DIY 8 String Electric Guitar Kits Burl poplar veener top okoume Body maple neck & composite ebony fingerboard You Build The Guitar

When I assembled this, I found that one of the pickups were manufactured with a defect. Half of the pickup was dead and there were some machining/crossthreading issues with the bridge. Reached out to the seller, and they hooked me up with replacement parts, no questions asked, and the parts got here fast. 10/10 plan on buying more kits from them. Fantastic customer service.

For the $200 price point, this is a great deal. The guitar is obviously not top of the line but it is comfortable and the constituent parts are pretty well made. I have 6 other guitars but this is my first 8 string and my first DIY kit. The assembly is hands down the most fun part, followed closely by finishing the wood however you like. A coat of stain and 4-5 coats of clear coat and you'll have a slick axe for your collection. However, being as cheap as it is, you should prepare to do a some work on your own to fix some of the flaws it comes with. The Good: -The assembly is fantastic fun -The neck exceeded my expectations. It is smooth, decently thin for fast playing (thinner than my SG neck but a tad thicker than my Ibanez RG 7 string), comfortable to hold, and the feet work is really well done. Besides the usual truss rod adjustments it was basically perfect out of the box. -The burled veneer looks great, especially when finished -the body is pretty light but when it is all assembled the guitar has a nice heft to it. -Once assembled it feels sturdy and not likely to fall apart. Nothing is loose and the neck slots very nicely into the body to make for a solid piece. The Meh: -The pack-in strings are entirely too small of a guage to hold a tune or play with any decent sound for the lowest 4 strings. A minor issue really. Get the Ernie Ball Heavy Bottom guages and the nut/tuners fit them just fine -The stock pickups will get you playing right out of the box, but really think about upgrading them to something better. They are fine, but the lower strings can sound a bit muddy -There are no pack-in instructions, but there is a video on Amazon that walks you through the process step by step. Would definitely prefer an instruction booklet but the video works just fine. Some of. the assembly is pretty straight forward anyway but might be troublesome for a complete newbie The Bad: *These first few aren't bad if you have the tools, but if not will cause an issue* -There were no holes drilled for the pickups -A few of the holes for the screws in back of the headstock to hold the tuners in place (not the holes for the machine heads themselves, those were perfect) are misaligned so you might have to adjust those accordingly -The plastic electronics cover is slightly misaligned so I'll have to grind down one side about a 16th of an inch so it seats properly -The screw holes for the truss rod cover were not drilled deep enough *These last few are a bit less forgivable* -4 screws missing: 2 for the strap holders and 2 for anchoring the pickup switch in place. You can purchase new strap holders at any guitar store but the switch screws are particular and should not be missing from the kit. I was fortunate that I had some extra screws that basically fit but they are a bit troublesome to find elsewhere. Misaligned holes are one thing but wholly missing hardware is not good. -There is a spot, about a quarter inch long, where the veneer either peeled off slightly or wasn't properly glued to begin with where my forearm sits as I play. This was noticed before assembly began but the clear coats seem to be doing their job in holding it in place. I have to emphasize that it is hardly noticable and you have to be looking for it to see it, but still a bad oversight. Now many of these bads are only bad if you do not have the tools/minimal knowhow to fix the issues so just take into consideration that you are getting a cheap DIY kit that won't be perfect out of the box. But if you are getting a DIY kit you probably have the tools and knowhow to fix these issues anyway. I know this going in and viewed it as some more fun problem-solving to make this guitar even more of my own creation. Summary: Despite the issues, this was an extremely fun and satisfying project for a very good price. I would rather build a $200 guitar kit than buy a $200 guitar premade and would get another kit from BexGears again. It's a cheap, build-it-yourself assembly kit and you have to go in with that mindset. Despite the price it is pretty decently made. This is perfect for a father-son project, weekend project, way to experiment with finishing guitars, a good way to learn the ins and ours of what makes a guitar tick, or just a fun and cheap excuse to get another guitar. Definitely recommend this for anyone.

Bought this to get acquainted with the extra 2 strings, as im primarily a 6 string player, fully expecting some severe hurdles in playability and quality. I'm honestly amazed with it. It's not without some flaws, but even a guitar at 3-4 times the price, these flaws would be minor. The tuning isn't perfect (which is easy to fix with locking tuners and a better nut), there's some very minor inconsistencies with the frets (which is another relatively easy fix), but overall, nothing that would stop you from enjoying playing. You don't even notice it through a distorted amp. The pickups are pretty noisy, as I don't believe they are wax potted. But that is also another easy fix. The neck and body are both rugged, giving me no reason to fear it will break easily. The body is nice and thin, the neck joint is out of the way, and the neck profile is very comfortable. I havent had any trouble with slides, bends, or upper fret access. I also had to put wooden toothpicks in the strap button screw holes, as the screws kept working their way out. Over-all, considering the price, it's an absolute steal. If you like ibanez, this feels a lot like an RG. If you're into modding guitars to fit you perfectly, and/or you're looking to get into the world of extended range, this is the perfect platform. Low risk, high reward.

