General
Model Number
EXK-1
Series
EX Style
Body Information
Body Material
Mahogany
Body Shape
EX Style
Body Finish
Sealed
Neck Information
Neck Material
Mahogany
Neck Finish
Unfinished
Scale Length
24.75" / 628mm
Fingerboard Material
Rosewood
Fingerboard Radius
12"
Number of Frets
22
Frets
Medium Jumbo, Nickel Silver
Nut Material
Plastic
Position Inlays
Acrylic Dot
Truss Rod
2-Way-Action
Truss Rod Nut
4 mm Hex
Hardware & Electronics
Finish
Chrome
Pickup Configuration
2 x HB
Pickups
Ceramic Pickups
Pickguard
3-ply White- WBW
Controls
1V, 2T, 3-Way Toggle
Bridge
Tune-o-matic, Stop bar
Tuning Machines
Schaller Type
Potentiometers
Full Sized Pots
Misc
Includes all mounting screws, strap buttons, and plates
Accessories
Includes
Hex Adjustment Keys & Instrument Cable
Darren Coates (verified buyer) –
This kit deserves 5 stars. The fit and finish is perfect. I havent finished building it yet but the fretwork seems excellent, no sharp edges right out of the box, the neck and body fit together like a glove.
There is one reason that the kit doesn’t get 5 stars, the kit was not accurate to the description.
This is a set neck kit. To me, this really was preferred. It came with bolt on hardware but the neck joint was designed to be a glue in. The body shape also isn’t accurate to the image, but I think you will find that the kit you get is better than expected, just be prepared to glue in the neck and not bolt it on.
Kevin Strom –
Hi Darren, thanks for your review. For a very limited time, this kit did come with a set-neck and slightly modified body shape and that’s probably what you received. This kit is ONLY available in a bolt-on version and the pictures in this listing are accurate.
scotteh (verified buyer) –
Fantastic! Everything fits together really nicely and the finished guitar is a joy to play. Fat sound and loads of sustain. It’s one of my favorite guitars now!
The cons: 2 different types of screws for the pickup rings. Not really a big deal, no one would ever notice and very easy to fix later if you care. I just wish they would include a note letting us know it might happen. I was a bit confused about which screws were for what until I figured it out.
The frets could be polished a bit more. Again, no big deal. I don’t mind doing that. I am building a guitar, after all!
The holes for the wires could be a bit deeper. This is a standard complaint I have about electric guitars, not just this one. The wires come out of the holes into the pickup cavities and kind of get in the way of the pickups, which makes it hard to get them exactly right and hard to adjust later. I chiseled the holes out a bit so the wires come in right at the bottom of the cavities and it leaves more space to install and adjust the pickups. Problem solved!
Bridge post bushings – Even with them down as far as they can go, I could not adjust the bridge down low enough to get the string height low enough. I had to countersink them just slightly to get them completely flush with the body or maybe a half a mm lower. I could have shimmed the neck a tiny bit but I don’t like to do that. Again, very simple to do so not a big deal.
Another thing you have to keep in mind is that the electronics are pre-soldered. That seems like a time saver at first but when I looked up the wiring diagram for this guitar it turned out I had to actually unsolder some of the wires first because they were not wired correctly. I assume this is just a standard wiring harness they use for a lot of guitars so it saves them time and money. Again, this is fine but you just need to be aware that you might have to unsolder what they give you and put it back together properly.
You also have to be ready to unsolder the pickup selector switch and run the wires through the holes in the body then solder the wires back on.
I think that’s it. That might sound like a lot of negatives but they are all pretty minor and for me, solving simple problems are part of the fun of building the guitar. You have more of a feeling of accomplishment than you would if everything just snapped together and you learn more. There was nothing at all that will prevent me from buying another one (or more) of their kits!
lorflcakes –
When are we gonna get these back in stock? I don’t want to order an EX shape from Harley Benton because it will take forever. And honestly the shape isn’t as good. This is probably my favorite EX style guitar that I’ve seen. Looks like a Gibson Explorer was melted with a phaser beam! An alternate universe version for sure!