Fast Guitars Kit Build Thread

[MrDowntown]

I'm envious. Always wanted to build something like this.
Love the look and color.

 

[neilli]

So where are Fast Guitars located?

 

[dirtyfunkg]

They're located in British Columbia, Canada. Comes out of the same shop as Precision Guitar Kits and is identical.

 

[ThrowBackMan]

Great looking guitar. Just found this thread. I wanted to let you know I have a kit guitar almost like it, but mine is a flat top, Jr type LP guitar kit from Precision Guitar Kits.com and it's killer. I painted it that mirage color and cleared it, but it clouded up in the clear process so I will have to redo it or some tell me I can use a heat gun and get the cloudy parts out. It's a killer guitar and has no inlays, mahogany body with one hum, (which is what I love to play ala VH) and has maple quarter sawn neck with maple fretboard and 6100 frets. Best fretwork I've ever seen on a guitar from the factory. I can't believe how good they are. I just need to get the rest of the TOM Bridge hardware and a couple other things and I'll put it together. I'm just so busy. Took me forever to pain it.
Let me know how it comes out for you and how it sounds. Love this idea!
T

Post some pics! Would love to see it!

Hey dirtyFunG,
I'll do that later. I don't have the neck glued on yet or nothing. I've just not had time, but I did paint it, and it turned out pretty lousy I think, but it's ok. If you're 10 feet away you'd probably never notice the cloudy thing. I'm either going to leave it as it is, or repaint it, or better yet and the option i'm looking at now is to apply the Holoflash finish as they did with the old Kramer guitars, etc,. Just on the headstock and front of the body probably. I true oiled the back of neck and body. It is easy to apply as you said and protects the guitar. I'm going to use the gun stock oil and wax to make it better yet.
Thanks and I'll post some pics, but it may take some time. I'll try to post some soon with the state it is in now. I'm not much of a luthier, so don't expect too much. However, that said, I bet it plays great when finished now matter how bad it looks..hehe..
T

 

[ThrowBackMan]

They're located in British Columbia, Canada. Comes out of the same shop as Precision Guitar Kits and is identical.

The Canadians are way under rated in making guitars in my humble opinion. I love Godin's for instance and Godin I understand made necks for either Kramer and Ibanez or one of the two, I'm not sure, but I had a couple Godin's and both had some of the best woods and tones for a bolt on guitar you could get. I wish I'd kept them, but someone offered me more money than I paid and that was too much temptation, but I'll get another someday. They now make an LP copy that's probably better in tone and construction compared to a real LP made in the US production line I had to say. I guess it's a subjective thing now, but you can get a Godin set neck for the cost of many Indonesian and Korean guitars, etc, and although I like them too, I trust the Canadians in their construction and detail attention from past experience.
Have to check out the kit company you bought from.
When you say they came out of the same shop, are they just another company doing business with the same people?
T

 

[dirtyfunkg]

Hey, so necrobump update. I've finished the guitar but am experiencing an issue I'm wondering if any of you can help me diagnose.

The guitar just sounds dull/dark. Like, compared to my Edwards LPC style, this makes it sound like there's a blanket over everything I play.

Again, it's a Duncan JB in the bridge and a P-Rail in the neck. I've got the Duncan Triple Shot pickup rings for coil tapping and parallel/series. Even the JB sounds completely lifeless.

I actually ended up having a tech do all of the electronics on the guitar as the Graph-Tech stuff was just too complicated, plus I needed a route for the battery.

Anyone ever had this problem? Any pointers on a solution?

Also any recommendation on a good Chicagoland tech when it comes to electronics? I've lost faith in the guy I've had--this guitar ended up being on his bench from January until just a couple weeks ago. I'd get it back, notice a (major) problem, take it back to him, rinse, repeat. I think the Ghost system really threw him for a loop.

BTW, here's pix I guess.

 

[Steinmetzify]

Thing looks badass, I love the finish you got.

For your dead lifeless problem, maybe try something else....you could throw some EMGs in it and see if that would help, or just start trying different pickups. I know a lot of guys dig the JB in a LP, but I never liked it as it always sounded underpowered to me. My gold top has a Het set in it and my black Custom has a BKP Painkiller set and both are monsters.

Alternatively, you might just have a dud. Not to sound pessimistic, but there are guitars out there that no matter what you do they just sound like that....might be lame wood or whatever. I'd try a couple things and if they don't work make it a wall hanger/conversation piece, as this can suck a ton of time and money and be really frustrating for you.

 

[messenger]

How does it sound unplugged (compared to your other guitar)

 

[Shask]

Does it have 500K pots? If not, install them. You could also try 1Meg pots for even brighter tones.

 

[dirtyfunkg]

Thing looks badass, I love the finish you got.

For your dead lifeless problem, maybe try something else....you could throw some EMGs in it and see if that would help, or just start trying different pickups. I know a lot of guys dig the JB in a LP, but I never liked it as it always sounded underpowered to me. My gold top has a Het set in it and my black Custom has a BKP Painkiller set and both are monsters.

Alternatively, you might just have a dud. Not to sound pessimistic, but there are guitars out there that no matter what you do they just sound like that....might be lame wood or whatever. I'd try a couple things and if they don't work make it a wall hanger/conversation piece, as this can suck a ton of time and money and be really frustrating for you.

