Can't wait to see how finishes go down on that wood. I love that your vids keep an eye out for the budget-concious viewers. Great video, keep 'em coming!
Oh my! I can surely call it the most beautiful Tele-kit I've seen yet. And with an option to make it pickguardless, it is amazingly flexible to customize. Sounds brilliant and I was really surprized with the build quality.
Great to hear (and see) a good kit on Amazon! I’ve wanted to build a T-style guitar for a while now but have shy’d away because “good” kits are darn near the price of a Squire. I’m VERY interested in this one! Love your videos, keep them coming!
Yay!! Finally a new kit video! I now know your reason not to do them. Kind of gone off UA-cam for a while, but it's good to be back to this videos!!! I also watch the fretless bass, it turned out beautiful Dan! This kit looks awesome too, I'll recommend it to a friend who's looking to work on a Tele of his own. See you on Wednesday!
Dude! I love your channel!!! Beyond unbiased and usefully informative too...and you crack me up. Please keep this up, you help so many of us who love building our guitars.
I'm really looking forward to this one, As a side note, I bought an engineered zebra wood p bass kit from pitbull guitars based out of Australia late summer 2019. The neck was maple, the body like this telle. It turned out great and took some tung oil I had laying around.
I built a Pitbull Jaz bass over the winter and was overall very pleased with the kit. I did have to replace all the screws because every one of them was super soft and broke or stripped very easily (even the pic guard screws). And that was even after drilling pilot holes. And the kit strings were totally crap- but I always use EB Super Slinkies for playing. The kit strings I only use for the build. Other than that, everything else was fine. Turned out to be a really great playing bass.
I built a LP kit like this. It is built nice but the “wood” is really soft and the frets will lift from time to time. I wish they used a different material for the fretboard. I used black dye and it held it well. The stripes are still visible. I did not use any of the electronics or hardware however.
@@DavidHBurkart i have seen and repaired some cheaper chinese guitars with engineered wood are pretty bad.. fret board tend to dry out acoustic bridge with these type of woods tend to cracks and wrap.. they are pretty much so soft like pine.. and i am talking about engineered wood that comes in cheap chinese guitars nowadays
So I found this video on November 18th, of course. Seems like a relatively high quality kit as far as kits go. I've seen $400-500 guitars in stores that need the frets leveled.
Cool, I've been looking at the badcat kits and noticed in the reviews people aren't expecting fake wood with this kit. Btw, I'll be binge watching that rick super build shortly.
I like that you didn’t pull punches on the frets, it’s a great project for someone to learn how to work on frets, but it’s something that does take some doing to learn to do properly. I want to snag one that just looks fun
And now we just need the upgrade video... I think this wood could look quite good with the right stain and some upgraded pickups is a must for a kit like this. Some stacked pickups would be my kind of choice as well as upgrading the pots/switch combo to allow some different options, maybe using something like the switching on the Ibanez AZ series.
I got a Zebrawood Jazz bass body for my birthday last year, I've not built it yet as I'm finishing other projects but I've seen them with gloss finishes and that wood is utterly glorious with a gloss finish.
That's Rockin' Dan'O. About an hour total from pieces in a box to plugged into an amp and making sound. Maybe another hour for the fret job? Then Jam Time, Thanks for the video and heads up on BAD CAT.
I bought the LP style. The wood was very nice but everything else was not. The frets were not fully pressed down, they were .006" to .008" off the fret board in the center. No instructions were supplied, I had to contact them through FB and they emailed me some other companies wiring and build instructions! Tuning machines look nice, but they're the cheap Chinese wobbly type. The bridge was of the $12 quality type. I am currently waiting for a different crowning file since my Stew Mac didn't quite fit the way I liked. I will deal with all the other issues as I need to since putting quality tuners and bridge would almost double what I paid for the kit. Don't get me wrong - I knew and expected it to be like this. Every kit I've made from China (7) has been like this. I am retired so there's no rush. It's my hobbie.
Hey Dan, love your review. I built a cheap Tele kit and put a set of O.C. DUFF ala Redd Volkeart pickups in it plus other Fender custom parts. One of my favorite guitars now. Keep up the great work bro!
I bought a guitar fetish jazz bass body and used all amazon parts Wilkinson pickups and put it together and gave to my son as a graduation present 3 years ago.
