DIY kits?

[Gobnous Gretch]

Hi folks,
I was wondering, are those build a bass kits any good? I watched a review of the fender jazz style I'm contemplating buying, and it sounds good, as well as getting a good review and it's cheap as can be, but the review was done by the company that sells the bass so I'm naturally dubious of it. I was looking on that pitbull guitar website just fyi

 

[jd56hawk]

When you can buy something like this for a little over $100, it makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

[Flamingo21]

These kits aren't cheaper than buying a cheap bass. They are actually more expensive.
The point of buying a kit vs a finished bass, is the fun of building it, the fact that you can customize as much as you like, and the satisfaction of having done it yourself.

 

[Flamingo21]

I voted "depends" because it depends what you're after. If you want the cheapest bass, buy the bass. If you want the fun, buy the kit.

 

[Volker Kirstein]

Hi folks,
I was wondering, are those build a bass kits any good? I watched a review of the fender jazz style I'm contemplating buying, and it sounds good, as well as getting a good review and it's cheap as can be, but the review was done by the company that sells the bass so I'm naturally dubious of it. I was looking on that pitbull guitar website just fyi

There are several decent basses you can buy NIB for roughly the same price as a kit. Cheap basses today are not the POS's they were in the 20th century. That bring said...

Building a bass is easy peasy. Quick, too. If you can build Legos, you can build a bass. In a day. I've cobbled together basses from random bodies and necks myself.

Finishing a bass, on the other hand, is a long and tedious process. (unless you like a matte orange peel finish) The finishing process can take months. I have two basses I've been refinishing for a few years because I hate sanding, buffing, and polishing, and often lose interest for months at a time.

 

[jd56hawk]

Let's not forget, putting a kit together might be satisfying to some, but seriously, I'd rather put one of these together.
These things have hundreds and hundreds of pieces and take hours and hours to assemble.

I mean, Kelly Bundy could probably buy a bass kit and put it together.

 

[Gobnous Gretch]

When you can buy something like this for a little over $100, it makes absolutely no sense to me.
View attachment 4425733

These sound surprisingly good for being so cheap, but what amp is this guy running them through? I'm currently using an Ibanez soundwave which gets a bit thin on the lower end so I'm not sure it'll produce this array of sounds

 

[Gobnous Gretch]

So what I'm kinda gathering here is the DIY kit is a novelty where if you want to do it for the fun you it's worth it, but I'm not going to get a higher quality than if I bought a decent cheap bass. Thanks people

 

[Gobnous Gretch]

Let's not forget, putting a kit together might be satisfying to some, but seriously, I'd rather put one of these together.
These things have hundreds and hundreds of pieces and take hours and hours to assemble.
View attachment 4425867
View attachment 4425868
I mean, Kelly Bundy could probably buy a bass kit and put it together.

Oh I've seen ads for these, looks like something that I'd lose patience with and leave in a million pieces on a table for months

 

[jd56hawk]

Oh I've seen ads for these, looks like something that I'd lose patience with and leave in a million pieces on a table for months

I'd probably need a jeweler's loupe and a patience pill.

 

[Robf]

I was interested in a kit for a simple Pbass, the pricing is just steep for what you get. For the money, I could pick up a used Squire in decent shape, replace the pickups, and add lightweight tuners, new strings. With some of these kits, it looks like the same parts used on a $100 eBay special selling for $400. I get that it's targeting the DIY folks (and that's awesome) but the pricing should be way cheaper.

Reminds me of something else that should be way cheaper than it is and you do all of the work putting it together.

 

[FatherTrucker]

Kits really got overpriced over the last few years. YouTubers doing videos+bored people during the pandemic really pushed them from "fun cheap project" to something that cost more than many decent finished basses.

 

[Fender_Bender]

Probably go with a Harley Benton or similar instead because putting paint on a bass is very time consuming and takes skill if you want something other than a diy look.

 

[ColdEye]

To me they seem like a waste of time and money. If you want to "build" something, just buy a bass you like and disassemble and reassemble it lol. The novelty wears of pretty fast.

 

[bassingeorge]

I love building myself a "parts" DIY bass. I haven't build any of these kits, but rather buy bodies, necks, etc from the TB classified and put them together/refinish/fix/cut/burn myself. It's a LOT of fun....and frustration, impatience, R&D it has never been a plug and play situation....and I've built 4 basses by now. It's cheaper than, let's say, a nice medium to high end bass, but it's definitely not the easiest way to have a nice bass.

Finishing and set up are the key points in having a nice parts bass. If you want a diy finish that is nice, expect to have to read a lot on how to spray guitars if you don't have experience. And setup is the cherry on top....I've learned a LOT about setups because I had to. Useless having a nice looking bass you built yourself that plays horribly.

The TB classified is your friend: I've gotten excellent deals on everything frome an $80dlls squier jazz bass V body and neck(!) that turned out to be my best bass! To very nice pickups that otherwise would be out of reach at full price.

Have fun building!

Here is my Squier parts bass.

 

[Flamingo21]

@Volker Kirstein
How do you achieve a matte orange peel finish?

 

[40Hz]

Depends on your goal.

If the goal is to assemble a decent bass and learn something from the process, then building a kit makes good sense.

If your goal is to get a decent sounding and playable instrument at the lowest possible cost, then the answer is probably no. Because there are some very inexpensive finished instruments (such as the Harley Benton MB-4 SB Deluxe for ~$120) that can get you that for far less money than a kit.

One thing to keep in mind. It’s less about the bass and more about the bass player, as this demo of the above mentioned $120 MB-4 bass will show:

 

[Leigh Semmens]

I'm gassing to build a bass, but a kit one? probably not. I'd start with the raw timber and work from there. If I were truly patient enough to do what jd56hawk was doing, I wind my own pickups and make my own machine heads, but I ain't that patient or good.

 

[tr4252]

I'm working on a semi hollow Les Paul, and can say the actual woodworking is pretty good. The set neck was just about perfect in its construction both in the heel joint and alignment with the pickups, etc. This being my first kit, it's unfortunate that it had a workmanship flaw, but that in itself is not the point of this discussion. I bought it for $250.00 from Guitar Kit World.

My reasons for building this kit are that I wanted a guitar of this type to customize, and that at the time I bought it, the Covid pandemic was just beginning and it looked like I might have a lot of time on my hands real soon (turned out I was wrong, the company classed me as essential and the anticipated spare time never materialized).

It's the finishing process, as Volker Kirstein has pointed out, which is the challenging bit for the average home builder. It really does take a long time, tons of expensive sandpaper, and several unexpected purchases occurred, in my case.

Volker Kirstein wrote, and I agree;
"Finishing a bass, on the other hand, is a long and tedious process. (unless you like a matte orange peel finish) The finishing process can take months. I have two basses I've been refinishing for a few years because I hate sanding, buffing, and polishing, and often lose interest for months at a time."

Tom

 

[Deleted member 365158]

I built a kit bass.
It taught me a bunch and sparked the love of modding basses as well as getting more familiar with the parts And electronics.
I wouldn’t go out and buy just any kit though.
The one i got was actually decent woods. All the hardware and electronics were junk but I upgraded as I went. In the end, i got a totally playable custom mahogany body bass for under $400.
Since that kit bass, i have done moderate to extreme modding on 6 other basses and am currently working on 3 others... just for fun and easing some curiosity questions.
Sooo, yah in the long run it can certainly cost more