Author: phil

Hi Phil,

Here’s a few shots of my guitar now finished.  Being a violin maker, I used the finishing techniques used in violin finishing, including use of scrapers to shape and smooth the wood, use of aqueous gelatin as a sealer, aniline dye as an orange-yellow base color and clear oil varnish with my blends of artist’s oil colors mixed in to achieve the various transparent color hues in the creation of the burst effect.  Most of the finish was hand applied like is done with violin finishing, using no brushes, just a gloved hand to apply the finish, spread and blended with other colors by patting with fingers and thumb.  It is tedious and much slower than spraying but I wanted to see if it worked.  Also one can experiment with just a few grams of varnish to dial in the exact hue desired.   It creates a different effect than spraying, allowing wood grain to show with less of the plastic/opaque look that spraying creates.  I wish I had ordered the more heavily flamed maple front than what I did as it would likely have more intensity of flame that would pop with this type of finishing.  Maybe I will do that on the next one!

I also practiced my silversmithing creating a sterling silver truss rod cover.  It is engraved in raised floral shapes using a technique called repousse which involves dapping three dimensional shapes into the metal from the backside using various shapes and sizes of punches struck with a hammer.  Making that occupied my time while the varnish dried which took several days between coats.  Maybe when I get bored I’ll also engrave the screw heads.

Now it will need several weeks under the u.v. lights to fully cure the varnish.

I am learning to play and so far adapting some of my violin pieces to guitar…it’s the same principle just using  picking/plucking instead of bowing.  Guitar playing with its long cheese-cutter strings is certainly going to make it faster to get my fingertips in shape for playing than the violin does.

My pickups are SD Pearly Gates at the neck and SH4 at the bridge . . . it’s nice and mellow being wired with RS Guitar Works Vintage Upgrade Kit of pots and POI caps.  I also built an 18-watt tube amp which is a perfect complement to the guitar to amplify its vintage sound.

Thanks for building a wonderful guitar.  It was a breeze to put together and finish.  I could not be more pleased with how easy it was to complete.

All the best,

Bob

Our paint guys finished this guitar perfectly. A dual burst on body and neck and headstock.

 

Hey Phil,

 Just wanted to shoot you a few pics. Besides the incredible finish and fantastic  workmanship this sounds like nothing I’ve heard before. Even my wife said OMG what did you do. This was a really quick build with the excellent finish already done. Neck set so all that has to be done is add the hardware. I did do a burst on some flame maple pickup rings. I put in some Tom Doyle pickups in, he was Les Pauls guitar tech for 45 years. Hand wound aged nickel. Electronics are Martin six string les  paul holy grail with lux bumblebee caps and cts 550 pots. Tuners are Gibson waffle. Gibson roller bridge and tailpiece. This is the ultimate in guitars it will take alot of thought to come up with the next better one.

  Thanks Phil and the rest of the guys

 Don W

Hey Phil,

Just wanted to show you what your great craftmanship has done again.

The pickups are sheptone classic. Tailpiece is by tail peace designs, I had to work on that a bit because it was chrome so a little black dye wipe down and seal with satin lacquer .  Pots are cts 550 with bumblebee caps.

Just about have that awesome piece you sent together just waiting on new switch, got a bad one. sounds better than any guitar I have heard Just wait till you see her.

Thank you for turning a thought into reality.

 Thanks again

Don Winfield

Hey There Phil!

Well, after 4 months, My Junior finally speaks. I should say ROARS.

The quality of the CNC machined body and neck, as well as the finish sanding and fretwork from Precision made for a near ready-to-finish project. I did a little work with grain filler and sanding sealer and then I was off to my homemade spray-booth to apply the Nitro, Gibson Black (Body/headstock), and satin clear nitro to the neck.

I was going for the contrast-y body/neck look of the early Melody Makers. Considering my lack of professional spray equipment I think I hit my mark with the rattlecans. Prep-work, painting and patience were the hardest most time consuming parts of the build. I ended up doing a greatdeal of research on StewMacs site, while waiting for paint to set up or dry. Their finishing shcedule is really easy to follow and incredibly helpful. Also I watched and re-watched the Will Kelly videos from the Precision site. The more I read and viewed, the more confident I became. I was a little nervous on decal application day, as I didn’t want to screw up the guitar’s identity.

