DIY TL Lefthand Style Electric Guitar Kits with Mahogany Body and Maple Neck - Maple Fingerboard and All Components Included (TL Lefthand)

Quality of fabrication is very poor. Neck is not a perfect fit to the body ( lose and has free play All directions). Deep scratches on the body and visible impurity on fret board top wood. Returning the item

Here's a corrected version: "They sent me two by accident, and I accidentally botched the first one with spray paint. They also applied varnish to the mahogany, making it hard to add a stain. It’s not perfect. I replaced the pickups, and the soldering and assembly were a nightmare. However, it was so worth it in the end. Mine still needs some luthier work done, but it sounds amazing—probably my best-sounding guitar I own now. The guitar sustains like a beast and plays really easily too."

Style: TL Poplar. My kit arrived just a few hours ago and I've only had time to look it over quickly, so these are first impressions. I've owned expensive guitars for over fifty years, including Fenders, Ibanez and Aria. Lately I've had a casual hankering for a Tele, but not wanted to pay for a real one. Plus I enjoy making things. At £80, I took a punt, knowing it could be returned simply if no good. I'm impressed. Everything you need is in the box. Everything! The body is well routed and drilled accurately. A few rough edges to the internal cross-drilling that are easy to tidy up. The maple neck looks good and so far I have only found one fret that will need a little attention. The fit of the neck to the body is superb. (I think they selectively match the necks and bodies for fit as the both have the same code written on them.) Tuners seem 'OK' - nothing special but I expect they will work just fine. Controls are silky-smooth. The wood is nice enough to use a simple oil and wax finish so I'm going to do that rather than paint the body. Remains to be seen if I get the magic 'twang' but from what have seen so far I am hopeful. With a little care during the finish and build, I think this will turn into a respectable, fun instrument. At £80, what's not to love?

Because the body has a clear finish you have to sand it right back to get it take a stain or ally paint. The strings they supply are not good but you expect that. Other wise for the money it's excellent value. Does need a lot of adjustment to get rid of string buzz, and you should upgrade the pickups. Nice to set copper shielding included

Bought this for my son and he loved putting it together and now it's his favorite guitar to play

This was a pretty fun guitar to build. I always wanted a semi-hollow LP style guitar. I chose this kit because it was reasonably priced, knowing I would upgrade some of the components. Good points: the kit came quickly; all the parts were included and nicely laid out in the packaging; the maple veneer was nicely figured and bit thicker than I expected (though still thin - be careful when sanding); the neck fit the body perfectly; the pre-drilled holes were straight and the bridge pieces fit without adjustments; there were no high frets and no obvious sprout; and the dye I used (Angelus denim) took really well. Less good points: there were no instructions included and none I could find online; there was quite a bit of glue residue on the body that needed to be sanded off; the stock pickups and tuners were just terrible, but I expected that and got replacements I am happy with; what I didn't expect was how poor the so-called solderless wiring was: the pots were wired backwards (the audio taper pots were wired as tone, and vice-versa) and the wires were badly insulated, causing plenty of short circuits. So plan to use your own pots and wires and to do some basic soldering. Overall I am very happy with the result and would recommend this kit as a project, but go in with your eyes open. If this is your first build, it may be a bit frustrating.