Leo Jaymz DIY ST Style Electric Guitar Kits with Mahogany Body and Maple Neck - Sail Shaped Headstock - Laurel Wood Fingerboard and All Components Included (ST LJ Headstock)

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 solderingCons: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 fully4. 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

The media could not be loaded. This was my first kit guitar build and I would say that it's a great kit at a good price but mine did have a couple issues. Again this a great kit and people looking to get a kit will be very pleased with the quality and overall packaging. My first and well biggest issue was that the frets were so out of whack that I had to level, crown and polish them. I know that this is a kit and that is part of the building process but from many reviews and videos across the board everyone said the neck was good to go out of the box. Most people I know that would want to try a kit guitar would have big problems with this step. Now for a positive on the neck the flamed maple fret board is gorgeous, I mean really beautiful. So that's a big + for the kit and I would guess not all the kits are going to have that neck. The second issue is that the neck pickup is not working very good. This could just be a one off in my kit but for sure test the output when you receive your kit. I built the whole thing thinking it was all good then found out in the end that the neck pickup was lacking. (Very low output compared to other neck pickups I've heard and the tone is off} Again this could just be in my kit and your kit will probably have great sounding pickups. Tuners I can't say good or bad as I swapped out with locking tuners from the beginning of the build. Strings are basically set up use only and then replace with quality strings. Pots seem to be good and work as they should. I swapped out the 3 saddle bridge for a 6 saddle as I prefer having more control on intonation. I think for the price and the overall kit it is definitely worth the money, just know that you might need to upgrade a few parts to have a great playing finished build.

I've now built three of the Leo Jaymz kit guitars - the SG style (my first build), the T style (2nd build), and the Explorer (AX) style. Overall, I've hugely enjoyed them and I'm definitely addicted to these things :)The good:- Complete kits, at least for me everything fit together well- Good quality woods. Maybe I just got lucky, but all three of my kits had nice grain, no knots, no issues with the woods. The maple neck on my T style has some quite impressive grain once stained. The AX kit had a small glue stain on the front, but since I was going for a "beat up, reclaimed wood" look, it was no big deal.- Good fret boards - other than polishing the frets and cleaning up 1-2 sharp frets, there was nothing I had to do other than oil the necks.- The price! My wife would tell you it was a relatively cheap way to keep me occupied for weeks :P- The AX guitar had quick connects for the electronics. A welcome surprise!The less good:- The instructions, especially for the SG style, leave a lot to be desired in their clarity. There are definite suggestions on how to make instructions clearer to reduce mistakes. Because of my mistakes on the first guitar, I didn't make any on the 2nd, so that's a plus. The AX style guitar had no instructions at all. So don't do that one first.The subjective:- After the builds, both guitars are quite playable and sound very good. The SG has relatively tame pickups (~9.1k & 9.5k), so hotter than an under-wound PAF, but not super modern either. Sounds very good with some overdrive. I ended up swapping the TL pickups with an aftermarket set since there was a specific sound I was going for. I put an Alpha/Omega set in the Explorer, and they sound epic. I didn't bother checking the output on the stock pickups.- Hardware is all serviceable. If you asked what I would replace, in this order: Tuners, nut, pickups, anything else. That said, both guitars stay in tune just fine.Some lessons learned:- Mock up all the components before you assemble or paint anything. On the SG style guitar, it turns out if you just use the measurements in the instructions, at least on mine, the neck gets glued too close to the pickup for the pickup ring to fit. It also means the intonation is slightly off now that it's all assembled. Similarly, on the T style, the aftermarket bridge pickup was slightly larger than the cavity in the wood. No big deal, i just shaved a couple mms of wood off and now it's a perfect fit.- On both guitars, there's a ground wire that goes to the bridge. Forgetting it on the T style bridge isn't a big deal, since you can just remove the bridge with a few screws. On the SG guitar, you can't remove the bridge screw holes once they are in, so i had to get some conductive adhesive to make the ground wire work.Now that I've built a couple, I will definitely build more. Particularly for guitars in a style of music I don't normally way, it's a great way to get an instrument you like at a good price, and get some good enjoyment along the way. If you are trying to do this to get a PRS 10 top instrument for $200, you'll probably be disappointed. If you are doing this for fun and to come out with a totally great playable instrument, you'll have a lot of fun doing this.