Description
Building a Solo DIY guitar kit can be a rewarding experience. You’ll not only create a custom guitar but also gain valuable skills throughout the process which can be applied to other guitars. Since all the challenging parts such as drilling, shaping, fret leveling and dressing are already taken care of, you’ll just need some basic tools and finishing supplies to complete it.
Manuals: Assembly / Wiring
Recommended Tools: Bolt-on Assembly Kit
Finishing Options: Nitro, Stain, Oil, Dyes, etc
Kit includes:
- Finished Basswood body
- Unfinished Maple neck with 2-way truss rod
- Rosewood fingerboard
- Machine heads
- Tremolo bridge
- Pre-wired pickguard assembly with pickups
- Full size potentiometers
- Jack, neck & back plates
- Spring claw with springs
- Strings
- String retainers
- Strap buttons
- Setup adjustment wrenches
- Guitar cable
- All mounting screws
: Solo STK-1SB DIY Electric Guitar Kit With Finished Sunburst Body
: STK-1B
Disclaimer: Kits can only be returned in virtually untouched condition and in original packaging
brian pinhey (verified buyer) –
received the kit in two days. very quick. there were a few issues. i’ll start with the worst. and move to the good…..
1) the fret leveling job was level but it had a major flaw. the only way i can describe it is as a wallow or dip in the frets on the bass side of the neck. had it been on the treble side it would have been much worse for playability. if you drew a line from the outer edge of the second fret, parallel with the other side of the neck, all the way to the upper end of the neck, that would describe the inboard side of this wallow or dip in the frets. this wallow was quite pronounced at the high end of the neck and decreased in depth and width right back to the second fret. i will at some point level the frets myself but when i did a full preliminary set up it didn’t seem to affect playability as it was uniform in height.
2) the neck pocket was routed in such a way that the inboard end was deeper by about 1/32 of an inch giving the neck a forward angle of about 1/4 of a degree. that puts the nut end of the neck about 1/4 of an inch to far “forward” out of line resulting in extremely high action. i used a 1/32 shim for leveling the neck to do a preliminary check out set up. of course the saddles were at their extreme upper range of function at this point in time…
this brings us to number three…
3) the neck…… the neck heel was really thick. but this was a cloud with a silver lining. i had lots of material to work with to sand the heel down to the proper thickness and angle to get a good fit both for level and height above the body. i started out with over 3/8 of an inch between the pick guard and the underside of the rosewood finger board. other than that the neck fit the pocket very well. it would have however been way too thick anyway had the pocket been level. also the end of the rosewood board was not shaped.
no big deal. all easy fixes here. but i would not call this a finished neck.
4) this one i got a chuckle out of during the preliminary set up. it seems when they put the pups in the pick guard they put the bridge pup in the middle position, the middle pup in the neck position and the neck pup in the bridge position. i figured this out by measuring the impedances of the pups. funny thing is i kind of liked the sound of them that way. these pups are definitely cooler than a squier strat and even cooler than an american strat. hotter is not always better. they sound good. i have way more headroom through my tube amps (6v6 and el84’s) than i do with my les pauls. and more headroom than with a strat or p90″s. i like these pups.
5)back to the neck. straight as an arrow. frets very clean. other than the wallow/dip…A1. love the 12″ radius too.
6) the body routing (except the neck pocket) was routed very well. everything fit perfect. the finish was flawless and very nice.
7) hardware is acceptable and pretty good for the price point. as i said, i like the pups. i wont be changing them. tuners and stuff very much like a squier standard. a nice bridge too. i dont know about the bridge and tuning stability cos i always block strat bridges.
i will enjoy this guitar and i intend to order another. i just want a better fret job this time. i am pretty sure the fret job was just a piece of very bad luck that slipped through quality control. as for the rest of it…its a kit. i dont think one can expect fit and finish of a finished guitar at a do it yourself price. after all, there has to be something to do yourself. otherwise go buy a finished guitar.
