Saga HT-10

Saga guitar kit- looks like a Paul Reed Smith. I've done 2 of these. The first one I got at a garage sale for $20- a very botched up job. Totally Unplayable condition. I figuerd the parts were worth the $$. Go it home, took it apart and decided all it needed was some major TLC.

Scraped off the cheap enamel spray paint, sanded, checked the electronics, sanded, primed, sanded, primed, sanded, painted, sanded, painted, sanded, clear-cloated, buffed and polished. It was shame to cover the nice flame top, but the enamel paint ruined it. I did discover the Saga-recommended Duplicolor automotive paints (I picked Toronado Red- nice meltalflake) do a great job - just be sure to wait a day or so between coats and wait at least a week before buffing out. And don't put on too many coats- 4 to 6 should be plenty.
Put it back together with shielded wiring, better neck screws, a better pickup selector switch and no push-together wiring (all soldered connections) The practically unused frets got a full polish treatment.

Setup went very well, no surprises or troubles.

All in all, it looked and played great- sold it for $165.
-----------------------------------------
The 2nd unit came because I wanted to see what these were like Out-Of-The-Box. I was very impressed! Of course, it ain't a Gibson or Carvin or PRS, but it IS real wood!

I did a natural, clear finish- really shows off the maple top. Humid summer made it harder to do a proper finish- I waited for dry days. there was no pressure to hurry, so I took almost 3 months. Turned out very nice- not a factory job but a great look. Same electronic experience as the 1st unit: all wiring is shielded co-ax, replaced the stock pickup selector switch and soldered all the connections.

Polished the frets. Setuping up was smooth and predictable. Low, low action, nice range of sounds from deep and snarly to bright and twangy.

I was impressed with both units. Really decent guitars for a nice price. Some minimal mechanical skills required but nothing intimadating. If you are good with a spray can, you could have a ball putting some exciting finishes on these Saga kits...

Twin Humbuckers. Nice neck. Paint to suit, cut headstock to fit your own attitude. Lots of fun and a great way to get experience withpout a huge investment.

You do your own fitting, finishing and action setting. There are internet sites with full descriptions of how to assemble this guitar. If you are willinjg to put some effort into a nice finish, your efforts will be well rewarded. The mechanical part is pretty easy!

Seems tough and stable! I have no worries at all. Since you know exactly what went into the guitar, you know exactly where any weak spots are and you can easilty fix or modify whatever comes up to give you grief. My only concern right off was the pickup selector switch- the stock unit is a "box" switch and I have an unhappy history with this type of switch. A $6 replacment made me very happy.

No need so I never used it.

I've been working on guitars for 45 years. I've seen great ones and horrible ones. These Saga guitar kits are a decent value, fun to work on and a great way to learn. If you are totally inept with basic tools and sandpaper, stay away (or pay someone $250 to put it together for you.)

With minimal effort, you will end up with a really fun guitar and you can say you put it together yourself.

No -you DO NOT get an actual PRS, fender or gibson guitar. You ain't paying PRS, fender or gibson prices, either.

I enjoyed these projects. I got nice, decent quality, real-wood guitars without all the bother of setting up a woodshop, buying expensive lumber, cutting and grinding, glueing and sanding- all the stuff it takes to build guitars like I have in the past.

My only complaint is the selector switch but that is a niggling whine.

Sheesh, some people seem to think that they can spend $140 and get really high quality components. Well you get what you pay for. The machineheads on my Rickenbacker are $100 a set, this kit is $140, you are not going to get machineheads that nice!

That said, the machineheads are actually okay, they're not great but they do the job well enough. The body is a flat basswood body, with a carved maple cap about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Finally on top of that is a flamed maple veneer and no it's not very thick, but these things cost money and you did only spend a $140.

The wiring harness in my kit did not match the colors in the instructions, but they were color coded and simple enough to hook up, all it takes is a little thinking.

Yes the the nut is plastic, but then again this is definitely not a Gibson Les Paul. And no, the pickups are not potted, but frankly a set of decent humbuckers are going to set you back at least $100-$200, and this kit only cost $140!

Seriously, who on earth expects to get a $300 body, $100-$200 pickups, $100 machineheads, etc, for $140?!

Well, my pickups are a little microphonic it actually sounds rather nice, gives a nice dirty blues sound. Sustain is average, but better than I would expect on a $140 guitar, sounds more like a $300-$400 guitar in my opinion, but it is subjective.

Okay, again more odd comments from other people...

* Cannot stain it - the weird thing is all the saga literature I have seen make it quite clear that the body is covered in sealer. If you thought otherwise I'd consider the seller remiss.

* The neck didn't fit very well - erm, people keep saying this because they are trying to attach them incorrectly! The neck does not slide in from the edge of guitar/neck cavity, it slides in very nicely from the body's carved top. Took me a few minutes to figure that out though!

* The neck is bowed - erm, that's what a trussrod is for. If you want to learn to make guitars you will at some point have to tackle the setup. If you expect the guitar to be setup as a kit in a box, why on earth did you buy a kit?

