Leo Jaymz DIY Electric Guitar Kits in IBZ Style - Mahogany Body and Maple Neck - All Components Included (7V)

Just received it. This kit is very well done. About all you have to do is sand it, finish the wood and assemble the pieces. There is an assembly booklet. The steps are very easy. I checked the pick guard and neck for fit - good. Checked the jack for fit -- had to rotate the connector and bend a lug. The neck and body are smooth. I will sand the neck and body with 400 then 800 grit. I don't plan on changing the shape of the head, I think it looks fine. There is a Fender Stratocaster template if you want to change it. The neck will be coated with Tung Oil or Gun Stock Oil. Not sure about the fret board protection. The body will be stained a transparent blue with a solid blue, same tint, on the side and back. I may use a tiny bit of black stain around the front and sides, rubbing most off, but not sure yet. The body is roasted pine. The grain on mine is very nice, not super bold. The back has more bold grain but that is fine. Very satisfied so far. Will report back when the build is complete. Update: it is working. I don't believe the instruction booklet shows how to add the copper shielding. I lined the voids where the pickup goes. It has conducting adhesive. I used 9 coats of Tru Oil on the neck and fret board. Very thin layered. Looks and feels great. I applied two coats of Howard Feed-N-Wax to the neck and body. I used a water based blue stain, putting it on so it streaked. It shows the grain through under the streaks. Looks unique. It sounds good to me. Setup: the nut was very high. Fret the 3rd it should be 0.2mm at the 2nd - was way over, like 1mm. I filed it with cheap $7 round nut files - get a $25 file set as you cannot hold on to the small round files. The top needs to be filed so the strings are 1/3 in the slot (verify). It needs to be angled deeper at the head end. The neck truss bar may need adjusting to stop fret buzz. Don't adjust without string tension. Be sure the bridge saddles aren't maxed in either direction - it is a 25.5 inch guitar, inside nut edge to the contact point on the saddle. From there, the saddle needs adjusting for intonation when fretting at the 12th fret - same note as open, just higher frequency. Watch YouTube videos before filing the nut! The nut can be replaced with a bone nut but if the height is wrong, it will have to be filed down or it will hurt to play, particularly the first couple frets.

Nice kit, fun to put together. easy to piece together. My only issue is that I had to buy neck shims and shim the neck to get the action to be playable. After a little tinkering I was able to get it. plays nice. The tuning pegs are kinda cheap so you may wanna buy new ones. they stay in tune, but there is issue with the feel quality. nice quality wood. pretty and feels good. I plan to go over it with a super high grit sand paper and a finish oil.

I write very few reviews. But when I see an amazing price/product value, I feel compelled to do it. I have built over 50 DIY guitar kits from various companies. I can say, without reservation, that the Leo Jaymz DIY Kits rise above all of them from a price/quality perspective. THE BODY alone is worth the price - solid mahogany, cleanly and accurately routed down to the millimeter. The specs are dead on. And unlike 90% of other kits, you can trust the positioning of the pre-drilled pilot holes. THE NECK is surprisingly good. Albeit raw, it is well milled, accurate, and just waiting to be finessed. As with any kit neck, you will need to level and dress the fret wires and apply your desired finish. THE HARDWARE & ELECTRONICS are complete, functional, and well packaged. Everything you need is included and will work fine. That said, and if your build is going well, you may opt for better components like pickups and tuners. But don't get me wrong. This kit is worth every penny and, to me, the best on the market for the dollar. I added a couple of pics of my last Leo Jaymz build I did for a charity - it auctioned off for $1,200. UPSHOT: From entry-level to accomplished luthiers, this kit offers the potential to create a highly functional, quality instrument at an absolutely amazing price point.