The Guitar is named after my great grandmother, Violet Follwell. I think I will be using Follwell as my “brand” for all future builds.

By the time the Nitro had cured to the point I was ready for polishing and assembly, the parts were rolling in from all over. The UPS, FedEx or postal worker was dropping little cardboard gifts on the front porch almost daily. It was an exciting time. Some of the parts were supplied by Precision, while others were ordered through StewMac, Philadelphia Luthier or All Parts. Here’s the list:

 

• ’58 doublecut junior
• Reranch Nitrocellulose: satin clear,  black
• Tonepros inline tuners
• Backplate
• Cream pickguard
• Cream Jack plate and P-90 cover
• Gold and silver  top hat knobs
• Unbleached bone nut
• Gotoh aluminum wraparound tailpiece and studs (asian specs)
• Wolfetone P-90 “Meaner” (incredible pickup)
• Tundratone- Junior wiring harness 500k Vol., 250k Tone (Steve does tremendous work. If you’re going to be gigging, his work is nearly bombproof. The solder work is art. Tundratone.com).
• Strap Buttons
• Custom Gold Decals and Trussrod cover ebay sellers

 

Tools that I needed too:

• Nut Seating File 3/8”
• Hiroshima Nut Files
• Caliper
• Machinists ruler/straight edge

Assembly and setup went very smoothly. One day for careful installations and a second day for setup. Again I took to YouTube to watch soldering videos and practiced soldered some beat up, old guitar cables that I had been meaning to fix for a while.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Violet looks just the way I imagined she would. The action is low and fast and the satin finish on the neck and neck diameter give it a great worn-in, vintage feel. The master design and fit of the kit, as well as the fretwork applied by Precision made the build nearly worry-free. The only things I’m still in the hunt for is a hard case and more time to turn up the amp and play her.

I will definitely build another.

I am attaching a sample of some of the photos of the finished product and a few of the process.

Thanks again, Phil!

-Todd

[ngallery id=131]

Hi PhilIt took me some time to finish my guitar project but I’m very happy and proud how it ended.
Last year I bought my first kit from you and decided to build a unique guitar with a forest design I had in mind.

I love the sound and wanted to have a guitar to play metal and heavy rock. I’m a 59 Carved Top style user and wanted to keep that sound.

This guitar is loaded with EMG Hetfield Pack, Grover tuners, tonepros wraparound, 10-52 strings, Drop C, and a very comfortable 60’s neck.

I’ve enjoyed it for a month and I’m really impressed with his quality and heavy sound.

Thank you very much for doing excellent kits and make my dream come true!!

I hope you like it!

Best Regards from Chile!

Jose Luis

This is what I bought:

59 Carved Top | Customized
Wood Species: Mahogany – African, Body Construction: 1 Piece. Body Type: Chambered, Maple Caps: Plain Maple Cap , Pick-Up Rout: Humbucker, Control Cavity Configuration: Control only with 2 pots, Bridge Set Up: Wraparound , Binding: Neck Binding – White, Fret Board Species: Rosewood, Fret Board Markers: Block, Tuner Holes: 10 mm, Frets: Jescar 45/100, Headstock Profile: Paddle Headstock, Neck Back Profile: 60’s Slim, Right Hand or Lefty: Right Handed.

Art Design by my cousin Andres Giordano (Top Ten Tattoo artist in Chile): https://www.facebook.com/AndrezorTatuajes/photos_stream

Cover Painting by Miguel Angel Larre, http://www.larre.cl/web.html

Phil, just wanted to let you know that my guitar is finished and it turned out great. This guitar is the best playing guitar I have ever held in my hands in my 17 years of playing. I can get you better pics if you would like.

Thanks,

Charles B

 

 

Hi!

Finished my guitar a couple of days ago, and I must say I’m really satisfied with the result. The guitar looks great, and plays even better!

Some pics:

Hey Phil

As promised: Here some pictures of my Howling Wolf. It is my new love.

You did a great job with the wood. The quality of your work and the wood is awesome. With the bridge i had some difficulties. First they forgot to send it, then it took ages to come – they probably forgot to send it twice – and then it didn’t fit in the holes you drilled. Imagine! Now it’s done and i am happy with the guitar. I bet you can tell, why i call it “Howling Wolf“.

