Saga PRS Kit

I've done two of the Saga kits, one of the LP knockoffs (for myself) and one of the ST style (for my mother), though I haven't painted the ST yet. The quality on them is kind of variable, which is to be expected on most any piece of inexpensive equipment I think. The neck on my LP is kinda funny, but I have it playing OK now. Definitely needed quite a bit of work on the nut (action was waayy to high out of the box) as well as lots of adjustment on the truss rod. The neck on the ST was nicer. As someone else stated, the poly sealer they put on the things makes it tough to do transparent finishes. I did mine as a stain first, followed by clear over the top, and it kinda worked, but it would definitely be better to mix the stain with lacquer and lacquer thinner, and then spray that mixture on. I keep thinking I should tear it down and repaint it again, now that I have somewhat of a clue what I'm doing. Maybe next summer... Got a few pics here: http://home.earthlink.net/~gmtarr although it looks a little different now. I replaced the chrome hardware with gold, and the black stuff with cream, fits better with the burst finish IMO. Actually I do have a pic of that here too: Anyways, if you want a good cheap guitar, I'd guess the Agiles are probably better (I have no experience w/ them, just know a few people here love 'em). If you want a fun project, the Saga is good, and will certainly be servicable when it's done, but by the time you get it the way you want it, you may have spent more than on an Agile... BTW, in my experience the wiring is total crap in Sagas. Also, the instructions on the LP were total crap. I threw them out when I noticed the diagram had three wires going to the switch, but in reality there were four wires on the switch. :roll:

TZ

Dude - I think that Lp looks awesome! That was a Saga kit?

For me this is strictly a hobby, so the money is somewhat irrelevant. I'm not looking to get a good cheap guitar for $99, if I end up spending $250 total that would be ok - the fun is in the project.

Couldn't I just sand off the sealer so I could apply a proper stain finish?

Good points on the PRS... I mean, the whole point would be to stain it so you could see the grain. If it is sealed, you really can't stain it?

Maybe the PRS kit is different, but I started with some really nice water-based stains from Stew-Mac on my tele kit. It was wipe on and wipe off. Too bad.

Dude - I think that Lp looks awesome! That was a Saga kit?

For me this is strictly a hobby, so the money is somewhat irrelevant. I'm not looking to get a good cheap guitar for $99, if I end up spending $250 total that would be ok - the fun is in the project.

Couldn't I just sand off the sealer so I could apply a proper stain finish?

Not on the tele kit, the wood quality was not good enough. The sanding sealer was very thick, and would have been a killer job to remove, then it would have to be replaced with a stainable sealer. I didn't try a spirit-based sealer. That might have worked, but I had a particular set of chemicals in mind -- water-based stain, nitro sanding lacquer, finally nitro lacquer coats. Changed over to black nitro after the water-based debacle. OTOH, I used the intended stain and nitro lacquers on a fresh piece of maple (lap steel) and that came out beautiful. Oh well.

I would call the seller to see if the LP and PRS kits are sealed differently, as they should have maple caps. Might very well be the case.

Dude - I think that Lp looks awesome! That was a Saga kit?
Thanks. 8) Yeah, that was a saga kit, but like I said, if you look at the way it is now, the only things left from the original kit are the body and neck... got a boxful of old parts in the closet.
For me this is strictly a hobby, so the money is somewhat irrelevant. I'm not looking to get a good cheap guitar for $99, if I end up spending $250 total that would be ok - the fun is in the project.
Then a Saga kit sounds about right, especially if you're not into the whole woodworking thing... The other option would be to pick up a body from Warmoth or Stew-Mac, a Mighty Mite neck, and round out everything else w/ parts from GF. That'd run you more than a Saga kit + upgrades, but probably end up w/ a better guitar.
Couldn't I just sand off the sealer so I could apply a proper stain finish?
You could, but from what I've heard, that crap is really painful to get off. It is extremely thick, I know that much. I'm not talking about just a little layer here, it's probably a good millimeter thick, and very tough. Good luck getting all that off without damaging the flame top... Anyways, I did my finish on top of the sealer and it worked OK. I used the alcohol based dyes from reranch, wiped on w/ a rag, then clear deft lacquer (spray can) on top. You have to be very careful to use THIN coats at first w/ the lacquer, as any drops will disturb the dye, since it can't really sink into the sealer junk like it's supposed to. Like I said, I think it would be better if you bought a bucket of lacquer, some lacquer thinner, and tinted the lacquer itself, then maybe use a preval unit or something to spray it on. When I did mine, I basically put myself in the mindset of "well, if I screw it up, I can always paint it black". ;) Doesn't hurt anything to try a more complicated finish though.

Oh, and I just looked back at the posts and realized you're talking about the tele kit... someone else was originally talking about the PRS kit I think. The tele kit doesn't have flamed top (the LP and PRS kits do), and the wood might not be nice-looking enough for a transparent finish. They're usually made up of multiple pieces of wood (ie you can see where the blocks start and end) which is a problem. It's kind of a crapshoot though, some of them look ok from the front, some of them don't.

TZ