Haven’t heard from you in a while. Guess you are keeping pretty busy. Not surprised with the quality of the kits that you put out. I was going to upload these to the site but there seems to be a communication problem so I thought I would pass these along if you would like to post them. The fit was dead on so I don’t wonder why you are called Precision. So to sum up…’59 Junior Double Cut, sanded down to accept a 3 year Spalted Maple top, Bubinga pickguard and Spalted 1/16″ headstock with a funky little Bubinga truss rod cover to mimic the shape of the headstock. Six screws was overkill but I wanted them to look like the tuners, which are Grover. Tonepros bridge and a Spalted Maple cavity cover which attaches with rare earth magnets for easy removal with a fingernail or pick and Seymour Duncan P-90 Antiquity Series pup which sound fantastic with a custom gold plated cover to match the rest of the hardware and Gibson 500k tone and volume pots. Took a while but I think it was well worth the effort. Thanks, Phil and all the guys at PGK for making this possible. I’m calling it Drop Dead Drop Top or DDD-T.
I finally took some photos of the last three kits I got from you. The photos seem really bad which I will blame on low batteries.
My Dad passed away last September, so I was not able to get any work done on these guitars last year. I am really happy with the sound and playability of all three and they do look fantastic in person. I suspect taking a photo of Gold Top gold is as difficult as getting a good finish with Gold Top gold. I did match it to some photos I have of 50s Gold Tops where the top clear coat had turned yellow to give it that older look. All guitars were painted with rattle cans and no dye on the tops so the flame moves with the viewing angle.
I wound all the pickups and made the back plates for the carve tops. I was experimenting with magnets and other things which is why some are still double creme. I like the look, and sound, of the open coils on the sunburst, but the gold top is going to get raw covers at the next string change. I also wired in a secret weapon in the Gold Top where one knob rolls off the volume to one coil, on both pickups, so you can get humbucking power, single coil sweetness or any mix you want. Pull up on the knob and it chooses the opposite coil(s).
I really love the ebony headstock overlay! I was debating on whether I should leave it raw or spray it and as you can see spray it won. I feel like I finally have the faux binding scraping under control and I really like how it looks with more clear maple exposed on the sunburst. Hot hide glue was used for all neck joints and nuts, and while I can’t compare it to using titebond since I have never used it, I would definitely choose my guitars over anything the big G makes! You can also see how the logo you printed for me looks on the finished product.
I still have a Vee, for my son, and a Bound & Flamed carve top kit to complete, but the weather is colder and wetter than it was in February! It needs to warm up and dry out before I can do much else. I guess I could get going on the pickups for the six guitars I have in progress. The next kit I plan to order will be the carve top with the smoothed neck joint unless you can do the 1958 Jr. with a carved top of flame maple (hint) as it is the best shape for slide with all the fretboard exposed.
I bought a completed body and neck recently, well I have finished the build, used Gotoh part and finished her with a light stain and 30 coats of french polish!
She plays like a dream, thank-you for a great piece of kit, extremely well made and raring to go.
Feel free to use the picture and anyone who may be thinking of building a guitar, PG’s are your go to Men!
Finally got the chance to take some decent pics of the guitar. It was a 59 carved top kit. I had been wanting to try one of the precision kits for a while, just to be able to put what you
want on a guitar in the infancy of it the process always appealed to me.
Also wanted to try my hand at seeing if I could get close to a Bourbon burst. I do a bit of painting as a side job but nothing on wood, more helmets, bike tanks ect. so that part was also of interest to see what I could learn on the finishing part. And really who doesn’t want to see if they can put something like this together.
Anyway everything went smooth in the assembly. The only real hangup I had was trying to get the bourbon color how I wanted it. I learned dyes are a much different beast than the paints I am used too.
Picked the dyes and water based finish up from wood essence. It was actually a nice product to work with.
I’m still picky on the finish, but it was the perfect way to learn.
The neck plays amazing, the body has a great weight to it. I have a Seth lover in the neck of another guitar so i knew what to expect there. Love the vintage vibe of the pick up’s. Very happy with how everything turned out, it is a great playing and sounding guitar.
I’ve already picked out the next kit I want to try my hand at. You will definitely be hearing from me sooner
than later as I plan to set this one up as a summer project.
Here’s the kit I built for my friends son, Nick. He’s 14 and plays for Rex-O-Flex. This was a great quality kit and I am looking forward to building more. Thanks for the great customer service and fantastic quality.
Hey Phil. Just saying thanks for the beautiful pieces of wood you made me! This is what has resulted of your awesome work! Took me awhile but finally got her done.
finished my Custom 61 JR kit i bought from you awhile back.first off let me say your kits are first class.fit and finish was perfect.just got through puttin in a Lindy Fralin 9k Pure PAF in it.