Kind regards

Reto

Hi Phil

finally had time to send you pics of my latest build, my mac crashed a month ago so this is the first time I could send them to you

Although I did not expect it I love the 60ties neck shape, I always love really big necks but this one just feels so comfortable
the body, korina was weight relieved and it is as light as a feather without feeling flimsy
the floyd is a perfect addition on this les paul and it is one of the most versatile guitars I have (and i do have another 150 guitars )
I already had several offers for this one but it is surely a keeper !

btw there is no need for the upbend cavity under the floyd, due to the neck angle the floyd sits high enough to never touch the body even with the lowest action and the floyd being pulled completely up

cheers
fred

so…. here is our guitar, our finishing and our customers most ‘fn awesome putting it all together. This is where his head is at…:)

Phil,

I purchased a kit from PGK solely based on customer reviews .
I would like to Thank Phil and Kevin for an amazing product and amazing customer service . A very special thanks to Master Painter John Regehr  , the paint and gloss job are phenomenal.
I bugged Phil for weeks with Emails, asking him everything under the sun and Phil always got back to me.
I knew I would not be able to do the paint and gloss the way I really wanted it ,  so I turned to Phil , Phil said No Worries we got it covered .
To everyone out there –  PGK knows what they are doing , if you really want a guitar that looks , feels and plays like you spent $5000.00 dollars on it , Go with PGK
if you No Not know how to do the finishing ( paint & gloss & sanding sealer ) Go with PGK

Thank You Guys for the Guitar of my Dreams

Michael – Wisconsin USA

 

Hi Phil

Well its finally finished! Many thanks to you guys for all of your efforts.
I’m not much of a photographer but I have included a few pictures for your
website so others can see how awesome PGK kits can be. I had it assembled by
one of the best guitar techs in the UK to make sure it plays and sounds as
good as it looks.

Precision Guitar Kits Contoured heel & belly cut Les Paul – 60’s slim neck
Painted by you guys!
Faber Aluminium tailpiece
Faber Bridge & hardware
Faber keystone tuners
David Barfuss “Beano Bluesbreaker” Alnico 5 pickups
Gibson plastics
Gold speed knobs
CTS 500k 5% TVT pots
Alpha 500k push / push
Switchcraft selector and jack
Schaller strap locks
Luxe Bumble Bee Woman Tone .015mfd & .022mfd capacitors
Wired for the bridge pickup to be coil tapped

In the word of Arnie: “I’ll be back”!!!!

Kind Regards
Gene Thomas

 

Hey Phil,

 the guitar is nearly finished 🙂 Today I will put the electronics in and the nut and tuners…. the finish turned out very well (the picture doesn’t do any justice.

I’m now gasing for a LP junior and a telecaster… but the Tele made of mahogany with 2 P90 and the mounts for a half tele bridge – can you offer this? I couldn’t select mahogany in the custom tele selector.

Hello Phil.

I want to thank you and your staff at Precision guitar for the beautiful kit I’ve received.

This is the first guitar I have build.
I really liked the experience and will do it again.
I’ve included a picture of my “Green Day tribute doublecut”.
Here is what I did.
First of all, no grain filling, I wanted to be a punk guitar.
The tuner are Gotoh Vintage-style Oval Knob 3+3 Tuners.
The bridge is an Adjustable Wraparound Bridge
I wanted to have a guitar with a P90 Pickup. I really liked the sound of Tesla P90 and that’s the one I choose.
And as you can see, I have the American Idiot and the 2 skulls from 21st Century Breakdown logo on the guit and the pickguard.
My fav color is black and white, so, I choose to make it black with white frost burst.
The back is gloss and the front is satin finish.
Finished it 2 days ago and had my first battle scare yesterday, dropped it and have a bump in the back as you can see.
But it doesn’t matters, it’s a punk guitar after all.
I hope you’ll enjoy my pics. Don’t be to critics on my work please, it’s my first, and not the last, guitar ever build.

Looking forward to do business with you again.

Hey there Phil, I finished up my kit a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to put it down since. This guitar truly was a piece of art before I did anything to it. So satisfied with this guitar. The fret work is the best of any of the guitars I own or have played for that matter.  Definitely learned a lot along the way and made my fair share of mistakes but I wouldn’t change a thing about my first build. Loved every step of the process. My new favorite guitar, I plan to build another one before too long!

