General
Model Number
STK-12
Series
ST Style
Body Information
Body Material
Basswood
Body Shape
ST Style
Body Finish
Sealed Unfinished
Neck Information
Neck Material
Maple
Neck Shape
Modern C
Neck Finish
Unfinished
Scale Length
25.5" / 648mm
Fingerboard Material
Rosewood
Fingerboard Radius
12"
Number of Frets
21
Frets
Medium Jumbo, Nickel Silver
Nut Material
Plastic
Nut Width
42mm
Position Inlays
Acrylic Dot
Truss Rod
2-Way-Action
Truss Rod Nut
4 mm Hex
Hardware & Electronics
Finish
Chrome
Pickup Configuration
S-S-S
Pickups
Ceramic Pickups
Pickguard
3-Ply White - WBW
Controls
1V, 2T, 5-Way Toggle
Bridge
Fixed 12 string bridge
Tuning Machines
Schaller Type
Potentiometers
Full Sized Pots
Misc
Includes all mounting screws, strap buttons, and plates
Accessories
Includes
Hex Adjustment Keys, Tremolo Arm & Instrument Cable
cdm91 (verified buyer) –
Great kit for the money.
All the parts were intact and everything fit tight. Electronics and tuners are not bad at all. Neck is quite playable.
I installed a set of D’Addarrio EXL150’s and had to file the nut to allow proper string height. After a full setup the sound is sweet.
Instructions refer to string trees but in fact there is a one piece string tension bar mounted by two screws on the headstock. Make sure you drill the pilot holes deep enough, I didn’t and I wound up stripping the head of one of the screws! (Matt said he will send replacements)
Great company to deal with, hope to order from them again.
John Dixon (verified buyer) –
This a quite a nice guitar for 220 bucks. I wasn’t expecting much from an inexpensive kit like this but am quite surprised at how well it plays. Everything lines up beautifully. The neck is right on. The bridge is very well designed. Six strings through the body and the octaves anchor at the back of the bridge. The saddles allow for intonation of each string separately. The tuners actually hold their tuning quite well…much better than I expected. I put the main 6 strings on and adjusted the pickup height to 1/8 inch from the top of the pole piece to the bottom of the low E with the string fretted at the last fret and 3/32 inch with the high E, fretted at the last fret (I added the measurements for someone who may need a place to start) and then added the octave strings. The volume is even at these heights and the pickups have a nice little “chimey” tone which has a Strat-ish sound. I’m not a fan of plastic nuts but I’m not in a rush to replace it. It works well. The string gauges aren’t marked so you may need callipers to measure thickness. Didn’t have to adjust the truss rod or do any touch ups on the frets. It really plays well as is.
I guess the bottom line is: if you want a good guitar and want to do a little work yourself then you can’t go wrong with this kit. You will get a lot more than you pay for!
I’m very happy with this Solo kit and have ordered another.
JAMES R RODESTER (verified buyer) –
The solo ST12 as a very nice kit for being my 1st guitar that I’ve ever built. It was very simple and easy to assemble Painting the body and painting the neck was probably the only complicated part, everything assembled very easily and everything fit perfectly. For a 1st time build this is the perfect kit if you want to build a 12 string. This guitar plays very well for the money. it’s well worth it plus the experience in building and setting up your own guitar. What a wonderful experience thank you so much solo guitar.
todd-0390 (verified buyer) –
This is the second Solo Guitar kit I built and I’m extremely happy. As with the Tele, (see my review on the alder wood body Tele,) I finished this guitar in Keda Blue Dye, and 15 coats of Tru-Oil, polished out to a mirror finish. The result is show-room flawless.
As for the Kit, itself, everything came together nicely. The neck is exceptional and all parts fit. No issues. The neck is up to the task of handling the stress of 12-strings, and responds to truss-rod adjustments if needed.