This is for the AL version! First kit I've ever put together! It was mostly great! Pics of relevant pros and cons. Pros: Went together very quickly. Wood grain is not awful. All holes lined up. Can set the neck or bolt it. Kit came in very protective package. kit has wire connectors, no soldering Cons: 1. Tuners rattled every time a string was played. 2. The ground cable on the spring tensioner broke while installing - just pinned it under the spring - works fine! 3. the nut that came with kit is kinda weak, I stripped one of the bolts the first time tightening it. 4. the nut was to high on fret side and action was so high that fretting the first 3 frets would not play correct pitch. 5. the nut didn't have enough of a break angle to keep the string on the nut in the first place. so when i tightened the locking bolts, it de-tuned the guitar. 6. Floyd Rose bridge was a pain in the pants to setup. this was the first point in the build where i needed instructions. naturally I followed the link provided in the box. the video "instructions" are a very short, shoddy video, kinda putting it together and then doing the hard bits off screen... one second it didn't have the bridge, and boom like magic the Floyd rose was just installed. so for anyone trying to install a Floyd rose for the first time, youtube this "guns and guitars Floyd rose Strat" watch the video and you'll probably be good. Here is what i needed to replace and buy to get this guitar to stay in tune, and to chug. 1 Tuners - I got nice auto trimming locking tuners, but any decent set will do. 2. genuine Floyd rose locking nut, german made, seems better than one sent. 2.a. had to sand down under the nut quite a bit before I could get a low enough action. 3. string retainer bar - to increase break angle, so strings would rest on the nut fully 4. needed to get more springs, the 3 sent with package are good enough for light gage strings, but not for heavier gages, so i got a 3 pack of the black Floyd rose genuine springs and found the perfect balance. TLDR: Great Kit, could use a few modifications, but even with everything i replaced, it was still under 300 including the kit. The pickup is fine, its not great, but its not as bad as i thought, considering a decent emg or seymore are the same price as the whole kit. The single pot is fine, it needs to be cleaned and lubed, has a little noise bleed through when turning the knob. putting the back cover on upside down gives me access to the spring screws, so i can adjust without taking it off. also fist time I've tried to do a paint job, its something... it can chug. RIP Alexi Laiho

Edit: I have now bought two kits, the left handed Tele style kit I originally reviewed and a right handed Strat style kit in Pine. Let me say these are nice kits; but be prepared to immediately upgrade some of the hardware, the bridges on both kits have had issues. The bridge on the Tele style kit the screws for adjusting the saddle position for intonation were not properly spaced causing the saddles to push into each other when moving them towards the bottom of the guitar, the Strat bridge the screws for adjusting the string height on about half of the saddles were stripped (luckily I had a spare bridge from when I replaced the one on my Squire Strat). Instructions for putting the kit together are about 50% chance of receiving; the Strat kit had instructions and a key for the parts bag, while the Tele kit didn't. Be prepared for screws not proper lining up as they didn't on either kit. The pickups, at least on the Strat kit, sound good for a beginner just learning (a more experienced player will more than likely want better); not 100% sure about the Tele kit because I had to make emergency repairs due to a wire breaking. I removed 1 star due to the bridge issues I had with both kits, I didn't realize the full extent of the problem with the Tele bridge and just thought it was the style of bridge and not that the screw positions were out of spec. Original: This kit has the bare minimum for what you need to put together a working electric guitar. I purchased the Left handed Telecaster style guitar. There are some flaws where many of the screw holes didn't quite exactly line up and it would have been better if the strings were packaged separately and labeled, in fact it would have been useful if the entire parts/screws package had each labeled as what they were and not just a number that means nothing without a key to state what was located in each numbered section.

