Solo FBK-1 DIY Electric Guitar Kit

This was my second guitar kit. Easy to assemble. The most work will probably be spent on the finish and wiring

This was initially a great kit to work on and vehicle to learn about wood finishing. Physical construction was very easy, and those finishing instructions were clear. Unfortunately, the kit did not include a packing list to ensure everything was there (and it looks like several fasteners are missing; no instructions about which size screws go where), and the electrical instructions are terrible. The electrical diagram looks easy enough to understand, but descriptions of which wire goes to what were not good - basically one long run-on paragraph to wire the entire guitar, which involves at least 8 separate components, some requiring soldering (and colors called out wrong in instructions). Descriptions of how to separately wire insulated and grounded wires are nowhere to be found. Very difficult to manipulate wire once run if you make a mistake. The switch in particular had lugs much too small to fit the ground wire into, making the connection extremely difficult. After hours of soldering, melting and re-soldering, help from YouTube and a near-total disassembly of the kit, I still had to have a guitar store bail me out to finish it. The strap lugs also stripped immediately and I had to buy Dunlops to stay on.I still have to say this is better than buying an "authentic" Firebird, and it's nice to have a guitar that I "designed," but the assembly was a nightmare. I guess if you have years of experience with guitar electronics and don't need instructions, you could figure it out, but if you're a true build novice, it was not easy.

everything fit nice and has a great neck. The only nit picking con was one of the strings guides on the bridge is for a 12 string, I just filed a groove between the two grooves. The humbuckers have a very unique sound, also access to the upper frets is a couple inches less than a real Firebird