We'll All Be Kit Building

Is it really so simple to build your own axe? Mod Squad chief, Dave Burrluck, guides us through the pros and pitfalls of Guitar Construction 101

- Dave Burrluck

As an avid Airfix kit fan when considerably younger, I was always on the lookout for the next aeroplane or car I could make. Being dragged along to some village hall bazaar, my eye caught a plane kit that was on sale for just about the pennies I had in my pocket. Brilliant. Imagine my surprise then when I opened the box and instead of seeing a nicely moulded collection of plastic parts, finding some rectangles of wood and some crude ‘plans’. This was, as my father would call it, a ‘whittling’ project. “Hope your penknife is sharp,” he smirked.

Our Boston guitar kit isn’t too dissimilar. If you think you can just screw it together, solder in the few leads, string up and head off to a gig, well, you can’t.