Saga ST-10 Kit

I have no idea when or where this kit was made. Basswood Strat body comprised of at least four pieces. Five way switch. Pickups: S/S/S of indeterminate make. Maple neck/headstock, generic tuners. Tuners are low end but usable. Hardware is acceptable. Pickups are better than I expected. But the holes/hardware all aligned properly and went together easily. I'll replace the tuners eventually but they'll do for now. Intonation was almost spot-on right away. Frets/fingerboard are very nice, a nice flame in it, nicely filed frets. No neck adjustment needed. I need some fine tuning with the action but that's no problem. Wiring was a problem only due to my inexperience in that regard. One drawback: the wiring diagram is a bad joke, but the Fender site helped with their diagrams.

I've been playing a Les Paul for more than 30 years, have always wanted a Strat. This one sounds more like a Tele to my ears, but I'm still adjusting the pickups, and I'm happy with the tone but I'm getting a lot of hum. I'll likely solder the connections once I'm sure everything else is done. I play rock/blues/jazz, mostly at home, haven't played gigs in a few years, so this gives me the tone I want for blues in particular. I record on my computer and this adds a tool to my arsenal.

Factory setup seems to have been well done, parts all fit, holes drilled correctly except for two of the holes for the neck/body. I'll re-drill those deeper or get shorter screws to accomodate it. Pickups were set low, but it IS a do it yourselfer, after all. Intonation was very good right away. Minor adjustments to the saddles were needed. Routing of cavities was good. I've already mentioned the hum, but I may still be able to correct that. Overall, assembly went very well, and according to instructions. The finish is up to me, and while it has flaws due to my inexperience, the next one will be better.

While I don't play live anymore (but I'm open to offers ;))I feel it's tough enough to play onstage. Except for the tuners, the hardware seems tough enough too. Strap buttons are kind of rinkydink, but that's cheap to replace. Gig without a backup? I wouldn't even advise that with my trusty old Les Paul.

When I had trouble with the wiring I emailed SAGA. Still no response after three weeks

I've been playing since about 1973, mainly on one guitar. I like this Strat style and the sound. If stolen or lost I'd simply build another one, the loss would be mostly sentimental because it's my first DIY axe. I'd have to rate this one at least as good as a Squier, better than the low end Epiphone LP knockoff I found at a yard sale a couple of months ago. Nobody is going to confuse this with a $700 Strat, but it's good enough for me.

Body was in good shape and was sealed. I wanted to stain it so I used a power sander to remove the sealer. This is the toughest sealer on the planet. Grain was nice on the 3 piece body and the stain came out great (minwax water based deep ocean blue). Topped it off with wipe on poly, lots of coats. Easy to do and the neck fit fine although I had to drill the holes to mount it. Tuners were low grade so I replaced them with locking style ($25). Had to drill there too. Be careful of splintering if you do this.

So far I have played it with a Line 6 Guitar Port and it sounds great! I can get any sound from metal crunch to smooth jazz to chicken pickin. There is a little hum when using just one pickup but no more than my old Fender Strat used to have. The notch tones are perfect though with no hum.

Action came out great. As with any tremolo unit you have to fiddle with it to get the setup right. No big deal you just have to do it. I did replace the bridge screws with #6 - 1" from the hardware store as the factory screws were way to small to hold. With the bridge set and the upgraded tuners it holds well. Make sure you lube the nut well. I also put a set of roller string trees on it ($3 worth)

I think it will hold up as well as anything.

No need to call them.

I took a 20 year break from guitar and this is my second purchase since I got back to playing. First was an acoustic. This Saga plays as well as I remember my 79 Fender Strat played. It also stays in tune better. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to put their own spin on what they play. No one has a guitar like mine. I like that. You could also upgrade it to the moon if you wanted to.

This guitar kit was purchased in June 2007. The body is three piece (not laminated) basswood. The top is sanded and you can't tell the grain marks enough through the top to tell if it is one piece blank or three. But... look at the back and it is three. I bought mine with no finish on it. It does have sealer though. on this particular guitar, the sealer job was GREAT.

When comparing this guitar to a $600 somethingorother PRS copy and a $400 cort (remember kids that Cort's factory builds all your ibanez crap) one thing really stood out. The fretjob on this guitar was fantastic. You could tell it had been worked on by hand. There are no rough edges like on most inexpensive guitar necks. Simple plastic dots on the front of the fretboard. Maple neck/rosewood fretboard. It's not a terribly awesome looking rosewood, but it's very durable. Some people prefer the soft rosewood, but I think using some abuse this neck is just fine. The nut seems low quality however. So I am giving this kit a decent rating because for the money, the quality of construction on these parts (hardware, body, neck... not including the tuners, pickups) is great for the money. I will be replacing the tuners (I'm picky) and the pickguard+pickups.

Well, I won't give it a rating. After looking at everything... it's not a bad job done on this one. But - I'm not even going to finish putting it together until I get the pickguard, pickups, and electronics I want.

The action is adjustable, remember kids, you're building it.

I think that this thing will see alot of abuse. If you're looking to try your hand at making a guitar, this is a GREAT way to go. If you don't mind the idea that you're paying for a neck/body and replacing everything else, then this is a cheap alternative too. If you want a really nice guitar kit, purchase a Carvin bolt kit. But from my experience, the only pickups from carvin that or worth a shot are the Holdsworth humbuckers.

I doubt there is much customer support.

I've been playing for over 7 years. I have had use of a '78 Gibson LP Deluxe, a Fender American fat strat, a customized asian fat strat, a 12 string seagull acoustic, an essex LP copy, and some others along with bass guitars.

If you're looking to build one for the first time, it's a cheap cost for something that WORKS. But, it doesn't have all of the great options, and for four times the cost you can get something four times the quality somewhere else. My plan is to build this basically keeping the neck and body. The rest will be replaced. I highly suggest if you keep the stock pickups and pickguard that you foil the insides of the cavities to prevent too much hum.

Kit was made in china, but there was no date on it anywhere, not even a stamp on the neck heel. Typical strat copy, 21 frets, solid with three single coils, and really crappy tuners (the heads are plastic). Also, it has a sort of mock rosewood fretboard, i don't think this stuf is real, though it could just be quite low quality stuff. body is bass wood and the neck is maple. came with really bad chord, like a speaker chord, it fuzzed like crazy, but as soon as i busted out a good fender chord, it sounded o.k. nut sucked (plastic). i give it a 7 for not being made of plywood (I HATE PLYWOOD!!!)and the basswoodhad nice grain. the body was real smooth because it was coated sating poly about 10 feet deep!

I play classic rock and rock/blues type fusion, as well as write my own stuff. Actually, i mostly just ad-lib. This pickups in this thing really suck. I replaced them with some real good overwounds from off the internet. They sound awesome (better than my buddy's vintage '64 duo-sonic which has vintage '72 strat pickups wired into it) and they have a ton of output, they do about 15.2k ohms (bridge), and thats great for some aftermarket single coils from off of the internet. The only problem with them is that the they are all exactly the same size. The neck pickup has about a half cm of space between it and the pickguard. I thought that they were all bridge pickups, until i measured the resistance and discovered that they were not. Oh well, the bridge firs, fine sounds great, but was noisy as hell until i shielded that pickguard. now it screams. but the stock p'ups suck, don't use them.

The action wasn't set up because you're supposed to do that yourself.
I used that bridge pickup from this guitar and one that was just lying areound and i made a humbucker for the 100% from scratch mustang I'm building (i've been in love with the mustang look since i first played my friends duo-sonic) The neck fit into the pocket really tight, too tight. i thought that i would break off the edge of the cavity if i tried forcing it, so, i hade to shim the sides a little. It fit really really good, but the screws in the neck were off, so i had to redrill them. easy enough. the neck has really ugly woodgrain, and you can't cut out a good headstock(i think they make it like that on purpose) I tried to make a big cbs head but it turned out crappy and the neck is really ugly, so i just bought and old squier neck off the internet, a real old one from when they still had a slab fingerboard, but it was really thin at the edge. I love veneer fingerboards. I especially like how the side markers are between the board and the maple. cool, just like a fender. the neck was 10 years old, and i am still in the process of refinishing it. the frets are flush with the board in some places, and there are green areas in the neck, so i have to refret and and finish the neck, but with the thin slab board and big headstock, i'm in illegitimate heaven! I painted it (the guitar) with some "space blue metallic" spray paint i got from a KC store. I would have done it natural, but there were pools of sealer all over, so i suspeceted that there were big dents in the body and was not abour to strip it. I got real expensive poly clear coat that cost me about 20$ a can... and it sucked. it was automotive and soft as hell, even after letting it sit for three weeks. i tossed the tuners and am going (hoping) to get some of those vintage "F" tuners like from the 70s reissue. we'll see. I also got new bridge saddles and balck knobs and pickup covers. If looks could kill...

This sucker's my main axe, it can scream, it's got solid strat buttons (i put steel woul in the holes)the harware is heavily chrom plated, I put in another trem spring(it only came with three) and i'm getting a brass nut. This axe is a monster! of course i'm gonna play live with it, i already have. It's very dependable, i just hate the neck and tuners. Finish is kinda weak, but it's thick and the paint is metallic so you can't see the scratches.

haven't dealt with them, but there website sucks

I've been playing guitar about {} years now(the first of which i had started on bass guitar) but playing overall music (violin, piano, harmonica, recorder...) about 8. I play this, a SX 57 precision bass copy, i own a squier that i never play, and i play through a dunlop crybaby classic=boss ds-1=boss phase shifter(my brother in law's, I only use it for the detroit rock city solo)=pastrami dj-1 overdrive into a homemade stack using my old pyle bass combo amp as the head.i get almost perfect sound from my stack and i make full use of all my gear (except the phase shifter) I am working on The GREEN MONSTER, a mustang copy that will actually be painted red but due to a mishap with some industrial filler bearing the same nickname, i'll call it the green monster. I actually built this guitar around spring break of '06, but keep on upgrading. It was fun and i think it's the ideal beginner instrument, considering that with and extra 50$ put into it you gan have a guitar that far exceeds a squier, and it will still cost less. That's what i did and i'm only fourteen. My dad helped with some of it, and it's just tons of fun. plus my guitar rules and it cost less than one of those 200$ squiers. it's sweet. just make sure you jnk the tuners.

Typical Strat stuff. This was my first experience at a do it yourself guitar. I did not use the stock machine heads and I did not use the stock pickups and I can't write about how it is stock because I never used them. I put texas special pickups in it and locking schaller tuners. I paid $89 for this kit and it was a good experience and I have a great sounding strat.

I play classic rock, mostly late 60's through mid 70's and some blues. This sounds really good for that kind of music. I'm not into metal so I can't judge it for that. Gets some good country tones also. I'm running this through a Hartke G60 Piggyback Rig, a Marshall MG30DFX and a Marshall MG10CD and it sounds well on all of them. This thing really sounds good with the texas special pickups although because they are higher output single coils, they make a little more noise but that doesn't bother me. Very versatile. I like it a lot.

Well this was a do it yourself and it was my first try. I had to basically resand and refinish everything to make it fit. I chose to leave this guitar natural, so I just put about 10 coats of clear varnish on it. It would be cool if it had a maple fretboard instead of the rosewood, but I can live with it. This is a great kit if you are wanting to have a hobby and sort of learn about the mechanics of guitars.

I'm a physician by trade, so I'm a stay at home player but I let a friend of mine do a couple of gigs with it and it held up just fine. The hardware is ok for home playing, not sure it would stand up to night after night gigs. Strap buttons are solid. If I gigged I don't think I would gig without a backup.

I've basically been playing guitar for 40 years, since I was 5, but never had the desire to be a professional musician. It's all for my entertainment. I have also the PRS and Tele Kits by Saga and I have Fender Strat and Tele's made in Mexico as well as a Korean made Epiphone Les Paul. I have Martin and Takamine Acoustics. Again, this is a cool experience. Although I had been playing a long time, I really didn't know that much about guitars except a little about setting them up, which I had to learn here in the Philippines because I can't find any techs. I thoroughly enjoyed putting together my 3 Saga kits.

Basswood body with a sealer - why they sealed it I do not know. The sanding work was pitiful. Electronics and hardware were pretty sad as well. BUT - this is a GREAT building experience!

The stock electronics are just sad. But let me tell you two words - "Mighty Mite".
Replaced the pickups with a Mighty Mite prewired tortise shell pickup set. Very different sound - peel the paint high end! Try DancingDragon Guitars for the pickup
set. After the stock pickups are replaced, it holds up tone-wise fairly well to an American Strat ( not the same tactile experience, however!)

