We built this to the specs of a great customer and were so so delighted with the result that we going to make it one of our regular kits in 2014. Should be ready mid January.
It’s an awesome player… a bit thinner, 1 7/16ths, as opposed to the regular thickness of 1 5/8ths. Makes it light and easy to handle. The shaping we’ve done is just beautiful, makes for a elegantly smooth transition and amazing upper playability.
Check it out…
Okay okay, that’s a bit of a lame title.. but look at what Jay Cole did to one of our kits… absolutely awesome…
Here’s his words:
Finally!! Bought this kit from you about a year ago, and I’ve been working on it kinda casually, since I’m recently retired. It has a Curtis Novak MM-PAF humbucker in P-90 dogear case, Pigtail adjustable bridge, your Kluson tuners, handmade tortoise pickguard and control cavity covers, and handmade truss rod cover (I’m a home brewer). Finish is Behlen stringed instrument clear over Stew Mac Cherry Red aerosol.
Phil, I’ve built 3 other kits from different manufacturers, and yours is by far the highest quality. It’s easy to see that you use (and maintain!) good tooling, and pay attention to the details. Virtually no wood prep was required; I went straight to grain filling, sealing and painting. Some other kits I’ve built required gouge, tearout or scratch repair to the wood before any finish work could start. And this guitar is perfectly balanced; it hangs just right, so your hands fall in just the right spots. Super slick polished frets too; well done!
Keep up the good work, and thanks for a great build,
Jay Cole
Jay used this one to build his awesome guitar!
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In our ever ending quest to offer the most awesome guitar building stuff, we’ve got Mitch @ Emerson Guitars to make us a line of pre-wired kits. This is the one that will work with our 59 carved top. I think these are a great way to coax that vintage tone out of your guitar. Soldering and set up of the tone path is not really that difficult and you can for sure do it yourself but it’s pretty nice when you get it Pro… done to a very very high standard with some hard to come by parts..
Here’s the stuff:
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I had just finished a Goldtop project, using one of those cheapo Ebay kits and it was such a pain that I decided to use the best kit out there for my next build. Turns out the best LP style kit out there is yours.
Compared to the cheap kit building your kit was a blast. Everything matched perfectly, the joints, the pickup (and other) cavities, just great. The quality of the wood was also way (!) better.
For the lacquering process I mostly used StewMac and ReRanch lacquers and later StewMac polish to finish it.
The pickups are Lindy Fralin P90s, the bridge is a WD ABR-1 variant with nylon saddles, the nut is bone, the tuners are TonePros Kluson vintage tuners.
I’ve used pots that I had thrown out of my ex Gibson 2002 R8 (3 of the pots were 300k, not good for humbuckers, but good enough for the P90s). I’ve used NOS Sprague .033µF VitQ paper in oil caps, put on the Bigsby and Dunlop strap locks.
The Silver Fantail headstock inlay was done by Cliff from Sharkinlay, based on a logo I’ve used on all of my builds since 1998. And that’s about it …
It took me about 6 month to finish the project – working on it as a hobby in the evenings or on weekends + an almost 2 month cure period for the lacquer.
It sounds and plays great! And it’s definitely a looker.
turned out pretty sweet and exactly the way I wanted it.
Thanks a lot for this nice piece of wood and the superb craftsmanship. Keep it up, because I started a highly frequented thread at the German Musiker-Board.de and people are getting more and more interested in your kits (http://www.musiker-board.de/modifikation-technik-gitarrenbau-e-git/543558-precison-les-paul-bausatz-chev-kanns-nicht-lassen.html).
I attached a couple pics of the finished guitar. Hope you dig it.
Really pleased to be able to work with the guys at Graphtech, there actually just around the corner from us, so I’m scooting down there a lot. When I saw these tuners in development at their shop, I thought now that’s a good idea..
Dave said it’s one of those things that has been rattlin’ around in his brain for a long time. I know what he means.. but sometimes the stuff that rattles around in your brain for a long time, well it just aint that good in the light of day, but this is.
Its fantastic to play, especially on stage when you’re trying to get the tuning spot on. Come and take a look at them..
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this is from Brent Blair… see adept I am at word play.. lol
Hi Phil, just wanted to give you an update on the DG Vee I ordered a few months ago.
I can’t get over how great this guitar is.
The whole body resonates when played.
The neck is amazing….amazing. I don’t know who does the fret work, but if you fire them…. I will have to kill you.(you know what I mean)
Workmanship on this body and neck is so clean and precise I could not find a flaw or misfit anywhere.It was slow going at first due to work and other commitments, but I was able to finish her last week and wanted to let you know how fantastic this build turned out.
