Solo TCK-150 DIY Semi Hollow Electric Guitar Kit With Maple Top

(14 customer reviews)

$ USD 169.99

Build Challenge Level. Learn more.

In stock

SHARE ON
FacebookTwitterGoogle PlusSaveEmail
SKU: TCK-150 Category: Electric Guitar Kits Brand:
Frequently Bought Together
Solo Pro Black Conductive Shielding Paint
Container Size

In stock

from $ USD 12.99
$ USD 89.99
$ USD 18.99

Description

This DIY guitar kit has everything you need for building your own TC Style Semi Hollow Electric Guitar. You will only need some basic tools and finishing supplies. This kit includes all parts and step-by-step instructions to build a complete, playable custom guitar. All challenging wood cutting, drilling and shaping has already been professionally done, as well as fret leveling and dressing.

Recommended tools: Solo Guitar Assembly Kit Bolt-on Neck

Kit includes:

  • Basswood body with maple top
  • Unfinished maple neck with maple fingerboard
  • Hex threaded peghead bushings with washers
  • String Retainers
  • Tuning Machines
  • Strings
  • Strap Buttons
  • Bridge Assembly
  • Neck Plate
  • Control Plate Assembly
  • Full size potentiometers
  • Jack plate
  • Ground Wire
  • Cord
  • Hex wrench for truss-rod adjustment
  • Allen Key for saddle height adjustment
  • All mounting screws are included
IMPORTANT (in addition to our standard return policy): due to their nature kits can be returned only in virtually untouched condition and in original package.

Additional information

DIY Kit Information
Finish

Style

Body Information
Thickness

Body Material

Binding

Neck Information
Fretboard

Construction

Frets

Inlays

Scale Length

Thick Nut

Width Nut

Hardware and Electronics
Hardware Color

Selector Type

Bridge

Controls

Electronics

Pickups

Tuners

Additional Information
Weight

11 lbs

14 reviews for Solo TCK-150 DIY Semi Hollow Electric Guitar Kit With Maple Top

  1. Dean (verified owner)

    I bought 2 of these one for myself and 1 for my father for a guitar build off.honestly wish there was more work to be done on these they’re sweet only some fine sanding and finishing required. I’m loving this project the quality is way beyond what I expected.the staff was very helpful even calling to make sure I didn’t accidentally double my order who does that? I’m recommending this company to anyone who will listen!perfect products and professionalism look no further.looking forward to completing this and 1 upping my ol man .thanks solo music gear !you gotta customer for life and I suggest you do the same if you’re at all interested in building a guitar.

  2. billtaylor613 (verified owner)

    I was very pleased with this kit.
    It went together nicely.
    The nut slot adjustments went smoothly and frets were nicely leveled, so it tuned and intonated nicely.
    I did not have to shim the neck to get factory string height measurements.
    The feedback I get on it’s looks are really impressive.
    The lightness of the body makes for am amazing, light, nicely balanced guitar.
    I find I can really shred on this thing – I mean really move quickly all around the neck.
    It’s just so easy to adjust it’s playing position while in full shred mode.
    AND I can play it unplugged! – a real plus for a tele.

  3. roger (verified owner)

    Overall, I’m quite pleased with this kit. The body required very little finishing work. The neck had smooth fret ends, however, there were a couple that needed leveling. I expected as much from a kit guitar.

    The main thing that irks me is that the tuning peg holes are not aligned. It’s not bad enough that I would go through the trouble of gluing in dowels to fill them and start from scratch; however, it is still quite disappointing (and frankly there should be no reason that a neck with misaligned tuning peg holes gets shipped out… quality control should have caught that).

    Also, the nut was glued on far too firmly. I replaced the stock, plastic nut with something better, however, the stock nut had far too much glue applied making it tougher to remove (lots of taping ensured no damage to the neck during this swap).

    And lastly, I would have liked a tighter fit in the neck joint, however, it is a bolt-on, and it screws in fine and is aligned.

    As I said, overall, it’s a good kit. However, the few cons–especially those tuning peg holes–are enough for me to drop the rating a couple stars.

    I submitted a suggestion separately the other day, and may as well do the same here. It would be fantastic if you could include in the box a couple scrap pieces of wood from the top cut for us to use for stain tests. That way we’d have the exact same wood as the body’s cap (or body). They wouldn’t have to be large or sanded or anything. Just a couple small scrap pieces that shouldn’t impact shipping costs as they’d e the size of a coaster.

    Keep up the good work, folks.