Thanks for the compliment. I definitely see... err... opportunities for improvement as I look at the guitar up close, but I'm damn proud of it. Note to self: don't use steel wool again.

I've loved the JB on my Edwards which is why I went with it on this guitar. It's also the Adam Jones and old Cantrell and Mustaine pickup. I have extended experience with it in both my Edwards and as the stock pickup on my old SL3 which I eventually swapped for BKP's that ended up not impressing me (had a VHII and pair of Mothers Milks).

I'm skeptical that it's bad wood, because...

How does it sound unplugged (compared to your other guitar)

It is super resonant in comparison, which I think is at least in part due to a combo of a)chambered body and b) doesn't have a thick, hard shell finish like my Edwards (I used Tru-Oil and a thin coat of poly just for further protection from sweat, water, beer, etc).

This guitar does not sound dull unplugged--in fact it's one of the best, most balanced sounding guitars I've had when unplugged. Also the piezo pickup on it sounds great though I'm not sure if the body has any effect on that at all.

Fit and setup on the guitar are also as nice as I've had - this is really the feel I wanted out of it. The only thing wrong is the way it sounds plugged in with the Duncan pickups.

edit: it has 500K pots but I'm wondering if I skimped too much on them. I think they're just proline or some other budget brand. Also not sure of the capacitor value.

 

[lyres requiem]

How dark did you do your black coat prior to sanding to get the grain to pop. I build from the ground up, but the one thing i have had issues with was doing a good stain like you got.

I know this got no responses but I figure what the hell, people can ignore or post or (hopefully) shoot me some advice along the way... ESPECIALLY once I get to the nitro part of the entire process.

So I received the kit a few weeks ago and have been going about purchasing stuff for finishing, parts, etc.

Here's a picture of the kit when I got it. Sorry it's blurry.



I started finishing on Saturday by doing some grain filling on the mahogany for the neck back and sides of the guitar, then doing a black stain coat on the back of the guitar.

Sunday, I sanded back the back then did a black coat on the front. Waited about an hour then sanded back the front.

Yesterday night I mixed my stain. I'm using Keda dyes by the way. They are really inexpensive and are supposedly the base pigments used by PRS... I just got two of their sampler packs for a total of $26... I'm realizing now that I probably seriously overbought.

Today I did my first coat of color for the front. The sand back has got the flame really popping. I think it's going great so far, but certainly far from finished. Definitely a few more coats needed, plus I want to get a decent burst so will darken the sides with some black once I have the color really where I want it for the main parts of the guitar.

After I am done with all of the colors, I am going to sand the sides since I still have the grain filler exposed and, in the process, I'll be able to sand away any dye that may have bled through to get the PRS style natural binding. As you'll notice, I'm really not masking on the body except for anywhere glue may come in contact for the neck joint.

Here's some guitar porn for you of the guitar right after staining today.

 

[screamindemon]

Nice looking guitar and build. Nice job !

 

[dirtyfunkg]

How dark did you do your black coat prior to sanding to get the grain to pop. I build from the ground up, but the one thing i have had issues with was doing a good stain like you got.

I know this got no responses but I figure what the hell, people can ignore or post or (hopefully) shoot me some advice along the way... ESPECIALLY once I get to the nitro part of the entire process.

So I received the kit a few weeks ago and have been going about purchasing stuff for finishing, parts, etc.

Here's a picture of the kit when I got it. Sorry it's blurry.



I started finishing on Saturday by doing some grain filling on the mahogany for the neck back and sides of the guitar, then doing a black stain coat on the back of the guitar.

Sunday, I sanded back the back then did a black coat on the front. Waited about an hour then sanded back the front.

Yesterday night I mixed my stain. I'm using Keda dyes by the way. They are really inexpensive and are supposedly the base pigments used by PRS... I just got two of their sampler packs for a total of $26... I'm realizing now that I probably seriously overbought.

Today I did my first coat of color for the front. The sand back has got the flame really popping. I think it's going great so far, but certainly far from finished. Definitely a few more coats needed, plus I want to get a decent burst so will darken the sides with some black once I have the color really where I want it for the main parts of the guitar.

After I am done with all of the colors, I am going to sand the sides since I still have the grain filler exposed and, in the process, I'll be able to sand away any dye that may have bled through to get the PRS style natural binding. As you'll notice, I'm really not masking on the body except for anywhere glue may come in contact for the neck joint.

Here's some guitar porn for you of the guitar right after staining today.

I did not try to get it too dark. I think I ended up with a grey coat, one coat only. As soon as it dried I sanded it off as best I could. I don't remember all of the details though--it's been over a year and a half at this point. I used lots of youtube videos as my tutors for doing this and kind of winged it beyond that. I was lucky it turned out so well.

I think one of the major things to consider is to not sand down to too high a grit. You want some roughness so that the wood can absorb the stain a bit more instead of it just accumulating on the top. Whenever I do another guitar like this, I will likely use alcohol as my solvent instead of water, though, so that it can absorb and right into the top but not further into the wood before drying up. I'm hoping that will help my lines and minimize bleed.

BTW, I ended up taking the guitar to Third Coast to fix this guitar's electronics several months ago. They fixed it up properly. I ended up also finding that I really don't actually have much use for the midi system in it. It's still wired in, but I never use it. The piezo is fun for dicking around at home but I rarely ever use it in a practical setting. Whenever I do another guitar, I'm going to stick to basics.