Here’s the specs on the thing:

• Non Chambered – Two piece body
• Plain maple cap – Mahogany back and neck
• 60’s Neck
• Ebony Board
• Cream bound body and neck
• One switch (where I like it), one volume, one tone, no bull sh*t
• Body Top finish – General Finishes java gel stain
• Neck – Minwax jacobean
• Back and sides – Just try oil, all finished with tru oil 
• Tuners – Sperzel trim-lok
• Nut – Graph tech tusq
• Pickups – Neck – Gibson 496R/Bridge – Gibson 500T
• Bridge – Gotoh with Titanium saddles
• Tailpiece – Gibson TP-6
• Pots – CTS 500k
• Cap – Paper-in-oil
• Pickguard – WD music

Gotta be the best line I’ve heard in a while…:)

Hi Phil

I wanted to drop you a line to thank you for the superb “bones” you supplied that have now become my weapon of choice.

She’s a dark cherry burst with tonepros bridge and tuner hardware..quite a looker. When unplugged in this guitar is so resonant and well crafted its almost as loud as an acoustic…

And plugged in, the pair of raw nickel unpotted bare knuckle mules make her snort like a wild hog!

The nitro finish is superb thanks to Greg in Modesto for his artistry – have a look at that gloss.

regards

Andrew

Hi Phil,

finished it less then 1 hour ago, i love it!!

It resonates like crazy and the tone is awesome!

Broke a string during the first test run,  but i wanted you to see it fresh so here are some pictures.

Named it Catch-22 from the famous book, if I’m crazy for building a guitar, or sane for completing it…..?

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t,

but if he was sane, he had to fly them.

If he flew them, he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if didn’t want to, he was sane and had to.”

-Joseph Heller

when i first got the kit i hated the baseball neck and saw an opportunity to do some custom work.

Shaped it medium asymmetrical from 1:st to 5:th fret and a chunky C the rest of the way. it came out 0.94″ 1:st fret-1.07″ 12:th fret. Its really comfortable.

The goal was to build something i wouldn’t find in a store, love the simple shape, and that its much lighter then a regular Les Paul 🙂

i knew right away that i didn’t have the skills or patience to do fancy burst, this was going to be a bad as player that could take a little beating.

It was a fun experience and it came out awesome!!!

some specs for the geeks:

Grover Sta-Tite 18:1

Home made mahogany covers

Bone nut

Neck pickup Arcane/Echopark Gold Coil

Bridge pickup Arcane PX-100

Cts 500k pots

Emerson Pio cap 0.47

Treble bleed circuit on volume

Switchcraft switch

Gotoh bridge/Tailpiece

Thanks for the “bones”

now I’m finished and i wondered if i can make the builders page 🙂

I’ve been doing some tweaks and its coming together nicely, did a scorching effect on the covers that I’m really pleased with.

was a little bit anxious about the finish but its held up, its just one rattle can of ebonising laquer, super thin finish. the top was so smooth out of the box that the laquer melted over it and i haven’t even sanded it after paint, its perfect.
love the rough look and and glad i didn’t grain fill the back.

Did a slight relic on the hardware with muriatic acid, its just right and sets the mood.
The neck is awesome 0.94″->1.07″ with my custom shape.

i can’t say enough good thing about the pickups, both made by arcane and they are fantastic.
The bridge is a overwound P-90 that is crystal clear, and the neck is a reproduction of the japanese Teisco gold foil. It just blows my mind every time i pick it up i find a new shade of super sweetness 🙂

I’m glad i decided to buy this kit, the build has been fun experience and the finished product feels, looks and sounds like a sweet grilled marshmallow wrapped in barbed wire and sent trough rock n`roll bootcamp 😉

Thank you, i will enjoy this one for many years.

