Congratulations goes out to Jack Welter for his guitar build, to earn him Guitar of the Month for August 2020.

Jack used our ESK-35T DIY kit as the basis to create his guitar.

“From a very young age, I have always had a passion for both woodworking and playing the guitar. While I love to play the guitar, one of the things that has always piqued my interest is what goes into the making of a guitar. From the type of wood to the type of hardware you use, there is a whole world of possibilities to give you a unique instrument with its own sound and soul. My days in college this past year would be regularly filled with watching YouTube videos on the construction and personalization of these incredible instruments. And then, one day, boom. I watched a video on someone’s Solo Guitars DIY kit build and I knew I had to do one myself.

I started researching and seeing what Solo Guitars was all about, and the more and more I dug, the more interested I became. I told my mom and dad about these kits and showed him all that came with it. My dad knows I am a fan of the ES style guitars and he knew that there was an ES style kit on the website. Well, as luck would have it, Santa Clause also knew I was looking at doing one of these kits and how much I like ES style guitars. On Christmas morning there was this gem sitting under the tree…

I got to work on the kit immediately. I started by making sure the neck fit was solid and snug. From there, I sanded the whole body and neck down with 300 and 600 grit sandpaper to get it smooth. I made my measurements and made sure everything lined up correctly with the neck in place and then I glued the two together. I found gluing the neck in right away was easier for me to work with and paint. However, before the paint I made some small tweaks to the look of the guitar. One of them being to the heel of the neck joint. I found a small scrap of Maple wood and glued it right to the neck and body. I carved and sanded it down for a smooth flow from the neck into the body.

After this was complete, and everything had proper time to dry. I applied 4 coats of brush-on sanding sealer before the paint. I chose to sand it with 600 grit sandpaper so it was smooth, but coarse enough to take the paint well. I used a vintage amber, cherry red, tobacco brown and black for the burst on the body. For the neck I used a brush on gunstock stain and then applied several coats of high gloss lacquer. From there, I sanded the entire guitar with 1500, 2000, 3000, 6000 grit sandpaper and buffed it to shine. Once that was completed I followed the wiring diagram online to wrap the project up. I now have a killer looking guitar that sounds great and plays like a charm. It was such a fun experience and now I am trying to decide which kit I would like to try next!”

– Jack Welter