Muslady (or other) cheap kits

[LiveOVErdrive]

The Harley Benton build thread got me hankering to do a kit build myself. Does anyone have any experience with the Muslady kits on ebay and amazon? They are cheap as hell and look decent enough.

Is there anything wrong with them that I can't fix? I love doing fretwork and finishing. I'm just not in the mood to build a body and neck from scratch right now.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

For <$100, why not?

Though, for like $70 more, StewMac has kits too, and I'm inclined to trust them a bit more.

Kits are such a crap shoot, if they haven't been properly stored they can be absolute basket cases, regardless of brand.

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

You make a compelling argument. Now I just need to decide if I finally get a Tele or if I go for another strat. Either way I want p90s, so there will be some mods required.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

If you're looking to go Strat/Tele, I suggest:

A) Warmoth In-stock: You can get great deals if you're not too picky about specs and even better deals if you forgo things like frets and finishes which you seem happy to do yourself. Necks start at $150, bodies $180. Much more expensive, yes, but much lower risk as well.

B) I've built a few kits from BYOGuitar for a friend, and the quality wasn't bad. A little rough around the edges, and hardware/electronics were cheapo, but the bones were solid. They start around $200 I believe, and do offer a level of customization.

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

I think that price point comes in higher than what I am looking for. I mostly want to putz around with finishes and not worry too much. So the 70 dollar price tag is very appealing. I was just concerned that I might get a warped neck or a neck that straight up doesn't fit with the body or something.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Hey @LiveOVErdrive, apparently StewMac is running a 20% off promotion on kits right now. I just got the email and thought of this thread.

 

[Defyantly]

I have been wanting to do a kit build as well so I have done a lot of online shopping for something I want. Solomusicgear has some decent kits for reasonable prices. Bargainmusician has some interesting kits. Im looking at the iceman to begin with if I got that route. byoguitar seems a little steep on some of their prices but seem quality. Warmoth would be what I would use if I wanted to build my 500+ guitar with minimal work needed. I have concluded that no matter what kit you go with at bare minimum you need to address the frets and some minor fitment issues, but I have heard that sometime you get a really decent guitar out of the cheaper kits.

 

[Defyantly]

It also goes to say that no matter what kit you kit your biggest lowend pieces will be the hardware and pickups.

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

130 for an ash body Tele kit? Not bad at all. That's close enough to the cheapest kits on ebay that it might be the way to go.

At the end of the day I just REALLY don't feel like building a neck right now but I want to do all the fretwork and finishing. You know, the putzy fiddly terrible stuff. Weird.