Cons: Like my tele— the strings provided in the kit are useless. Two broke during initial tuning —but the main issue is that all the strings are unmarked and coiled together. For a 6-string, you can deduce the gauges. For a 12-string, forget it. But, this is a kit, and other reviewers have voiced kit-provided string concerns. But no matter. I use the provided strings to do the initial setup and intonation. Then I cut them off and replace them with a good set of D’Addarios, and do the final intonation and set up.
The Nut did require some minor work, but my nut-files did their magic. (seriously, you need nut-files to set the action and intonation.) The result is that I have a 12-string with exceptional action and ease of play.
The only thing that really disappoints is the string-tree. There are no pilot holes in the neck, so I talked with Solo about placement. As always, the guys at Solo are on the spot helpful. Still, this string tree is a pain and the screws provided, are too short to do a proper job and rip out from the neck. And, since I reworked the nut to seat the strings properly, the string tree isn’t really necessary. So removed it. The angle of the strings to the tuners is sufficient and don’t need the assist.
As for the finished guitar—all I can say is that it’s really, really great. It plays like a dream -Byrds, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eagles, -whatever you like. This is a very playable and enjoyable 12-string and I highly recommend it.
MARC ST PIERRE (verified buyer) –
My third Solo kit. I always wanted a 12-string electric, and this was inexpensive and accessible. Pros: Neck is very good playable quality, hardware was reasonably good and the pickups sound like your basic single-coils which suits this type of guitar. As long as you are capable of handling the bridge and string setups for height and intonation, this is a nice-sounding guitar with the jangling effect 12-strings are known for. Cons: The basswood body does not take a stain well. I ended up using a rattle-can tool-box blue acrylic. I confess to not handling finishes well, so those with better wood-finishing skills might fare better. The neck took a teak oil finish very well, however. I swapped the plastic pickguard for an anodized aluminum one, and found most of the screw holes in the body did not match. No problem; fill the offending holes with toothpicks and glue and drill new holes. One of the tone pots does not function, the other is intermittent. I’ll have to look at upgrading those parts at my next string change. The neck mounting plate screw holes are not centered and are a little crooked. They hold, but it’s a detail that looks like it was a little rushed. Also, be aware you may require shimming of the neck to align the neck with the bridge. Shims do not come with the kit, but that’s usually expected. One of the screw holes in the headstock was a little offset for one of the tuning keys. Had to fill and redrill, a simple repair. I didn’t like the bar-type string retainer, so I fabricated a bracket with 8 holes to secure the string tension in the nut. It’s simpler than it sounds.
So to sum it up; if you are reasonable handy and willing to solve problems with respect to fit, finish, electrics, and bridge/string setup you will end up with a very special-sounding and easily playable guitar. Just don’t expect to slap it together overnight.
Yan Bourgeois (verified buyer) –
Very nice kit, a couple of frets were not seated properly and had sharp ends, also had to route all the cavities to make them deeper since they are not deep enough to fit standard size pots and switch and the neck pocket wasn’t deep enough but that’s all easy things to do. The only thing that it would need to earn 5 stars it deeper routing in the electronics cavity since most people will end up upgrading the electronics sooner or later.
Andrew Saravay (verified buyer) –
Awesome kit for the money. I originally purchased this as a quarantine project in 2020 and to practice my finishing skills. As my first time building a guitar, I obviously had some goofs here and there (I may or may not have dropped the body on my garage floor and screwed it up). I decided to go with a relic finish, as my first attempt at a blue metallic gloss was a bit unobtainable. I set it up with the included hardware and didn’t do any real work to the frets or nut, so the action was naturally high, as I didn’t know how to set up a guitar properly at the time of building it. I eventually decided to swap the 12-string neck for a MIM Strat neck. It was a bit hard to install the neck straight, since the neck pocket on this body is slightly bigger than a traditional Stratocaster. However, I got it together in the end. After a few other adjustments, (fret leveling and crowning, nut filing, swapping out bridge for a hardtail Fender bridge, and wiring the pick guard to be an HSS) I have a Frankenstein’d Strat! However, I still have the neck for the 12-string. Is there anywhere I can find more information on the heel shape and dimensions? I’d love to find or make a body to put this neck on!