This is a hobby guitar, kids! But you are forced to learn how to set action and intonation, replace parts, woodwork, oil the neck, lubricate the nut -- it is just
a GREAT learning experience. If you are looking for a fab kit that all the parts are stellar but not cheap - carvin is your friend. But this was a great 1st guitar project. The body woodwork needed help. I chose to just put a tung oil finish on it and move on. I replaced the tuners, the string seats, the pickgaurd assembly, oiled the fretboard, replaced the string trees, and paid about $150 bucks over the original cost.

The fretboard needed some rounding of the sides of the fretboard to make this less abrasive, the frets themselves are pretty average. The string seats were replaced with graphite ones from Stewart MacDonald. Major difference in the ability to keep this in tune. I added in the max 5 springs and screwed down the tremolo to keep it from budging, tuning was a bear to keep stable.

You are making your spare guitar here. If you are looking for a learning experience,
and have the time to make a guitar that will be a kick-around one that you can modify
at will and start from scratch, this is a cheap way to go. If you want to build
a sexy Strat, you would do better to get parts from DancingDragonsGuitar.com or
warmoth. But if you want a practice version, start here.

This is an importer selling a ceap kit, so support is going to be terrible.

Played on and off for 25 years.

If stolen I would go for a standard Strat with humbuckers to provide a light Fender option along with my American Strat.

Would have preferred a better bit of woodwork, but it is light and playable after some work,

I bought this kit to have a test project for finishing...I wasn't really in need of a strat as I have a G&L Legacy with Fralins for Strat sounds, which is ofcourse a high quality instrument...When I completed it, however, I find it's really pretty good...Not without effort though...The nut was glued in off center, so I replaced it with a Tusk nut from Stew Mac...The tuners were also pretty poor so I replaced them with locking Klusons, also from Stew Mac...They look like the old strip tuners, but they lock in a very trick way...A nice touch...But the holes drilled weren't accurate enough for an easy substitution...The body is basswood, but adequate for this application, and took the nitro finish well...Decent, though cost effective neck with a pretty flat radius(12"?) with some well installed sort of jumbo frets...Very straight...A chunky U shape...Not Bad at all...The bridge is also ok...Pretty much what you'd find on a Squire...Maybe a little better...

I intend to replace all the electronics...They are cheesy...But I put it together with what came with it and am pleasantly surprised...It really sounds ok despite the obviously low quality electronics...Go figure...It is quite resonant unplugged...It sounds like a Squire plugged in and the pickups that came with it are ok for what they are...

Well, since I'm responsible for all this it would be disingenuous of me to complain...I bought all my finishing stuff from the Guitar ReRanch...Nitro lacquer...I gave it a sort of relic finish which came out very well...A lot of work, but worth the effort...Some of the predrilled holes were off, but nothing that couldn't be finessed... You'll get out of it pretty much what you put in...So I'll leave that for the individual to decide...Just don't think it'll all fall in place without effort....

This seems dependable...If it isn't there's only me to blame...But be prepared to make it so....I'd never gig without a back up...

I've been playing about 40 years now and I've got a ton of other guitars, mostly G&Ls which are really great guitars...This guitar as built is not perfect...but it's definitely not bad...I don't understand some of the other reviewers comments...Do they really think you're going to put together a custom shop strat from a kit that costs $140? I probably spent about $400 total for the kit, finishing supplies, and upgraded parts, and the guitar I got out of it is probably like a $500 guitar...Whoa!!! Did I just write that? That's a fair chunk of change, considering that you can buy a run of the mill am std strat for that, used...This thing, however, looks really cool, and is what I think a strat should look and sound like...It plays really well and is ultra personal...Plus it was enjoyable to build...It's rumored that Bob and Jacob Dylan spent some quality time putting one of these tele kits together...Now that's what I call family values...If you put some sweat equity into it, you'll get more than you pay for...If you just want to plunk $100 bucks down so you can bitch about what a cheap piece of shit you bought...Well you can do that too...But why would you want to?
I would recommend this to someone who wanted to learn about what goes into a strat and who's competent enough modify the kit to their own expectations...If I were to build another guitar, I'd probably buy higher quality parts from the get go, but for a starter this is a good deal...

All the usual strat features... if ya need it explained... this review won't help you.

Well.. I can't review the stock sound because I took one look under the hood and replaced all the electronics. Cheesiest elctronics I have ever seen on anything. This guitar was a project for my kid to learn about constructing and maintaining a guitar. He plays though practice amps like a Roland Cube or Vox VT30AD.

I understand that for $69 for a guitar kit compromises must be made with component quality and construction. So I guess we got about what I expected. The body is bassword, with numerous flaws and knotts, the routing looks like it was done by a beaver... the rout for the trem was crooked... fortunately the trem screw holes were OK and the trem block had enough room in the offset routed cavity. The neck pocket is also poorly routed and fit to the neck. Many holes for the scratchplate or trem spring cover do not line up to anything. The electronics are absolute junk! The tuners are even worse. The bridge was cheap... but usable... if you intend to tighten the springs up to keep the plate flat on the body and discard the trem arm. The neck was actually usable, even though it is of a low quality... it was straight and to my surprise... the fret work wasn't too bad. The headstock paddle was of a size and shape that prevents you from recreating an accurate Fender Strat headstock. The tuners/string trees do not quite line up with the strings coming out of the nut... so everything takes a slight left. Well that is the worst of it and what I expected for $69.

What I did do was install CTS pots, switchcraft plug, a quality 5-way switch and GFS vintage pickups ($43 from GF) and some extra Ping tuners that were laying around. I intend to use the body for a test bed to perform a good lacquer finish(don't want to learn on a good body). After asembling everything and spending some time setting it up... it actually sounds and plays surprisingly well for what it is... equal to my kids Mexican STD strat... even though the Mexican strat is overall of far better quality. But hey... We only have about $150 invested in this project.

There isn't anything stock on this guitar that looks like it would be reliable or withstand any abuse.

n/a

It is what it is... if you want a fun project to do with you kid... or a testbed for trying stuff out first on a cheap guitar.... this could be for you. But absolutely don't think for even one moment you are building a quality guitar that approaches the quality of a fender for a fraction of the price... it isn't even close to the cheapest squires ever made... even the plywood ones. Want a good guitar on a budget... buy used. Want a fun project for the kid? This may be up you alley... with some component replacement and elbow greese... you can actually build a playable guitar from these kits and do some bonding with the kid.

The guitar kit is properly made in The far east (China, Korea) bought 2004
It is a Strat copy with 21 freets and S/S/S pickups.
The body is some kind of Ash and the neck is Maple with Rosewood fingerboard Jumbo frets.
Screws and springs for the tremolo were missing. And the shop newer sends the missing parts.
The tuners were bad. The pickguard was like squire.

When the guitar was proper setup it sound great using an old Roland amp almost like my Fender Strat.

The neck and the frets need some work, when the frets were planed and the trust road adjusted the neck become great.
It can play with very low action 1? mm at the 12. Fret.
I have got a great guitar.

There was no support.

It's a Fine Guitar

Seems to have all the features I am familiar with on a strat-style guitar. I didn't like the cheap looking tuners that were sent to me so I went out and bought some Gotoh tuners and cut out the tuner holes with a drill press. The neck claims to be maple and the body Basswood. It did come with a very cheap cable which has a short in it so I will be throwing that thing away. The strings appear to be 9's or 10 gauge and they came wound together. I tried unwinding this mangled mess and would up throwing the strings away as well.

When I first plugged it up it sounded ok and it did get better when I intonated it. I sighted down the neck which appeared to have a slight twist in it. The strings had a buzz that I couldn't quite overcome and I took it into a more experienced tech.

The action was high at the nut and I had to take extra time cutting the nut which was an added expense that I didn't anticipate. The neck fit the body well and the holes were all drilled to fit fairly well.

This guitar was a waste of time and money. Although I had fun with cutting the headstock and tuner holes and painting/sanding it to a smooth finish, I was very dissapointed to find out the neck was twisted and the nut was not properly cut. The guitar will not even interest the garbage man during trash collection.

Ya know SAGA .... blaming the customer for causing a twist in the guitar neck is like blaming the carpenter for twisting lumber when he cuts a stock of two X fours to fit the dimensions of a house!! Un-believable!! But true!!! Dude's name is Tino. If you call tell him I said hello.

I've been playing long enough to know a good guitar and this one doesn't even come close to good workmanship. As I said earlier, the garbage man would pass on it during trash collection.

standard strat features,3 single-coil pickups, 5 way selector switch, standard tremolo. the body is made of basswood. the body is thicker than other strat copies i have played. overall it is nice.

it sonds great. not much hum from the single coils and the reverse polarity middle pickup is nice. if you set it up right the action can be very low with minimum fret buzz.the tremolo does not swing out of tune to much. teh neck pickup os a little weak, but that will be replaced.

the action on mine was great, but i set it up my self. the neck pocket was a perfect fit. i left it natural but i will finish later. the truss rod did need a little adjustment.

so far so good.

i got it from a dealer on ebay and he was all to kind to me. the dealer was slashmanmusic. he let me no what was happening to my package and where it was. as for saga? i dont know

i loved it.i would definetly buy another if it was stolen. i've been playing for a little over a year now. i know a good amount about guitar in general. (Ex.; repear, setup,etc.) i am very pleased from the results and would not recamend this to a person who dosent know basic guitar setup, and construction. please email me if you have any questions on this guitar.

Basswood, Stratocaster-clone body with contouring and a transparent finish. Niceley finished Maple neck with unoiled rosewood fretboard with 21 "medium jumbo"-size frets. Controls are standard Strat fare- two tone pots, a volume pot, 5-way switch, and the helpful output jack. Pickups are sandard Strat stuff as well with three brandless (passive) single coil pickups (bridge pickup is mounted diagonally, like a Strat. The Bridge is a six-screw tremolo, with the strings mounted through the tremolo block and independantly adjustable saddles. The tuners are super junky chrome plated units. The kit comes with allen wrenches for the bridge, a super short piece-of-crap cable, assembly instructions, and a sweet padded sleeve that's handy for storing guitar necks in (if you have some sitting around like I do). Made in Korea.

Features are about what I'd expect from a guitar this cheap, but except for the strap bottuns, they are not on par with a nice (expensive) guitar.

I use this guitar primarily with a DOD Grind-IT solid state amp through a Digitech RP200 multi effect/ amp modeling pedal. I also use it with a Gibson GA-5 Skylark tube amp and a Gibson Mercury II (10" and 15" speakers in a single cab with separate head). Through the tupe amps, the Saga sounds nice and clean, with some bite with amp volumes high (maybe some overdriving). Through the solid state amp, the Saga sounds boring to me and somewhat "twangy." This guitar pretty much has one sound, and you have to color it with amps or effects (I am usually using five or six effects and amp models through the solid state amp to get a sound I like). This guitar is nice and quiet with switch in positions 2 and 4.

With the effects pedal, I find this guitar good enough for any of the styles I play, which includes folk-rock, punk (Bad Religion), other rock (Weezer, Cake) and some bluesy leads. I often mess around on the guitar though, trying to work out songs, etc.

Without the effects pedal, this guitar could probably play some classic rock, but not really much else as the tonal clarity isn't good enough to play lots of cords or alternating bass. The biggest probalem with this guitar through effects (heavy distortion particularly) is that it doesn't have enough punch to cut through a previous chord with another chord or bass run (the treble strings cut through fine).

This guitar doesn't sound great, but it is certanly acceptable, especially through tube amps.

This guitar is a kit, so any set up problems should be my fault. However, the nut on my guitar was filed too deep so the strings would virbrate on the frets, which makes un-pretty sounds. The frets and fret work were good, but not polished. The finish is thin because you are supposed to go for a solid finish over the sealing coat they give you, but I chose to just polish the sealant coat, which turned out to be pretty good, and it doesn't hold fingerprints much. The tuning machines are really crappy, and come out of tune very easily, even after being greased. The wood quality is nothing special, but not really bad for a guitar that costs less than $100, there are some knots, however and the body is made of at least 3 pieces of wood, which would be fine if you paint it a solid color, but you can see the transition lines with a clear finish. The screws and things are soft and low quality, but they work ok. most of the holes on this guitar were drilled in the right places, but the cover for the rear tremolo routing only lines up for three screws (of the six that it should have). One problem, the soldering work is very poor and the bullet connectors are no good either, also my guitar's 5 way switch only worked in two positions. The pickguiguard is nice and laminated white-black-white.

This guitar plays pretty well, and it looks good, which is more than you can say for a lot of guitar in this price range.

