ELECTRIC "KIT" GUITAR

As an acoustic guitar player, I decided to build my first electric guitar from a kit. I chose the Bex Gears E-Guitar T-Style, available from many suppliers. Although it comes with a well written assembly manual, it is not specific on many details. This Instructable should clear up many of these. I am very pleased with how it looks and plays.

The kit includes everything to assemble the guitar including an unfinished body made of Okaume, a sustainable African hardwood, an assembled and finished neck made of Maple, with a composite Ebony fret board. All hardware is included but not labelled. I would suggest counting all the screws and placing them with the hardware item they will be used to install. I will explain more clearly which goes with which in this Instructable. Other materials needed are a good quality stain- I used Minwax Natural. Also, a spray lacquer- I used Rustoleum Clear Satin, and Wet/ Dry sandpapers- I used #400, #800 and #2000. Also some microfibre cloths. For assembly you will require a small and medium Phillips screwdriver, a 10mm wrench, and a pair of wire cutters.

I cannot stress how important it is to take your time with this step. The body comes sanded and sprayed with a sanding sealer but still needs prep. First, make a handle of scrap wood and attach it with wood screws through the neck mounting holes. This will make handling of the body much easier. Drill a hole in the opposite end of the handle so you can hang it for spraying. Start hand sanding with #400 dry paper. Go over every part meticulously until it is super smooth. Vacuum the dust and go over the surface with a damp microfibre cloth. If you have a compressor, use a blow gun to totally clean the surface.

Brush on the stain liberally and after 15 minutes wipe it off with a microfibre cloth, then let dry for 24 hours. Then repeat this step.

When totally dry, clean the surface again. Hang it in a sheltered warm location and spray lightly with the lacquer. I gave 3 coats 15 minutes apart. Let dry for 24 hours, then check for any runs. Sand these out with #800 wet paper then go over the whole surface with #2000 wet sandpaper. Repeat this process 3 times but after the third time, don't sand. This should render a smooth, deep finish showing off the grain of the wood.

The neck is pre-finished with lacquer so you can begin assembly right away. 6 tuners must be installed. They are packaged together with 6 washers and 6 tubular nuts. Each tuner pushes through from the back, then the washer and tubular nut are installed from the front. Note: washers have a flat and a domed side. The domed side goes up. Tighten the nut lightly with a 10mm wrench. There is a pre-drilled hole at the rear of the neck and each tuner has a hole to match. Install these with the smallest of the supplied screws. Don't over tighten anything.

Next, remove the temporary handle from the body and insert the neck. There is a supplied chrome plate with 4 countersunk holes which matches the pre- drilled holes in the neck. Use the largest of the supplied screws to install. You should now have something that looks like a guitar.

First, install the output jack on the bottom side. Use the remaining 4 smallest screws. Make sure the wire connector is fed through the hole to the long narrow channel where the switch and potentiometers will be. Loosely place everything else where it will eventually sit. The pick guard has two layers of protective plastic which must be carefully removed. Feed all wires through the existing holes. IMPORTANT: The switch/potentiometer module has 3 connectors and a green ground wire. Strip about 1/2 inch of insulation from this wire and push it up through the drilled holes so that the bare wire will make contact with the bridge. This eliminates distortion and noise so take care to make sure you have good contact. This is not explicit in the manual. Plug the jack connector to the potentiometer connector. NOTE: These only fit one way. Plug the pick guard and bridge connectors to the 2 connectors on the switch. (You may have to reverse these later) Making sure everything lines up, screw down the pick guard using the suppled small domed screws. There are 4 larger domed screws to fasten the bridge. Do not attach the potentiometer/ switch module yet.

Plug the guitar into the amp. With the switch in the centre position, tap the bridge pickups, then the pick guard pickups. You should hear a click at both. Flick the switch in the direction of the bridge pickups. Tap them. If you don't hear a click, you have your plug- ins reversed. Change them so that when the switch points to the pick guard, you hear those pick ups and vice versa. When satisfied tighten down the switch module with the same small domed screws you used for the pick guard.

I must say, I was dreading this step the most. As it turns out it was not as onerous as I thought. First, separate the strings. It is really obvious which is which. The top string, or E, is the thickest, going down to the bottom E string, the thinnest. Remember the order of the strings with this mnemonic: Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie, or, EADGBE.

Start with the top E string. Feed through the hole at the bottom of the bridge till it is stopped by the thick ring at the end of the string. Feed it through the first tuner peg leaving lots of slack and begin winding. as you go, stretch the string between thumb and fore finger. Make sure the windings go to the bottom of the tuning peg. Don't make it too tight, and make certain the string goes through the appropriate groove in the bridge and at the top of the neck. Repeat for each string in descending order. Cut off the excess strings at each tuner with a pair of wire cutters.

To tune your guitar, buy a $20 electronic tuner or download a free one for your smartphone. Just tighten or loosen each tuner peg till the electronic tuner tells you you are good.

Having problems? There are a multitude of videos telling how to string and tune a guitar on YouTube. Also, in time you may want to adjust the harmonics, the height of the pickups and the neck tension. The manual is fairly explicit on that, but again there are videos.

Make sure you invest in a good Amplifier and enjoy your guitar. Mine plays very well but I admit, I am an amateur, and this is my first electric. I may go on to build more, but I will start from scratch now that I have gained some experience and familiarity with the process.