Leo Quan Badass,50s wiring.CTS pots and a Bumble Bee.plus the Kluson/Tonepros TKP3 tuners.hers a few pics of my Baby.keep up the good work.will definetly do another some day.
Finally have some decent pics of the X that my son Daniel and I put together. Great learning experience for our first time building a guitar. Daniel loves playing it.
The quality of the kit is amazing right out of the box; fret work is great. I glued the neck on the body after I finish sanded it up to about 800 grit. I did not grain fill and did several, probably about 10 very light coats of Tru Oil….wipe on then wipe off.
Humbuckers are Golden Age with a paper in oil 0.022 Cap. I did drill one hole so that I could thread a soldered ground wire from the bottom of the bridge post and pull it through to ground on the back of one of the pots.
I had the pic gaurd made specifically for this guitar by www.pickgardian.com (I sent them a paper template).
The LP kit was a blast to build and I’m really impressed with the precise machining of the entire guitar. The fitment between neck and the body was especially well done on your part. Thanks for a solid product. Here are a few pics.
finally I managed to tak some better photos of my beloved Junior DC. Feel free to use them on your page:
I love it! It plays so well and sounds just great! By the way … it’s pretty beautiful, too! My final specs: black limba body + neck, ebony fretboard without markers, ebony headstock veneer, Gibson P90 dog ear, Rockinger Harmony wrap around bridge (made from aluminium), bone nut, Kluson tuners. The headstock shows my great-grandfather’s signature (“Hartung”). Body and neck received just 3 coats of Tru Oil – so I kept the pure wooden feeling.
This “Hans Hartung Junior DC” (as I call it) delivers just that sound I want from a Junior type guitar – raw and pure, dynamic and clear! Thank you for your outstanding work! Maybe I will return to you for another kit some day … 🙂
So I’ve finished my Les Paul junior kit and thought I’d send you a few pics of the finished product.When the kit arrived I was very happy with the choice and quality of the woods and the fit and finish was fantastic. I soon set about choosing the finish I wanted and what electrics I was going to install.Once everything was done and I first strung the guitar up i strummed a G chord and this guitar just rang like a bell !!! Sustained for days !!! Even when I couldn’t hear the notes I could still feel the strings resonating through the body and this was before I had it plugged into the amp.I went for the look of a famous German luthier who builds a model called the ‘krautster’ and went for a single vintage PAF pup handmade by Mojo pickups here in England. He also made me a custom wiring loom of one tone and one volume with a coil split. Kluson vintage tuners, tone pros wrap around bridge and a bone nut keep this guitar simple but beautiful. It’s surprising how many tones I can get if this single PAF using the volume, tone and coil tap.
I’m now planning my second build and will no doubt be purchasing another kit very soon. Please have a look at the pics if my new favourite pics and thanks for the awesome kit !!
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.
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.
He calls is Vapo… made with a vick’s vaporub smelling wood. It is very cool.. Check out the bridge.. crazy cool…
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.
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.
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.
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.
As promised, some pictures of my completed ’59 carved top double cut.
But first, let me say that I’ve never worked with woods or wood finishing, and I learned how to solder only a few months ago. So this project represented a “learning by doing” opportunity. I think I made almost every mistake in the book along the way, each time a valuable, if occasionally frustrating lesson. But I discovered that there’s almost no mistake you can’t back up from and redo it right. And the end result — while it might not look as pretty as some of your other customers’ work — is all my own. And I can say with pride that I built it. Not to mention . . . the guitar sounds fantastic!
Some stats:
’59 double cut carved top custom kit (plain maple cap on mahogany with 60’s profile neck and rosewood fingerboard)
TonePros LP Artisan locking Tunomatic bridge and tailpiece
Custom-ordered, calibrated set of “Blue Note” spec, Bare Knuckle humbucker-sized P-90 pickups (thanks, Ben French in the UK)
500k CTS True Vintage Taper audio potentiometers
.022 / .047 (neck/bridge) 100v Orange Drop tone capacitors
Switchcraft short, 3-way toggle switch and mono jack
Custom-ordered 0-11 amber top hat knobs
Thanks very much, Phil, for your support during my build. I’ll definitely be buying another kit from you soon. As much as I don’t need another guitar, I had way too much fun building this one not to try another kit.
My guy at Earic guitar shop in van nuys was raving on how nice your guitar was very nicely built hasn’t seen this Quality in quite sometime and the fit of the neck couldn’t of been any better. Made me smile as I’m sure it just did for you. It will be ready for pickup tomorrow then I’ll finish off the staining and clear coat water sand buff and polish and I’ll have so pics. For you.
Thank you so much, you guys are truly guitar gods.
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“.
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
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
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
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.
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.