I don't play the guitar live, so I can't tell if it will withstand live playing. The tuning machines are very poor quality, and I would replace them with cheap sealed tuning machines before I played the guitar live. The finish I have on it is probably too thin for live playing, but if you do what the instructions say and use acrylic lacquer, it will probably be fine. My guitar has one light stratch on it, after about six months of fairly heavy playing, but playing isn't what hurts guitars. The finish on the neck is thin, but that has been a good thing in my experience. In six months of playing, the neck finish has noticably lightened where my hand has worn the finish off from normal playing. The strap buttons are very nice (nicer than the carvin units I have)and have foam pads so they dont hurt the finish on the guitar. I would depend on the guitar, but only afted I resoldered everything and replaced the switch with a better quality one.

Basswood is supposed to be a pretty soft wood, but I would think that with a reasonable finish, this would stand up to the abuse you can put some crappy agathis bodied guitar through.

This guitar is a Kit-- it has no warranty. I was missing the pot and switch knobs when I got it, and notified Saga. A few weeks ago I got pot knobs and a new switch, which was good because the original switch didn't work. Saga did what they were obligated to do, but it took three or four months to get the parts.

I have played mostly acoustic guitars, but I've also played a Guild X-50 (early semi-hollow guitar) and a Blade solid body guitar. Did this guitar sound better? No, but I cost less than 1/5 or what either of those cost. I think it is probably better than anything in its price range (and there isn't much) but I would be ashamed if it didn't sound and look better than a Squire (it should be able to kill a Squire). If I lost or it got stolen, I probably wouldn't get another because I am repairing an Alvarez Dana Scoop which I think will eat it for lunch. However, if I had 100 buck for a new guitar, this would be the one I'd get.

Bottom line: for a cheap guitar, this one is unbeatable.

This guiutar looks like it was made somwhere in Asia. It has 21 frets and a 20 radius neck. The pickups are s/s/s. The body is made of three pieces of basswood glued together. The guitar comes unfinished. It is a strat lookalike. Cheap tuners! This kit includes bad cable, cheap strings, and a whammy bar.

To me this guitar sounds great. I have not gotten a chance to play extensively on an am, but it has a good sound. The cable is useless. It buzzes a lot.

The person who made this guitar did everything a little bit off. There were no holes for the string claw which I had to drill myself. You setup the action, intonation, and pickup height. The instructions included are very vague. Us a guitar repair manualo for good instructions. The wood had a lot of flaws which they tried to cover up with spackle. I used a natural finish and there is one spot of spackle that stands out. The tuners do not stay in tune well

This guitar seems like it will last. I don't gig so I don' t know if I would gig without a backup.

I am my own customer service. Go to your local music store if you have any problems.

This is my first electric guitar. I will add a humbucker in the future and hope to change the tuners soon. The instructions were too vague and if you do not have any woodworking expertise I would recommend against this guitar. Other than that it is great. It exceeded my expectations.

21 jumbo frets, random radius (not stock fender thats for sure), SSS pickup config, 4 peice body.. yeah i said 4, cut ur own headstock, crappy tuners.

The pickups were suprisingly good, not like a squier, a step up. medium lows, high mids, medium highs.
They didnt really work for me i needed a high output lead pickup, so i replaced the bridge pickup with an EMG-81, its awsome. Im using it with a '73 Marshall 100w Superlead, so quite a few guitar sound pretty good on it. The guitar at first was pretty noisey, but then again it had no sheilding whatsoever. Unpluged, the guitar sounded pretty good, the four peices were tightly glued so not that much sustain was lost.

The guitar was set up nicely, well wait, i set it up, cause it was in a kit so yeah. the only question applicable is the routeing and screw holes. nicely routed, H-S-S route, so its not just the tone loosing pool route. all the hardware seemed a little cheap, especially the tuners, but what do you expect for $90?

I would totally say this guitar is able to play live, because i built it, i feel more confident and less synical about it. The hardware seems cheap, but i trust it, the tuners are.. yeah awful, i took the stock ones off my bc rich and its fine. i would gig without a backup with this, but thats cause i hate bringing to much stuff to gigs: stack, guitars, its too much to manage. but i would trust it alone.

I e-mailed Saga asking about the truss rod, that was the one peice i didnt trust and wouldnt you know it, the thing came unscrewed, they replied very quickly with very helpful information, the problem was easily fixable and they instructed me.

i played guitar for a few years now. i own a Jackson dinky, and a BC Rich jr. V, '73 marshall 100w superlead, '73 1960b cab, some disto pedals..
if it was stolen i would prob get another, unless some great deal came out on a gibson LP

Has all the standard Strat features,21 frets 3 single coils yadda yadda blah blah. Also comes with a very bad cord and strings. @ out of 3 pickups sound great,the bridge pick up is very very hot and the middle has a nice fat tone. The neck pick up was very indistinct i.e. the swimming thru molasses sound. I replaced it with a cheap Duncan Performer Scorcher single coil sized humbucker which helped incredibly. My only real complaint is the tuners,screwing them into the headstock is a nightmare,very bad metal screws and my particular headstock had a knot in the way of one,not fun at all. Other than that i going to get the nut filed down because with 10 thru 60s it is nearly impossible to play on the first fret.

I play Sabbath style metal and pschedelic sounding hard rock. I play a Les Paul and will never play this on stage. I got this as a christmas present and it fills the lets-find-out-what-happens-when-i-do-this guitar. As previously stated 2 of 3 pickups were good. It is a little noisy but thats cheap single coils for you. I have played this thu a Crate GX-212 and it sound ok except for the dual distortion channel.

Since you have to set it up yourself i cant really say anything bad about setup,but i wish that the nut was a bit better. The body was in nice shape and one piece. I personally painted it metallic blue but the wood was nice enough that i could have just sealed it.

I think that it would hold up to live playing,but i wouldnt use it as a main guitar if i were you. Hardware seems goiod for a 100 dollar guitar,strap buttons are holding.

Never even knew that the company had a website before reading it on this forum.

If it was stolen i would care but i would probably buy their new Les Paul kit. Its basically on the same plane as a Squire strat,only it requires more work. I think it is perfect for a tinkerer.

Don't know where this thing was made, probably China. Solid basswood top, two pickups, strat style. Came with a cheap cord.

Not the greatest pickups but O.K. Used with a Crate amp, good strat variety, not as good as the real deal but what do you want for 75 bucks?

O.K. I had a lot of trouble with this thing, the screw holes for the bridge didn't line up and needed to be re-drilled. The tiny screws for the tuners stripped and broke and had to be drilled out and replaced. The tiny hex screws in the tune-omatic bridge stripped out when trying to adjust the intonation.If you like freaking gargantuan frets you will love the neck, I sanded the frets down to a usable height. Tuners are CHEAP and don't stay in tune.

After a lot of modifications I like this little bugger, it kind of grows on you after you have spent a hundred hours jacking with it to get it servicible. It is a build it yourself guitar but you can't really expect to just screw it together and go. It will be as good as you make it. For a giiging guitar you will want to replace pickups and tuners.

Was bought at ebay auction from online guitar. After I whined to them about the broken screws and whatnot I got no response. I left neutral feedback for them and they promised replacement parts if I would withdraw my neutral feedback. No replacement parts were sent.

I've been playing for almost 40 years, owned Fenders, Gibsons, Taylors, Hofners, Epiphones etc. Do all my own setup work. If you want a $74.00 guitar that you can set up the way you like and won't have an aneurism if it gets a scratch in it, this is the one! It has a good neck, acceptable sound, if it were stolen or lost " I would be worried Lord, but I won't be worried long."

So I knew I wasn't buying a PRS or Gibson LP Double-cut, but damn, this thing isn't worth the $150 I paid. I mainly purchased it for the experience of building my own guitar before I dropped some real $ on a Warmoth (I figured I could afford to screw up now rather than spending $1000 and screwing up on a REAL kit). I spent a week painting it- I used automotive finishes from Advance Auto parts and was quite pleased with the results. Tonight I sat down to put it together, and nothing fit correctly. None of the holes line up, and the parts are pure, unadulterated crap. I began installing the neck with the screws provided, hand tightening with a Phillips head, and two of the four broke off and are now embedded in the neck. Looks like I will have to grind them down with a dremel and glue the neck in (which would probably give it better sound anyway).

Can't comment on this- I can't finish the damn thing because the screws broke off in the neck.

None of the pre-drilled holes line up. I did the paint job on it so they don't get any credit for this. The so-called "flame top" is so thin you can't sand it. They lacquered it at the factory, so if you are thinking (like I was) that you can dye it and make it look like a PRS, don't waste your time or your money.

No. No. No. No. No. No. (to the questions below)

Will this guitar withstand live playing?
Does the hardware seem like it will last?
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off
with lots of playing?
Are the strap buttons solid?
Can you depend on it?Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

No warranty. Buy at your own risk. Think of it like you are getting a 1986 Yugo.

I have played for almost 20 years. I don't ask questions. If lost or stolen I would rejoice and buy something else. I like my paint job, I hate the junk parts. I compared it to a PRS Dragon II- no- more like my first guitar from Service Merchandise in 1983- a Harmony somewhat-like-a-strat-knockoff.

The kit is a strat-in-a-box. The pickguard is pre-wired, and the connections all have plugs, though i soldered them anyways. The tuners are very poor; all 6 of mine seem to work differently. Definitely get some replacements. The neck and body of this kit make the entire package more than worth the price. The pickups are meh. They aren't too bad, but they aren't great either.

The sound really depends on how well you set it up during construction. When I first assembled it, I'd have only rated it at about 4. Soldering the connections instead of using the little plugs, polishing the frets, and getting some decent strings have made a world of difference. I play mostly rhythm from several genres, and I'm always able to get the sound (or close enough) I'm looking for. The pickups aren't especially noisy, and I tend to favor the humbucking positions, which sound great.

The finish is really dependent on how much effort you put into it. I put a sparkly kelly green finish on mine, and it looks great.

I had problems with buzzing on the D-string, and the only way I could get rid of it was to place a shim under the neck.

Setting the intonation on this thing was hellacious. Initially there wasn't enough travel on the bridge for the low E-string, so it was almost impossible to get this thing to play in tune. Since I never use the tremolo bar on this thing, I blocked the bridge, and that seemed to help since it increased the string length a bit. It also stays in tune much better now.

The action can be set extremely low on this strat without buzzing.

Durability is really dependent on how you put it together and finish it. I have about 36 coats of clear-coat on mine, so it's just about bullet-proof. I'd definitely recommend soldering the connections instead of relying on the included plugs. I don't really gig, but I'd never use any guitar in a live situation without some kind of a backup.

I have no idea how to contact the company that made the kit, nor have I had a reason to. I'm my own tech support.

I've been playing for about 6 years. I use this guitar with a Behringer Blue Devil amp. I also own a Fender DG-3 acoustic. I've had other instruments, but they've all fallen victim to broke-college-student syndrome.

Don't bother buying this kit if you just want a plug-and-play experience. You won't get instant gratification.

I bought this for the expereince of finishing, assembling, and adjusting a guitar from a pile of parts. It exceeded my expectations, and therefore gets a 10 overall. I basically wanted an inexpensive way to practice, and this fit perfectly.

This kit would also be a great idea for anybody who wants a "Frankenstein" that they can experiment with.

If you really want to end up with a good quality instrument, the first thing to do when building a Saga strat kit is 1) throw away certain components in order to 2) maximize the benefits of the other components. For instance, the tremolo bar is soft metal and bends easily -- toss it and replace. Also, the pickups are weak -- I personally swapped them out for a single EMG 81 humbucker in the bridge position. This pickup is as much as the whole kit, but it comes with all its own electronics, and is the best sounding (and quietest) pickup I've ever used. The springs are just crazy-tight and are too big for the tremolo system -- toss them as well and purchase the smaller strat-style springs available at most music stores. Now you're ready to address the body...

The body is a good quality basswood carefully routed and sealed, and the neck is one-piece maple with a rosewood fingerboard -- also well done. These two pieces alone are what make the kit worth every cent, and then some. The body and neck may throw off younger players who have become accustomed to very wide yet slim necks, and skinny tapered bodies. Saga builds their Strat kits very close to the dimensions of the pre-CBS Stratocaster, which means the body horns are plump, the neck is thicker than many newer guitars,and the headstock has a lot of wood. This is all a very good thing, being that more wood means more tone and better sustain. Good strings like lots of wood.

The tuning machines are so bad that you shouldn't even take them out of the plastic bag. Just go buy some Gotohs or Grovers -- trust me. Otherwise, most everything else fits together well, and if you choose to keep the original pickup/pickguard config, minus paints job you'll be playing in a couple hours. The neck action, however, is well done. My neck required no fret dressing or nut filing at all. Yea, I couldn't believe it either.

This guitar is as tough as any Fender Strat. But guitars in general aren't built to be tough, they're built to be tone-full instruments. If you drop any guitar, it's going to be catastrophic.

NA

Excellent, but as I said, you're going to need better pickups and electronics, tuning machines and tremolo bar with springs. You're really buying the kit for the neck and body, which are excellent and comparable to any midpriced parts.