When I see any sort of Telecaster video I click on it. I subscribed after I found you support 2A rights. That's a nice looking guitar! If I was working on it... Probably would put in a .047uf capacitor on the tone pot and a dual rail humbucker pickup in the bridge. Have a great upcoming Thanksgiving holiday!
I agree with the a tele neck pickup cover surround. But since you have this amazing body, take advantage of it. That would be a Tele pickup surround out of wood, maybe your Birch Plywood, and the same for the control plate. And stained to match. That's what I'd do. But this look is interesting 🤔. I might haft to look at a Les Paul, or another option from them.
DUDE I was really hoping you were going to do a live stream on Nov 17th of you building one, so us idiots could follow along. You should consider that. Run a review and then give us a month to buy the kit, and then live stream. Maybe I’m just goofy. Love your channel. Always have.
If that’s what you guys want to see, I’d be happy to do it! As long as it’s not a set neck kit, not sure I’d want to stream for 24hrs while the glue dries 😂
Not bad but Earl slick sells a complete and perfect tele and strat, guitar for about the same price. With better frets, ful pots, Variety of finished and configs. AND BRASS HARDWARE. IN THE SAME PRICE RANGE Right out of Boston Ma,
I'll be looking forward to finding out how the guitar takes stain. It does look pretty good. Might just leave it natural and put oil on it if it will take oil.
I'll be there! I've never made a guitar but it's on my to do list. Cool kit, sounded like a tele, Zebrawood is such a pretty looking wood too. Awesome channel, thanks for the content!
Cool looking kit Dan. Pretty sure you'll find that wood is cottonwood/poplar (my local Kit supplier has some similar models and just finishing a fretless bass in the same wood) From my understanding it's just a dye process so it is real wood just chemically treated to create the grain contrast, but who knows it could be extruded pulp in layers to make it. It does smell bad if you machine it which could be a binder or just the dye. Sure is a cool looking wood though All the best 👍✌😎
According to one description I've seen on the web, the "Zebrawood" (or "ZebraWood" in some descriptions) contains Bakelite, which is a phenolic plastic. Since every user description I've seen says it's a heavy guitar. Cottonwood or poplar would be light.
Nice Dan. I've always been curious about these and it definitely looks good. 5:00 mst is going to be tough on Wednesday. Gotta go to AWANA to hear verses.
I just recently did the gold hardware LP zebrawood kit. My list of complaints is too long to list here. But to answer your question about the stains, I did three coats of a clear stain and it took it well. I did a spray clear acrylic top coat. Took it well too, but did not polish to a mirror finish.
Ive been looking at guitar kits for several years now. I noticed prices were increasing a decade ago. But today, they are ridiculously expensive for what you get. I mean you can buy a decent new name brand guitar for $300-350. I saw one one reverb last week that was over 200 and wanted twice the kit price for shipping. At this point, i'll just build my own and learn to make necks. Bodies are easy to make Ive made dozens.
While watching your video, my belt sander kept pestering me for a contoured body and a belly cut. Fender gets $1100.00 for a tele with that, but In my opinion, it beats a "cutting board."
Thanks for the video.. Everyone of these Chinese guitar necks that I have bought had a poorly cut nut.. Thanks for pointing out the details about this guitars nut rather than spending the video going on about the fret ends, lol..
Damn, that thing must be BRIGHT ass hell. I've worked on a couple Strat style with zebra wood fretboards, they feel and respond like maple. Addendum: I realized those were actual zebra wood, not laminate or however they do this. There is real Zebra wood. I don't think it's a specific tree, it's something that happens with a few different species.
Dan I was just thinking that you would be better off buying your own wood from your local lumber yard and then buying the parts online and build and design your own guitar or bass guitar by hand
He's been doing that for awhile. Try to keep up with the class, young man. I'm just teasing, but he has been building whith crap, oops, I mean SCRAP wood because he's too cheap, oops again, I mean he's very thrifty and tries to do things super cheap to inspire us to do the same.
