Bad Cat Instruments DIY Electric Guitar Kit LP Style 6 Strings Zebrawood Solid Guitar Body, Builder Kit

I will start off by saying that the product arrived quickly and was well packaged. I was actually surprised at how small the shipping box was, which was a good testament to how well the pieces were packed in. The zebrawood, which is actually bakelite, is very unique and quite attractive. The body and neck were both decently sanded upon arrival and only needed a bit more sanding to smooth out a few rough spots before applying the stain and clear coat finish.Now on to the negatives:First, while the neck fit into the pocket very tightly, there was about a 2-3mm gap between the back of the heel and the body when it was put in place. Not a big deal, really, and didn't affect the tone or playability at all. Just a QC issue more than anything else.Second, for someone who has built more than a few guitars or effect pedals, the wiring wouldn't be an issue at all. However, I think it is safe to say this kit is targeted towards amateur builders, so why would Bad Cat not send printed out assembly instructions with the kit? Or at least have a link that works on their website? Why did I have to send them a message on Amazon to get a copy of the assembly instructions?Speaking of instructions, the instructions say to "Find the green wire running from the pickupselector switch and solder it to the green wire on the output jack". What green wire? There was no green wire. Luckily, I had my own.Third, the volume pot for the neck pickup didn't work. Again, luckily I had my own to replace it with.Fourth, the assembly instructions said to use the 5/8" screws to mount the pickup rings to the body. There should have been eight in total. I was provided with 7. Not a big deal as I just used one of the 3/8" screws that I had too many of. The screw head is larger for the 3/8" screws, but whatever.Fifth, both of the backplates, for the control cavity and the pickup selector switch, were larger than the routed holes. I had to take an x-acto knife to them to get them to fit. Again, a QC issue. The fitment should have been checked before packaging.Sixth, why, oh why were the screw mounting holes not pre-drilled? What a pain in the butt it was to drill that many holes with just a cordless drill!Seventh, a set of who knows what brand or gauge strings were sent with the package, but were just coiled up and I was left to figure out which string was which. Not a huge deal, but come on.Other than that, for the price point I think this was not too bad. It was a fun, albeit frustrating at times, build. The pickups are definitely not Seymore Duncan's, but are still decent sounding. I still need to tweak the saddle height just a bit to get rid of string buzz, but overall, it is a nice little axe!

Takes a long time to perfect

Seems to be very high quality. I will upgrade the electronics.

Bought this for my son. Overall it was a good idea. The only thing I wasn't two particularly happy for was the weather Electronics were configured with no insulators. But all in all the powers on it works he likes it. I would suggest buying separate strings for it.

I was smitten by the zebrawood so I bought it. I have built 6 kits, and have developed many luthier skills so I wasn't worried about assembling this kit. I will say the fit between neck and body was perfect. That was nice. I checked and dbl checked and it was dead on. Unfortunately I didn't check the frets before the glue up! I found the stainless steel frets were not fully pressed into the neck. I had to press them all snug, which in itself is not too big a deal - it's the resanding and finishing the frets that proved to be a gigantic PITA because the frets are stainless. Watch all the videos you want, there is not an easy way to redpo a neck with stainless frets. That's why techs charge twice as much. Enough of that, it's not the first guitar I've had to redo the frets on. What really annoyed me was no instructions on what their wiring was. After much confusion trying to communicate with them somebody sent me something FROM A DIFFERENT MANUFACTURER on how it was wired. Ok, fine. What finally frosts my azz is they only sent 5 screws for the tuners. Didn't seem like a big deal but I didn't have a replacement that was gold. I have contacted them no less than 3 times and still no screw. Nope, I will never buy a Bad Cat guitar again. There are too many responsible manufacturers to choose from.

Very impressed by the quality and precision of this kit. The Zebra wood is beautiful and after carefully mocking up the guitar to check alignment, etc.,Everything was literally perfect. Except the pickguard didn't come close to working. LOL But every other part was a perfect fit. I can't believe how well this is made!!!I did use other electronics so not sure how it sounds with them.

I've never worked with wood seriously before -- put in a nail or two here or there, but nothing past that. Despite that, this build was surprisingly easy! The hardest part was certainly the wiring at the end.For some reason, when I put it together initially, some specific tone combinations on my amp lead to this acting as a radio antenna, but after re-examining and touching up my solder joints this mostly disappeared. Would highly recommend adding some kind of passive filter to the output though, otherwise I was getting a fair amount of static from somewhere in the body. A small capacitor should do just fine for that

Exactly what I expected. Packed very well. Very good craftsmanship went into this kit. This is a Christmas present for my father in law, but I wanted to trial fit the neck beforehand just in case there was anything that needed fixed. The neck fit perfectly and everything lined up straight. If you’re on the fence about this kit, just do it. You won’t regret it!!