Ahh... The wonderfully delicate art of guitar building...

the usuall strat features (if you are not so sure what these are, consult a local guitar dealers). Usuall tuning stability with that classic strat bridge. Good tuners. Unlike some wankers, I don't get insomnia if I don't instantly replace all functioning parts with ones made in the USA (mexico ya fools).

The neck is a fat flat stratocaster affair, which is ideal for slow string crossing and lewd string bends.

It sounds just like a fender to my heathen ears. I have allready reviewed another guitar for you (Aria STG400 if you are despirate) which sounded nothing like as good as this one. Oh, I did pay #50 to get the dear old thing set up, which might have made a difference!

Rich fruity sound with distinct summer marshy overtones, and winter fires in the background. Hear the Elderflowers ready for the picking, and sense the little water-creatures as they scurry around the riverbank at dusk.

Oh hell...

I got it set up so that the tremolo leans forward at 45 degrees. When a string breaks... NYAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG!

I made this guitar a little under a month ago, and it has allready had a refinish. My other electric guitar a vintage Vs6CG (yes reviewed also, and yes that is how you spell crackly)can survive having my all american heeman slide dropped on it, whilst my poor old strat can't survive the impact of the occasional atom!

Apart from the string breakages, this is sound!

I live in britain where SAGA is a magasine for old biffers in the last years of their cake baking lives...

Try this DIY guitar for a laugh!

My wife bought me a Saga ST-10 kit in 1980 with her first paycheck. She's a keeper! Back then there was no Harmony-Central mainly because Al Gore hadn't invented the internet yet!

Anyway, this was the bottom of the line, cheapest Strat kit there was. Plywood body, Maple neck. This guitar came with a Fender-esque wang bar assembly. With a little adjustment, I can go down an octave and mostly come back up in tune, except for the G string. I think it gets hung up at the nut.

I give it a "10" for features, because it's a copy of an original. Redundant enough?

cheapy pickups with pole pieces that were little magnets glued onto the top of the pickups. Still, it sounded "Stratty". Stratish? Like a '70s Strat I had and hated. If only I still had that thing....

I've since changed the pickups and now have two Gibson P-90s in the neck and middle position and a Gibson P-100 in the bridge position. Sounds like a fat stratocaster!

Since I did the pickups thing, I give it a 10 for sound. Otherwise, give it a 7 or 8 because the original pickups sounded too thin.

This was a kit, so the guy who set it up back in 1980 did a great job!The screw holes were all in the right places, except for maybe a couple. C'mon folks, this was a long time ago! Who remembers these things?

I liked the wood feel of the neck so I rubbed in coat after coat of raw Linseed Oil on it with an occasional touch every year or so. Now it looks satiny and has a "well-played" wood feel to it. I also put my wife's name in a Fender-style script on the headstock, because she's so nice!

My cousin played all over the West Coast and has a 1958 Stratocaster he bought new and he says this guitar feels just like his. Now that's a compliment!

Since the body is plywood, I painted it a nice robin's egg blue. It has mellowed over the years to an almost seafoam green. Great color!

Seriously, outside of an occasional tweak on the neck, this thing's been fine for 23 1/2 years!

I give the finish a 9 because I didn't do a very good job on it. My bad!

This is the main reason I'm taking the time to type this critique. I've had this guitar for 23, almost 24 years now. It's held up great!

I'm a bass player these days but I sometimes bring my "Verna" Sagacaster along in case our guitarer breaks a string.

Yeah, a rock solid and reliable performer.

Never had a problem to need customer support. But thanks for asking!

I own 16 or 17 guitars and basses, including a "real" Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Lucille. I play my "Verna" guitar about 1/3 the time and the remainder of them the rest of the time.

Folks, this is a great guitar and you'll have a hard time getting better price/performance. I don't know how their kits are these days, but I just ordered one (on the internet!) and maybe I'll let you know!

This is the Saga made Strat kit. It features a 5-way switch, one volume, and two tones for three single coil pickups. It's your basic strat copy.

Body is basswood, and you finish it out how you want to.

The neck is maple and features a rosewood fretboard. The nut for the truss rod was recessed a bit low.

The screws in the bridge will be replaced. They are made of cheap pot metal.

I have put a lot of hours on this guitar and have not had any trouble with the tuners. I took the advice of another reviewer, popped the backs of the tuners, and greased 'em up real good. No trouble there. You do need to drill the holes for the screws for the tuners a bit larger.

One cheap cord was included.

I play this through a zoom digital effects pedal. Therefore, it doesn't sound much different than my standard strat.

I usually the 2nd or 3rd setting.

Without the pedal, it sounds like a squire affinity strat.

This guitar offers good sustain, an important quality.

The fretboard was finished well, and the frets were already in place. I did polish the frets with a Dremel tool. That really added to the tone.

You cut the headstock out to your liking. I cut mine like a standard strat. Trace this with a pencil.

The guitar was finished with a Light Peacan stain, and a soft clearcoat. It turned out beautiful.

You can finish the body however you like. View this website:
http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/kitbuild.html

The nut required a small bit of filing on the first string position to cure an odd buzz.

The electronics where nicely put together in the pickguard. I have not done any alteration there.

I have a nice low action. It plays like a $468.00 guitar!

Since I finished it, I'm rating myself a seven.

I played with this live this week and it rocked! I took my strat as a back up. I would take this guitar anywhere!

It's is good as you put it togther. The screws are cheep. Some will be replaced. Other than that, I'm more than satisfied. This was a wonderful learning experience. Take your time and do it right.

I'm already considering putting the tele kit together.

I purchased this from surfcitymusic.com. I did have some trouble with the adjusting nut. It stripped. Surf City sent me a new one, and I had it in about a week. They provided good service, and I would deal with them again.

There is no warranty.

I've been playing this for over a month now. Other than the cheap screws, it's a good kit. I would build another one. Take a look at this before you buy it :http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/kitbuild.html

it's good to know what you're getting into. I would consider this to be an entry-level builders kit.

It's sturdy, features low action, and nice sound.

I compare it to a squire strat.

This provides a good learning experience. When your done, you've got an awesome guitar, provided you've taken your time and haven't done anything stupid.

2003 probably China, 21 jumbo frets (nice), rosewood fretboard with 20" radius (nice), nice fast maple neck with headstock you can cut into any shape you want. Nice white 3 ply pickguard with 3 single coil staggered pole pickups (nice), vol. 2 tone knobs w/ gold lettering (nice), body is decent basswood with great light weight and good tone, but is in three glued together pieces like a Yamaha, so has to be painted to hide that, but no sanding was needed! Unlike my expensive Carvin kit. Strat body that will fit strat parts, unlike the Yamaha. tools. no gig bag or strap, 6' cheapo OK cord, directions and everything.

I play Hendrix style acid blues/metal/rock. Pignose G40V w/1x12, Crate MX12--sounds just like old strat through these. 5 distinct tones, plus the 2 tone controls for neck and center/bridge give standard stratocaster tonal variations and sound, almost exactly. A teeny bit less smooth and harsher. Nice acoustic sound (w/o amp) and good feedback character.

Guitar basically went together well. I read these reports and knew the tuners should be replaced, so bought Ping 14 to 1s for $22. I split the low E hole area when drilling out to 3/8" (should have had the drill RPM up higher a the start), repaired w/ gorilla glue. These also required shallow 1/8" holes which I marked by pressing tuner against wood. Cut to strat shape. Painted old Shoreline Gold. Dressed frets just a little. Red oiled rosewood and laquered the rest. Took a couple hours to set up perfect. The trussrod was somewhat hard to get to, but worked OK. This rating is for the result. Looks and plays just like an early 70s strat. Greater sustain. Had to put toothpicks in a couple holes and redrill, the rest lined up well.

Hardware is decent. I used teflon oil at the nut, tuners, saddle, bridge, string holder hole point, and trem spring end points. Strap buttons replaced with left over Carvin gold, which are a little better. I think I could gig w/o a backup, but would bring at least one of my humbucker guitars for variety. This rating is for the kit guitar with replaced tuners as recommended by others.

With this there is really no customer support except from yourself. Unless maybe parts were missing. It comes in a sealed box with everything in plastic inside.

28yrs. 10 other guitars, 3 amps, 2 full stacks, effects. If it were stolen i'd try to get it back. Failing that, I'd build another. I built the Carvin kit before. The Carvin kit is 50% better quality but over 4x the price! Sounds just like the Highway 1, I'd say, which would cost 500 +shpg, ON SALE (usually $600). Except the jumbo frets and flat radius which I like better. This deal can not be beat, if you a good with guitars and tools. Just follow directions and you'd have a good guitar. If you want a great one, you have to replace the tuners and use the teflon oil like I did.

This is a complete Stratocaster style "clone" kit. It has all the basic features of the Strat and is intended as a DIY project Guitar. As other reviewers have posted, the tuning peg hardware is inferior. We changed the tuners out for Gotoh's we bought on Ebay and replaced the pickguard with a black one as well as some of the knobs. We have posted a web page with many more details, including finishing details, at

http://www.thinclient.net/jsg/build_the_guitar_project.htm

The guitar turned out to be very surprisingly good. It sounds like a great old classic Strat, i.e. thin and tight, low output- single coil pickups. If you want to do a DIY project I highly recommend it as a great learning experience. It is also good for building a very good inexpensive guitar, but expect to put more money into it to upgrade hardware, finish it, etc.

The reviews of the guitar vary greatly, we found the kit to go together very well and the end result is much better than we expected. We did have it professionally setup after it was all assembled and added a graphite nut. It has an unusally flat radius neck which is very comfortable

Seems as reliable as any store bought guitar, but even better because it is a great platform to tinker with and try stuff out on

There is a website for the product, but we have had no dealings with the company. Since it is made in Korea I wouldn't expect much support

Overall, this is a very good product. You do need to upgrade some parts to make it a more professional unit. The experience of putting together your own guitar is a lot of fun and well worth the $$ and time put in.

Features

It's a Strat copy...

What year was it made?

Appears made this year (2003)

Where was is made? (Japan, Mexico, USA, etc...)

Somewhere in the Far East.

How many frets?

21? Didn't count them.

Solid-Top? Laminated top?

Solid

Which controls are given (volume, tone, 5-way selector, 3-way, tap, etc...)?

5 way strat style with volume and two tones

Pickup configuration? (S/S/H, H/H, S/H, Piezo, etc...)

S/S/S

Make and model of pickups?

Who knows!

Active or Passive electronics?

Passive

Body and neck woods? (Maple, Mahogany, Alder, Ash, Basswood, Koa, Plywood, etc...)

Maple neck, not bad, but not the clearest...

Couldn't tell you what the body is, but it's now painted blue!

Finish (Satin, transparent, quilted top, flamed top, etc...)

Sealed, but not finished.

Body style (strat, tele, dreadnought, cutaway, thinline, etc...)

Strat

Bridge style

Classic Strat

Tuners

While they're cheap tuners, the biggest problem is they aren't lubricated. If you've built or are going to build this kit, pop the covers off and put a dab of grease on the gears and turn them to work it in. Wipe off any excess. This way you can turn sticky crappy tuners into adequate ones...

Neck/Scale (Fat, Thin, Jumbo Frets, Rosewood, Maple, etc...)

I'd say slightly fat, but I'm no expert on this. Looks like Rosewood fingerboard. Needs to be oiled after the neck has been finished and polished.

Any included accessories? (Case, gig bag, strap, cable, tools, humidifier, etc...)

Cheap guitar cord.

Overall, considering how inexpensive the kit is, the parts, while not top quality, are quite workable. There's room for upgrade, but it does make a decent guitar that's fun to hack with and would be fine hopped up with better pickups and tuners, nut. Still a deal and a lot of fun for the price! I paid less than $100

Sound is ok, but I'm not a big fan of single coils anyway, so not a good person to ask...

I enjoy playing it. Set up makes all the difference. Go buy some good books on this, and learn how to do it on this guitar so you don't mess up other good ones you have. Once you're comfortable with your skills you can get brave on you babies.

Assembled well, no fit problems, however I did have to clean up the bridge routing slightly as there was extra sealer in the way.

Finish is great. I took 3 weeks to do it. Patience is crucial to a good finish. Again, read up on how to do this, and you too can have a really nice finish.

Same for setup. Read, understand, be patient and train yourself and you can get a good setup.

I give myself high marks for my great work.... ;)

Will this guitar withstand live playing?

Yes

Does the hardware seem like it will last?

Tuners could be better, and control pots will probably wear out with a lot of use. Nut needs to be harder. Otherwise all fine and all correctable, when it comes time.

Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing?

I've got about 20 light coats of lacquer that's polished and buffed. It is what you put into it.