Yeah, I miss the kit vids, modding a Glarry is probably cheaper than most kits though, hint hint. Have you tried replacing the ceramic mags with neodymium yet?
the reason the only drilled the two holes is because they have enough room in the neck pickup to install it without the pick guard.. so you really don't need the pick guard with the right neck pickup
I appreciate your honestly in your reviews. I really like that grain on that zebrawood, purple stain would be insane. Only wish it was H-H configuration. Would you be able to route the current pickup config into an H-H?
I dig the zebra striped body and headstock, but it would look better with a rosewood fretboard just to break it up a bit. Interesting to see if it takes stains at all.
I’d probably just paint the cavities with conductive paint and then put a clear pickguard or a pickup mounting ring that matches the rest of the hardware.
@7:35 you said " engineered wood " when talking about stains and dies. So this is not Microberlinia brazzavillensis wood right ? I'm asking for that very reason. Engineered woods don't take stains like natural woods. Thanks, peace.
Hi Dan, I don't know if it is possible, but I would love for you to check out a Harley Benton kit from Thomann if you haven't already. I bought their tele kit last year and just like this kit all the holes are predrilled and in the correct position! I think you would love their kits
Are you a left-handed person playing a right-handed guitar? Just curious since you’re wearing your watch on your right hand…most left-handed writers wear their watch on their right hand. My left-handed guitar teacher played a right-handed guitar because his teacher told him at the beginning that buying/getting right-handed guitars would be easier than left-handed guitars, so he adapted.
My kit came missing at least one part (the sleeve that secures the tuner... whatever they're called) and had no instructions whatsoever. the website has a spot for wiring diagrams and manuals, but it doesn't seem to work. Can you point me in the right direction for wiring help? yeah, it's my first guitar build ;-)
Here’s the link to the live giveaway! You won’t want to miss it! ua-cam.com/video/tpUn5TKjsJE/v-deo.html
Whats the price?
Besides the fun of a DYI, does it play better then a $225 squire tele from fender?
You're back with the old stuff, the videos that made me suscribe
Can't wait to see how finishes go down on that wood. I love that your vids keep an eye out for the budget-concious viewers. Great video, keep 'em coming!
Oh my! I can surely call it the most beautiful Tele-kit I've seen yet. And with an option to make it pickguardless, it is amazingly flexible to customize. Sounds brilliant and I was really surprized with the build quality.
That thing sounds good, I wouldn’t waste my time buying pickups.
Found your channel when I was yanking the frets out of my bass, years ago. Glad to see you coming back to these kits.
With just a gloss poly finish over everything and it'll look awesome
Great to hear (and see) a good kit on Amazon! I’ve wanted to build a T-style guitar for a while now but have shy’d away because “good” kits are darn near the price of a Squire. I’m VERY interested in this one! Love your videos, keep them coming!
*Squier
Yay!! Finally a new kit video! I now know your reason not to do them. Kind of gone off UA-cam for a while, but it's good to be back to this videos!!! I also watch the fretless bass, it turned out beautiful Dan! This kit looks awesome too, I'll recommend it to a friend who's looking to work on a Tele of his own. See you on Wednesday!
So happy to see you back at it. Missed your videos. Can't wait to see about this guitar, I've been eying it. Thanks brother!
Dude! I love your channel!!!
Beyond unbiased and usefully informative too...and you crack me up.
Please keep this up, you help so many of us who love building our guitars.
Love the name of your channel ! Owner of a 1969 Tele since 1969
I'm really looking forward to this one, As a side note, I bought an engineered zebra wood p bass kit from pitbull guitars based out of Australia late summer 2019. The neck was maple, the body like this telle. It turned out great and took some tung oil I had laying around.
I got the jazz bass from pitbull and did the same thing as you
I built a Pitbull Jaz bass over the winter and was overall very pleased with the kit. I did have to replace all the screws because every one of them was super soft and broke or stripped very easily (even the pic guard screws). And that was even after drilling pilot holes. And the kit strings were totally crap- but I always use EB Super Slinkies for playing. The kit strings I only use for the build.
Other than that, everything else was fine. Turned out to be a really great playing bass.
I built a LP kit like this. It is built nice but the “wood” is really soft and the frets will lift from time to time. I wish they used a different material for the fretboard.
I used black dye and it held it well. The stripes are still visible.
I did not use any of the electronics or hardware however.
