Solo JMK-90 DIY Electric Guitar Kit

(13 customer reviews)

$ USD 239.99

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SKU: JMK-90 Category: Electric Guitar Kits Brand:
Frequently Bought Together
Solo Pro Black Conductive Shielding Paint
Container Size

In stock

from $ USD 12.99

Description

This DIY guitar kit has everything you need for building your own JM Style 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:

  • Mahogany body with a poly sealant
  • Unfinished mahogany neck with Rosewood fingerboard
  • Hex threaded peghead bushings with washers
  • Tuning Machines
  • Strings
  • Strap Buttons
  • Bridge Assembly with Trem arm
  • Full size potentiometers
  • Neck Plate
  • Pickups
  • 3-Way Toggle Switch
  • Jack plate (2 mounting screws included)
  • 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
Pickguard

Thickness

Body Material

Neck Information
Fretboard

Construction

Frets

Inlays

Scale Length

Thick Nut

Width Nut

Hardware and Electronics
Hardware Color

Selector Type

Tailpiece

Bridge

Controls

Electronics

Pickups

Tuners

Additional Information
Weight

11 lbs

13 reviews for Solo JMK-90 DIY Electric Guitar Kit

  1. taylor.hudson (verified owner)

    Kit arrived quickly, and was packaged extremely well. Fretwork was great, not sharp ends, and only a couple of frets that were not level. Great feel, beautiful body, and the p-90s sound EXCELLENT. The body isn’t quite a JM, so I don’t know how a replacement pick guard would look, but I like the one included.

    However, there were a few issues with the kit: almost all of the tuning machines have issues with the chrome plating, and one of them was damaged to the point it was nearly impossible to get it secured in the headstock (but I was impatient and forced it in… I guess I’ll cross that bridge if I upgrade them…) One of the screws for the pickups was flat, so I had to use another screw to drill the hole into the body. Also on the pups, the springs aren’t very stiff, or very tall, so my bridge pickup can’t get as high as I’d like, and it moves a ton, causing noise.

    The last issue is that, while the neck pocket fit was excellent, the neck angle was too shallow, so I need to get a shim to set it up properly. Overall, with a bit of work, and some parts, this guitar comes out quite nicely, definitely on par or better than the best Squiers you’ll find.

  2. Amateur Hour (verified owner)

    This is a good deal if you’re a bit handy and are looking for a project to occupy your time. It will take a bit of work if you don’t already know how to set up a guitar or have basic finishing skills, but most of the job is already done for you. Expect to do some sanding, some fret polishing, setting nut and bridge height (maybe even be ready for a shim like the other reviewer mentioned), and really basic soldering. I stained and oiled mine since I’m not particularly great at painting, and had the materials to do so already.

    Some things I didn’t like/thought were oversights:

    – some holes were drilled incorrectly. Some headstock tuners are a little crooked, I had to widen the hole for the output jack on the pickguard because it was out of line with the body routing, and holes for the pickguard & tailpiece are a little off, so the screws went in at a little bit of an angle

    – Solo’s own Jazzmaster Pro bridge’s bushings/anchoring posts do not fit into the holes drilled for the tune-o-matic style bridge the kit came with. Solved this by wrapping the bushings with electrical tape to fill the space in the hole, then tapped them in with a mallet

    – pickups, tuners and controls are much better than I thought they would be, but the stock tailpiece/tremolo is kind of junk. Arm is really loose, and while you can set spring tension, there’s a lot of play in the threaded section, so the arm has some room to move (and make some click-clacks) before engaging. Arm also doesn’t tighten to a point where it won’t freely swing

    – plastic parts — pickguard, pickup covers, knobs and nut — are all kinda cheap feeling, but in an acceptable way for the price point. I’ve sprayed the pickup covers black, found some witch hat knobs, a Tusq nut from another project to replace the comedically tall stock one, and am trying to source an inexpensive sheet of copper to make my own pickguard

    – some dents on the back of the body and on the neck, corresponding to dents & holes in the box it was shipped in. I lucked out as the dent on the body was under where the neck plate bolts to, but the one on the neck, while minor, did not completely sand out. It comes packaged in cardboard, with the body and neck being wrapped in single layers of foam sheets. Don’t really need it to be super padded, but even just a bunch of paper to keep them from bouncing around loose in the box would go a long way.