The guitar kit has everything you need to build the guitar, but it definitely had some quality issues but it’s the cheapest 8 string you can get so it’s a little expected but it’s still a $200 purchase and that’s without materials, tools and time you have to put into it. So it costs more than you think and that is why I am making this review to help you decide all the pros and cons. Cons: - the body had swirls from being cheaply sanded and I wasn’t able to get those out without risking going through the vernier. (Pictured) so sanding took some time and the stain did not sit as well as I wanted because it shows the swirls. - broke a screw head off completely just trying to install the tuning pegs. (Cheap screws in general and I was not using power tools.)(pictured) - part of the vernier was sanded away to show the wood underneath on the body - the headstock was chipped and already finished and sealed so I had to sand off all that to get the stain to match the body. I also used a sharpie to darken the spot where the chip was since it was not absorbing stain like the rest of the headstock. - I had to sand down the neck in the cavity of the neck pickup once I attached the neck to the guitar because it was not measured correctly for the pickup to fit. (This probably took the most work because I only used a sanding bit on my dremel as to not damage the rest of the guitar.) - the strings that came with the kit do not hold tuning. Very cheap. - this is obvious but the electronics and parts are super cheap. The tuners move SUPER fast when tuning up the lowest string so it is tough to tune to the right pitch. (I used standard and drop E tuning) - one of the tuners came broken and I had to fix it and super glue it back together….. not super thrilled about that. Pros: - I now have an 8 string for cheap that doesn’t sound too bad. - the stain I used was varathane black cherry woodstain with a spray shellac I used to seal everything and I think it turned out stellar! - there is no soldering and assembling the electronics is so easy! Overall, this was kind of fun to tinker with learning how to be a half baked luthier and learn some tricks of the trade but it was pretty fun and I think I would do it again but maybe not with this company since they butchered the sanding job on the guitar and pre finished the head with a chip in it.

If you are buying this to stain and upgrade….just be informed. The stock pickups are extra wide on the sides and the body route is cut to fit this awkwardly long pickups. Why does this affect you? If you want to upgrade…the replacements likely will not fit. I dropped the cash on 8 string Fishman fluence open core Javier Reyes pickups and they are noticeably smaller than the Belcats this kit comes with. If you’re going to use the stock pickups, the body route is not an issue. The top of this body did not take my stain well. For some reason it tinted but did not soak the color in. It almost sat on there. I am going to end up filling in the routes in to fit the Fishmans and recapping it with a flame maple veneer. I know it’s a lot of work, but it’s the only way at this point. The neck feels great, but I like to do the drilling myself for tuners because i ordered upgrade tone ninja 21:1 tuners to drop in. Turns out the neck is pre drilled for the tuners they provide you. Sooooooo I will be filling those holes in and staining the neck as I won’t be able to stand looking at the holes on the back of the headstock. The bottom line: this kit is for the person who wants to put this guitar together more or less the way it is. For a little bit more, you can find a finished and assembled version of this kit in here. I think it’s only like 20 dollars more too. This is no knock on this kit. It’s a decent quality kit. It’s just tough to work with if you want to upgrade. Anyway, now you have the info.

Liked the Wood rear routed body and Neck. Fair Pickups, tuners and bridge. I did not have to adjust the neck but just the bridge a little. My first 8string after building my own 6 string st's in the past. Easy to play and lighter than I expected. If I plan to play this live or record, I would probably swap to dimarzio pickups and possibly locking tuners to keep tuning and sound more crisp but that is my high standards of pickups and staying in tune. I did use Ernie Ball strings instead of the ones in the kit. Improvements suggested: 1. Label your strings since takes a little time sorting through them or just leave them out and have customer buy their own. 2. Pre-drill holes a little better since I had to re-drill a tuner hole and 2 bridge holes for the screws. 3. Have an easier way to ground the bridge to the pickups. The hole is there but not clear about where the wire is supposed to connect to the bridge. I made my own way. Overall a sharp looking guitar and I like the neck and body the best but playable as it is. Good value at 208.00 for an 8 string guitar that you can play.

First and foremost, this is my first review so please forgive me, decided to write one since there aren't too many on this product. Shipped in pretty fast, about 2 days earlier than expected, packaging was really good with everything neat and organized. Watched the assembly video on the listing page to get a general idea of how to assemble the guitar. Test fitted the neck and it was perfect! The frets felt really smooth and the finish on the neck wasn't too glossy, which I appreciated. The headstock has a light finish on it too so I left it as-is. Attempted to blowtorch the body to get a quite literal "burnt" finish but the veneer started to bubble, so quickly gave up on that. Upon installing the electronics, I realized I did not receive the screws that hold the pickup selector to the body, so I temporarily superglued it. One of the knobs (which after assembly, realized it is the tone knob, accidentally put it in the volume knob's place) was too short to thread the nut that holds the knob to the body, so I had to bore a deeper hole to allow clearance., which later had to do a second time in the correct hole, which of course is due to my own negligence. The neck pickup had some clearance issues with the very bottom of the fretboard, so I had to remove the neck to install the pickup. Didn't bother to use the included strings and instead used some light top/ heavy bottom Ernie Ball strings. Truss rod needed a small adjustment, and found that the screws for the cover refused to go into the headstock, so I left it off. Eyeballed the intonation on the bridge saddles which later I made very minor adjustments. Once I had it all together I played it acoustically and was very delighted! Very comfortable and easy to play and has a good weight to it without having the neck dive. When I plugged it in, it buzzed louder than any guitar I've ever played. A quick inspection of the electronics and I found the input jack was wired backwards, so after a quick solder it no longer buzzed. Sounds absolutely great with some distortion, and on the clean channel. Very surprised with how great this guitar sounds. Overall very happy with the end result, despite a few technical difficulties along the way, but nonetheless a fun build, and I may take it apart again to stain and finish the body. Well worth the money and am planning on buying another model from BexGears again in the future!

was very impressed by this kit. frequently run into issues in the neck set and action height with kits and i always expect intonation issues and needing shims. this one went right into place and was a super fast set up. i loved the jumpers and no soldering required. pickups were a little sensitive to noise, but sounded fine over all. might suggest buying some shielding paint to address that, but i didn't bother.