Are the strap buttons solid?

Yup. Just to make sure, I put some epoxy in the hole, before inserting the screw.

Can you depend on it?

Definately.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

If I had to...

Customer support? Ahh ha ha ha ha.... I am customer support, so it depends what kind of day I've had!

Playing 27 years.

The guitar is what I expected.

I'd buy another if it was lost. It was a lot of fun to build. I've also got the P style to build next.

I wanted to have fun building a strat clone. I already have two strats...

It actually has some good features for a $75 kit. but it also has some bad ones. For instance, the tuners. They are the worst ones I've ever played. A quick switch with some gotoh's changes that, though. Other than that it has the basic strat features, no more no less.

I play a lot of sonic youth and altrock type stuff. So when i first got it I really didn't think it sounded half bad. A little noisy and the selecter was wired backwards, but hey what do you expect? It wasn't the sound i was going for so i took it all out (I'm saving it for another project), drilled in a slot for a bridge humbucker, and put in a dimarzio distortion. It sings now.

The origional set-up job was aweful. It wouldnt intonate, it had a lot of buzz, and the action would kill my hand. But luckily i set-up my own guitars. I recommend to anyone considering this kit to know someone who can do this. I set it up to where the strings were about 1/16th an inch over the 12th fret. Its a nice guitar actually. I now use it as my main guitar when i gig.

As I've said before,Its my main gigging axe. let me tell you I beat up my guitars. thats why i like this, I don't feel guilty about throwing it around about. It holds up wonderful for basswood. The neck is a lot sronger than i thought it would be too.

Great "beater" guitar. the right kind of thing for people to learn more about the build of an electric guitar. Its not all perfect, but with some new tuners and pickups your ready to roll.

This is a real world review, based on 17 years of playing and building many guitars. The kit was bought as something to do without forking over too much cash. I am being fair, so bear with me and pay attention if you are considering buying this kit.

Typical Strat-style guitar. All the same features as stated previously. Tuners are dreadful. Replaced those with a set of Schallers. The included cord is crap. It may be useful as a stringer for fishing, but it will probably break.

The 5 rating reflects this is a standard Strat-tyle guitar, no more and no less.

I play a lot of different music, mostly blues and classic rock. The guitar sounds very good. I was shocked. I was going to put a set of Fat 50s in it, but I think I'll wait. The quack is good, as is the single pickup settings. The pickups are smooth and have a nice airiness to them. Too bad the switch was wired bacwards at the factory. All the way back on the switch is the neck pickup. I'll have to fire up the soldering iron to fix this. No big deal.

The tone knobs have little or no effect until they are almost all the way down. This is due to the poor taper of the mini pots. Maybe I'll change them, but I honestly don't tweak the tone knobs much. Maybe I'll keep them for the cool cheap wah effect they give.

This guitar is very well suited for what you would use a typical Strat for. I'm basing this rating on sound alone.

BTW, this guitar is quite loud accoustically. This is a good sign...

Setup was done by me. I've done a few over the years. If you are afraid the action will be bad on yours, don't worry. It is quite good on mine. I set mine for 1/16" at the 12th fret. This is lower than I usually like, but it doesn't buzz. It could go lower. the neck is very good, although the 20" fingerboard radius is a little too flat for my taste.

The routing for the trem had to be elnarged in the backside so the trem would tilt more than 10 degrees. The opening needs widened with a dremel tool.

Don't trust them when they say the body is ready for paint. There were bumps and dips in the wood. Make sure the body is sanded flat and the paint will turn out fine. I used the recommended Plasti-kote acrylic lacquer. Use a clear coat after your color coat has dried for a day. Let the paint harden for atleast a week before wet sanding and polishing. If you do, the finish will be mirror-like.

Several of the pickguard holes and one of the neck holes were off center by half the hole diameter. I was able to cheat the screws into place, but it took some attention to get it right.

The low E string intonation was hard to set, due to the saddle not having enough travel. This was fixed by filing on the saddle a little.

The feel of the guitar is as good as any Strat I've played. Take your time and it will turn out fine. You'll need atleast some feeler gages and a digital tuner that can read pretty fine. The better you get this, the better it will sound.

The PITA woodworking flaws from the factory will knock the rating down to a 5. After correcting those issues, I'd give it an 8.

There is no doubt this guitar will survive live playing. With decent tuners on it, it is actually very good and stays in tune as good as any other non-locking guitar. The hardware is not top of the line, but it is serviceable. The basswood body is soft, but I'm not afraid to play it. The strap buttons are one of the better pieces of hardware. I'm not thrilled with the press-on wiring connectors. I'll solder the wires together when I correct the switch problem. I will use this guitar to play live so I can leave my good guitars at home. I'm thinking about getting the Tele kit to use as a backup/2nd stage guitar. No sense in killing your good guitars. These will sound good and play good. I'd rather risk a couple of $75 guitars than my Parker. I'll give this guitar a 7, it's not a tank, but not a toy.

Customer support? They have that? I'll fix it myself if I have trouble. Warranties are a joke anyway. It's the Wal-Mart "use it and return it" mentality. Stuff shouldn't come with a warranty. You should have enough sense to buy what you really want the first time. Try things before you buy them. If you can't try them, do your homework and bite the bullet. You pays your money, you takes your chance.

Onlineguitar, whom I bought this from seems cool. They (he) sent this to me and had it here in a day. Then again, I only live about an hour and a half away from there... He's a good dealer and the eBay thing went very smoothly.

I'll give it a 5 just for Onlineguitar. I don't know if Saga really exists.

Like I said before, I've been playing a few years. I can play a few tunes. I own more equipment than most music stores have. I've traded and sold more than that.

I would get another and may just do that. These make great "beater" guitars. They sound good, which is a major bonus.

The quality of the parts are equal to or better than the cheap Squier stuff. They won't break, but they aren't pretty looking. The workmanship on the wiring and the woodwork are on the poor side of adequate. They will work fine, though.

The best thing about this guitar is it plays as good as an American Fender (polish the frets!) and sounds pretty good, too. If you've got a hundred skins to blow, try one of these. It'll take you a week or two to do it right, but don't rush. The end results will be worth it. Be sure to get some good tuners. Don't even try to install the crappy tuners included. I was shocked at how good the neck and action are. I'm fairly pleased and I think I got my money worth. I'll give the overall a 7, just to round things up.

This is a Saga Strat kit. It has three single coil s/s/s/ configuration. The body is Basswood, which is my choice of wood :) the neck is maple with Rosewood fretboard with 21 frets.

I bought this guitar becuase i wanted a strat after years of playing Ibanez Shred guitars. I have to tell you this kit sounds far ....FAR..better than I expected. I played a Squier Strat before, but this guitar sound much better than a Squier. The clean tone sounds better than my $800 Ibanez S540 USA custom....yup...it doesn't feel to good to say that....cause that ibanez is my main guitar on stage.

The basswood makes it sound rich and warm. I love basswood. It may be cheap, but you should know that many pros like satriani, vai, petrucci prefer basswood.

The guitar is a kit. I bought it off Ebay from OnlineGuitars. He was nice enough to cut the headstock for me in the shape of a strat headstock. I paid him $15 extra for that, but it was more than worth it. I was quite scared that I would waste the money, but hey I paid $75 for this guitar which is not a big deal :)) I took the risk, but believe me, this is best $75 spent in my life...and i am not kidding. It is truly amazing.

The body came unpainted, so I got some Minwax Polyshade from Home Depot and applied with with a soft cotton cloth. It looks really beautiful now. It added a golden-yellowish glace to it. It just looks really classy! :) Beats any red, black, pink or any other sissy colors out there :)

The Action is unbelievable :) I got it lower than my Ibanez 540. It buzzes a little, but if the I set the action higher, it goes away, but thats fine. I practice a lot on this guitar, so I set the action to a point where I can play long hours without stressing my hand.

> Did the guitar contain any flaws?
My only complaint with this guitar was the tuners and the screws that goes with the tuners. If your screw driver slips even once while you are screwing those screws, you are screwed. I wasted so many screws that I had to use only one screw per tuner on some tuners, but it is okay....i will be replacing the tuners. I wish it had better tuners though :(

The nut was okay but I had to file it to get the first and second string a bit lower. The brige is okay to me, however, i made it fixed, so that i can get more sustain out of it and dont have to retune it every 5 minutes.

This is made of Basswood, but seems pretty durable. After reading some reviews here, i was a bit scared, but it isnt that soft really...but certainly not as strong as mahogany.

> Can you depend on it?
Of course I can. The neck is much stronger than I expected. I can even gig with it, but no without changing the tuners...they work okay if you dont bend a whole lot, but i cant play without bending some high notes.

Nope! I dont even know their website. does any happen to know.

Overall, I would definitely recommenc this guitar to anyone. I was sure that i would have to swap the pickups first, but i was totally wrong. It sound so beautful with some reverb and chorus. When overdriven, you can easily get some SRV or Hendrix type tone driven tone and Eric Johnson type clean tone out of it :) I am very happy with it. I use the 4 position for most of my playing. It is dead quite at 2 and 4 switch position....Truly amazing for a guitar within this price range....It is far better than any Squiers or cheap strat copies i have every played.

Just got it off of Ebay about a week ago (April 28th), couldn't tell you where it was made, don't really care.

21 Fret Maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. Headstock end truss rod adjustment nut. Frets need a dressing, but that was expected (and, in my case, wanted).

Solid basswood body, unfinished (you finish it yourself). Stratocaster shape, 3 single coil pickups (no swimming pool route). 6 screw vibrato bridge.

3 single coil pickups. Not the greatest pickups, but better than I expected.

The tuners, though, are junk. They work, but poorly. Poor tuning accuracy, stiff, inconsistent feel.

Came with a cable, some picks (Fender Celluloid thin) and a pack of strings (9-42, I believe, broke within 2 days :) )

Sound wasn't really a factor in my buying it. I was looking for a guinea pig that I would play Dr. Frankenstein on.

Anyways, unplugged, it sounds as well as the Mexican Fender Strats I've played. Plugged in, it's not that great, but better than some POS guitars I've played (Jay Turser Strat-copy, I'm not sure if it was a bad instrument itself or if the whole line is like that).

Pickups will be replaced, with either Carvins or Bill Lawrence (www.billlawrence.com)

Guitar came unassembled. Routing was accurate enough, the neck pocket was decent.

The body wood is ugly, but it sounds nice enough, and I'm going to be painting it.

* Will this guitar withstand live playing?

I don't know, don't care at the moment

* Does the hardware seem like it will last?

I'm replacing most of it.

* Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing?

I'll be finishing it myself. And if my finish rubs off after lots of playing, I don't care. Look at SRV's Number One. At the end of his carreer/life, the finish was practically gone. It still sounded great.

* Are the strap buttons solid?

Used Schaller Strap locks. They mounted quite nice, no slipping in the predrilled holes. I don't anticipate any problems.

* Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

Never, backups are a must. I don't care if you payed $20 000 for a guitar, if you don't have a backup with you, you're asking for trouble. String breaks and wiring problems always happen at the worst possible moment.

Buying the guitar was fine, no problems. I don't expect to deal with them again, unless to get another kit (which I may or may not do).

I've been playing for 4 years, I've only had one electric guitar till now (a Lado, Canadian maker, very nice stuff, I lucked out and got it [worth $800 new] for $75).

I bought it for the purpose of experimentation and practice at guitar-tech stuff (fret jobs, electronics work, bridge replacement, etc.). All in all, its what I was looking for.


My only real complaint is the lack of a 22-fret maple fretboard version ;)

Just an update. I was the second person to review this guitar kit in march of 2001. Since then I have replaced the nut, and i made up another pickguard with an alnico 2 pro humbucker in bridge position, and 2 single coils out of an old squier pro tone to change out my pickguard with the fender noiseless when I get the urge. I must really have gotten lucky by what i read in some of these reviews! My neck has not warped, it still plays beautifully and sounds great! I still havent painted it, and use it for songs that need the strat quack when i play out. Is it durable? HELL YES! I was worried that the basswood would dent up pretty bad, but it hasn't. Also the 2 guys i work with bought these and have also been extremely lucky with theirs. Maybe the older kits were better than the newer ones because i am still satisfied with it.