I got the Headless with the flamed maple top. For a fairly cheap kit, it's not too bad. There are some things that should be addressed though. Or, at least, pointed out. The veneer is very thin. Like bible paper thin. You need to be very careful with sanding. Super easy to sand through. Placement of the output jack hole is not centered in its position. And the hole for the barrel shaped jack needs to be slightly bigger. The main problem with this kit is the neck. The idea of a Zero Fret is that the strings should contact the Zero Fret. The nut is only there for spacing of the strings. There are three things wrong with the nut. The slots in the nut are not cut deep enuff, rendering the Zero Fret useless. Plus the slots in the nut do not line up with the string holder's slots. I tried to remove the nut to correct the problems. I think they used an entire tube of super glue on the nut. It's not coming off without damage to the neck. As stated, I really did not expect much, but those items, should be addressed. I will try to get the neck playable but it doesn't seem fixable. If the stated items were fixed, I think it would be a great project kit. Maybe Leo Jaymz will send me a proper neck that has everything lined up. Edit for this review. So sad. I really thought I would like this guitar. 1. When installing the pickup, watch out. The neck pickup it right over the belly cut. When you screw the pickup to a usable height, the screw comes through the back needs shorter screws, or a more shallow belly cut. 2. You have to take the bridge almost completely apart to install it. Saddles are located right over the mounting holes. 3. The barrel type output jack needs a flat spot to tighten against. The curved spot makes it to where it can not be tightened well. 4. The bridge went together good. And after finishing the guitar, after about two months. I finally got to play it. I went to tune it up, and one of the tuning screws fell off in my hand. I tried to reinstall about 20 times. It will not go back together. I contacted the company and they say they can not resolve the problem. I need a new bridge for this unplayable guitar . Hate to say it, because the basic design is nice, but this is not a very well thought out kit and the parts are VERY flimsy, it seems. Edit 2 I contacted the seller about the bridge breaking the first time I tried to retune the guitar. One of the hand screws just fell off in my hand. I explained the situation and was told to contact Amazon. And to just get another bridge off the internet. Sorry ass company in my opinion. They could have satisfied a customer for a $20 part (to them). Of course I would have to spend half as much for another bridge as I did for the entire kit.

Not going to lie, I didn't expect much from this. I like to build guitars and other things, and I just sort of had an idea for a paint scheme, and just wanted to have a project that I could complete somewhat quickly. I figured when I placed the order that I was going to have to do a lot more finishing work than I actually did, which was actually impressive for something in this price point. The hardware is of the usual quality you would see on mid-level guitars, with the sole exception being the bridge pickup (I got the Rhodes V style), but fortunately I had a Seymour Duncan Invader that wasn't living in a guitar at the time, so I decided to go with that. The quality of the wood is reasonably good, the only thing that I could even remotely complain about it is that it was advertised as being mahogany, but this is WAY too light to be mahogany, it has a different color to it as well, and it's tone is substantially brighter than I would've thought mahogany to be. Maybe teak? I like it though, and it works really great with the Invader. It came with some incredibly idiot-proof instructions, even somebody who has never built a guitar could understand how to put this together based on the way that they laid out and presented in the instruction manual, so my hat comes off to the technical writer responsible for that. The only things that I didn't use from the kit were the volume knob and the bridge pickup. My only real legitimate gripe is that the screws that would hold down the truss rod cover were missing from the kit, but that's alright because I usually like having that open anyway. And I did an extensive amount of sanding on the neck to thin the profile a little. Bonus points because they gave me entirely too much shielding tape, so I had a bunch of spare left over to finish off another project! Overall, I would definitely recommend this. If you always wanted to build a guitar, but you really don't know where to start, it is rather difficult to mess this one up. Good quality components, easy to follow instructions, everything you need, right there. You bring the tools, the kit brings the rest.

Not my first kit. This one is just lke the others. It does have a mahogany neck and body I think it will look really nice with an oil finish. I'm taking off two stars because while it looks like an SG, it's not the same size.. by a lot.. like it won't fit in a Gibson branded SG case. I see other kits (not that I know to even look for it) that are probably better fits for a case, if that's important to you. Aside from the SG, I also built their Strat style. I gave it a rubbed tung oil finish and all black hardware/electronics. I essentially just used the wood from the kit. It would be nice if they just sold the wood from the kit as I will almost always replace everything. 3 stars for the monstorus SG, 5 star for the Strat = 4 stars since I can't review these separately. What do I do when I build the Les Paul-type? Edit: I got another kit, this time a Telecaster. Here is what I'll say.. This is my fourth Leo Jaymz kit. For the most part the kits are fine. The wood is lamenated as you would expect got an inexpensive guitar. So the grain can be very inconsistent, so transparent or oiled bodies may not be what you expected. All the kits so far have been fine. Things go together well. But, this Telecaster kit was a mess. It was missing the package of hardware, so I had to improvise my own. Some of the pre-drilled holes are in the wrong place, mostly noticed around the bridge and pick guard, it doesn't line up with the control plate very well. Some of the pre-drilled holes are too big and the screws cannot get a grip. So, be prepared to make modifications and allowances for variations in the kits.