I decided to go with nitrocellulose lacquer just to keep the vintage vibe going. I sealed the grain with 5 minute clear epoxy, which turned out well but found the 5 minute epoxy would set a little quicker than I wanted. No biggie, just a little more level sanding.
The pick guard I ordered from you was beautiful. I had decided to try a 3 ply pick guard material I had laying around as a headstock veneer. I liked how this material looked on the headstock but it did not match with the single ply pick guard. I ended up using the single ply guard as a template and cut a 3 ply guard with the rest of the material I had.Sprayed something like 12 thin coats of nitro, wet sanding every 3 coats starting at 600 grit to 1500 grit after the first 3 coats, to 1000 to 2500 grit for the final coats. Finish is like glass and the Korina grain shimmers. I did not add any amber to the clear knowing the lacquer will amber on its own in time.
Buffed out the finish with my Porter Cable buffer using Lake Country fine cutting and polishing pads with Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound.
All hardware ordered from Stew Mac.
Pickups are SD JB-SH4 in bridge and Pearly Gates in neck.
Switchcraft pots and switches
50’s wiring
Tusk nutIt has been strung for maybe a week. I have done the initial set up……Truss rod, filed the nut, adjusted bridge, intonate. I am going to give the neck a couple weeks to settle while I play the snot out of it. The action is super low and looks like I may not have to do any fret levelling at all. This is a killer guitar. Every body who has seen this guitar always comment on the quality of the wood grain.
I HAVE ONE BEEF HOWEVER WITH PRECISION GUITAR…………WHERE THE HELL IS THE MATCHING KORINA EXPLORER????
He Built It With This Guitar Kit:
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Hi Phil..Here are my guitars.I can not get the Jrs TV finish to work with a flash and it is too cold to take them outside. I will keep trying!My finish, while super thin, was like glass and not sunk into the finish (yes, it is all scratched now from being loved!) I also went for the same idea for strap button placement.Both guitars have as perfect an intonation up and down the neck as any guitar, the Mojoaxe stopbar and steel bushings (1 3/16″ long) as well as retrospec studs. Both guitars have sustain that would make Nigel Tufnel blush! (you could go out and have a 7 course meal….even unplugged!) The guitars are so alive compared to any TOM & stopbar guitars I have played I am not sure I would go any other way. Tuners are Tonepros, pickups are Zhangbucker Cherrick neck (7.2k) and Blues 90 bridge (9.3k) for the carve top (CT) and a Zhangbucker Honk 90 on the Jr (9.7k). On the CT I use a silver Russian PIO .015 cap for the neck for great “Woman Tone” and a .033 silver PIO cap on the bridge to get wah-wah sounds from the tone knob. The Jr uses a push/pull for the tone pot http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/PMT-DMTG/Dual-Mode-High-Low-Pass-Tone-Control-For-Guitar.html so I have a choice of regular low pass tone or when I pull up I get a high & mid pass filter to get a bit closer to a Tele sound!You may notice that the controls on the Jr go to 11 as does the Swart Amp(s) I use. The faux binding was scraped by me though I seem to have run a bit of the amber color top coat moved during the clear coating over a few areas. All finish was Colortone and Reranch. The CT has a rosewood fingerboard and as fate would have it the day I brought in my completed Jr and my half finished CT a guy at the store was showing off his real 57 goldtop and I could not get over how black the fingerboard was! Silver switch tip is an old present from my friend for a long gone 335.Both necks and bone nuts are held by hot hide glue! Gunbarrel Custom Guitars will be officially open for business in Spring of 2014!
This is just a damn cool interpretation. Guys like Stephen make us look good.. Check this one out closely.
I just finished my ’59 Les Paul project and I couldn’t be happier. The neck/body fit was perfect!
The guitar feels and plays great. The fretwork was fantastic.
I went with a Gretsch-style orange on the maple top and head, rosewood stain on the body and neck. The neck was finished with Tru-oil, and the body with a gloss nitro finish. The pickups are GFS Retrotron Liverpools. Lastly, I added a black/white/black pick guard. I call it my “Gretsch-Paul.”
Excellent neck and body. Hope to build another soon!Stephen Beckner of The Nanker PhelgeCharleston, WV
Hi Phil,I have been to Precision Guitar Kit site for some time and I have been wowed by the kits you made and the beautiful pieces of art that these owners have turned them into.
I see beautiful classic guitars made and I thought to myself, it’s time for something brutal, heavy and something metal.I wanted something simple and started off with the single pickup kit.The neck, first thing first, off to Kentucky, USA for the inlay job. The trident cross and scythe inlay is a tribute to the Swedish metal band, Dissection. And the Phoenix on the body symbolizes Behemoth from Poland.
