Kavanagh Customs Tele body

Telebody which is nothing like described on their website.

Haven't built it yet as I don't want to use the junk they sent me

finsh is marked and most certaily is not nitro cellioulose as requested.

Communication ok up until they got half the money, then i was messed about from there. six months to delivery a body that was supposed to take 8 weeks. Excuses about couriers blah blah blah.

I would not recommened using this company. Although i cant prove it, they sent me a body purchased from somewhere else. Defenetely not a hand made custom body. The finish looks like it was put on by my three year old son. |I feel utterly cheated by Kavanagh and Ican only hope that they go out of business sometime soon. There are dishonest people in the world and I'm slighlty wiser for my experience with Kavanagh Customs. If any body is thinking of using this company, take the benefit of my experience and spend your money elsewhere.??????????

Telecaster body in solid basswood with the usual layouts and black nitrocellulose finish that's really nice.
Ferrule holes aren't pre-drilled so you have to do that, either i don't know how many pieces of wood.

At first it sounded good with the tone rolled down, solid, sustainable and so on, but after turning up the volume i noticed a high gleam that cut through the sound.
Trying with 2 different necks didn't help any.
So after a bridge change, pickup change, neck change and cleaning up of everything, adjusting pickups etc. the 'string squeal' was still there, both acoustically and electrically.
So i know it wasn't the nut/bridge/neck/ferrules/pickups/saddles.

All in all, first impressions were atleast decent with tone rolled down but when volume rolled up, everything went sore.

While the finish was nice, here comes the best parts.
No usual pickguard matches, pickup routings have ugly 'drilling pits' that are not easy to put shielding on, neck-pocket has been marked by the drill-bit that goes through the neck cavity (for cables), the control cavity doesn't fit pots in original shape, neck pocket was too wide for being an replica and had lots of scroggy lacquer on it (which i had to scrape off).

When i worked on the neck cavity to accommodate P90's i saw the truth, the wood was like tuna.
I mean you can't have it that way, i work with good wood every day and this Kavanagh body doesn't cut it, at all.
Soggy to work on, no resonance when you knocked on it.

Average at most.

I wouldn't use it, i'll sell it for whatever i get.

Haven't experienced.

When i read about the company's feedback on the internet it appears that it doesn't go down well with the customers.
The good Kavanagh reviews on here now reminds me of "Kitchen Nightmare" tales that you can't rely on.

I should say immediately that I'm not just reviewing one item bought from Kavanagh Customs, but have been so happy with their offerings that I've used them over fifteen times for my guitar builds.

Feature-wise their bodies offer everything that any other aftermarket body offers but additionally the chance to have a genuine UK workshop build bodies to your exact specifications so in terms of features, there isn't any that they don't offer!

As standard the items they sell through their online shop are standard-routed and nitrocellulose-finished and although they do not report on their website how many pieces each body is made from, the ones I have ordered in this way have always been one or two-piece.

Kavanagh Customs (is that with or without a space in the middle?) seem to have some very good sources for their tone woods and offer ash, alder and mahogany as standard. As a result the sounds produced when paired with a decent set of pickups are really superb!

Don't let the cynics convince you otherwise: good tone starts with a good piece of wood and the ones I've had have always been excellent. I use Bareknuckle pickups in most of my builds and haven't ever received a negative comment about one of my guitars built in this way.

In fact they even proport to source all of their timbers from sustainable sources so in my eyes, this couldn't get any better.

As I've mentioned above I've bought a number of Telecaster replacement bodies from these gentlemen, all have been beautifully finished in nitrocellulose (something which I can fully warrant, unlike the review proceeding this one, whom I get the impression is nothing short of a saboteur).

I've custom-ordered a flamed maple top version which was of a very high quality, very well book-matched and visually stunning. All binding has always been spot-on and finishes polished and flattened to perfection. It's very hard to fault them at all in this department.

The only down-side to their offerings is that unless you ask them extremely nicely, they don't drill for the bridge or strap buttons; both of which are very easily done at home anyway, but something they lack compared to competitors.

With excellent wood and very well-finished bodies there's never any doubt over reliability. The finishes do tend to "matte" over time and are relatively delicate and susceptible to scratches and dings as you would expect from nitrocellulose. But the finishes are obviously done with a great degree of care and attention and with the occasional polish are very easy to keep looking exactly as new.

Contacting them is primarily done through email directly from their website or via Skype, although there is sometimes a delay of a day or two to respond (the only reason I've found to mark them down at all from a perfect-10 in this section). I can only take that as being the sign of a very busy workshop, but they always get back in touch and have always seemingly been very willing to share their knowledge.

They are an absolute pleasure to deal with and I have had many a long-winded conversation with John (the owner). I have also had the advantage of meeting them face-to-face at a couple of guitar shows and he always remembers me and is very warm in his greetings - no "big" company could offer this sort of level of customer service.

Compared to the rest of the (quite frankly drab) offerings and disinterested or unknowledgeable companies out there, Kavanagh is a breath of fresh air. I have absolutely no doubt that were I to ever have a problem they would be immediate and effective in their response and solution. Luckily I've never had any problems!

Having played professionally for most of my life, and assembled guitars professionally for the past seven years, I was delighted to come across a UK company with such a wide range of expertise, quality offerings and reasonable prices - their work is second to none and they've been my supplier of choice for well over a year and over 20 purchases.

Any time I find the need or excuse for a new guitar project, they are always my first point of contact and have yet to disappoint.

Black tele body in traditional routing configuration but not drilled for string ferrules, bridge straplocks or neck attachment. Alegedly Nitrocellulose Black finish, a test with Nitro thinners in the cavities and an inspection by a highly experienced luthier revealed that the finish doesn't appear to be Nitro at all. It also bears a striking resemblance to a mighty mite body so was this made in the UK? Probably never know but it doesn't appear to be despite kavanagh's claims, i feel ripped off.

Haven't finished assembling the guitar yet but as i said i took it to a luthier the other night along with a kavanagh slab board neck so it should be ready next week

Well finished but made from 4 pieces of wood and not two or three.

Very hard to get in touch with. No phone number or address only e-mails is this because it might actually be a mighty mite body sold at three times the value???

I feel i might have been well and truly shafted, i'll buy warmoth next time.

Made from alder with a 3-colour sunburst in nitrocellulose. Cream binding. Standard Tele routing, with wiring holes drilled between the pickup and control cavities, but no other drillings. The manufacturers do not offer a service to drill any other holes, such as those for the neck plate or through-body stringing. There is no wiring hole from the jack outlet to the control cavity either.

Not built yet, but it's a lump of wood so I wouldn't expect it to sound much different to any other alder Tele body.

The nitro finish is excellent and reasonably tough. A Kavanagh neck was a tight fit in the neck pocket sideways, but wouldn't reach the end of the pocket; there was about a 1mm gap. There were no flaws in the finish at all.

The finish seems tough enough, but nitro is never going to be as hard wearing as polyurethane (which Kavanagh can also do, for a 70BGP price reduction).

E-mails sometimes went unanswered, although this may have been due to a technical problem.

The lack of complete drillings means this is only one for DIYers with a very large bench drill, or professionals to assemble. Do not underestimate the impossibility of doing this by hand; the string holes would look terrible if not perfectly lined up on the back. Neck fit could have been better; the radii of the neck's heel and the neck pocket don't quite match. This is all covered by the pickguard in use and has no real impact on tone or sustain, but you wouldn't want to build a pickguard-free guitar with it due to the visible gap (a 22 fret neck would hide it, I suppose). Ultimately, I give it a 7 because it's a quality product but isn't really ready to build up.