* The trussrod was loose/broken - yeah I found that too, turns out it just came loose during shipping. Try pushing it in and tightening it, worked very nicely for me...

* The screws ran into the pup cavity - yes they do, but a few minutes of checking will show you that they don't interfere with the neck pickup anyway, they basically are still too far down in the cavity to be a problem. They don't actually need to be cut down, (although you might want to).

Don't know yet, my main concerns are my own work not being up to par. But hey, it was $140 and will be great to work on/learn on.

Haven't tried them.

There are far too many critical comments on here. If you want a "great guitar", then go out and spend $2k on a professional quality instrument. If you want a cheap and fun project to get started in building/repairing guitars then this is for you.

I learned a bunch and made a fun backup guitar in the process. While it will never rival a professional quality instrument, it certainly holds up to lower end midrange guitars, plus it does offer a learning experience and something different.

I just got finished putting this kit together about two weeks ago and I didn't like the humbuckers that came with it, they sounded really crappy, so I put Gibson 490's in it. I had put together the strat kit and the tele kit and those went rather smoothly. This was the hardest one to put together because nothing fit right. Like the previous reviewer said, the neck didn't fit very well, I had to do quite a bit of tedious sanding, making sure I didn't overdo it to get things in place. It's a bolt on neck, but I also glued it in once I got everything right. People are saying it looks like a PRS but it looks more like a Les Paul Double Cut. Two humbuckers, volume and tone control, 3 way selector, came with really crapping machine heads, so I put Grover 18:1 machine heads on it. This thing is made in China or someplace and their wasn't a lot of attention to detail, but then again, when building your own kit, it gives you the opportunity to do things the way you want them. For $229.00 plus the $200 for the Gibson 490's and the $60 for the Grover tuners, I ended up with a very nice looking, easy playing and awesome sounding guitar. This was my third attempt at painting a guitar. The first two came out good, but this came out very nice. It has a flamed maple top, so I painted it a Cherry wine color and then put several clear coats of lacquer over it. Really looks sharp. I didn't put the pickguard on it, as I thought it looked better as is. I cut the headstock very similar to a Gibson open book style headstock - oh and I did put a graphite nut on it instead of the plastic one that came with it. The result is excellent, but like the last reviewer, I wouldn't recommend this kit as the first building experience. Try the strat or the tele first, which are relatively easy to assemble in comparison. I just got done ordering the Les Paul style one, so I'll be writing on it in a month or so. I'm gonna give this an 8 since it is nice for features. I'll ding it later on the kits shortcomings.

Sounds damn good. I play classic rock and some blues, mostly late 60's to mid 70's stuff. Handles that really well. I'm running this through 3 amps, a Hartke G60 Piggyback, which I just got, a Marshall MG30DFX and a Marshall MG10CD. Sounds great through all the amps. It isn't noisy at all with these Gibson pickups but the ones that came with it squealed like a pig, even though they were humbuckers. Very warm sounding guitar, sounds like a Les Paul with these pickups. It can indeed do metal if that's your thing, although it isn't mine. Has a very good classic/hard rock sound, good for things like ZZ Top, Deep Purple, AC/DC, etc. I love it.

Now this is where this kit sucks. Nothing on mine fit properly and the screw holes were crooked, basically it all had to be adjusted while assembling. Once I got that straight it was fine, but I'm only gonna give it a 4 here.

I am a physician by trade, so I don't gig. Strictly a home guitar enthusiast. I think it is tough enough to gig with though. The hardware though cheap is not so bad and since I put the grover tuners on it and gibson pickups, I think it will be around for awhile. I think it is dependable but I wouldn't gig without a backup even if I had a $3,000 guitar.

I've been playing for 40 of my 45 years on this earth. I also have the SAGA Strat and Tele kits and just ordered the Les Paul clone. I'm really enjoying this kit assembly thing. I also have a Fender MIM Strat and MIM Tele as well as a made in Korea Epiphone Les Paul. I use Martin and Takamine Acoustic Guitars. If you want a cool hobby, then doing this could be your thing. You basically get to put your own guitar together and by doing that put something of yourself into the guitar. I think it's a real good deal for $229.00 even if you do have to work around a few flaws when putting it together.

the neck was bowed right out of the box,the neck does not fit the body cavity correctly is not flush .several of the holes were not drilled stright resulting in poor screw fit ,the stop tail peice did not fit right and the screws that saga provided were not long enough to mount the output jack and plate and the strap buttons which ment a trip to the local hardware store to find screws that would fit the sealer they put on the body will not allow for staining which i found out when attemping to stain the top with a custom emerald deep green wipe on and wipe right off what i got looks like an olive color which means the guitar will need to be taken apart and sanded and refinish in a solid color .I do not recomend this guitar for a first time guitar builder

Im well aware that the retailer is not at fault for this products problems but when i contacted saga customer service and got no support what so ever 3 time and no responce I will never buy another one of there product

I started playing guitar at 13 years old on and off over the yearsi presently own two fender strats a gibson les paul studio fender bass and this project guitar ht-10 prs style kit. I really feel that with all the time you put in to this kit to correct the problem it comes with and finishing the body and then refinishing the body you could of purchased a real prs custom 22 and spent about the same money time is money

This is a carved top (not arched) PRS style electric guitar with a flame maple top. 2 humbuckers with a setup similar to the Les Paul double cutaway. In fact, this thing sounds and feels more like a Les Paul than a PRS.