Emil Eklund

 

Hey phil,

I am attaching some photos of my recent build of the 54 TV yellow Junior-it is my first build and I’m quite pleased with the result-thanks to your amazing kit !-the finished guitar is not perfect,but perfection is boring right…..

here is a list of some components used…

250kCTS pots,orange drops,switchcraft jack,gibson nut,gibson vintage style wraparound tailpiece,seymour Duncan Antiquity P90,sperzel locking tuners-(i have vintage style klusons on order)-

it was fun,educational,frustrational,emotional and spiritual…..

the quality of the bones of the kit has shone through-when a novice such as myself can produce a guitar of this caliber… tone wise …it is amazing-intonation is dead on without any adjustment(that was amazing to me) the guitar unplugged, rings and vibrates and resonates louder than my  other guitars.

i will enjoy it for years to come and will definitely build another with one of your kits!-I’m thinking ’59 LP burst- or Goldtop!-

Thank you Phil&Crew! sincerely,

Don-niantic,CT

Aloha from Hawaii!
Well, it took a year but I just got my Carved Top back from Robert @ Lapidary Dreams, slapped on hardware on and the Midlife Crisis Guitar is pau! (my 50th birthday present to myself) Now I gonna get MLC #2 (the Explorer) ready for painting. The instrument came out stellar

 

and then…

 

I made your webpage, I feel famous now! Realize I didn’t take a photo of the whole instrument with paint, so here’s one serenading the crowd at the last weeks gig:

Here are some pictures of my ’58 Jr. double cut.  I rubbed on oil-based artist paints for the color (cadmium red deep hue for the body and lamp black for the headstock) and a Tru Oil top coat, which I rubbed down to a matte finish.  I’m very happy with the way it came out.  I have absolutely no prior experience with anything related to woodworking, finishing or soldering, but it seemed like it would be a really fun project – and it was. There are some battle scars here and there, but nothing noticeable from more than one foot away.  Pick up is a Lollar P90.  Tone Pros 3-on-a-rail tuners and a Tone Pros wrap around bridge (with an invisible lightening bar in there somewhere).  CTS pots, a Switchcraft jack and an Orange Drop cap round it all out.  After a little playing around, intonation is spot on.  Super happy with the way it plays.  The P90 has a really great clean sound with the volume rolled back a bit, and then gets nice and mean with it turned up.  Surprisingly versatile for a one pick up guitar.

Since this was my first build, I have nothing to compare it to.  But, from reading about all the issues people using other kits seem to have, I’m glad I started out with the best kit out there.

 

 

This is my first guitar kit that I have built. My Precision Telecaster kit was very well done. The grain in the wood is just stunning. It would have been a shame to paint it. I tried to keep the lines in the wood as natural as possible. I sanded it with 800 grit paper. I sprayed several coats of sealer on it. I then started to spray the Translucent Blue on to it. Just want to get this in before I continue. The next time I build one of these I will for sure use wood filler next time. I sprayed  8 layers of the Translucent Blue , The last 2 coats of the blue I sprayed I was trying to get it darker on the outer edges. I left the neck untouched with anything other than lacquer. The neck itself is just a beautiful piece of wood. I sanded it with 12000 grit pads to get it silky smooth. After spraying 10 coats of lacquer. My Translucent Blue body turned to a Plum color. Don’t know why that happened. I sent it off to the guitar shop to get a professional setup done. The intonation on this is perfect.It came out awesome. I plugged it in to my Amplitude 3 used the Supro Amp with a Leslie speaker and it sounds just like Good Times Bad Time. This guitar sounds amazing. I have been nervous about it coming out good. It came out better than I could have hoped for. And the scary thing is, it sounds better than any brand name guitar that I have. Did it cost more to build this than buying a brand name guitar. Yes. Was it worth it, You bet, every penny of it. My next one I build will be an SG.

Thanks so much Phil

This awesome Telecaster Guitar Kit made by PRECISION GUITARS

Parts

Rodeo Pickups Are custom made in the USA made by ManliusGuitar.

Locking Tuners Are Sperzel Proffesionals. Made in the USA

Switch Harness is Custom Made BY JonesyBlues made in the USA.

All paints are from Guitar ReRanch.

Earvana Nut

Ernie Ball Super Slinkies.

Patent Fender Compensated Bridge

Setup done by Rush at Buchanan Music. Mesa,Az

 

Phil,
Thanks for the wonderful kit! Sunburst over ZPoxy with your hardware, Emerson kit and Lollar Imperials. It sounds GREAT!
Thanks again.
Chip

I finally had some time to finish this kit looks and plays so good I think I will do another one soon