1st week of August, this kit reached the Singapore waters and I began sanding from 150 – 400 grit. Next it is 4 coats of sealer followed by more sanding, primer and even more sanding to make sure my finish is going to as smooth as glass. Pardon me, it’s blasphemy to some but there should not be any sign of wood grain on this guitar.It’s time for paint and my first with custom made-in-a-can polyurethane aerosol paint . The “Behemoth Phoenix” is not a vinyl nor sticker. It was sprayed on with a custom template.
On the other hand, the “poetic” verses on the back was made with a thin vinyl. Yes it was deliberate to make it hard to read. The purpose was to make it mysterious and draws the curiosity of anyone who wants to know what’s written on the “wall”. Once both artworks were done, it was clear coated with Spraymax 2k. Spraying with 2k products have its pros and cons. Unlike lacquer, you cant add layers of clear coat without first sanding it lightly but the good thing is it cures in about 5 days! I stick to my favourite parts for this project. I have been using Sperzel locking tuners, Schaller strap lock, Switchcraft jack and Earvana compensated nut for a while. They are reliable and easy to work with. Something new for me would probably be the Graphtech Resomax wraparound bridge. It’s an uber sexy bridge with the ability to adjust the saddles for better accuracy on the intonation. I have also slowly but surely getting all my guitars on Bare Knuckle pickups. This guitar is loaded with the Black Hawk humbucker which the Bare Knuckle guys define – the pickup which has all the power and clarity of an active, with all the tone and dynamics of a passive. Balls to the walls, if you were to ask! And last but not least, to keep things simple… I have not got any pot on the guitar if you look closely. The pickup is wired directly to the input jack. Less is more for me. Playing extreme metal, all I want is to plug in and play.*No electrical tool is used in the finishing of this guitar. All spraying, sanding and buffing are done by hand with spray cans, a sanding block wrapped with sand papers and lint free cloths respectively.Edward
The first kit that I tackled was your 59 Chambered, Bound, and Flamed kit. I actually wrapped this one up sometime around April. I’ve used this guitar nearly exclusively all summer, as I’ve been on the road with the Blue Ribbon Band gigging all across Midwest, USA. This thing is my pride and joy and I couldn’t possibly be happier with how it performs. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of forty electric guitars and I’d put this one on the top of the pile. If my house was burning down, I’d grab this thing right after the kid. It really is my most prized possession. Here is the list of components:
- 59 PAF Duncan’s
- Grover Machine Heads
- Gibson Pots
- Gibson Top Hat Knobs
- Vintage Bumble Bee PIO Caps
- Truss Rod Cover/Poker Chip from Hell Guitars Japan
- Tusq Graphite Nut
- Vintage Cloth Wiring
- TuneOmatic Bridge
- Bursted with Leather Dye
- Finished with Tru Oil
- Custom Headstock Inlay cut by Tulsah, Canada
Pictures of our 59 Carved Top Historic Kits all done up right..
Here’s how it’s done! This is just an excellent video on how to get the guitar binding bright clean and perfect..
Check this out boys.. this is Fred, from the Netherlands, work. Quilted maple on a single PUP, carved top, ebony fretboard and his own headstock design. I really like the way he opened up the burst to the neck. It’s like its flying…
Here’s what he said..
Hi Phil
as promissed herewith some new shots of my new favorite Single cut, it turned out really great, thanks to your works assembly was a breeze and I just had to stain and paint it to turn it into a really special guitar.
I can’t wait to start the next one.
Now for this. I used a gibson Tommy Iommi for the pickup, I had a few spare and upto now I had not found the perfect guitar for it In combination with the ebony fingerboard the harmonics really jump off that guitar, it sounds huge but still has clarity on a high gain amp.
for the bridge I used the tonepros wraparound from your site, at first I wanted to go really simple and use a standard wraparound but this is a guitar I’m going to use heavily and then it better be in tune, it turned out great;the tonepros bridge is a very nice piece of engineering and easy to intonate before painting I used stewmac’s new colortone grainfiller, it is very easy to apply and sand back, using it enables you to get a glass like clearcoat on the mahogany back very fast for the stains, which were applied using a sponge (for the yellow basecolor) and an airbrush (for the burst)
I used colortone stains: vintage amber with a drop of golden brown and a single drop of red when using an airbrush, contrary to the video’s on your website, I spray inwards, I guess with a rattle can it would be different but as I sometimes lose some little drops from the tip of my airbrush it is actually safer to work inwards and the airbrush enables me to spray the colors on really thin with a nice gradation so i keep total control.