  4. trittondrew (verified owner)

    I think Roger’s review is spot on. I’m pleased with the kit overall. The body was pretty well setup for finishing and had no glue spots anywhere. Excellent work! I did not bother leveling the frets at this time, but may go back over them at a later date. Overall they seemed to be fairly level to start with.

    My tuning machine holes were slightly off as well which makes for frustration. As a detail-oriented woodworker, these small subtleties can drive me nuts sometimes.

    I haven’t replaced the nut, but might do so in the future for additional tuning stability and finish. I kind of wish this wasn’t preinstalled so that it could be easily swapped out for a nicer nut, but that’s a small gripe.

    I think I’ll have to replace the bridge saddles though. For some reason, I get a “fret buzz like” sound from the saddles on my G and B strings. The neck relief is correct and the action is higher than I’d like and the issue does not go away. I haven’t gotten a definitive solution worked out other than heavier strings (due to the higher string tension). I replaced the G string with a wound string and the buzz went away.

    My frets had moderately sharp ends, but that’s my fault for not noticing before installing and will be taken care of on the next string change.

    My neck joint wasn’t flush with the body, but as previously stated in other reviews, it’s a bolt on and aligns well.

    The pickups sound much better than I expected from this level of kit and the volume and tone pots work as expected. Installation of these can be a bit tricky if you have larger fingers since there isn’t a backplate to access the electronics. Be careful when installing/removing the knobs though. They are press fit and I ended up pulling the shaft out of the tone pot…. Fixable and my fault, but just something to note!

    Overall a great kit! The more time you put into it the better the outcome.

  5. robertosuarezperez

    review tck-150

    I think is a great kit. The neck has frets leveled and crowned, the neck pocket was a little bit loose, but with the screws the neck fits very firm and straight. One thing that suprise me was the bridge: the guitar was already intonated, so I just have to regulate the saddles heigh, and not very much: someone at Solo put a lot of love here. The pickups sound very good and the other suprise was the pots: when I check they were 500k with a 0,47 cap. Wait, what? This is not standard, so I freaked out thinking on the need of buy 250k pots with 0,22 cap. Then I stop drinking coffee for a full day and realized that the choice Solo did is a good choice: means that this tele has more resonance, the high end is bright and can go darker than the regular tele. Is a guitar with a wider voice, and a good one too, a gentle one: it can twang, but also go into Kyuss-like sound. Who doesnt want versatility?
    This was my first kit and, yes, I made a lot of mistakes in the finish, looking for a vintage look. But, when I show the guitar, everyone compliments “Hey, man, this looks really good”, “Looks like a factory guitar, like a pro guitar”, “Is a beauty”. I know I am not the Wizard of Luthiers, so my takeaway is this: the kit is so good that you will get a stunner even if you mess things up, like me.Whats not to like? One thing, at least for me: convince my wife about the necesity of another guitar kit. I already started, but it can take a while.

  6. billtaylor613 (verified owner)

    This is my favourite Solo kit. It goes together so quickly into a high-quality, lightweight acoustic instrument that I like to just sit and strum on the couch. The maple top is a finisher’s dream opportunity to experiment. I’m ok with the electronics, but, I decided on a blended circuit with a volume control for each pickup and one shared tone control. I can get sounds I did not expect with the blends and the non-linear tone behaviour. I like it without “treble bleed” circuit elements – it cracks at full volume and purrs at lower volumes.

  7. geoff.c.dewar (verified owner)

    This is my second DIY kit, the first being the TCK-10. That tele turned out beautifully. The Burl Ash top pops. This kit intrigued me with it’s double f-holes. The wiring will be a challenge but I am sure that all will work out in the end. I have yet to decide on the finish for this one. The wood grain is wonderful. I am leaning towards a white back with a whitewash top. We shall see.
    I am looking forward to the sound from this kit. I have a feeling that there will be one more kit on the DIY list.

  8. Matt Kelly (verified owner)

    This was an excellent kit that was ready to put together with minimal prep work. Everything fit together really nicely, the neck was great no sharp frets or anything. This was an excellent first kit to put together, and I am sure I will be ordering from solo here again soon.

  9. greg.pwpp (verified owner)

    This is the first kit I have built. It was all pretty straightforward but here are some pros and cons to consider before buying this kit versus another TC model.
    PROs:
    – Excellent neck and fingerboard. This is the best part of the kit.
    – Neck to body fit is excellent.
    – Frets and fret ends in decent shape. I did level and dress them but you could get away without doing this.
    – Beautiful figured maple veneer top. It’s maybe 1/16″ thick so be careful when sanding.
    – Well-done, straight binding on body.
    – Decently cut F-holes.
    – No parts were missing and instructions are pretty clear.

