Anyone look into this company selling this M7 sevenstring kit?

[vertibration]

M7 Custom - Precision Guitar Kits

Want a truly magnificent guitar? Start here… We use quality tonewoods and high-tech machinery to craft our instruments. We only use solid wood and carefully matched glue joints. Our fretwork is second to none, and each component is adjusted and fitted for a perfect match.

precisionguitarkits.com

Seems like a really cool project, and a very sick looking guitar kit for $500

 

[Pietjepieter]

never heard of them, but that shape is super cool!

 

[ZXIIIT]

Here is a build of one


I inquired with them about getting one but the output jack placement was too off-putting.

 

[vertibration]

I dig it, M7 looks sick

 

[Shawn]

First I've heard of it, too. Pretty neat.

 

[bostjan]

Pretty cool, but some thoughts:

1. You can get the price down to $480 if you go with some of the more basic options that don't affect how much work you have to put into it.
2. +$138 for SS Frets? Why so much? Warmoth only charges like $20.
3. Why roasted maple fretboard but no roasted maple neck option?! Cool that they offer ebony fretboard with no upcharge, though.
4. After you buy this kit, tuners, pickups, paint, a hipshot bridge, and the necessary electronics, it's going to be more than $1k for sure. I think that'll potentially put it in the price range where few people will be would go on a limb for an unknown brand. I put my Warmoth seven together for around $800. Warmoth doesn't offer the luminlays or 26.5" scale length, though...

 

[Randy]

Pretty cool, but some thoughts:

1. You can get the price down to $480 if you go with some of the more basic options that don't affect how much work you have to put into it.
2. +$138 for SS Frets? Why so much? Warmoth only charges like $20.
3. Why roasted maple fretboard but no roasted maple neck option?! Cool that they offer ebony fretboard with no upcharge, though.
4. After you buy this kit, tuners, pickups, paint, a hipshot bridge, and the necessary electronics, it's going to be more than $1k for sure. I think that'll potentially put it in the price range where few people will be would go on a limb for an unknown brand. I put my Warmoth seven together for around $800. Warmoth doesn't offer the luminlays or 26.5" scale length, though...

In synopsis: JBAUP

 

[Randy]

That said, I think it's a very reasonable price for what is included. Lot of people that want to "build a guitar" but don't want to do a lot of woodwork and it's got a much nicer modern look than some of the DIY alternatives.

 

[DiezelMonster]

With the options I spec'd out it was $1019.

That would be how I would order it, however I would never give $1000 to a company I've never hard of, for unfinished parts.

I've already built enough guitars out of inexpensive parts from ebay companies and while the service was okay, I did receive parts that were damaged on 2 occasions from the same company, and eventually got replacements but it's so hit and miss. The guitars are together, play well but have remained unfinished because I don't have a local paint person anymore. so they sit in the case, 8 years on hahaha.

The body looks cool, kinda looks like an Ibanez Tele style body they have done in the past. I do like the headstock shape, which is one of the biggest things that put me off fast from most manufacturers.

Even at $519 after you put all the parts and finish and you still have to put it together or have someone else do it, read: professional, it hardly seems worth it, as Randy said above.

 

[mastapimp]

Seems like they're missing a few things with that guitar kit like a hole for grounding the bridge or strap buttons.

 

[lord of chads]

I was always wondering about these kits, but I procrastinate like crazy and if I got one I would never put it together. I've seen good reviews on their more traditional models though. I also thought their custom guitars (http://www.fastguitars.com/) looked good.

No experience with them though.

 

[spudmunkey]

3. Why roasted maple fretboard but no roasted maple neck option?! Cool that they offer ebony fretboard with no upcharge, though.

It could be as simple as that a neck is longer, so they may not fit in their oven, or too thick to fit in their oven in that it greatly reduces the amount of wood they can treat, if the shelves/racks have to be so far apart. Thicker wood also takes much longer, which takes up kiln time, also slowing them down. All of that is just me, coming up with rationalizations though, not based on anything real.