I started painting the neck and body separately as that made it easier for me hang the parts to dry and only before the last 5-6
clearcoats did I glue in the neck (remember to tape the tenon and neck-cavity with low tack tape)I have build single cut kits before but this was by far the easiest to complete (and I must admit the best playing, the baseball profile is just perfect)
I thought this was a bit interesting.. on the single pickup..
This is what he built:
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This is yet another Phil.. It’s one of our client’s from New Zealand who wanted to build a special guitar for his daughter. Well we did indeed to that… take a look at this how the quilt, underneath a honey stain just popped.
I did the stain and clear coat and I’m thinking I can do more like this. Anyways.. here are his words:
Hi Phil,
Guitar is together, sounds and looks fantastic. Check out Facebook “weta guitars guitar repairs”
They have heaps of photos and state precision as a highly recommended kit, they were really impressed.
If you have any trouble pulling photos I can get them from weta and send, Sharna is really pleased so a very positive experience all round.
Kind regards,
Phil B
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Hey Phil, i wanted to share these with you. my finished v kit. Just waiting for truss rod cover to come in the mail. I modeled it after the classic Gibson V’s. The finish is natural with a tint of Vintage Amber.
the parts are pretty straight forward. the pickups are Joe Bonamassa signature from seymour duncan. The guitar sounds and feels great! thanks
He used this guitar kit…
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Phil, just wanted to share with you some pictures of the latest finished guitar.
Once again, just wanted to thank you guys at Precision for another fine kit. This was a chambered ’59 kit with with a lightly flamed maple cap. As always, the kit went together like the precision instrument it is claimed to be with very little work required to level the frets once it was all assembled.
Every guitar I have ever built has developed it’s own personality, this one was no different.
It fought me tooth and nail from the start. It was telling me it didn’t want a black base coat, so it went back to almost bare timber. Then when i sprayed the “burst” on to the vintage amber, it was telling me it just didn’t feel right. In the end, it was stripped back to bare timber for a 3rd time, a base stain of vintage amber was applied, then the burst of tobacco and mahogany combined was added and the 2 colours just bled together beautifully. 12 coats of clear nitro and countless hours of hand sanding later, the finished guitar is a joy to look at and even better to play.
It is blessed with a pair of Chris Carter PAF pickups which are just magnificent. I bought the best of everything for this guitar including , in my humble opinion, the best Guitar kit available.
I have included a few pictures of the build and will share with you the other 3 guitars when they are done. Thanks once again Phil.
Thought you might enjoy this:
He used this guitar kit:
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I think the finishing approach was pretty standard for this type of finish.I used Colortone dye to stain the figured top black and sanded it back.Then had to practice on scrap to get the cherry red to match up between the mahogany and maple.Once I had a good match of dye, and the mahogany had been grain-filled, I stained the body\neck and top.The binding was also stained. I wasn’t really after an aged look, but did want a yellowed binding.Once all the color was down I sprayed 4-5 coats of satin on the neck & body, and 4-5 coats of gloss on the maple top and headstock.I used shielding paint in the cavities while the lacquer was gassing off, and after a ~30 day wait I dove into the wetsanding and buffing.I grabbed a wiring harness and pickups from sellers online and had things ready to drop in once the finish was buffed.I went with a Gotoh TOM Bridge\tailpiece, and Kluson tuners. Seymour Duncan ’59 bridge and A2-Pro neck pickups.There’s still a little fine tuning that I expect to take care of next string change but nothing major.Matching dye samples took some time, and working with the binding was a new twist as well. Not too many surprises but the anticipation was hard to work through. I can’t wait to show this baby off.
Corny title I know, but I had to use it…:)
Precision Guitar Kits’ SG Junior Kit. Mick Brierley Vintage Spec P90 pickup, Faber Vintage Spec Compensated Aluminum Bridge, Bourns Pots, Grover Keys, Danish Oil finish. Superb quality guitar kit and great folks to deal with. Very high on my recommendations list!
My personal take on getting a great vibe out SG Jrs:
(1) There seems to be a tendency to go with small light tuners as these guitars tend to ‘neck dive’ due to the inherent weight imbalance with the neck set way out at the end of the body. Resist this urge! Put some mass/weight in the headstock = i.e., full size Grover tuners. If you want an SG Jr. you have to deal with the neck dive.
(2) Get the best P90 you can afford and be willing to try a few. 8k dc resistance seems to be the sweet spot.
