Need help with DIY

AxAxSxS · May 8, 2010

What about this kit is it any good i plan to put some megametal pups in it cus stocks usualy suck with these types of kits,

http://www.instrumentalley.com/Saga-HT-10-Build-Your-Own-Guitar-Kit-p/saga-ht-10.htm

I bought the LP Saga kit and put it together a few months back. I have mixed feelings about it. I am deployed in Iraq so I did not have the correct tools for the job and access to the paints and dye's I would have liked to use, but I made do and ended up with a functional guitar.
Here's the kit in the box when it arrived-

I masked the top to prep for painting the back. If I had it to do over again, I would have mock assembled the guitar to check for fit before doing this. The main area this became a problem in was the control cavity. When I installed the pots, there was not quite enough of a route to make them fit, so I had to chisel out some extra depth to get them to work.

I rough carved a headstock using a folding knife. With access to better tools, you should be able to do a lot better.

I began painting using mystery paint that had Arabic writing on the can. Hopefully it is lead free.

AxAxSxS · May 8, 2010

For the top, Since I could not atain any dye, I improvised and soaked some map markers in water and then applied the concoction. It sort of worked

Just for the hell of it, I added a temporary tattoo the wife had sent me as a joke to the headstock. It actually kinda worked:facepalm:

This is NOT a preferred routing method:p

I also had some problems with the tailpiece, wich did not quite fit. here you see my impressive tool collection

And finally, heres the finished product. I used a set of seymour Duncan JB/59 instead of the pups that came with the kit, wich looked to be garbage. I may try them out in something eventually just to see what they would have sounded like, but they just looked cheap.

So, in conclusion, this kit went together fairly easily with minimal tools and my only major complaint is that it needs to have the fret ends dressed. The neck is straight, I had no problems with intonation, and was able to set it up with nice low action no problem. Not everything fit perfectly, but with a lil infantry style persuasion it came together. I may build another down the road using better tools and I may refinish this one when I get back to the states. The thing that most impressed me about it was that it had an actual maple top, not a veneer. It was glued somewhat poorly and you can see the glue line clearly but it all stays together. I also had to fix the binding in one spot. I used a glue that was similar to model cement and it softened the plastic and melded it with the wood quite nicely. Have fun with yours!