Good info, and I totally agree. Neat look to the body and headstock, but I'm not a fan for the fretboard.
may be flooding the fretbord part with thin superglue can make it dense enough.. may be
Engineered wood typically is much harder
@@DavidHBurkart i have seen and repaired some cheaper chinese guitars with engineered wood are pretty bad.. fret board tend to dry out acoustic bridge with these type of woods tend to cracks and wrap.. they are pretty much so soft like pine.. and i am talking about engineered wood that comes in cheap chinese guitars nowadays
So I found this video on November 18th, of course. Seems like a relatively high quality kit as far as kits go. I've seen $400-500 guitars in stores that need the frets leveled.
I would LOVE to see the Bad Cats In a King V or Explorer shapes with optional binding and optional Floyd Rose Cavity rout for those that want them.
S'up Dan. Diggin' the zebrawood. Saw it on FB. Can't wait for the bass to be finished either. See you Wednesday... and Friday. 👍
Dan! The kit is nice, but I'm more impressed with how much you've improved your playing. Sounding good, dude!
Great video Dan.
Cool, I've been looking at the badcat kits and noticed in the reviews people aren't expecting fake wood with this kit. Btw, I'll be binge watching that rick super build shortly.
Nice video format. Easy to watch, paced well, engaging.
Thanks for the helpful feedback!
Sounds like a tele. Would like to hear it after the fret job. It is a great base for getting a really good tele built.
Yuuuuss another build!
I like that you didn’t pull punches on the frets, it’s a great project for someone to learn how to work on frets, but it’s something that does take some doing to learn to do properly. I want to snag one that just looks fun
And now we just need the upgrade video... I think this wood could look quite good with the right stain and some upgraded pickups is a must for a kit like this. Some stacked pickups would be my kind of choice as well as upgrading the pots/switch combo to allow some different options, maybe using something like the switching on the Ibanez AZ series.
YES...an upgrade video PLEASE!
I don’t know what a true Telecaster sound is but that thing sounds good.
Wow..."I don't know how it's made...I don't know much about it.. " That sums up quite a bit.
I got a Zebrawood Jazz bass body for my birthday last year, I've not built it yet as I'm finishing other projects but I've seen them with gloss finishes and that wood is utterly glorious with a gloss finish.
Always great videos, thanks for the tip on the slight angle when leveling frets on the 12th fret
That's Rockin' Dan'O. About an hour total from pieces in a box to plugged into an amp and making sound.
Maybe another hour for the fret job? Then Jam Time,
Thanks for the video and heads up on BAD CAT.
I built a strat kit out of similar Zebra style wood and it took rit dye and stain just fine :)
I bought the LP style. The wood was very nice but everything else was not. The frets were not fully pressed down, they were .006" to .008" off the fret board in the center. No instructions were supplied, I had to contact them through FB and they emailed me some other companies wiring and build instructions! Tuning machines look nice, but they're the cheap Chinese wobbly type. The bridge was of the $12 quality type. I am currently waiting for a different crowning file since my Stew Mac didn't quite fit the way I liked. I will deal with all the other issues as I need to since putting quality tuners and bridge would almost double what I paid for the kit. Don't get me wrong - I knew and expected it to be like this. Every kit I've made from China (7) has been like this. I am retired so there's no rush. It's my hobbie.
Hope I don't forget to tune in! I love telecasters. :)
Hey Dan, love your review. I built a cheap Tele kit and put a set of O.C. DUFF ala Redd Volkeart pickups in it plus other Fender custom parts. One of my favorite guitars now. Keep up the great work bro!
I used Tru Oil on mine. Worked great. Every thing but the fretboard itself.
I always like that twangy but full sound of a Tele. Cant wait to see how you would tweak this kit up to perfection.
That engineered zebrawood soaks up Tru Oil perfectly. Nice rich look
Reminds me of Stratabond necks that Martin has used. However, those have parallel lamination.
Love your channel. Nicely done 👍✔
Wow! That wood looks amazing
I mean for engineered lol
I bought a guitar fetish jazz bass body and used all amazon parts Wilkinson pickups and put it together and gave to my son as a graduation present 3 years ago.
When I see any sort of Telecaster video I click on it. I subscribed after I found you support 2A rights. That's a nice looking guitar! If I was working on it... Probably would put in a .047uf capacitor on the tone pot and a dual rail humbucker pickup in the bridge. Have a great upcoming Thanksgiving holiday!