    CONs:
    – The biggest issue is that the resulting guitar has neck dive. This is when the center of gravity is closer to the neck than to the bridge when the guitar is worn on a strap. There are no really good solutions to this. If you get the solid body TCK-1, which I am currently building with my son, it does NOT have this problem.
    – The wood has a poly sealer applied to it. If you plan to stain the wood, this is a major PITA. You should expect to spend many hours sanding the guitar. I had to apply the stain and re-sand about 3 times, since when applying the stain, areas appear where I had not removed enough sealer, and the stain did not soak into the wood, leaving natural spots. Be careful sanding the top — you have to remove a LOT of sealer, but avoid sanding through the pretty veneer! Mine came out OK; I did sand through the veneer slightly in one area.
    – The routed areas are just barely enough to fit the provided pickups. They are too small for standard tele sized pickups. The provided pickups are not so good and I thought they sounded muddy. I replaced them with some inexpensive AlNiCo tele pickups I got on Amazon and they sound pretty good. I had to grow the routed area by about 1/8″ in order for the pickups to fit.
    – A lot of the pre-drilled holes don’t line up very well, for the bridge and tuning machines. (The neck to body drilled holes were great.) I had to fill about half the holes with dowels then re-drill to get perfect alignment.
    – The provided hardware is mediocre. Upgrading the electronics, bridge, etc. is doable but again, the pre-drilled holes and routing don’t accommodate standard tele sizes. So beware.
    – Upgrading the tuning machines worsened the neck dive, as decent tuners are heavier than the cheap ones provided.

    NOTE ON DIFFiCULTY:
    There is no access plate to the inside of the semi hollow cavity, so it’s pretty challenging getting all the electronics installed through the F holes. I think they SOLO should give this a higher difficulty rating because of this.

    SUMMARY:
    I really enjoyed building this guitar and learned a lot. I had hopes to upgrade a lot of components and turn it into a really special guitar. But the fact that standard tele parts do not fit without routing/drilling, and especially the unsolvable neck dive, led me to change the pickups only — it’s not worth investing more.
    I would recommend the solid body TCK-1 over this one, especially if it is your first build. And SOLO should increase the difficulty rating.

  10. Dario Zingone (verified owner)

    From my research, the Solo kit is by far the best kit available on the market.
    I got the TCK-150 as a project for my 12 year old son and I. All in all this has been a great build an an amazing learning experience for my son.
    My only suggestions to Solo would be to add a rear route to the body for switch installation and to make the pickup holes large enough to fit actual Fender pick ups without having to route the body.
    We plan to build another guitar soon enough.

  11. powellgv7 (verified owner)

    I received my TCK-150 and the project was a ton of fun to build. All of the parts were there and the workmanship was good. The top of the body had some minor flaws which gave it some character. The neck was acceptable with little fret work to be done. After filing the fret ends, the feel was clean and smooth. I sanded the body with 150 sandpaper followed by 220, 320, and then 0000 steel wool to a super smooth surface. I only used 220, 320 and steel wool on the back of the neck with no sanding of the fret board. I finished the back of the neck and head stock with Minwax Golden Oak oil stain as well as the back of the body. The top of the body was stained with Minwax dark walnut oil stain. I let the stain dry for a couple of days before applying the final finish. The fret board only got a good coating with lemon oil. The lemon oil left the frets with a copper tone which I thought looked pretty cool so I left them like that. No polishing needed. I finished the back of the neck and head stock and the body with spray can Watco semi gloss spray as I am not a big fan of the wet look. The neck got 3 coats, the back of the body got 6 coats and the top got 7 coats. I steel wooled each component only before applying the last coat for a super smooth finish. It came out just like I wanted. The body binding really makes this guitar. Before final assembly I put 2 drops of light oil in each tuner and let them set for a day. The only problem I had was the lateral alignment of the neck to the body which was way off. It was a simple fix with a .030 shim. The wiring was simple but I replaced the control knobs with two new ones that had an arrow marker so I could tell where the volume and tone was set. I also put new Fender 9/42 strings on. As far as the sound, it sounds just like a $159 guitar is supposed to sound. Can it compete with a top of the line Fender? NO. It took about an hour to get the bridge and pickups set like I wanted them as well as the action which I like set low. Overall, I am satisfied with the project. It’s a keeper. I name all of my guitars and this one is called “Palomino”. Thinking about calling SOLO for another model. Been picking for about 50 years. I gave it four stars only because of the neck alignment.l

  12. vkmayfield (verified owner)

    I love it.. Another quality build kit from the guys at SoloMusicGear. All the parts I received were in great shape and the build went together just as smooth as possible. The semi-hollow TC style is super light weight and looks fantastic.

