First Build - KH 1

[Old Dog]

Received my KH-1 kit yesterday. Everything looks great save a small divot on the finger board in first position under the high E. All of the routes seem good and positioned properly. There is just the right amount of wiggle in the neck pocket. Here's a pick of the dry build. Wish me luck.

[BJMtz]

Looks good. What's your plan for the finish? Since you're in the US too did yours come with a blackwood fingerboard?

[Fretworn]

Haven’t seen a build thread for one of these for a while. Be good to see it progress.

[FrankenWashie]

Its such an odd shaped thing, really interested to see how this goes.

[Fretworn]

Are you planning on doing the body contouring the Klein guitars usually have?

[Andyxlh]

Wow not seen one of these kits don ever before. Cool looking thing!

[Old Dog]

Body will be blue, still thinking about the back of the neck. The fingerboard looks like rosewood to me but that's a guess. Franken yeah it is an odd shape but I'm an acoustic guy who plays seated. When positioned on your left leg this gives me the correct angle without a foot stool. For this my first build, no body countouring just building the kit as simply as possible. This is an experiment to see if I like the ergonomics.

[Old Dog]

Finished up this little beast a while back but I've been tweaking the setup which I finished this AM. As a first time builder I gotta say I am extremely pleased with PB Guitars. Super-fast delivery, good communication, the Forums, online videos, tutorials and PDFs. All of the parts were finished quite well and while some may complain about inexpensive pickups and the faux Steinberger Bridge, I can report that the bridge works as you would expect and the tuners hold just fine. When I started my set up I found that a 1/32" shim in the neck pocket did the trick and the action is dialed in nice. Thank you PB!

I started this build for three reasons; 1.) What's the deal with the Klein body style? 2.) What are the +/- of tuners at the bridge? and 3.) Can I DIY an electric guitar kit? Because I'm an acoustic player I learned to play seated and utilize the classical seated position aided by a footstool. The KH-1 shape sits really nicely on my left knee with the neck positioned perfectly. So yeah...the body shape is definitely an advantage for folks who play seated. I like the tuners at the bridge because of much better balance to the instrument and you can quickly and easily fine tune.

The body was finished with a Miniwax Express Color (Indigo) wipe on stain and finish. Three coats with sanding between coats. It has a bit of a shine but it could use a poly topcoat. In retrospect I should have gone for a lighter color because of the black hardware and pick guard. Next time. The kit came with a 5-way switch so I used the wiring diagram for the SV-1 and SV-II and it works perfect. All in all a great project!

[FrankenWashie]

Great work Old Dog! How does it sound?

[Old Dog]

Great work Old Dog! How does it sound?

A lot better than I thought. Position 5, the bridge hum bucker is my fave tone. Just an in your face HB. Position 4 (bridge + middle) gives a nice Strat out of phase tone that works well for comping. I'm really pleased and have no intention to "upgrade" the pickups.