I agree with the a tele neck pickup cover surround. But since you have this amazing body, take advantage of it. That would be a Tele pickup surround out of wood, maybe your Birch Plywood, and the same for the control plate. And stained to match. That's what I'd do.
But this look is interesting 🤔. I might haft to look at a Les Paul, or another option from them.
This is really nice kit
DUDE I was really hoping you were going to do a live stream on Nov 17th of you building one, so us idiots could follow along. You should consider that. Run a review and then give us a month to buy the kit, and then live stream. Maybe I’m just goofy.
Love your channel. Always have.
Not goofy, Beau. That's a great idea.
If that’s what you guys want to see, I’d be happy to do it! As long as it’s not a set neck kit, not sure I’d want to stream for 24hrs while the glue dries 😂
@@GunsandGuitars LOL! Yeah. Nothing like sittin' around watching glue dry. 🤪
I love vids like these
Great video Dan, as usual. Now PLEASE get back to the Rickenbacker build!! Keep up the good work man.
Interesting build ......if I may suggest .....a yellow dye applied to the body might look cool.
Such an awesome looking tele!! 🙌🏻🎸
Not bad but Earl slick sells a complete and perfect tele and strat, guitar for about the same price. With better frets, ful pots,
Variety of finished and configs. AND BRASS HARDWARE.
IN THE SAME PRICE RANGE
Right out of Boston Ma,
It looks like Suhr and PRS have both done a nice burst on zebrawood, so you should have some options to stain
I'll be looking forward to finding out how the guitar takes stain. It does look pretty good. Might just leave it natural and put oil on it if it will take oil.
I'll be there! I've never made a guitar but it's on my to do list. Cool kit, sounded like a tele, Zebrawood is such a pretty looking wood too. Awesome channel, thanks for the content!
Beautiful piece of wood, sure, you will make it great!! Dan!!
lol@it's great for practicing fretwork....thanks for the vid
That's so pretty, even right from the box...
Wish I could be here Wednesday
, but I'll be at church. I do have a fret wire 5 string bass to put together, and I'll continues watching anyway, so...
Cool looking kit Dan.
Pretty sure you'll find that wood is cottonwood/poplar (my local Kit supplier has some similar models and just finishing a fretless bass in the same wood)
From my understanding it's just a dye process so it is real wood just chemically treated to create the grain contrast, but who knows it could be extruded pulp in layers to make it. It does smell bad if you machine it which could be a binder or just the dye.
Sure is a cool looking wood though
All the best
👍✌😎
According to one description I've seen on the web, the "Zebrawood" (or "ZebraWood" in some descriptions) contains Bakelite, which is a phenolic plastic. Since every user description I've seen says it's a heavy guitar. Cottonwood or poplar would be light.
Wow, i like how the strings seem to disappear into the fingerboard. A nice little illusion!
Love it!
I wouldn’t stain, paint oil etc. I love it’s natural look. I would even remove the pick guard. It’s a good lookin body and neck. Yeah bro 👍🤘
Nice Dan. I've always been curious about these and it definitely looks good.
5:00 mst is going to be tough on Wednesday. Gotta go to AWANA to hear verses.
Looks good and sounds nice. I would have to sand down the corners on the neck pocket. I can't stand those corners always getting in the way for me.
Pretty guitar.
I need this guitar.
I just recently did the gold hardware LP zebrawood kit. My list of complaints is too long to list here. But to answer your question about the stains, I did three coats of a clear stain and it took it well. I did a spray clear acrylic top coat. Took it well too, but did not polish to a mirror finish.
I bought a Jaguar style guitar kit from them and have done some other mods to it I love it
I wondered how that composite deck wood material would work for guitar. See you on Friday.
My favorite telecaster has ceramic magnet pick ups which sound better than Fender Vintage Noiseless
Ive been looking at guitar kits for several years now. I noticed prices were increasing a decade ago. But today, they are ridiculously expensive for what you get. I mean you can buy a decent new name brand guitar for $300-350. I saw one one reverb last week that was over 200 and wanted twice the kit price for shipping. At this point, i'll just build my own and learn to make necks. Bodies are easy to make Ive made dozens.
