JEM Style Electric Guitar Kit

This was a lot of fun to put together. I got to play a jem jr. a long time ago and did not like it, but I love the feel of this jem kit over that.ProsThe vine inlays are beautiful and the neck plays well for me. The only fret work I had to do was polish the frets because they had some grittiness. There wasn't any sprouting from the frets. The pots feel solid. The intonation isn't sharp on the first fret.The kit and instructions say it comes with a string retainer bar, but mine did not come with one. I emailed byo's customer service and they responded within three hours on a Sunday. Which I was impressed by. They said the current jem kits now have an angled headstock and do not need the retainer.Aside from not being updated with the retainer and some wiring the instructions from their site are great and also have video references.Another pro is having a jem style for cheap, getting to chose whatever color you want, and having a fun project.ConsThe tuners definitely feel cheap, but behind the locking nut they haven't been problematic. The selector switch cuts out in the fourth position, but that is an easy part to replace. The pickups are pretty good, except the volume drops by maybe half when going from the neck or bridge to blended with the single coil. The floyd rose cannot be pushed to drop the pitch very far. I cannot figure out what's stopping it. The instructions show a ground going from the volume pot to the output jack, but mine only had a ground going to the trem claw, but on a closer look the output wire (yellow) also had a white wire in it so it was two in one.Reading the amazon questions I knew there was a chance I would not get the maple fret board and I did not. the listing should definitely be updated to show the current fret board. I went with the jem kit off of amazon instead of directly from byo because I wanted the maple board, and the same kit direct from their website is cheaper.Some scratches on the fret board when I got it.All in all it was a fun time and I got a pretty guitar.Edit a few months later.After using it a lot I wanted to add that the trem system is not very good. I've used and restrung floyd rose style trems for years and this trem kept having strings fly out of the lock on the bridge. I've never had that problem with locking trems before this one. another big down side is the locking nut stripped after about a month which is another first for me. I emailed customer service asking for the measurements to order a new one and did not get a response.

This was a Birthday Gift for my Son, after he had expressed his real interest in having such a kit. He tells me that this is a very complete kit with all parts needed to construct his new guitar. The material used for these parts is of good quality. I would recommend this outlet and it's kit to anyone.

The neck bolt was cheaply made, and broke. Half of it is still in the neck. Pickups were poor quality. Mounting screws to the pickup were stripped out and could not mount. Neck and body didn't fit together. Locking screws on trem were stripped and couldn't lock. Bridge was unusable. Sent a message to the seller but never heard back.

I was VERY disappointed that it didn't have a maple fingerboard as pictured and advertised, it also didn't have the 4 scalloped high frets as pictured and advertised. Which was the whole reason (s) I bought it instead of getting 2 from another vendor I bought another one from that same night featuring a rosewood fingerboard (which this one came with)Doing two different style 'JEM' builds, so I bought two different style kits (or thought I did anyway)Other than that, it's a really nice kit. The body is clean and crisp. Doesn't look like I'll have much work before paint, but won't really know for sure until the primer goes on.I love that it's got a BEAUTIFUL 5 piece neck and headstock. The face of the headstock will be getting painted black, but the rest of it along with the neck are going to look AMAZING when clear coated!I'll be using an actual Jem pickguard and Dimarzio pickups along with controls, so I didn't really pay too close of attention to the electronics assembly, but everything was there and ready to go other than soldering the included cable jack and the ground wire.All in all I'm very pleased with the kit other than the fingerboard hoax.

Appreciate the prompt response to my question. Body of the guitar wasn’t perfect but they offered to fix or replace. Decided to go for it. I’m a novice at this so perfect is a far reach anyway