    That said, I love the end result. I figured that the $5-600+ I could spend on a higher end Squier could be put to better use if I get a kit and personalize it the way I want. My build still came in at under $400 after shipping, parts and supplies, but again, I already owned a lot of what was needed to get it together. I really enjoyed building it and will probably buy a Tele kit in the future.

  3. justin.crane (verified owner)

    The kit arrived very quickly after purchasing, and all parts inside were in great condition. The assembly process was incredibly satisfying, and the wiring/setup was very straight-forward. It should be worth mentioning that I work as an Audio Engineer for a living, and so the assembly process for me just felt a lot like things I normally handle/repair when working.

    The JM body quality was great. No major nicks or dents. It took to the stain very quickly, and beautifully.

    The only minor things I noticed would be that I would’ve liked a few more nuts for the Volume and Tone pots, as they sit a bit high on the body. Also, the guitar neck nut sat incredibly high. I wedged it out with a very small flathead screwdriver and sanded it down to a manageable size (but that could honestly be my own personal preference).

    To anyone ordering this kit, I would suggest adding some copper/aluminium to line the inside of the guitar body to help reduce noise from the p90s. That said, they sound great and 100 times better than a guitar of this price would normally sit off the shelf.

    Very happy with this purchase, and I’m looking forward to assembling another in the near future.

  4. Snyguy (verified owner)

    I loved my experience in building this kit. It’s the first time I try my hand at this and it turned out really well. A few little things needed tweaking since they didn’t fit perfectly well, but that was to be expected I guess.

    The cons (needed a little work):
    – The screw holes for the tuners weren’t aligned right, so the tuners were not all parallel.
    – The dime sized pots did not fit in the cavity of the body, some routing was needed.
    – I never managed to install the plastic base for the neckplate, it was too small. Even letting it sit in boiled water didn’t soften it enough so I could fit it with the neckplate.
    – I believe the kit is supposed to contain string trees, a set of strings and some a small length of soldering, but my kit didn’t have any of those.
    – The pickguard wasn’t cut very nicely, looks like a rushed job, the edges are ugly. And it is a custom pickguard, so not easily replaceable.

    Now for the pros:
    – After some tweaking, the final result is actually pretty good.For me the weakest points were the pickups, pots and tuners. After upgrading all those parts the guitar is on par with any Mexican Fender I’ve ever touched. And it is unique to me.
    – This is a great start for anyone wanting to build a guitar, you’ll learn a lot working on this kit.

    My experience was good enough that I now want to build a second kit. Think I’ll go Telecaster this time.

  5. Patrick McCarthy (verified owner)

    The kit is great for the money . The body needed to be finished as did the neck , as expected. Both came out fantastic.
    The fit of the neck and all the parts was spot on. The pickups sound great and I now have a very nice, inexpensive guitar. I have already ordered another kit.

  6. markgrosch79 (verified owner)

    This was my 1st try at a diy kit. I was impressed with the speed of shipping! I did install fender locking tuners that needed drilling but also had to tap out a few other holes as well due to depth issues., no big deal at all. Otherwise, all parts fit perfect. The wiring needed to be compleatly re done as the diagram and the actual product did not match, that would be my only complaint. I wish I could post a photo of my finished product. Overall I am very pleased with the kit and will but another in the future!

  7. Jeff Wasinger (verified owner)

    This JMK-90 kit was my fourth kit from solo. This guitar gave me few problems that were pretty easy sorted out. First after installing the pickups I noticed I could not adjust the height the way it was intended. The reason was the holes in the pickup where the mounting screws go through were to small. The pickups could not slide up and down on the mounting screw. I had to drill the holes in the pickup out and now it works perfectly. Also the tremolo on this guitar was difficult to get working. I had to sand some rough edges off the hinge part and grease it up. I had to tighten the spring up so it is fixed and not floating so I can use it to lower the pitch but not raise it. I fee it is the week point of the guitar. Those were the negatives. The positives are this thing looks great, plays great, and sounds fantastic. I died it raspberry with black edges and black grain with a thick polyurethane top coat. Kind of a crazy color with the red pickguard but for me it works well and looks fantastic. I highly recommend this kit unless you want a good tremolo system and that said you may be able to get it working better than I did.
    Thank you Matt for the tips on the tremolo system. Great customer service as usual.