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i am also presenting this post review, after having the guitar built and set up for a few weeks, i noticed that the action seems to change with the weather. this could be due to the similar review stating that the neck is not properly sealed. i am guessing that this is causing the next to change as the temperature/ humidity changes. it still is ok on mine though, because it doesn't get drastic enough to alter playabilty. although, it's not right for this to happen as far as i know.

dropped it on accident one time, nothing came apart...so i guess it's pretty durable

local guitar shop here in indiana offers some customer support such as replacement parts...but only if you buy the kit from them.

even though this is still a cheap ass kit...i'm still happy with mine. i have about $135.00 in it all together including new tuners, paint and supplies, and the initial cost of the kit. they sell them here in our local music store, for $159.00, so i feel that i got a pretty good deal...except for the neck issue. if it gets worse as time goes by, i'll just replace the neck with a fender. although i have not had it professionally set-up, the action is still very low with no fret buzz. i guess i got one of the better kits that they produce or something. this is the first guitar that i have ever attempted to set up, and quite frankly...it's a pain in the ass if you don't know what you're doing. i just went at it as best as possible, and it came out pretty good. it may not be done correctly, but it works for me.

This is an amendment to my previous review.

After bringing the assembled and strung (though not properly set up) guitar to Flynn Guitars in Evanston, IL, they helped me determine that my tuning problems weren't because of the crappy tuners (even though they were VERY crappy), but because the neck wasn't finished/sealed properly, which would make it induce warpage over time, and because the truss rod was too tight and far down in the cavity to even be adjusted properly. They told me I needed to unstring it, take the neck off and clear coat it with many coats, and bring the whole pile of junk back to them to do a nut cut, redrill for the string tree (my fault), and proper set up. All this would run me at least $250, excluding the cost of the clear coat and other materials I'd need to buy. This is a very fair guitar store that broke the news to me honestly that this $75 kit was basically worthless. I half expected as much, so it didn't bother me - you get what you pay for. I wanted to learn how a Strat was put together, and that's what I got....

I immediately went home and unstrung it and took apart the neck (with tuners/string trees still attached) and threw it away. I'm now in the process of receiving shipment of Grover tuners and a Fender replacement Clapton/V-style maple neck - all for about $120. Counting the $75 I spent on the original ax (only to keep the body and electronics), I will have a custom "Clapton" Strat for less than $200. I'll post another review of the guitar with the new neck and tuners installed in a few weeks...I just wanted to present my story and one alternative of keeping at least part of what you pay for when you get a shitty Saga kit.

where was it made ? probably in japan, not sure. what year? your guess is as good as mine. made of solid bass-wood, and pretty damm solid. 1 volume, 2 tone controls, 3 single coil pickups, 5 way switch. (a strat-in-a-box basically). neck is made of maple, with rose wood finger board. not sure if it's actually rose wood though. the headstock is a big paddle, and you gotta cut your own design into it. i used a jig-saw, with a blade that had 10 teeth per inch. all i did was to cut the headstock at an angle to mirror the top angle. i didn't feel brave enough to try and cut the strat design into it. file and sand the cut, and your done. BEFORE you cut the headstock, install the last tuner. mark the screw hole, or outer edge of the tuner with a pencil. be sure you leave enough meat at the end of the headstock so that the tuner can be screwed in. i almost cut mine too short. body and neck came primed with a clear sealer, and is pretty stable. this is a strat copy, but i do not think the pickguard is exactly the same. the trem. seems to be ok, but i haven't tried it yet. the tuners that they give you totally suck. throw em away and get some decent ones. the neck feels like a strat, and surprisingly, plays pretty fast. i used some axe wax on the fingerboard to slicken the frets up. they give you a cable, but it belongs in the garbage can. they do give you an allen wrench for the strut rod (you will need it despite the instructions), and an allen wrench for the saddles. putting the trem. springs on is a trick in itself. to make it easy, screw the spring claw screws all the way in, and take them back out (without the claw attatched). now, screw the spring claw in, but not all the way. leave it very loose (only screw in the screws about 1/4 of the way) now carefully hook the springs into the trem, and onto the claw. (you will not be able to stretch the spings and get them hooked if you screw the claw all the way in). once the 3 spings are hooked into the trem, and onto the claw, screw in the spring claw screws to pull the springs tight. screw in the screws a little at a time, don't tighten one and them the other. alternate between screws so the pressure stays even.

i mostly play blues, and 50's rock. this guitar sounds pretty damm good despite the cheap pickups. i use alot of reverb, and chorus, which helped fatten up the sound. i play through a crate gfx 30 amp, and the guitar does scream pretty good when it's overdriven, but the sound is not as "fat" as it should be. do yourself a favor, and cut the "snap together connectors off, and solder the wires together. the connectors suck.

set-up ? what set-up. preset truss rod ? that's damm near impossible. nothing is adjusted, you gotta set it up yourself. the neck and body fit together like a glove on mine, and i didn't have to sand anything . the fit was tight, and precise. all holes were drilled, except for the ones in the headstock for the tuners, and string trees.
the nut is plastic, and i didn't have to file it at all. all in all, this area was very good on the kit that i received. double check to make sure all of the holes are drilled, and that they line up before you start to paint or assemble it. the body is made of 3-4 peices of wood glued together. the seams were pretty visible, but there were no knots in the wood. this one could have been clear coated, and buffed.
alot of people have said that they had problems with the screws breaking. i didn't run into that problem. all screws were ok, and went in like they are supposed to. if you decide to paint the body, don't forget to mask off the pocket where the neck screws onto the body.

i don't know how durable it is. i just finished it and haven't thrown it around yet. it seeme like it could withstand quite a beating, but i don't plan on throwing it on the ground. the hardware is cheap, but it should be ok for awhile. the chrome is a bit thin. as for the finish, you gotta finish it yourself. you can leave it as is, clear coat the sealed wood, or paint it. i chose to paint mine. now don't think i'm a goofball or anything, but i painted mine with krylon sun yellow spray paint. (yes, krylon. at $2.26 a can, why not?) i sprayed a couple of good coats of krylon gray primer on it, and sanded before painting the base color. i went out on a limb, and tried something off the wall. after spraying about 5 coats of the yellow paint, i put a coat of opal spray glitter (from the craft department at wal-mart) over the paint. then, i put 8 coats of krylon chrystal clear over that. let it dry fot a week, and wetsanded the finish to remove the roughness, and orange-peel. after wetsanding, i used 3-m fine cut rubbing compound, and rubbed it out by hand. with the spray glitter in between the yellow and the clear , it looks as if the yellow paint has the flakes in it. i would compare it to a sparkle finish found on some dan-electro guitars. you gotta let the light hit it just right to see all of the sparkles though. the sparkles are not overbaring the color, and are kind of hidden. it worked out good. take the time to wet-sand, and buff out the finish by hand, and you'll get a professional looking finish for alot less money. using krylon may not have been the best way to paint this thing, but i don't have a spray gun, or an air compressor. i didn't want to dump a ton of money into a paint job. i couldn't find bright yellow in automotive laquer paint that came in a spray can. the krylon acts just like laquer, heck, it just might be laquer. i have some painting experience, so i knew what to do from the star as far as how to spray the paint, and how to finish it once the clear was dry.

what?

i don't consider myself a musician, but i've "messed around" with guitars for about 15 years. i also own a vintage kay swing-master electric hollowbody. if this saga were stolen or lost, i would buy another one. i didn't run into any problems while putting it together. it was simple, everything went together like it should have, all parts were included, and it was fun to build. i love the finish...only because it came out better than expected. for the $$, you can't beat it. i looked at a few guitars that this compaired to , but they were alot more money.
besides, i wanted the experience of assembling a guitar. it's not like you really build anything, because 80% of it is done for you before you even get it. you get to be creative by cutting the headstock, and finishing the body. total assembly time was about 30 minutes. set-up time was about 45 minutes to an hour. you will have to adjust the strut rod, no matter what the instructions say. the frets will buzz, and you will have to be patient during the set-up.
all in all, it was well worth the money, and fun to build. i think i'll get another one just for the hell of it, and paint it krylon orange, with the glitter and clear. all in all, i would say that the guitar i got is one of the better kits from saga. reading some of the other reviews proves that some are good, and some are bad. buying one of these kits is a gamble. you could get lucky like i did and get a good one, or you could get a total pile of junk. roll the dice and see what you get.

Made in 2002. Ordered in late 2002 and arrived in January 2003. Made in Korea, though Saga is out of San Francisco. 24 frets - typical Strat neck. Solid finished basswood body; I chose to leave mine unpainted because I like the natural look - and because I wanted to PLAY it! Two tone/one volume, floating tremolo bridge, S/S/S pickups...do I really need to go on? Just know that it's Saga's Strat kit. Slightly above average for features.

Sound...I've had one night to test this baby out. The pickups in mine are average to very good. Not excellent, but certainly not shit. The 2 and 4 hum-cancelling positions work really well. Sounds like a Strat. Not much you can ask for in the $75 department. I'm taking this guitar to get a proper setup, and the tuners could be slightly better, which would improve the overall sound. I'm taking off two points for these deficiencies.

Action: so-so. I don't trust myself with a truss rod mainly, much less Strat bridge saddles (I'm used to Les Pauls and got this as a cheap second guitar in case my Paul breaks a string).

Fit and finish: amazing for what I paid. Very good and in-the-pocket. I was really pleasantly surprised at how tight this guitar feels after some of the bad reviews on here made it sound like '50s novelty Elvis toy guitar.

I noticed a problem with the tuners that had to do less with open strings and power chords being played, than with open chords, strangely enough. So there seems to be a slight problem with the neck at the 2-4 fret area, which I'm hoping a decent setup will fix. The tuners themselves seem to be fine - no worse than a Mexi Strat I owned and Squiers I've tried. Durability I really can't comment on as I've owned in little more than a day, but, again, it has the quality of somewhere between a low-end MIM Strat and a mid to high-level Squier.

Virtually none. Heed the other reviews here and just visit your local dealer and/or luthier.

I will defend the Saga - an amazing deal for the money. If you want to know how a Strat works, want to build a "Franken-Strat," need a low-cost second ax, or just want a cool woodworking experience, I would recommend this guitar. If you want an electric that plays great from the get-go and don't have at least a fair amount of patience, don't bother.

everything comes in pieces so you can part out what you dont want and buy stuff to fix it up before you even put it all together. saved time and money. $60 Bought a used strat neck off ebay, got $20 gotoh tuners, and graphtec nuts for the nut & bridge.

stock pickups are squire quality. played live with it, i gotta good amp and it got by. enough said about that. I just bought SRV fender pickups to put in it, and it sounds like a $1200 strat. seriously.

dont be afraid to part out the crap parts in this kit and get what you really want. thats whats so cool about this kit!

I took a blow torch to the unfinished body to give the soft wood a relic touch on the outside. A bunch of (what seemed like) body putty started popping up at me. I think the body was set up for paint and not wood stain. So i torched the outside, stained the middle rustic orange, and stained the outside ebony. didnt put any varnish on it whatsoever. i want it to wear. The stain really didnt soak in well so it looks like its been beat up and sitting in a window for 50 years... I like it, but not what i expected.
the action is good, i put it together and had my luthier set it all up for like $30, well worth the $$. All things considered it have around $300 into it!

I never broke a string with it because I bought of the $12 graphite nut and $40 graphtec saddle. most dependable guitar for not breaking strings! GET RID OF THE STOCK ONES. THEY SUCK. get this kit and fix it up...

With my SRV pickups and fender replacement neck, its the fender strat i never had. You really need to take advantage if this deal if you want to build your own strat that sounds like a thousand dollar guitar, but you want to beat the HELL out of it.

look, its everything i expected. it came with a mahogany neck, i put a maple one on it. I took the crap pickups out and put in SRV ones. I put my own finish on it. It looks & sounds like an relic strat. I can beat it up without worrying about its value going down.

My suggestion is if you wanna build your own strat buy this kit and throw another $160 into it. it will go a long way!

Standard Strat features with really cheapo tuners (throw them away and get yourself some replacements). Pick-ups are surprisingly quiet and produce fairly good sound. Body wood is soft so watch out, dents easily! Neck is paddle shaped so you can cut your own headstock - this was one of the most fun thing to do in this kit but cutting it using a coping saw needs lots of patient and strength. You do your own spraying - remember to get proper auto spray paint.

Overall, for something as cheap as this, you shouldn't expect too much but it was definitely fun putting the whole thing together. You want a proper guitar, try the more expensive options or buy the parts individually and fix one up. This is a starter's kit and for what you pay, IMO, it's a great deal!

I hooked it up to a transistor amp and the sound was pretty good - a bit thin but sweet and bright. Not much difference between this kit guitar and most of the Strat copies I've tried. The wiring may be a bit of a suspect as switching pickups produces electrical "clicks". The stock pickups I have are working fine so won't be changing them just yet. Please change the tuning keys - they are totally crap!

Run it thru the overdrive and this guitar can really scream. My neighbours weren't impressed and I felt like throwing the tuners at them.

I have to give this part a really low score as mine came without holes from the jack to the main pickup cavity and from the spring claw cavity. Drilling the holes myself was not much of a problem but it should have been done properly at the factory!