  13. Paul Roberts (verified owner)

    This was a good build. Like other reviews above I don’t think this is a level 1 build for the simple reason of the small “F hole” design. Getting the pots, switch, and output jack into place was very frustrating. On top of that I couldn’t figure out how to tuck the wires out of the way so that that they aren’t showing. I didn’t use the pickups that came with the kit, but the wires weren’t long enough to tuck away so they aren’t hidden. Because of budget constraints I couldn’t do all the upgrades I wanted to so I couldn’t replace the nut it came with. The nut on my kit needed extra work. I don’t have nut files so I was able to pull it off using a nail file and razor blades. This guitar really plays nicely. A big issue I ran into was that my kit happened to not have all the necessary wiring to match the wiring diagram. I contacted support and they sent me wire to complete my kit. This was a fun one.

  14. bluesfan (verified owner)

    Hi,
    Again this was a very fast delivery and extremely well packaged. Matt was quick to answer all my questions on the kit before I placed my order, thanks again.
    The wood work is fantastic with nice grain and great fit. The neck joint and pick up routs are perfect. The neck is very straight with a perfect fret work, I only dit some minor polishing. The assembly was very easy.
    Modding:
    Installed a vintage ashtray bridge with 3 brass intonated saddles and EZ Lok tuners from Wilkinson.
    Pick ups, alnico 5, neck 6.6 K and bridge 7 K.
    Pots, full size with brass shafts and sleeves. Added a treble bleed circuit.
    Switch, real 3 way toggle.
    Finishing:
    After sanding all the sealer from the body I did an aged, worn burst from golden wheat to hop ( beer tribute ) using Samans water based stain. The sides and back are hop. Then I applied4 coats of Samans flat water based varnish. Buffing between each coat with 3M pads grey and white on the last coat. The neck was natural. Matt recommendedto leave the fret board as is on the vinyl sealer which I did and it is great. I did scuff the back of the neck and peg head with 3M pad and added 4 coats of waterbased varnish, Buffing between each coat with 3M pads grey and white on the last coat.
    I was pleased to see the cream binding rather than white. It nicely matches the color of the guitar.
    Set up:
    This was easy since everything fitted well. I only filed the nut slots down to my taste, the rest was fine tuning.
    I love the neck, it is a bit bigger and flatter than the typical Fender which is grear for string bending.
    The guitar is very light and well balanced. Easy to play and sounds fantastic.

    This is a great kit at a fair price, I would give it 6 stars. Try it!

    Michel

Add a review

Here are some of our most popular upgrades for your DIY kit. When you opt for any of these upgrades, be prepared for potential modifications to ensure a perfect fit.

