"Guitar Fetish" Electric Kits?

Thanks, Russell ... I certainly appreciate your "voice of experience". I recall you building "Fang" a few years ago, and it was stunningly beautiful. I'm a cabinet maker from days gone by so can work with wood; but the electronics stuff is a bit intimidating. The hardware I'm planning to put into this is as follows:

- Seymour-Duncan P-rail pickups w/ split shot (https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/p- … et-black-3)
- Stetsbar Pro II tremolo (https://stetsbar.com/stop.tail.html)
- Grover 106 locking tuners (https://www.grotro.com/Grover/2154a941- … 106-Series)

The look I'm aiming for is this Ibanez EGEN8 ... love the natural flamed Maple top, with black & gold hardware:

I'm going to use Varathane's "Diamond Coat" water-based urethane for finish. I built an oak stairway for a split entry over 10 years ago, and finished it with this. It was great to work with, held up amazingly, and didn't alter color towards an amber tone like a lot of finishes do ... been using it ever since with perfect results.

Sorry to hear that, Russell ...

I put a Stetsbar on my EP Les Paul a couple of years ago, and once I put the Grover 106 locking tuners on it's been very stable. I've also been using the D'Addario NYXL strings, which were (they say) developed for players who bend a lot / use tremolos.

I am actually looking to do one as well. The one I want is on back order so I have to wait.

Russell - haven't seen any videos of you and your  north land pals lately !  Are you guys still playing and making videos ?

TF

Good luck

Great Russell- 

hope it works out well for you- looking forward to a video !
JIm

I found a Canadian source for DIY guitar kits, which was a necessity due to our dollar continuing to plummet compared to the USD ... on par just 4 years ago:

http://diyguitarkits.net/les-paul.htm

Russell .. you had mentioned other options to a Stetsbar Trem, so I did a bit of looking and found this new trem from Floyd Rose. It's a 100% surface mount that will retrofit a Gibson-style top without routing or drilling new holes, and looks as cool as all get out:

Here's a vid from Mr. Rose himself, explaining how it works, and how to install it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPc6fOYoNTY

My one preference would be to install locking tuners as opposed to his locking nut. Those things are a pain the pah-tootie for changing strings ... the Grover 106's are much simpler.

Thanks again, Russell ... you are always a wealth of helpful info. These things aren't cheap ($399 Canadian) so further thought is needed. Before I even get to that stage, I just need to focus on getting the guitar itself built.

Thanks, Beamer ... always good suggestions.

That FRX trem IS pretty cool, isn't it? I like that it surface mounts, so there's no extra drilling / routing to fit it on the existing body.

I was originally considering the Guitar Fetish kit you mention, until I found the one from a Canadian source. Our federal government's reckless deficit spending over the last 3 years has dropped our dollar from being on par with the USD, to being only $0.75 in compared value. That makes for a huge price jump for us when ordering anything from the US to Canada.