My neck fits well to the neck cavity but the action was way too low and every string either buzz like mad or simply sits on the fret! Setting up and tuning was a real bugger but after lots of hard work, managed to get it to "scream". The bloody cheapo tuners look real ugly and you should throw them away (I've said that already?). Rest of the hardware seems fine. Hey, you only pay $79, so don't ask for the sky!

Live playing? Better use it as a backup's backup.

The finish I put on the guitar was with some cheapo spray lacquer and it sure as hell won't last too long -already got dents, scraps and cuts all over. I blame it on the paint, not my handywork.

The strap buttons came without felts, I made my own. In terms of hardware, they should last for a while but the tuners...... I don't gig, I just like to annoy my neighbours.

The Saga website is a dead link. I don't think they'll deal with you even if you can get thru to them.

I've been playing since my early school days and I own an Aria TA-40 semi-hollow body - it's a really beatiful and well made guitar. I'm building a Santana PRS copy at the moment and the Saga Kit was just for fun. I wouldn't buy this kit again if it were stolen as buying all the parts individually and building a guitar from scratch is a lot more fun (but more expensive).

I like this Saga kit 'cos it was cheap and easy and fun. I didn't have any high expectations and hence, it was a really nice surprise that such a cheapo guitar can sound this good. At the price of a decent pickup, you should not complain too much about this kit.

Buying a guitar is not the same as making one your own. Whatever the price, quality or looks, if you like making your own guitars, you should be proud of each and every one you make.

2002 build it yourself Kit. Strat copy. Don't know where it was made ... so wherever they got this thing it was made on a Friday by a guy stoned out of his mind with no quality concerns and looking to get to the bar early.

Standard strat hardware ...

Horrendous out of the box. What can I say ...

Very noisy, even for a strat. So I opened it up and shielded the body cavity, and did the guitarnuts.com ritual for reducing hum.

Whoever soldered this thing ... was not the most skillful artisan ...

Action was below standards (and I have low standards). The nut was cut wrong for starters. Had to break out the trusty dental floss to stop the buzz at the first fret on the high E. Next, there was a noticeable buzz all up and down the neck. This was unfixable since the truss rod was not anchored ... oops. The buzz was from the truss rod boinging around inside the routed cavity on the neck. Very difficult to fix a bow in the neck when the truss rod aint attached.

The finishing job - well, what can I say. The wood looked pretty good. However, they had the thing so covered with some sealing crap that anything other than laquer paint was unusable. Nothing was getting into that grain. Stain will not penetrate that crap so if you want to do a sunburst finish or a translucent stain ... don't waste your time and money since it just dribbles harmlessly off the coating.

On a positive note, the routing and the drilling were dead on correct.

This kit was a piece of crap from the beginning. The neck was crap and unusable. The bridge pickup was dead and could not be repaired. I put a multimeter to it and the winding somewhere inside has a break. Since I do not feel like unwinding 20 miles of 43 guage wire ... I just trashed it and got an old single coil I had in the house. The pots and switches were noisy and had to be replaced.

When all was said and done ... the guitar I ended up building had only the pickguard, and 2 pots. I definitely feel stupid for buying this kit.

I called them. They said they would send a replacement switch and pickup ... never got it. I

I have been playing for over 20 years. Have owned many guitars over the years. Gibson Black Beauty LP, Takamine Acoustic, Gibson Archtop Acoustics. A recent visit from mister thief deprived me of any guitars ... so currently I own crap. Now the guy who stole my collection ... he has some damn good axes!

I gave this kit a shot. Wasted my money ... sigh. Suggest you buy a cheap Strat knock off or purchase the parts on your own. I ended up purchasing a new body, a new neck, a pot for volume, a selector switch, and recycling a pickup.

You are better off not using a saga kit, but buying a do-it-yourself guide and purchasing the parts yourself. I paid little - I got less.

See the other reviews....no change here

Surprisingly good - first time I got it wired up I was pleasantly surprised by the spanky Strat tones from this thing. I have a set of Van Zandts I was planning to install, but I may hold off for a while.

Overall action was disappointing - the first neck I recieved had a pronounced backbow, and a very loose neck-body fit, to the extent that it was unplayable. Got a replacement (eventually) from the EBay vendor, and while the body/neck joint is much better, the neck heel is too deep - strings are touching the fretboard where the neck meets the body. However, looks fixable, I'll find out in the next couple of days.

Body and neck were both sealed and sanded to quite a high standard.

The hardware is better than I expected, but not great - it's only intended to be a backup guitar and tinkering platform in any case.

No experience with Saga, but my dealer did replace a faulty neck

BIG RULE - DON'T buy this kit if you want instant gratification - you can't just bolt it together and expect it to be as playable as a store-bought instrument. You WILL have to spend time tweaking, adjusting and even woodworking to get it into a playable condition.

Still, for $89 it's not bad at all - I've played worse guitars that cost far more

Purchased in Jan. 2002 so it's probably 2001 or 2000, Korean, I think. 21 frets, standard strat 5-way switch, volume and two tone controls. 3 single coil P/U's. Body is sealed basswood, neck is maple with rosewood fretboard. String through tremolo bridge.

Finally got it fully assembled and have gotten some good sounds out of it. Rock and blues for me. There's greater variety in the pickup sounds than my 1987 Japanese Squier Strat. I play through a Roland Blues Cube with a standard Wah pedal, chorus and distortion. Good sound for the money.

Since it's a kit there's very little done at the factory. Once I had it put together I knew that I needed to file the nut a bit and tweak the truss rod a touch. But I didn't have any neck/pocket fit problems. In fact, my neck is incredibly well finished. I'm used to cheap imports having poorly constructed necks with lots of burrs and this thing was smooth as butter. After reading the reviews I didn't want to risk the neck screws so I got a StewMac neckplate and screws. I added washers to the strap buttons and I upgraded to Fender Standard Tuning Machines and I know it was worth it. Assembly of the kit itself was easy, and I decided not to rewire it yet because it doesn't really need it. I shielded the cavities and the noise reduction is noticable. The body was nicely sealed, but I should've sanded it better as I ended up with some sandthroughs of my final finish due to an uneven original surface. I used ReRanch Nitrocellulose laquer aerosols to finish it in surf green with a deep shiny clearcoat. Cost: $50. Until Kramer brought out their recent surf green Pacers this was the cheapest way to get a surf green guitar. I cut the headstock in a traditional Fender profile and added my own decal. FUNDADA Surfcaster. I did a lot of work to make this look nice and it has paid off.

It still needs some work to get to live playing condition (and so do I...) The original hardware was cheap and would've been a problem eventually. The upgrades cost me all of $40 (I love you eBay). My finsih is Nitro so it's going to be hard as a rock but eventually mellow in color and shrink too far, but that's what I wanted. Eventually it will gig but I will have a backup.

The guys who sell it are very nice, Online Guitars. But I don't think there's any other customer support for the kits.

I've been playing poorly for 20 years. I own a 1987 Japanese Squier Strat, a 2000 Squier Standard Tele and a customized Johnson Tele.

I will eventually buy more of these kits as I thoroughly enjoyed the finishing process and know that I can make some incredible works of art using these guitars as my canvas. It plays well enough for a kit and the upgrades toward substantial playability and durability are easy and affordable.

The stock p'ups aren't bad. They certainly don't sound like $100 ones, but they're okay. There is a hum at higher settings, but it's not bad either.

I had to shim the neck and where it meets the body is not a perfect fit. The slot on the body is too wide. Thus, the strings don't sit directly over the p'up magnets. I also had to file the nut down considerably. There were only 3 tremolo springs included w/mine, when there should have been 5. Still, the frets are nicely leveled and the body, while not premium, looks and responds to sound well for what it is.

The tuners aren't too bad, either.

I don't gig, but with some modifications, I would probably play this live w'out a backup.

N/A

This was a fun and eye-opening experience. From painting, to designing the headstock, to setting the intonation, I learned a lot about what makes an electric guitar work and the differences between premium gits and kit gits.

I love what putting this guitar together has taught me. It's also neat to have been able to put my own touches on it. Most impressive was the quality of the sound. I have been playing for nearly 15 years and this guitar, despite its flaws, sounds very nice. It has a pleasant ring and feel.

I, like others, would have liked better quality with the fit and hardware, but I wasn't really expecting too much, so I was surprised overall. This was and will continue to be, an enjoyable learning process. I really look forward to replacing the tuners and pickups and fixing the neck/body joint. For under $300 (with modifications)this will definitely make a fine addition to anyone's gear.

Buy one, be patient, and have fun with it! Great value for the price.

I was inspired to buy this thing because my friend owns an aircraft paint company and I wanted to finish a guitar with his products to bring to an airshow in June. There's alot of widely different opinions on this product on Harmony-Central, but let's be honest instead of rude. It's not crap. It's just not custom shop for sure and a few changes make a decent instrument. The body is basswood (something used in aircraft construction, by the way), the neck is maple/rosewood. The pickups ar Mexican clones, and the hardware except for the crummy tuners is about "Allparts" quality. The "sealer" which comes applied and leveled is of generous thickness and yields a decent base for paint. Mine came with an uncut headstock and I traced my friend's '74 for a big '70's strat look.

I replaced the cheap-os with two 70's vintage Fender P-U's and a Duncan blade at the neck position. Sound is very decent with these P-U's, I'm sure the Mexacali Chinese thingers would have been disappointing. I get all my fav Fender tones... two "quacks" and standard Strat neck and bridge. Not bad at all really. The "10" rating is definitely with my mods.

Well... I didn't break any screws! Put away the power drills with screw driver bits! I found a crack outside the nut on top of the rosewood when I replaced the plastic with bone. The electronic parts are identical to Mexican. The neck joint is good but not perfect, but nickely leveled in relation to the body. The neck and frets were surprisingly well leveled.

I don't intend to bounce it off the floor, but if I'm ever stoned at a performance and decide to smash and burn an axe, this is the one I'll hurt! I would use it on a gig because I put enough work into it to take it out of the "toy" category.

I have an expanding guitar collection including Godin, Fender, Gibson, Martin and more. This guitar is what it is and was actually fun to put together and paint. Don't think you're going to get a super zoot guitar but you can get a decent one with a little extra effort. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention I added mini Grovers for another 30 bucks. I give this category a '9' cause you couldn't build one from the ground up for the same investment with any quality at all. $89 wouldn't buy a Schaller bridge.

korean, just like the older squires...i work in a guitar shop and the pickups, tuners, and bridge look the same(exactly) as old squires. i think these sagas are made in the same factory by the same ppl that squires were(theyre now being made in indonesia). that being said they are not the same build quality as squire. they arent as nice!!

solid basswood, comes finished with sealer(smooth but not pretty) 25.5"scale, maple neck, rosewood fretboard,(ill talk about the neck later:) )

has the same features as a strat(but if the features arent the same quality do they get the same rating?)

sounds like a strat (with cheap-ass pickups and a !yack! basswood body) this is not my first guitar, my best guitar, the first guitar i put together, or the last guitar ill buy. ive got several amps and lots of effects, it doesnt sound great with any, it does sound good (for the price)FOR THE PRICE.

OK, this is the shitty part. several screws broke off while i was putting them into the guitar. tuning machine screws and pickguard screws(thank god none of the neck screws broke)

SAGA i know youre not a top of the line manufacturer, but you can afford screws that dont fucking break! you should be ashamed, if the screws were decent the guitar would feel a bit better than it is, but the screws fucking suck! several stripped out while i was putting it together by hand. and some of the holes didnt even match up with parts(pickguard again).

the neck. it has a very strange contour. if you look at the back of the neck you can see the fretboard wood on each side. with a standard strat-style neck the sides of the fretboard should be almost square with the top surface. it feels like the neck was put together, then cut. not cut, then put together. so anyway it feels wierd.

the neck joint is bad too, not wobbly or anything that bad, just a big ole gap in there. i really dont care, im not interested in sound as much as you might be, this is a plaything for me.

i guess you get what you pay for.

ive been playing like 10-12-14 yrs. im not sure ive slept since then. i would never use this guitar for anything onstage(as it comes) with some new hardware, neck, bridge, electronics, and possibly body i would consider it. in other words nothing on this guitar is stageworthy. its just a toy.

use it around the house or loan it to a new player to learn on.

ive got many other guitars fenders, gibsons, and guilds.

if you decide to buy this guitar before you sit down to put it together take ALL your nuts and bolts to the hardware store and have them replace them. you will thank yourself(and me!)

the one cool thing is you can paint it yourself. i wish fender and gibson would offer their guitars unfinished so you can get out the paints and drugs and have a good time. for seventy bucks you can afford to paint it and not be out too awful much money.

