# Guitar kit recommendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010 "2013-12-10T19:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/21 "2013-12-12T01:00:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Good stuff. If you like those, poke around some of the music message boards and you’ll find similar threads where someone documents a build they’re doing. For example, the My Les Paul forums have a [Luthier’s Corner](http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luthiers-corner/) subsection where you’ll find various efforts. Not surprisingly they tend toward Les Paul style, but there’s variations. There’s also quite a range, from someone who just makes the body and uses a neck they bought, to making the neck, fingerboard, fretting it themselves, the whole nine yards. I don’t remember where the thread was, but some guy even took it upon himself to replicate exactly a '59 Les Paul (the most highly sought electric guitar model ever), even down to casting his own plastic parts from impressions made from the original. Crazy! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/22 "2013-12-12T01:35:16Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Good stuff. What am I, chopped liver? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/23 "2013-12-12T02:12:49Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > What am I, chopped liver? 😉 I’m just glad there have been so many responses. I thank you all profusely. I’ve got some reading to do and I’m sure there will be other questions as to things like pups, et al. I’m a complete novice when it comes to guitar parts. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/24 "2013-12-12T14:11:56Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’m just glad there have been so many responses. I thank you all profusely. I’ve got some reading to do and I’m sure there will be other questions as to things like pups, et al. I’m a complete novice when it comes to guitar parts. No worries. And just like **squeegee** directed you to the MyLesPaul forum, if you are considering a Telecaster type, you would be well-served to go to the TDPRI forum. Here is their Parts-o-Caster page: [http://www.tdpri.com/forum/other-t-types-partscasters/](http://www.tdpri.com/forum/other-t-types-partscasters/) Fender-type builds - i.e., Tele’s, Strats, or other body shapes but built on a T or S pickup/electronics/bridge and tailpiece layout (i.e., [Telemasters](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=telemaster&FORM=HDRSC2#a) which have a Jazzmaster body but a Tele layout) - are by far the most common and easiest builds. That’s simply because Leo Fender designed the guitars for manufacturability and easy parts swap-outs… ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/25 "2013-12-13T00:10:34Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Here is their Parts-o-Caster page: [http://www.tdpri.com/forum/other-t-types-partscasters/](http://www.tdpri.com/forum/other-t-types-partscasters/) Ah, thanks. I knew there were other forums around that had builders in it, but didn’t know any offhand. And thanks to your link above, I managed to find what must be the fugliest tele-parts-o-caster ever. [Seriously](http://www.tdpri.com/forum/attachments/other-t-types-partscasters/202622d1382473311-any-experience-using-guitar-fetish-bodies-dsc05608-1-jpg). A Tele body, retrotron pickups, and a Jackson neck. The nut is even locking while the bridge is modern Tele. Why, why, why? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/26 "2013-12-13T00:36:43Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Ah, thanks. I knew there were other forums around that had builders in it, but didn’t know any offhand. > > And thanks to your link above, I managed to find what must be the fugliest tele-parts-o-caster ever. [Seriously](http://www.tdpri.com/forum/attachments/other-t-types-partscasters/202622d1382473311-any-experience-using-guitar-fetish-bodies-dsc05608-1-jpg). A Tele body, retrotron pickups, and a Jackson neck. The nut is even locking while the bridge is modern Tele. Why, why, why? That thing looks like it was created by Dr. Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/27 "2013-12-13T00:43:26Z")
Seriously. Maybe we should have a “ugliest guitar ever” thread. That’d be my entry. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/28 "2013-12-13T00:56:43Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Seriously. Maybe we should have a “ugliest guitar ever” thread. That’d be my entry. 😉 That’s just so damn stupid on so many levels…take everything that makes a Tele great and ruin it with everything that makes a SuperStrat a pain in the ass… You want ugly? How about a blown-glass Tele: [http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1360356](http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1360356) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/29 "2013-12-13T01:05:27Z")
Good lord, it has intestines. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010/30 "2013-12-13T01:10:36Z")
There’s always the Gibson [Zoot Suit](http://images.gibson.com/Files/44caa865-b5c8-4c89-9517-0eda0bc4a860.jpg). That was pretty damned bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-kit-recommendations/676010.md?page=1)