If you like the Les Paul Sound, then you need to check this out..

Action is lower than any guitar I have owned yet (may be due to the fact that I built the guitar myself :) ).
I set the neck in using epoxy and the sustain is amazing!
The body of my guitar was actually 3 pieces of wood with a carved maple top.
The finish is up to you. I actually finished it natural.

Very solid guitar once built correctly. For the money, you just can't beat it..

Didn't feel the need to ever contact them..

Overall this guitar is a very solid piece of work. It all depends on how much time you dedicate to ensuring that everything is right when assembling it... in other words, you get what you put into it..

I have been wanting a PRS style guitar for a while, and after building this kit, I finally have one.. I will definately buy another kit in the future..

This is the PRS style Saga guitar kit. I'd already built two of their kits: the Strat kit and the P-Bass kit, and was quite happy with how those turned out. So I decided to pay a little more and get (what I thought) would be a better quality kit. In the end it turned out OK, but only because I know enough about woodworking and guitar set-up to make it work. The HT-10 comes with a basswood body and "flame maple" top. It's also sealed with some kind of bullet-proof sealer that stripper wouldn't touch...but more on that later. Pick-ups are generic humbuckers, and pots seem to work fine. Neck is supposed to be maple, but was softer wood than any maple I've ever worked with. I was able to make a nice neck after leveling and polishing the frets. The fretboard on this kit was a nicely grained piece of rosewood. Tuners are OK. I was all set to put Grovers on it (as I did with the Strat kit), but decided to try them anyway. They seem to stay in tune. Overall, the kit had decent features for the money, but I could not have made a nice guitar out of it without a fair amount of prior experience.

Well, now that it's all finished, it sounds pretty good. I don't claim to be an expert on sound, I just know what I like. I look for things like no hums (this one is very quiet), even volume between strings across the poles, and a balanced tone with pick-ups and tone pots in different positions. All the electronics worked fine with my kit, but I've read other reviews about noisy pots, hums, etc. I ended up cutting off the little "snap together" electrical connections and soldered all joints. It's really no big deal, and I feel way better about it. (I'll go back and do this on my Strat kit one of these days.) It sounds great through my little Roland Cube 30, and would probably sound even better through a decent rig.

This is where my ratings of this kit get pretty critical. As I said, this is my third kit, and I hoped it would be better quality all the way around. The first two kits I lacquered the bodies, but there isn't much selection in spray can lacquer. They turned out nice, but I wanted to stain the back and clear-coat the top and neck on this one. Well, it didn't turn out like I planned. The guitar comes sealed, but the back of the guitar is not nice enough, in my opinion, for a clear-coat finish, and the sealer won't allow staining. I was planning to leave the top maple (that why I bought the kit), and stain the back. I spent an entire day removing the finish on the back and the neck, and lightly sanded the maple top. As I said earlier, stripper wouldn't touch this seal coat, and I ended up doing it the old fashioned way with my Makita palm sander. After a days work, I was ready to stain the back. What a disaster! Basswood does not stain! And the top wasn't exactly flawless either. Long story short, I primered the whole thing and ended up painting it. Also a mistake. It looks great, but spray paint, even with several coats of clear coat on top just isn't as durable as lacquer. Anyway, the bottom line is the kit wasn't good enough quality wood to make a natural or stained guitar, which is what I originally wanted to make.

None of the screw holes on the guitar lined up...not one. I had to dowel the machine head screw holes, which wasn't a big deal, and the plastic electronic cover didn't fit the opening very well. But the neck had a factory repair on the heel where it fits inside the neck pocket on the body. Well, the screw holes didn't line up with I screwed the neck on and ended up splitting the base of the neck. This was repairable, and I was able to make everything work, but what a hassle!

After I set the guitar up, though, I have to admit it plays really well. The action is great, after doing the frets and deepening the nut slots. The bridge and tailpiece are OK. Overall it turned out OK, but was way more work than it was worth, and the quality was really very poor. Again, if I was trying to assemble this kit with not prior experience, it would have been fire-starter.

As a $150 guitar kit, I'm not going to worry if I scratch it. It seems solid, other than the painted finish, which was my own mistake. Oh yeah, after I stripped the body, I uncovered small cracks in the wood around the top strap button hole! I dripped some super glue into the cracks, then sanded it smooth the next day. No problems when I put in the strap button screw, but I was holding my breath.

I bought it on ebay. The the seller has been great to work with, and shouldn't be held responsible for the quality of this particular kit. I wasn't expecting a Carvin-quality kit for $150, but after two good experiences, this one was not good at all. Don't know what Saga would do, but I debated sending the whole thing back.

Sounds good, plays great, but lousy quality kit overall. I had to do a ton of repairs and modifications to make it work.