2002 model. Solid basswood. Standard Strat setup. Pickups are comparable to the American Standard Strat. Solid maple neck. Nice bridge, also comparable to the American Standard Strat. TUNERS SUCK!! I didn't even bother to install them. Very nice neck with medium to jumbo frets. I rate this section a 7 just because of the crappy tuners. If it came with die-cast sealed tuners, it would rate a 10.

I play 60's/70's rock and blues, some jazz. The pickups put out very nice tone. I play through a 1966 Kalamazoo amp, all tube. Pickups are as noisy as the American Standard Strat, less noise than the Mexican. Middle pickup is reverse wound for hum cancelling in 2 and 4 positions. I rewired as outlined at www.guitarnuts.com. Highly recommended.

Guitar was easily setup. No problems. Perfect intonation. The nut was too high from the factory, easy to fix. Low action. I leveled and polished the frets when I got it. The 7th and the 13th thru 17th frets were a bit high on one end, but the rest were very nice. Not really that noticable unless you're going to very low action. Basswood is very dense, but also soft. Be carefull screwing in screws, they strip easily. The neck fit perfectly and is very comfortable. No problems with the neck bolts. The fretboard is very nice. This guitar is very comparable to the Fender American Standard at 1/8th the price. Pots are clean, and the switch is nice. Nice saddle and pick guard. The only thing bad is the tuners. I finished it with auto enamel, turquiose blue, like on the old T-birds.

Like I said, basswood is soft. I don't plan on doing a lot of screwing and unscrewing. But it's a solid guitar. I would gig with it.

I've played guitar for 20 years. I've had Fender Strats from Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, and American. This is almost as good as the American Strat. Worth every penny of the $89. Would definately buy again, in fact I just might buy another! I picked up a decent set of sealed tuners for $25, keeps perfect tune.

This is a Fender Stratocaster-type kit guitar. I think it is Korean-made, with 21 medium frets, 3 single coil pickups, 1 volume and 2 tone controls, 5-way pickup selector, maple neck with rosewood fretboard, sealed and perfectly sanded body ready for finishing, vintage strat-style tremolo system, and 6 in-line tuners. Basically, it has everything you need to produce a relatively decent guitar. I cannot think of any features that it should have, but doesn't.

I play almost anything, but mainly classic rock and classic country. I have been using it with a silverface Fender Bassman 100 tube amp head, a homemade 2x12 speaker cabinet, a Danelectro Tuna Melt tremolo pedal, and an Ibanez TS7 tube screamer. It sounds about as good as any Fender Squier instrument I've heard, and the pickups are relatively quiet--I'd say about as quiet as the average single coil. You can get less hum by using the neck or bridge pickup together with the reverse-wound middle. I have never gigged before, so I don't know about live situations, but it suits what I do very well.

The neck and body are beautifully shaped, sanded, and sealed. I cannot think of any way it could be improved in this regard. Also, the action is really nice and low, and the guitar plays like a dream. I would have given this product an all-out 10 for action, fit and finish, were it not for the fact that I could not intially get the neck to seat down properly, and the neck screws were so weak that one of them broke, leaving a piece in the body. It all turned out okay, only after I took it to a shop to get the broken shank extracted, the neck properly set, and new, stronger neck screws installed. Also, the tremolo bridge is an excessively tight fit against the pickguard, and I had trouble getting it to seat in properly, and the tuners, though workable, are not that great. If you want to improve this guitar, I recommend installing better tuners.

It seems quite reliable enough, and I suspect it will stand up to live playing. The strap buttons are good and solid. As to durability, the neck and body should be quite durable. The only possible durability issue I see is that the chrome on the hardware seems really thin, and scratches easily.

I never have had to deal with the company, thankfully.

I have been playing both bass and guitar for about 4 years. This is basically an economy guitar kit, and for what it is, it is a very good value. Yes, the hardware is cheap, and the fit and finish out of the box isn't that great, but once you get it assembled correctly, it plays well, and sounds about as good as any economy guitar. If you want something better than an economy guitar, get something else. If this guitar were stolen, I would certainly buy another one, because for the moment, it is all I can afford, being a poor college student. :-)

Not much in this department, basic strat goodies. It came unfinished and sealed, I chose to leave mine as is. Three single-coils. They all sound great, but I plan on replacing the bridge pickup with a SD Quarter-Pounder. The tuners are good enough to stay in tune when I dive with the tremolo. I removed the plastic peice on the tremolo and shortened the bar. Now I can comfortably use it while strumming. I had to carve the head stick to my liking, see as it came as a big square. The neck is nice, but I had to sand the heel to make it fit in the neck pocket.

My setup is:
Custom Guitars > Morley Overdrive > Modified Crybaby > Morley PWA Wah > Boss DS-1 > Danelectro EQ > Marshall JCM-800 with 1meg tone pots. The pickups are a wee bit noisy, but otherwise very good. Nice rice sound in all positions.

Yeah, for about $100 you can "build" your own strat.
I took mine out of the box and in 20 minutes I was playing it.
There's no building to it! Just like the old snap together car models!
These guitars make good guinea pigs, test beds for new pickups or new colors or just for practice or beginners. They are not toys, but they are not professional instruments. I can't see upgrading the pickups, bridge, tuners or anything else when you could put the upgrade cash with the $100 you started with and buy a nice, "real" guitar. Even a Johnson or Turser stratocopy will blow the Saga kit away, and they are already assembled and painted. I bought a Saga kit out of curiousity and sold it piece by piece a few days later. Look elsewhere! I'm not saying it isn't better than some of the thousands of cheap, junky plywood guitars out there, but there are better values.

I play everything from Bluegrass, Classical, and Blues to Texas Swing, John Cougar, and Malmsteen! The classic "Strat" arrangement, with it's 5 way switch and 3 single coils is probably the ultimate in flexibility of tone. But, the Saga kit quite frankly sounds weak, thin, and noisy, so it doesn't fit into anything I play.

Surprisingly, my guitar's bridge was nearly dead on intonation! I fiddled with the action a while and got the thing to really "shred". Likewise, the pickups were hight adjusted nearly perfect for a guitar which could cover many different playing/musical styles. The wood on my particular guitar was very unatractive and the routing was quite sloppy, but no worse than some of the 80's super strats that sold for hundreds of dollars. In another time, the Saga kit would've been a welcome sign of value and sanity, but today with all the quality work coming from Korea and even China, it is a bit overpriced for what it is.

I would not trust the snap together connections to play through one single song at a gig. NO WAY!

I've been playing for nearly 15 years, have owned nearly every guitar out there from a Synsonics Terminator to Parker Flys and custom Warmoth Screamers. Enough about the Saga. BUY A DAMN PEAVEY!!!!
Peavey guitars are the most under-rated, under-priced guitars in the world!! Always have been, probably always will be. And I ain't talking about a Wolfgang either! Try an old Impact or the unbelievable Cropper Classic! Bring back the Generation and Odyssey, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

Made in 2000, wood is cheep Basswood and not well cut poor detail. had to do a lot of work to piece it together. Basically it is junk not worth the time or effort needed to make a decent playing and looking guitar, also the body and neck couldn?t stand up to normal playing over time basically just Junk. sorry Saga just telling it like it is {Junk}. I?ve made only a hand full of guitars over the years and thank I have some Ideal of what quality wood and parts are.

Like a cheap kids toy guitar? Junk.

I made it the best it coule be but still it's junk.

Junk?? Junk, Please don't waste your Time or at least your money.

This is a kit guitar. Very heavy body,(basswood or alder), three standard single coils, unfinished body, all aplicable hardware and screws. Neck is maple. Standard vintage style bridge. Med Frets. Quite easy to put together. Came with allen wrenches for bridge and truss rod. It was short and tuner screws, pickguard screws, and had no strap button felts. I chose to buy genuine fender neck plate bolts because of poor reviews here. All these item can be purchased via web or local dealer.

Pickups are ok. I replaced middle and bridge with alnico ones. New bridge pickup was DEAD, so stock went back in. I recommend shielding this as you assemble. See Stewmac.com. I am using this primarily with a zoom 505II and unamplified. Good unaplified sound. Dense body helps.

Nut was cut fine, action was ok although I needed to adjust truss rod some. One bad fret on g string at 13th fret. 14th is buzzing. I sanded it alittle with 600 and then 1000 grit. It's better. The book recommends Spray laquer from a parts store with clear over the top. I use transparent blue. It looks good, but is quite fragile. When summer come around I will repaint with automotive enamel in a vintage color as I have a compressor.

I find this thing very durable. Nice resonance.

What support. Instruction basically say go buy anything you're missing.

I have been paying for 28 years on and off. This guitar compares to a new mexican strat at 1/3 price.

like the other reviews say, cheap tuners (they work, but not well), solid construction, REALLY weak screws for the neck, and pickups that work but arent the greatest thing in the world (sss)

it fits into what i want to play for the most part. ive been getting into playing punk a lot more, but it doesnt sound quite right trying to play ska strokes on it..the thing hums quite a bit, but the reverse wire humbucker trick is very noticable when you use it, it works and gives a cleaner sound then. i blew out the cheap little amp- one of those tiny practice ones, so it now lines through that to my computer's highly superior sound system (altec lansing asc54w). sounds better coming out of that then it did with the little amp. it sounds nice clean, has a real feel to it i think- overdriven you lose a lot of the tone, but thats to be expected somewhat, still sounds good, its a nice sound that id take to a stage and its cheap, what more can you ask for? free cookies?

I only had to adjust the saddles once i got mine assembled and it didnt need much else done to it action-wise, the nut was fine for me, unlike what some other people have said. theres little fret-buzz and im content with it.

finish was the big part of the construction. when i first got it, i went and picked up a few cans of car spraypaint (nitrocellulose) and did a dark blue sunburst on it. looked nice, but it wasnt shiny at all. (had several clear coats on it) so my friend had me invest in shellac which pretty much ruined it in my mind. so after i broke the strings i was playing with i took the thing apart again and got more paint. just the blue. this time i did several coats of primer (even though it was already sealed) then did multiple coats of blue, each coat had a day of drying time with it. after i had it the rich blue color i was looking for i asked a friend of my father's who does a lot of woodwork what he would suggest to do for it and so i went with spar urethane (marine grade) and that worked, almost exactly how i wanted it. so i gave that a close call and gave up waiting on it to be immaculate. i cant have everything look like it was crafted by god.

i ordered mine off ebay and i was expecting the one with the precut headstock but it wasnt so i struggled with getting it cut for a while. my tip here, dont follow the instructions saying that it will be cut with a coping saw- take it to a bandsaw or something and it will save a lot of time and look a lot better.

id take this thing live with me, its my guitar, having put all this work into it its like my baby. the tuners really need replacing, i just havent gotten around to doing it yet. otherwise, the rest of the hardware feels solid, works well. my finish has didnt work exactly as i wanted it, i picked at a spot on it and it started peeling- whoops. otherwise, it would put up to a decent beating. i havent had many problems with the strap, i havent had any problems with it that make me think i couldnt depend on having it without a backup.

havent talked to them, probably never will. unless anyone is paying me, ill call them for what, 5 bucks? any takers?

ive been playing for about a year, i started with acoustic and have used this strat as like a transition instrument into electric. im already planning to pick up a les paul in the near future to make my primary, but if someone tried to steal my guitar, id kick off their head and suck out their soul. i love how its exclusively mine, there isnt one exactly like it, but thats also a sorta bad thing as nobody trusts a self-built guitar to live up to something that fender or someone kicked out. i wish it had room cleaning feature (i live in such a mess). so in conclusion, listen to what the other people have said about the strong and weak points, you really shouldnt even use the neck's screws (the bolt) as they suck extreme, 2 of the 4 of mine stripped and almost ruined my project. eat your vegetables, mind your parents, and stay in school.- overall opinion - good bang for the buck, but that bang can cause a few headaches.- pack some aleve, the pain medication that actually works.

This is by far the best deal and value I have got in a do it yourself strat clone. I bought this of ebay for $90.00 including shipping and handling. I already had the paint, "Du-Pont chromabase 1996" surf green. The vintage fender paint reborn in a non-lacquer formula. This thing was already sealed, but I still primed it with a good Du-Pont sealer primer. By the way if you want a vintage strat look you better buy Du-Pont auto-paint, because this is the paint Fender has used since the 50's. You can find it at your local professional auto paint shop. Anyway back to the guitar. After I sanded the final color coat I put a really thick clear coat, and the thing looks identical to a fender strat with the pre-cut identical strat copy headstock. I trashed the stock pickups and added some seymour duncan quarter-pound strat pickups, and bought a fender roller nut for $18.00, and some fender locking tuners for $40.00, and I believe that made the biggest difference. This thing feels and looks identical like a fender US or Japan made strat now, and I must say I had to spend about $80 bucks more into it, but it was well worth it. If anyone needs help with the paint or anything else drop me a line.