G'day, fellas!!

[corsair]

New on this board but been active on other boards for many years! I've never built my own guitar from scratch but have rescued many worthy planks from the scrap bin....

... from this, started when I had shifted and was living in the UK...



to this, finished after we moved to Australia...



and another....



to this, a tribute to the Aussie infantry on Bougainville 1944/45..



They are both old Matsumoku guitars and are both eminently usable, as are all of my mucked about guitars!

If you want to see any more, just ask and I'll put up a photo essay in the appropriate section!

Looking forward to meeting new bods and getting new ideas as I'm a touch jaded with guitars right now; sort-of looking at building a twin neck a la Dave Mustaine but we'll see...

OK.. I have a question which I'll post in another thread... see you there!!

[WeirdBits]

Welcome along. From your avatar it appears you're a fan of the more exotic shapes.

[Dedman]

welcome Corsair. Interesting axes, I like the unusual stuff.

[corsair]

Thanks for the welcome, fellas, and yes; I am a fan of those particular guitars! They're an Aria Pro II U-60 Urchin, a Westone Raider II, an Electra XV-1 Lady and a Vantage Invader II, left to right, all Matsumoku guitars from the early 80S and all but the Vantage restored from basket cases.

[stan]

Welcome to the madness.
Nice work on that cracked body, some cool and different axes there

[Andy40]

G'day Corsair. glad to have you on board

[corsair]

Welcome to the madness.
Nice work on that cracked body, some cool and different axes there

Thanks for the welcome, and it's a madness I'm familiar with.... and comfortable with, to boot!!

That guitar wasn't just cracked... it had snapped into two pieces across the control cavity!!

[Dedman]

That guitar wasn't just cracked... it had snapped into two pieces across the control cavity!!

that's caused by "doing a Townsend" I think LOL

[corsair]

Even breathing heavily on that control deck would cause damage; the wood atop the cavity was but 3/16ths of an inch thick!! Lord knows why it was routed quite so deep but I shaped a piece of 3 ply to the exact contours of the cavity and glued it in with Cascamite as both a reinforcement and positioning piece and clamped the living daylights out of it!

[corsair]

Rightio, you blokes.... I've been sneaking about the site looking at the kits and wondering which one appeals to me the most as a prospective build and, for my sins, I keep coming back to the Klein clone - or the Steinberger!

So, firstly, has anyone had a crack at this yet? Is there anything to be aware of, or wary of? Are hardware upgrades on this one advisable?

And two, just idly wondering why it is so much more expensive than anything else?