  8. oldbob (verified owner)

    This is the second Solo build I’ve done and overall was well pleased the JMK-90 kit. All the parts were there and the general fit was fine,. I had to do a little bit of fret clean up on one high fret and also shim the neck to get a better angle (personal thing probably not necessary for everybody). The nut was cut a bit high (again a personal fit) and needed some adjustment but the finished guitar sounds great and plays well.
    My only complaint was the tremolo/tailpiece unit, the wammy bar just swings about and falls out. It’s not a big deal for me as I don’t use it but I will upgrade the unit next time I do a string change.
    Overall though a very pleasing result, well worth the money and effort.

  9. chrisgwallace (verified owner)

    This was my 3rd Solo kit and the only one I’ve built using only the included hardware. The quality was high for guitar kits, which I’ve come to expect from Solo. My only nitpick with this one was the neck was a bit snug in the pocket. That had zero effect on the end result so I’m not sure I would even call it a negative.

    Body and neck wood were great. I just sprayed clear lacquer over the neck. The wood’s color was already perfect. The pickguard was a little rough around the edges in places, mainly the deeper curves, but some 400 grit took care of that.

    I was genuinely surprised by the P90s. They sound really good. I may upgrade the pots but, honestly, for just playing around at the house the included ones are probably just fine. I’m not crazy about the tremolo but that’s just a matter of personal taste. Tuning keys are stiff and seem just fine for couch-playing and pretending you’re Elvis Costello.

    Next up, 335 kit. Solo, of course.

  10. brad.hussey (verified owner)

    Super fun kit and a really good, highly playable guitar at the end of the day. Any offset with Tune-O-Matic style bridges are a challenge to set up properly, at least for my low-skill level (this was my first build) — so most of my time went to setup. a 1 degree StuMac shim was my salvation. The kit itself is fairly easy to put together — in my case, three coats of grain filling, 2 coats of primer, 6 coats of colour and 4 coats of satin clear on the body. 12-14 coats of Tru-Oil on the back of the neck and the headstock. I was planning on upgrading the pickups, but they actually are pretty great and have a nice p-90 growl. I upgraded the tuners to Ratio locking tuners, too. Highly recommend this kit — and I find myself playing it a lot.

  11. jlowth2 (verified owner)

    This was my second Solo kit. much nicer than the first one. Nice kit for the price. I was impressed with the mahogany body and neck. The frets were trimmed well – there was only one fret that was a little high. Very playable.

  12. bluesfan (verified owner)

    This was my 14Th kit from Solo. As usual it was a fast shipment and very well packaged.
    I also purchased upgrade parts; Solo roller bridge, Wilkinson 6 in line Oval Buttons tuners,
    Wilkinson Neck, Middle and Bridge P90 pickup set, black Solo pickup covers, foam pads and a
    Solo cuatom cut neck plate.
    The body is very well cut with nice grain and the neck is straight with good frets, only minor
    polishing needed. The nut slots are perfect. The neck joint is snug and well aligned.
    Added a middle pickup so I needed to cut a third opening in the pickguard.
    Controls:
    The 3 way toggle and volume 1 control the neck and bridge pickups.
    Added volume 2 to control the middle pickupand moved the tone to the jack location.
    Then moved the jack to the lower body side, drilling a hole for an oval jack plate.
    Wiring of the volume pots is independant.
    Body:
    Shaped the neck joint to fit the Solo custom cut neck plate for better comfort and
    access to the high frets. Carved the lower horn for betted access. Increased the contour edges radius,
    belly cut and arm rest.
    Neck:
    Plugged the hole revealed by the modified neck joint. Now it is invisible. Drilled a new hole.
    Finishing:
    After sanding all the poly sealant I did an open grain fininsh with 2 coats of black stain and
    4 thin coats of flat varnish using Saman water based products buffing between each coat with
    3M grey pads.
    The neck is golden wheat with the same finish.
    The set up was easy. Note that since I used a roller bridge which is taller that a regular bridge
    I did shim the neck to increase the angle, lowering the string action.
    She looks great in person, sounds and plays fantastic. With full shielding she is dead quiet.
    Thanks again Solo for these kits and parts, these are a lot of fun.

    Michel

  13. johnnymaximum (verified owner)

    My very first Solo kit. Loved it. Pretty easy to build for the average hobbyist I am. I swapped the nut, tuning keys and pickups just to improve a little bit the live playability and sound. But it’d have been playable enough with the stock hardware. Had to figure out how to shim the neck to lower the action, but that’s about the only major adjustment I had to do. Very fun!

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