 

[Emperoff]

After you buy this kit, tuners, pickups, paint, a hipshot bridge, and the necessary electronics, it's going to be more than $1k for sure. I think that'll potentially put it in the price range where few people will be would go on a limb for an unknown brand. I put my Warmoth seven together for around $800. Warmoth doesn't offer the luminlays or 26.5" scale length, though...

Guitar kits have always been crap. I guess this is what happenes when you step up the quality.

 

[bostjan]

It could be as simple as that a neck is longer, so they may not fit in their oven, or too thick to fit in their oven in that it greatly reduces the amount of wood they can treat, if the shelves/racks have to be so far apart. Thicker wood also takes much longer, which takes up kiln time, also slowing them down. All of that is just me, coming up with rationalizations though, not based on anything real.

I guess I never thought of these places roasting their own maple. I had assumed that the sawmills were supplying them with roasted maple, since roasted woods became a big thing in guitars after they were already trendy with furniture makers...

Guitar kits have always been crap. I guess this is what happenes when you step up the quality.

Well, there have always been crap guitar kits, but I'd like to think that the ones from reputable companies were better. I don't know, though, since I honestly never tried one of the cheapo kits before. My dad had bought a Carvin kit back when Carvin guitars were still Carvin, and it turned out fantastic, aside from a flaw in the clear coat, which had nothing to do with the supplies from Carvin. But, playability-wise, hands-down the most playable instrument in his collection. I put together a Warmoth myself and it feels fantastic - it's now my main seven for D standard tuning. And I put together a StewMac kit guitar for my son, and that, too, ended up being super playable with suitable tone.

In terms of the quality of the parts, I can't speak for the Carvin, since I wasn't the one who assembled it. The Warmoth parts, though, required literally nothing. My son painted the body for me. I drilled the holes for the guide pins of the tuners, drilled the holes for the bridge, widened the pickup route for a 7-string soapbar (which I ended up fucking up, since it was the first time I had used a router other than practicing on scrap wood). I used wipe-on poly for a clear coat, and it took to the wood perfectly. Then I just installed the hardware and strings and tuned it up. The StewMac, on the other hand, there were no side markers, so I had to install those, which was nerve-racking, since I don't have a proper jig. The frets were really sharp, so I had to do a ton of fretwork on it. The wood was super rough, so everything had to be thoroughly sanded before finishing. The headstock was a paddle, so I had to cut it to shape...the truss rod had to be tweaked, and it seemed like a lot more fiddling with string height and intonation than I was initially expecting - but the StewMac kit was maybe 1/4th of the price of the Warmoth stuff. I'd expect a kit from CHINAEXPORTDOTCOM or whatever generic-sounding manufacturer would require even more work than the StewMac kit, but I could be way wrong.

Honestly, if I was going for a DIY kit with a modern look and extended range, this would be the way to go. I double checked the pricing, and it's definitely more expensive than anything comparable from Warmoth (note that Warmoth has a ton more options and has a great reputation), but not by very much. And the only other seven string kits I've ever seen were pretty sketchy-looking. Like, manufacturers I've never heard of and woods I've never heard of and hardware that looks like it might be made of tin foil mushed into a mould...

 

[JimF]

I've been wanting one of these for a while. I love the shape. It nails the "metal tele" aesthetic and the headstock is cool too.
Unfortunately, being in the UK adds about $300 to the price once you've considered shipping and import duty/VAT. I do like the fact you can pick your woods etc.
Fun fact, if you email them, its actually Andrew Baena off of YouTube that replies to you.
On some UK guitar sites their more traditional kits get a decent write up, but at the end of the day, its the little details such as finishing that make a DIY build look professional or amateur, and its often those details that the DIYers miss; and I'm very picky.
Also the neck is supposed to be a Schecter type thickness, and I like skinny diddly necks.

 

[JimF]

Bit of eye candy for the M6 kit, this is literally perfect to me.

 

[FloridaST]

Resurrecting from the beyond... has anybody recently built a M7 custom kit from precisionguitarkits.com? I'm thinking of building one just for the fun of it. Apparently the necks and fretwork are pretty nice.