brian (verified buyer) –
update time. I’ve had this strat now for 10 months. five stars now. I will never part with it. I dressed the frets about a month after I got it with a 12″ radius leveling block that I ordered from amazon for 10 bucks. a 20 minute job. the only modification I have done to the guitar is put in a dtdp switch in one of the tone control positions. so now I have all pups including the bridge pup on one tone pot. the dpdt switch allows me to have a neck/middle pup combo in series in position 5 and a bridge/middle pick up combo in series in positions 1 with the mod engaged. with the mod not engaged I have the normal strat set up in position 2 and 4 which is bridge/middle parallel and neck/middle parallel respectively and all the normal strat sounds in positions 1, 3 and 5. the mod engaged gives the guitar a lot more bite which is what you would expect from series humbucking vs parallel. a normal humbucker after all is two single coils in series. its a nice addition to a strats normal hum canceling set up. bite vs quack. does the mod sound like an LP? not quite. the scale length means it will always be a strat. but it drives a preamp tube quite nicely.
bottom line is I can’t believe I got such a sweet little guitar and I don’t mean “for the this price”. its simply a great guitar. the neck is what a strat should have. 12 radius but not too wide. the tuners hold tune. the saddles don’t cut the strings. the pots do as they should the tone being very functional. the jack I replaced. but I wore it out. the guitar has been played to death. and no apparent fret wear which means the fret wire must be ok. the pups have a lovely mellow tone. I am considering putting hotter pups in to get more bite in the series position but i’d being trading that lovely mellow single coil tone away. a hard choice.
just trying to make up my mind which guitar to buy next….
Mark Nester (verified buyer) –
Just finish my kit. Must say very impressed with the fit & finish.
Plays & stays in tune really well.
I will definitely be building something else soon.
Great product. Great price.
jim.vanmeggelen (verified buyer) –
I am very happy with this purchase.
I am new to guitars, so I’m no expert, but it is obvious—by how well it all fits together—that this product enjoys excellent quality control.
This kit is not for you if you just want to slap it together and play. In my case I took the time to shield the electronics, and also I replaced the output jack with a genuine Fender part, simply because I wanted a more solid-feeling connection (it wasn’t really necessary, but it was worth it). I also ordered a decent instrument cable, since the one that comes in this kit is garbage.
You’ll need to be willing to learn some basic luthier tasks, as you’ll most-likely need to make small adjustments to the truss (tool included), and the bridge (tool included), and maybe you’ll even need to level a fret or two (tools not included). If videos like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHHepmTX3So&list=PLB7631EF18F62E16D) make sense, you’ll probably be in good shape to be able to set up your new guitar.
There’s soldering involved, so you need to have a soldering iron and be comfortable with that.
This is all stuff that you can find out about on YouTube, by the way, so if you have some very basic woodshop and electrical skills (which is how I’d describe myself), this is an enjoyable little project.
I got an excellent product for my money. If you’re looking for a high-end guitar, go and buy a high-end guitar. If you want to try your hand at building, or customizing a guitar, or are looking for an inexpensive way to get your first guitar, this might be for you. It has been a great experience for me.
scmmd (verified buyer) –
I just ordered this set. I’m super stoked to build my own guitar. I’m starting at level one and will tape my progress and share how everything turns out. I’d like to do one at level 1 like this one and reach level 5. See what happens on this one. Can’t beat the price although may as I learn more I will replace certain parts. Looks good to me. Can’t wait for it to arrive. Just hope they don’t leave it outside in the cold when delivered. Wish me luck. Be back soon. I love LEGO. I’m old but still collect sets. This is going to be fun. Not sure how long it’ll take me? Please let me know. I want to do it right. I’m sure the instructions will provide that. The telecaster has great reviews. This one as well but not many people yet. So hopefully all same quality and not many adjustments needed. Totally excited!!
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paul2 (verified buyer) –
Really enjoyed building and setting up this guitar, and it was an easy build.
I levelled the frets and polished them, it only took around an hour as they were pretty good, with just a few slightly high spots.
The neck joint was very tight, but I feel that was a bonus, I used a clamp to hold it in place while tightening the screws so that I didn’t overload and strip the screws.
I replaced the bridge because I wasn’t too happy the way that the grub screws for adjusting the action bit into the backing plate and cut into the chrome. I also added locking tuners.