**Please keep in mind that these are separate purchases and cannot replace the items already included in the kit**

Machine Heads
Solo Pro Staggered Locking Guitar Modern Machine Heads Set of 6 Inline
SL-LT6R
In Stock (99) from $ USD 54.99
Bridge & Tailpiece
Babicz FCH Ashtray Tele Bridge, Original Series (Fits Fender Four Hole Mount Tele's)
BZ-FCHTELENV
In Stock (99) from $ USD 189.99
Babicz FCH-Tele Single Coil, Original Series Babicz FCH-Tele Single Coil, Original Series
BZ-FCHTELE
In Stock (99) from $ USD 159.99
Fender® 3-Saddle Custom "Cut-Off" Fender® 3-Saddle Custom "Cut-Off" Vintage-Style Tele® Bridge With Compensated Brass Saddles
FN-0990809000
In Stock (3)
Buy Guitar Bodies Online Hipshot Tele Retrofit Bridge 4 Hole With Compensated Saddles
HI-44100-43-SS
In Stock (8) $ USD 149.99
Solo TC Style 4 Hole Chrome Bridge Solo TC Style 4 Hole Chrome Bridge With 3 Saddles
SL-TCB02-CR
In Stock (81) $ USD 10.99
Solo TC Style 4 Hole Chrome Bridge With 3 Saddles & Pickup
SL-TCB02-WP-CR
In Stock (13) $ USD 13.99
Wilkinson WTBS Short Tele Bridge Wilkinson WTBS Short Tele Bridge
WL-WTBS-CR
In Stock (17) $ USD 29.99
Wilkinson WTB Ashtray Bridge for Tele Style Guitars with Brass Saddles
WL-WTB
In Stock (98) from $ USD 34.99
Guitar Hardware
Solo Neck Plates
SL-NPS05
In Stock (99) from $ USD 5.99
Solo Pro Oval Pickguard Mounting Screws 3x12mm
SL-PGS01
In Stock (99) from $ USD 0.16
Electronics
Pure Tone Nickel Mono Multi-Contact 1/4″ Output Jack
AN-PTT1
In Stock (767) $ USD 6.49
Mallory Capacitors
CD-CAP-ML-630
In Stock (99) from $ USD 2.69
Fender® Capacitor - MPF RDL .022uf @ 250v 10% - Set of 12
FN-0024832049
In Stock (19)
Solo Pro LP Style 3-Way Toggle Switch With Black Chrome Tip
SL-3WSLP-BC
In Stock (125) $ USD 15.99
Solo Pro LP Style 3-Way Toggle Switch With Gold Tip
SL-3WSLP-GD
In Stock (62) $ USD 15.99
Solo Pro .022UF Tone Capacitor
SL-CAP-22UF
In Stock (307) $ USD 0.84
Solo Pro Oil Capacitor - 0.022uf Slim
SL-CPOIL-SL-22
In Stock (59) $ USD 6.99
Solo Black Cloth Pushback Wire - 22 AWG
SL-PWIRE-BK
In Stock (254) $ USD 1.29
Solo White Cloth Pushback Wire - 22 AWG
SL-PWIRE-WH
In Stock (241) $ USD 1.29
Switchcraft #11 - 1/4" Mono Jack Switchcraft #11 - 1/4" Mono Jack
SL-SC-11
In Stock (51) $ USD 3.39
Solo Pro LP Style 3-Way Toggle Switch Solo Pro LP Style 3-Way Toggle Switch - Gold
SL-T20G-GD
In Stock (9) $ USD 12.99
Solo Pro LP Style 3-Way Toggle Switch Solo Pro LP Style 3-Way Toggle Switch
SL-T20R-NK
In Stock (4) $ USD 11.99
Sozo NexGen Yellow Mustard Vintage Capacitors
SZ-CAP-500
In Stock (99) from $ USD 6.39
WD Sprague Orange Drop .022UF Tone Capacitor
WD-022SPRAG
In Stock (207) $ USD 4.99
Nuts, Pins & Saddles
Fender® American Standard Series Fender® American Standard Series Strap Buttons, Chrome
FN-0063267049
In Stock (6)
Pure Vintage String Tree Kit, Nickel Fender® Pure Vintage String Tree Kit, Nickel
FN-0992083000
In Stock (15)
Fender® American Standard String Guides Fender® American Standard String Guides - Chrome
FN-0994911000
In Stock (24)
Fender® Pure Vintage Tele® String Guide Nickel Fender® Pure Vintage Tele® String Guide - Nickel
FN-0994912000
In Stock (26)
Fender® Strap Button Black Felt Washers - Pkg of 12
FN-0994929000
In Stock (17)
Fender® Strap Button White Felt Washers - Pkg of 12
FN-0994930000
In Stock (26)
Solo Chrome End Pin
SL-EP04-CR
Out of Stock $ USD 1.69
Solo Pro Nickel Strap Buttons Solo Pro Nickel Strap Button
SL-EP12-NI
In Stock (174) $ USD 2.49
Solo String Tree Guide With 5mm Retainer
SL-SR03
In Stock (299) from $ USD 0.99
Solo String Tree Guide With 2.5mm Retainer
SL-SR04
In Stock (299) from $ USD 0.99
Solo Pro Roller Style Guitar String Tree
SL-SRGR
In Stock (99) from $ USD 2.99
Graph Tech TUSQ 42 mm Flat Bottom Strat Nut
TQ-PQ-5042-00
In Stock (72) $ USD 11.99
Graph Tech White TUSQ XL Sleek String Trees
TQ-PQL-7004
In Stock (57) $ USD 12.99
Fender Guitar Parts Canada Graph Tech Black TUSQ XL Sleek String Trees
TQ-PT-7004-00
In Stock (39) $ USD 11.99
Misc.
Solo Copper Shielding Tape By Foot
SL-CCST
In Stock (99) from $ USD 0.99
Solo Pro Black Conductive Shielding Paint
SL-SHP
In Stock (99) from $ USD 12.99