Alston Guitars - Left Handed | DIY Electric Guitar Kit | Bolt On Neck | Solid Mahogany & Maple Neck | A830L

Just received this kit yesterday. I'll update this as I work on the project.At first glance, everything looks good. The electronics are pre-assembled and built onto the pickguard for drop-in use, which saves a lot of hassle. There are a few problems with it however;1) No instructions. While they provide a wiring guide, they do not show how to construct the bridge, which is fairly complex. Since Alston Guitars does not appear to have a website to look these up, I'm not sure how to proceed.2) while the body has bolt holes, the neck does not, meaning I need to take extra care to align the next to ensure the scale is the proper length.3) The frets weren't filed down, so they're sharp as hell. Currently unplayable without being modified.Before I do any of that however, I need to sand and finish the neck and body.Update #1:So after googling around a little, I found out that other kits did in fact come with instruction booklets. This is a showstopper, as I don't want to mess it up. I was able to file the sharp frets down (hint, surround the fret with painter's tape to prevent accidental marring of the wood).I've taken inventory of the remaining parts and it looks like I have everything with the exception of the instructions.I've attempted to contact the manufacturer through facebook (their website appears down) to acquire a PDF of their instructions, however I have yet to receive a response.I really want to like this kit, but each passing day that I can't use it, the review gets a little more harsh.

It pains me to say this, but this is just not worth buying. There's just no way that your going to get this guitar sounding like anything great unless you have extensive knowledge of electronics and wood working. Nothing on this guitar is even of average construction. Luckily I have many tools at my disposal, because this guitar needs a lot of work done to the body just to have the bridge floating correctly. I'm not even going to go into anymore details. Just don't spend your money on this. If you really want to build your own guitar, I suggest buying each piece individually or just buying an already made guitar. It sucks for us lefties that guitar prices are twice that of our right handed counterparts, but sometimes you have to sacrifice a few extra dollars for quality.

Same item purchased elsewhere, it ain't that hard... And it can be totally worth it.Pros: really good wood work, solid mahogany body, and neck, easy to stain and laqeur, all the hard parts are done ie routes and bridge holes etc. most assembly involved can be found in YouTube video instruction. The biggest pro being is its custom built by you.Cons: not so great hardware, meaning that it's not top end, it's useable but if possible better to get some better, mainly pickups and good Floyd rose liscence bridge..,(lefty) makes huge differences.all the other stuff is fine, just gotta put it together well. I have a trick I use for bolt on necks, just fit neck to pocket and clamp, or hold, then take toothpick with some black shoe polish on tip lead that into holes to make legible dots on the back of neck, then you can make pilots for the neck screws, use like 1/8" bit and put a zip tie or tape as depth marker on bit to not got too deep, as in don't shoot through the fretboard, then when screwing together use some wax on threads to get a nice smooth join, That's really the main part of getting started. Some basic fret finishing ie level and crowning which can be learned YouTube as well, and along with also basic solder techniques... Inherent to all electric guitar maintenance and part replacing, something guitarists just have to know. Sounds like a task maybe, but it ain't so bad, and for those who know what ibanez gems cost, it's really pretty awesome deal.