(3) Bridge is critical, so don’t cut corners here. I tried a few and settled on the aluminum Faber with standard (plated brass) studs. I’m not big on ‘mystic mojo’ type of stuff but there is definitely a lot more difference than I would have thought between different bridges, especially in the style or type of the bridge. Overall I find the solid compensated bridges and adjustable saddle bridges to be in 2 separate classes as far as tone is concerned with the solid bridges way out in front.
(4) Use good pots and output jack. I don’t find any sound differences between pots or tone capacitors (more mystic mojo voodoo stuff IMO). I like the quality of the Bourns conductive polymer pots and they generally have a more even volume taper than carbon pots. I just used a 500v ceramic cap here. Don’t need the voltage rating but the wire is heavier and easier to deal with.
(5) With the great necks on these kits I set action at 3/32″ clearance of high E string at 12th fret, and 1/8″ (4/32″) clearance of Low E String at 12th fret. Truss rod adjusted so that when fretting the low E String on 1st and 15th frets simultaneously you have just the very slightest clearance in the middle. I find nut setup to be critical (but not necessarily the material) and also one of the more difficult to get right, especially if making your own nut from a blank. I used unbleached camel bone on this one simply because that’s what I had in my little parts box. Best instruction I’ve seen on making a nut is here:http://www.lenaweelutherie.info/page6/page26/page26.html
(6) Of course all of this is subjective. Your mileage may vary J No disputing the quality of the kit though, great bones to work with!
Duane, Sydney Australia
maika’i loa is hawaiian for excellent and man oh man it is.
Aloha Phil!!
Well, I finally finished my project based off of your kit.
I decided to do this project as a relic, both because I wanted to try different aging techniques, and because the price of aged guitars has gone through the roof!! It was really fun to do, but taking the first “cut” into the nicely finished guitar was a bit nerve wracking. Now that it’s done, I love the feel.
I started with Stewart-MacDonald nitrocellulose lacquer spray cans. Ever since I first saw Tom Wheeler’s “American Guitars”, I wanted a cherry sunburst that looked like the guitar on the cover of that book. I later came to find that that finish is called “Brockburst”. Over the amber, I had to sunburst a mix of cherry, red mahogany and tobacco brown, sprayed over each other. I was really happy with the results.
Next I did some checking with a razor, and also used compressed air to chill the finish. For the exposed maple top I used an aging trick involving tea and vinegar. For the aged mahogany I used stains, over which I applied gunstock oil and wax.
I still need to age the inlays and the pickup covers a little more, but overall I love this guitar. The quality of your kits are top notch, and I would put it up against any similar styled guitars made by any manufacturer.
Ryan I
Hawaii
This is my favorite line ever…… ever.. about a guitar.. too funny…
Here is where Graeme’s build took him. I wonder if he’s having guests over now?
Well my junior is finally done. Took me a lot longer than I expected – mostly because work took me away for a month. I commandeered one end of the dining room table and fought off the barbed comments about “we can’t have people round cos SOMEONE has turned my dining room into a WORKSHOP!!!” – nyahh!
I wanted it kept simple as possible – but still wanted to be able to intonate the bridge. You lot supplied the guitar and the bakelite parts and I bought the rest from Stewmac. There was nothing to do but glue the parts together and start the painting. I read the TV Yellow tutorials and gave my guitar a thin coat of white, yellow and then a rubbing with some mahogany stained PVA that was wiped off before it could set up. It looks great.
The biggest headache was the headstock – I couldn’t fill the end grain to get a good finish and the American made enamel paint I’d used to set the inlaid plastic logo I’d made didn’t set hard enough. Ended up digging it out and overlaying a 0.8mm birch ply sheet to it and fret sawing a logo from thin brass sheet. I found a Gibson style font and made a Gibson like logo of my own first name- it is my guitar and I made it and I’m proud of it.
Set up was difficult too – the bridge was way too high leaving cheese cutter action. Seeing as I couldn’t back angle the neck, I counter bored the bridge posts and when screwed right down against the body, got the action into the ball park. truss rod had me scratching my head until I realised it was dual action. I decided to make my own nut from a Tusq blank and learned the benefits of baking soda and super glue. Next time I buy a ready cut nut.
Electrics went in OK – final setup then plug her in. Mmmm . The single P90 sings nicely and the Steinberger Jackpot volume control really does give a punch when wound up. Through a 5 watt Blackstar the guitar can go from twinkly to a tiger roar with just the guitar’s volume control. My first P90 and I’m impressed. There is a heck of a lot of sustain in the guitar’s body – chords hang long enough to break into feedback that curls the hairs on your neck. The guitar plays very nicely – I like the fat neck feel. The fretting is great , the playing action very nice and I have a simple guitar that looks cool and can blow the socks off an elephant at forty feet.