The finished guitar looks great and plays very well so I’m very happy with the purchase. I would happily recommend the kit and will be looking to build again in the future, maybe a Tele style next!
zaskar –
My B-stock kit arrived very soon and was a fun project over the holidays. The body and neck were in great shape with only a slight blemish … but the price was discounted and it was in-stock, so no wait time. The action was initially very low and I had a tough time raising it through bridge and truss rod adjustments. I set it as high as I could get it and in a week the neck must have acclimatized because now it plays great! The stock tuners hold very well and the pick-ups sound just fine. With minimal adjustment I have really good single-coil smack and twang. This is a fun guitar! Mrs. Claus put some Tru-Oil in my stocking this year but I haven’t got around to doing the neck yet. The sealer from the factory is actually pretty nice (I am tempted to just leave it as-is). Thank you SOLO! I have another project under way … it is a TCK-150 semi-hollow. I have sanded the top and painted it Daphne Blue. I intend to use polymerized tung-oil on the back and sides of the body, and Tru-Oil on the neck. That project is on-hold until the Spring.
bill610424 (verified buyer) –
I learned about Solo music products from Brad Angove’s YouTube channel. I have purchased three Solo guitar kits, the first being a SG style, Les Paul Style and a Strat style guitar. I am in the process of building the SG guitar. I have discovered that Solo makes a very good kit for entry level guitar builders at a reasonable price point. I especially like that Solo offers CAD guitar kits. The difference I have found is in the neck pocket. The CAD guitar kits have a snug fit (not too tight, not too loose) between the neck and body of the guitar. I upgrade the electronics as a personal choice. But, the electronics that come with the kit a satisfactory for the price. The veneer tops are beautiful, but thin so don’t over sand, use a 400 – 600 grit. The SG kit I purchased is a three piece wood body, so it will be painted. I am installing Seymour Duncan humbucker pickups, a 920D wiring harness, CTS pots, Grover tuning machines. I think it will be awesome and sound great.
john.w.granberg (verified buyer) –
I ordered a kit with a finished body because I’m new to a lot of the wood finishing skill required to do a nice job. My kit arrived promptly with all the parts included. The finish of the body looks really nice. The neck is straight, not twisted in any way and the frets are all properly seated. The neck fits nicely in the pocket on the body. I sanded off the sealer and have been using boiled linseed oil to finish the neck. It seems to be coming along slowly but nicely, it takes a while to dry. While waiting for the neck I assembled the body. The only soldering required is for the jack and the ground wire in the back. Everything works as it should.
I’m quite happy with the kit. I’m building this for one of my grandkids, I’ll need a few more kits if I manage to complete this one.
david_kueh (verified buyer) –
I had the guitar shipped to my house as the store has moved further. Fast shipping.
This is my 2nd DIY, and like the 1st one, the quality is good, no missing parts.
This time I will customize the guitar to install a Floyd Rose style tremolo, and probably upgrade to HSS pickups. I decided to buy this guitar after I found I own a Mastercraft spin saw which is also a plunge router.
hofmanngreg85 (verified buyer) –
Absolutely beautiful kit! I got this kit with low expectations, boy was I surprised. I have built many guitars from scratch and from kits. This kit was a breeze to put together and the body was finished beautifully with a very high gloss. The neck needed no adjustments and was dead flat. The frets needed only to be polished and the fretboard only needed to be cleaned and oiled. Knowing this was an entry level kit I replaced the pickups and tuners with some Wilkinson alnico 5 pickups and Wilkinson tuners.
Great value on a great kit!
mgrishaber (verified buyer) –
Overall a pretty decent guitar for the money. I finished the neck with a couple sealer coats of shellac, followed by a couple of water-based acrylic lacquer (em-tech 6000).
I levelled the frets and deepened the nut slots as well, which made it much better. Applied some f-one fretboard oil, which brought out the grain nicely.
The dual action truss rod was a nice surprise and much appreciated. Time will tell, but the tuners are about what you would expect for the price. If you are looking to upgrade the kit, this would be a good place to start, and then maybe a bone nut would make for a better feel. The plastic on the nut it comes with seems kind of soft, but it works.
Not sure what to say about the sound. I like the neck and middle positions, but the bridge sounds kind of tinny. I don’t have a lot of experience with Strats, but overall pretty pleased with this purchase.