year of use … hard to tell. We’ll see. The head is an ungainly paddle that should work, in principle, but definitely won’t stay this way. Well, as the build instructions say: “All our headstocks are provided ‘uncut’. This gives you the opportunity to be creative and design your own, or copy one of the popular styles.” … they should have written “makes it necessary” instead of “gives the opportunity” 😎
The hardware … well. Wobbly tuners. These won’t be mounted (here comes Mr. Perfectionist! 🙂 ). The bridge looks good, just slightly thinner than I’d like it to be. We’ll see how it holds up. The strings should be good enough to set up the guitar.
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