A well made body and neck, Sir. Well done. I will recommend your company to anyone who wants to follow my lead and build their own.
Now I’m eyeing up a 59 Carved Top – maybe with a bit more attention to the finish but as I write this, I feel the wife’s breath on my neck and she’s got something sharp digging in to my back and aaaaaarrrggghhhhhhhh!
This is why I love my job… check this out…now this is something that you absolutely wanna play…
Hi Phil,
About three months ago I ordered a Strat kit from Precision Guitar Kits. I decided on the PG kit based on all the positive reviews I’ve read on the internet about how well the parts are machined (true), and how well the neck fits (true!) – it lined up straight without any adjustments, shims or other work to be done. My Strat is now 98% complete, and I could not be happier with the way it turned out.
Here are some of the specs to which the guitar was built:
- Kit: Precision Guitar Kits (Canada)
- Body Finish: Wudtone – Hot Auburn (gold highlights; topcoat: extra gloss, no aging tint)
- Neck: Aged Vintage Yellow (gloss topcoat)
- Pickups: Ironstone Vintage Alnico V – Gold Grade (Gilmour Scratchplate); all cavities and back of scratchplate shielded with copper foil
- Wiring: 2 x CTS 250k-Ohm pots; Emerson .047uF PiO capacitor; SHC Music Pre-amp Multi-effects Unit (from Ironstone; replaces second tone control; 9V battery); cloth-covered push-back wire
- Bridge: Wudtone CP Tremolo Bridge; Wudtone 1018 Cold Steel Tone Block
- Tuners: Sperzel Trim-Lok
- Nut: GraphTech Black Tusq XL
- Neckplate: Wudtone (gold plated)
- Strings: GHS Boomers 10 – 48 (David Gilmour Signature Series)
- (Both Wudtone and Ironstone Pickups are based in the UK)
There was one deviation from the advertised specs: the body consists of three pieces on swamp ash, not two, as stated on your website. However, the matching of the three pieces was done very well, and I have no reason to complain.
Thank you again for a great kit – it was a pleasure to build it!
He built it with this kit: Swamp Ash Strat
This is one of our kits that ended up in the skilled hands of a doctor in Italy..
Hello Phil,
I hope all is well. I would like to thank you again for the amazing kit you provided. The pieces were flawless and beautifully resonating before assembly, and all routes and fits were absolutely perfect. I looked around for several weeks before choosing where to buy the bones for my Les Paul, and the kit I received confirmed your internet fame: you guys provide the best parts available to build a top-quality guitar.
As you can see from the pictures I didn’t want to settle for anything less than an amazing guitar. I went for the best and most beautiful guitar I could think of.
I started from your LP59 kit with a blank ebony fretboard (only slots) and front/back binding routes. Then I did all the rest. The fret markers are hand-cut in mother-of-pearl with a dremel-type tool, and inlayed with carving knives. The 12th fret has my last name engraved in the mother-of-pearl. The body and neck are both bound; doing the body 5-ply binding was pretty tricky. The body is dyed black with ColorTone color. Then on top of that I sprayed one very thin layer of nitrocellulose lacquer to prevent smearing and I did all the decorating stencils (including signature) to lay the 24carat gold-leaf I bought. The finish on top of that is multiple layers of nitrocellulose laquer.
The parts I used were again the best I could think of: grover locking tuners, bone nut, Dunlop jumbo frets, tune-o-matic bridge, aluminum stopbar tailpiece for tone, 500s Gibson pots and bumblebee caps. The pickups are a Gibson ’57 classic at the neck and a Seymour-Duncan antiquity at the bridge. I made sure the electronics very well grounded, isolated and soldered.
The sound is amazing, gonna send you a video soon. It is rich of harmonics, round and with huge sustain. I went to Guitar World and compared it to multiple-thousand-dollar and my guitar fell short of no others.
Keep up the excellent work, and keep all those guitar-builders out there dreaming!
Ciao!
Francesco.
Hi Phil,
I finally finished this up. I spent the last 4 months working on this whenever i got a free moment. Guitar looks amazing, with the exception of a few dings on the front where i dropped a tool. I’ll fix that soon but i couldn’t wait to get this baby up and running.
It is also an amazing player, and has become one of my favorites! The whole experience is very rewarding to me, this is now my fifth build, and my second Precision and it is amazing how much more i learn each time.
