This is ridiculous....

[corsair]

... or - more accurately - I'm ridiculous! Let me explain...

I've been on these boards now for nearly 2 years, and haven't to date, bought a kit. Yeah, yeah... I know...

... anyway, for some reason I cannot bring myself to pull the trigger on a kit, and there are a couple that blew my skirt up. I have always said that I need to have a finish sorted out in my head before I embark on a build, but that's a piss-poor excuse, isn't it?!

Now for the kicker...

... friend of mine in the US offered me a munted Westone Corsair GT for $US50 - understand that this has no hardware at all - and I bit his arm off. I'll need pickups, bridge, machines, electronics and some technical skill to fill the gaping great Kahler 2710 hole in the body to fit a Schaller Hannes - see the expenses ramping up?!? Lucy sure can, eh!! :-D
Shipping was a crippler, really, but, as a Westone geek from way back, I had to have it. It won't be restored to OEM specs but it will be - hopefully - a very versatile tone generator, and these 88/89 Westones had the sickest neck ever on a production guitar...oh, and it needs re-fretted!!

Tell me, good folk of PitBull Guitars, where's the sense in that, eh?! I should be taken out and have some sense kicked into me...

So, there we go... one man's lament about his inability to see the wood for the trees!!

I will say, though, that I have enjoyed, and hopefully will continue to enjoy!, the company in here; you're all very patient with fruitcakes like me!!

Happy silly season to all.... have fun and stay safe!!

[Andy40]

I truly cannot believe that you haven't built any PBG kits. I just assumed you had.

If you need any PBG type parts, I've got mostly non-used Chinese PBG Strat parts lying around.

Let me know if you need any of those things.

[FrankenWashie]

So I’m waiting for the bit where you are apparently ridiculous....

[corsair]

Cheers, Andy.... so noted!

I drew up a plan for a build - a reverse large 70s strat headstock, Tele thinline sort of thing - but haven't followed through on it; the KL appeals as does the heart guitar. Maybe... one day... when the wrecked and munted Westones disappear, and friends stop offering such things to me!!

[Marcel]

I can empathise with that first purchase dread quite well.

The fear behind the perceived potential waste of valuable hard earned. When compared to name brand items of similar currency value will my effort be enough or better than the offerings at my local music store? Do I have the skills to beat the big names at their game? Can I do even a half decent job?

There are so many questions yet there is only one way to answer them.
For me as it was under doctors orders to aide my recovery that I pursue a semi physical though non sporting activity that for financial reasons I took the least expensive option first. Yeah, after all the repairs to what guitars I already owned it was a Strat kit that made the first cut... For me it mattered little on how it actually turned out, just that it was complete and functional. I knew what skills I'd didn't hold I would develop some time later. No one would recognise it now with it having become the experiment at three refinishes and five rebuilds later.

All I can offer is take the plunge. Which you chose matters little as it's the journey to wherever it takes you that builds the memories...

[DarkMark]

I’ve got a very nice production guitar sitting in its case, but just try and prise my own home built kit guitar out of my hands...no chance buddy! To be honest I’m glad my first kit build was not the model I really wanted because I’ve learnt how to do things better this time around.

[corsair]

Oh, please don't misunderstand me; brand snobbery is not an issue - I play and love Matsumoku guitars from the early 80s which to this day gets me pitying looks from the strat/LP/tele waving crowd!! - and neither is fear of the unknown; I have enough skill to make a decent hand of a PB kit, and if I don't possess a certain skill, I am capable of researching and learning that skill.

And as it turns out, the guitars I've restored/rebuilt/mucked about with are the ones I play the most, so I'm familiar with that emotional bond, too....

And value for money Well, any PBG guitar with upgrades is going to be well less spendy than what I'll wind up putting into this Corsair, so, quite aware of that, as well!!

So, really, why I cannot pull the trigger is as much a mystery to me as it must seem to you on the outside!!

[PJSprog]

I dawdled for a couple of years as well, corsair. I've been considering building a guitar or two for a long time. I've shopped lots of parts and kit suppliers over the years, and have had a ton of ideas come and go. Honestly, I have no idea what made me finally jump in and order one.

Perhaps your work on the Westone will be the push you need to take the dive.