I have put a nitro stain on engineered zebra wood, and it takes it well.
While watching your video, my belt sander kept pestering me for a contoured body and a belly cut. Fender gets $1100.00 for a tele with that, but In my opinion, it beats a "cutting board."
Thanks for the video.. Everyone of these Chinese guitar necks that I have bought had a poorly cut nut.. Thanks for pointing out the details about this guitars nut rather than spending the video going on about the fret ends, lol..
Love it Beautiful👍👍👍👍👍
Damn, that thing must be BRIGHT ass hell. I've worked on a couple Strat style with zebra wood fretboards, they feel and respond like maple.
Addendum: I realized those were actual zebra wood, not laminate or however they do this.
There is real Zebra wood. I don't think it's a specific tree, it's something that happens with a few different species.
Outstanding Video!!!
Just bought a fender telecaster 52 reissue... might snag this one
Thank you. Very interesting.
Found you looking at Zebrawood kits.
You had me at "guns and guitars"
I will install EMG T52 pickups.
Dan I was just thinking that you would be better off buying your own wood from your local lumber yard and then buying the parts online and build and design your own guitar or bass guitar by hand
He's been doing that for awhile. Try to keep up with the class, young man.
I'm just teasing, but he has been building whith crap, oops, I mean SCRAP wood because he's too cheap, oops again, I mean he's very thrifty and tries to do things super cheap to inspire us to do the same.
😂😂😂🤷♂️
@@GunsandGuitars and your "local" lumber yard can be quite relative. Right, Dan?
sounds solid
Yeah, I miss the kit vids, modding a Glarry is probably cheaper than most kits though, hint hint. Have you tried replacing the ceramic mags with neodymium yet?
the reason the only drilled the two holes is because they have enough room in the neck pickup to install it without the pick guard.. so you really don't need the pick guard with the right neck pickup
I appreciate your honestly in your reviews. I really like that grain on that zebrawood, purple stain would be insane. Only wish it was H-H configuration. Would you be able to route the current pickup config into an H-H?
I don’t see why not. I’m sure it’ll smell funny as you’re routing though haha
@@GunsandGuitars The Zebra wood called, said to tell you, "You smell funny." 🤭
Nice video.
another option is to go with a clear pickguard like i did with my tele @Guns and Guitars
I dig the zebra striped body and headstock, but it would look better with a rosewood fretboard just to break it up a bit. Interesting to see if it takes stains at all.
Could I suggest getting a polished brass pickguard to complete the brass motiff?
I believe the Zebrawood is a species of wood not an engineered board. So good news Rockstar.
This is engineered wood. Zebra wood is a nickname given to a few different kinds of wood, but there’s no such thing as real zebra wood
Chicken pickin on the bridge pickup.. with a clean tone a little slap back...
You should do the snakehead tele kit
I’d probably just paint the cavities with conductive paint and then put a clear pickguard or a pickup mounting ring that matches the rest of the hardware.
@7:35 you said " engineered wood " when talking about stains and dies. So this is not Microberlinia brazzavillensis wood right ?
I'm asking for that very reason. Engineered woods don't take stains like natural woods. Thanks, peace.
Hi Dan, I don't know if it is possible, but I would love for you to check out a Harley Benton kit from Thomann if you haven't already. I bought their tele kit last year and just like this kit all the holes are predrilled and in the correct position! I think you would love their kits
Are you a left-handed person playing a right-handed guitar? Just curious since you’re wearing your watch on your right hand…most left-handed writers wear their watch on their right hand.
My left-handed guitar teacher played a right-handed guitar because his teacher told him at the beginning that buying/getting right-handed guitars would be easier than left-handed guitars, so he adapted.
Hey loved the video question any idea how much does the Bad cat Explorer kit costs?
My kit came missing at least one part (the sleeve that secures the tuner... whatever they're called) and had no instructions whatsoever. the website has a spot for wiring diagrams and manuals, but it doesn't seem to work. Can you point me in the right direction for wiring help? yeah, it's my first guitar build ;-)
I like these videos
You should try to put some contours in it before you finish it to make it more comfortable and take some weight off!
Definately go with a Tele pickup mount ring the woods to beautiful to hide😎