The wood was so nice and the quality was apparent when I first received the kit. The neck fit in perfectly, and the fret work was great. I finished this using Target waterbased laquer. I personally cant stand being around nitro and this is pretty easy on the environment. So far I have had pretty good results with this stuff.
Below are the specs. thanks and looking forward to my next build.
Body & Neck: Mahogany
Fretboard: Rosewood
Electronics:
• Gibson P90 Single Coil Dogear Pickup
• CTS Pots
• Emerson Oil-in-Paper capacitorHardware:
• Kluson Plate Tuners
• Wilkinson/Gotoh Adjustable Bridge/Tailpiece
• Tusq XL Nut
• Switchcraft Jack
Built by my 14 year old son with some of my help. Thank you so much for this wonderful kit!
Stained amber with brown on the sides and back. He left some wood unstained for an inlay (but without the inlay) look. The guitar features A Seymour Duncan hot rail (neck position) and a little 59′ in the bridge, as well as the solderless toneshaper by Acme Guitar. Thank you very much for the fantastic kit, we will definitely be making another!
This is a fellow who lives in my neck of the woods. Great guy. So this is his first build… take a look at what an awesome instrument you can make.
Tims Lucky Mojo
This was my first build and I have learned a lot. I knew nothing about finishing and had lots of questions and apprehension. But now that I have the finished product in my hands I am very pleased. This guitar sounds like no other I own and I am discovering how much more I like it every day I play it, especially at rehearsals. My expectations were high and this guitar turned out just as I had hoped. After educating myself on guitar finishing I got busy and started experimenting with stain colour on scrap maple and mahogany that Phil gave me. I made lots of minor errors but eventually got what I was after.
Most importantly the neck and body fit together perfectly. The pre cut angle on the neck leaves no room for errors,so you cant screw this up. This was the easiest part of the build.
I then gave it a shot of vinyl sealer,sanded, then clear coats of nitro lacquer. I waited the recommended 4 weeks before I sanded and polished. This was the hardest part of the build.
In the meantime I chose the gear I wanted and ordered the parts online.I ordered from a few different companies as I could not get everything I wanted at one company.
- Sperzal locking tuners
- Graph Tech nut
- Seymour Duncan Alnico II neck
- Seymour Duncan Alnico II Slash model {a few extra windings } bridge
- Tone pro bridge and tailpiece {supplied by Phil }
- 500 k pots ,orange drop caps
- Covers knobs and colour to my taste
It was very exciting to polish this baby up and see the work that I did pay off.
Assembly was for the most part easy. It just got better and better, I would stand back and marvel as I put the parts on one by one.
Time to do the nut and I blew it. I sanded too far in pursuit of the perfect action. The next one was easier and I got it just right. I set the bridge low and got no buzz as I checked up the neck. No adjustments needed on the truss rod.Could it be this easy I thought? Oh ya intonation! I checked the intonation and to my surprise it was right there.Wow I was done
Right away you could hear this guitar had tones like no other and as I used it exclusively for the next week at rehearsal ,it was hard to keep the shit eating grin off my face. My band mates are impressed with the quality and sound ,and that it is unique.
I will defiantly be looking forward to building another kit. I think it will be far easier as I have all the supplies and knowledge from the first.
This is what he bought:
Well, this is a guitar kit that we sold to DR. Sergio in Honduras.. Take a look at what he did with our Bound & Flamed kit
Here’s what he did and used:
Hi Phil!just wanted to thank you guys, I’d just finished my guitar, named MENA after my daughter, and I think it came out pretty good, it’s a beautiful sounding instrument.
It took me a little over a month to finish this project, and I’m very happy with the results.
for those who may be interested, here are the specifications:
1. 59 carved top bound and flamed (precision guitar kit).
2. Amber and lemon yellow dye for the top (Stew Mac).
3. Deep mahogany stain and finish for the back (ace).
4. Black and clear gloss polyurethane (ace).
5. Grover deluxe tuners.
6. Bone nut (Stew Mac).
7. Gotoh bridge an tail piece.
8, Gibson 57’s Classic and Classic plus neck and bridge.
9. Cts pots 500k, switchcraft switches, mojotone vitamin t caps 0.22 mf.
10. Chrome jackplate.
11. Gibson nickel strap buttons.
11. Amber switch tip and knobs.
Again thank you very much!, you will be hearing from me soon!
Oh!, and sorry for the pictures, they are from my Iphone.
and this is the kit he used:
Phil, I was extremely pleased with the ’59 Bound & Flamed kit I received. The neck/body joint was perfect, and gluing it in place was the easiest part of the process. As you can see I opted for a classic cherry sunburst look. I am also extremely pleased with the playability, every now and then a guitar can seem to almost play itself very easily, that’s the feeling I get with this guitar. Thanks for a great product, thinking about my next project.
and a bit more..
Hardware is all nickel plated, Faber bridge, Gotoh aluminum tailpiece, tuners are Kluson copies, pu’s are Stewmac’s Parsons Street (which seem fine, but I had in mind to try some other boutiquish humbucker types eventually).
I really like the plastic I got from Philadelphia Luthier Supply – more of a bonewhite than pinkish cream, I think it looks perfect on the red and contrasts a bit with the more yellowish binding.
The burst top I did with Reranch powder stains hand-applied, 3 colors; started with amber over all, sanded that back to leave an amber overtone in the grain recesses, then applied cherry on the edge, then yellow in the middle – with a lot of spot sanding, touching up and blending the stain here and there with Q-tips.
I grain-filled the mahogany with marine epoxy, the color for neck and back was Reranch cherry spray. 12 coats of nitro clear over all of it (fingerboard taped of course), wetsanded and polished. I’ve done numerous solid color and translucent Fender style bodies before so I already had the basic process in mind, this was my first sunburst.
BTW, my “paint station” consisted of a bungee cord on a tree limb from which I hung the body for spraying, I’ll send you a pic of that later.
Also, gotta say I admire your business model; if somebody can’t glue that neck and body together – they shouldn’t be trying this. Shipping body and neck unassembled must lower the shipping damage risk (versus a full length guitar), make shipping cheaper, and lessen the likelihood of theft, plus it lets the owner say “I built it”, awesome!
Hi Phil , thank you to have these quality guitars in the market , and Canadian product on top of it . Here is my Double Cutaway Custom 58 ( might call it `Jmont` looking for a decal ) Look good , sound well just little issues with headstock that i received was a bit too much sanded on the side but not a big issue as it`s my first project.
- Tuner are tone pro that i tinted with same colour as body and neck + cover by clear nail varnish
- pick up is a Lollars dog ear
- Bridge is a Tone pro wraparound AVT2 ( might change for a standard vintage will see…)
- Pickguard is totaly custom hand made by me , wood is African wange
- Trus rod cover hand made with ebony , back plate is handmade with Mahogany ( need to revised as i want to made a ebony one)
- Stain that used is colour “ Black Bean “ Fom Livos , Ecological oil /stain ( no smell , no sanding just 3 coats and buffing at the end) just need cheese cloth and glove to get great result, will used again !
- Electronic is 500k CTS pots with a .22 orange cap
Good morning Phil.
As promised, here are some pictures on my Kit I bought end of ast year.
The progress:
- I started to dye the body black, sanded it down to make the flames more visual.
- I tinted the nitro cellulous lacquer with cherry red dye and shot 4-5 layers.
- Clear coat nitro cellulous around 40 layers, sanded with 800 grit every 5th layer until the last layer which I wet sanded 800 grit, 1200 grit and finally 2000 grit.
- Then I polished with Meguiars ULTIMATE COMPOUND and waxed it with Meguiars ULTIMATE LIQUID WAX
Hardware:
- Bridge and Tailpiece: TonePros system 2Tuners:
- Grover Roto-Grip Locking Rotomatics (502 Series)
- Pickups: Dimarzio Transition (Steve Lukather new signature pickups
- Nut: Gibson original bone
- Plastics: Gibson original parts (Bellplate, Volume/tone knobs etc)
- Electronics: RSG kit with CTS pots, RS Paper and Oil GuitarCap by Jensen, 3-way toggle switch Switchcraft.
- Dunlop Straplock system
- Strings: SIT Power Wound 009-046
It took me some time to get the color as I wanted, in the beginning I dyed the body red but for some reason it turned into brown after a couple of days, think I sanded it down 2 times. This happened twice and therefor I decided to tint the Nitro and that turned out really good.
I like when the color is “sharp” and both the grain and color pops.
Give also Kevin my best regards and once again Thank you very much for top notch body and neck. It wouldn’t be possible to get so good end result without your craftsmanship!
ome of the components that I used for the dark Jr (“Africa”) include:
-David Allen ‘Straycat’ P/U
-Faber steel compensated bridge/wrap tailpiece, anchors and studs
-CTS premium pots, PIO .033 tone cap
-Stew-Mac tuning machine (plates)
-custom made pickguard/truss rod cover from ‘Greasy Groove’ in N.S.
-holly veneer on headstockThis was a great project; loved making mistakes during the build, but it plays very well in the end.
There is a ton of Resonance in this guitar.Thanks for offering such a fine product Phil!! I’ll be back…
