AXL Guitar Kit

[Brent]

I purchased a so called saga kit and when it arrived it has AXL and mentions nothing about saga so after a little digging found it is a seperate company and has nothing to do with saga.

Has anyone else out there had any experience with this kit.

Opening the box everything looks ok but after some investigation, the quality or workmanship is very substandard.

My first challenge is neck and body holes that don't line up. Has anyone run across this and any suggestions on fixing it?

[cknowles]

You can re-drill the holes using the body holes as a guide. Chances are that they are really close and you'll end up with a hole or 2 that look like a number 8. If this happens I suggest drilling larger holes then filling with hardwood dowel. This will allow you to re-drill using the body as a template. The downside to dowel is that you will be screwing into endgrain and it is weaker than going across the grain as with the original holes.

Home Depot sells threaded inserts that will allow you to use a machine screw or bolt to hold the neck on. This will provide a much stronger joint than the original holes, and will allow you to remove the neck many times without fear of wearing out the threads in the wood.

The end result will look like this



Here's an example of the insert



In either case care must be taken to not drill into or through the fret board!

[cknowles]

Just did a google search for axl guitar kit

Seems the screw holes in the neck joint and the holes for the tuners don't line up for anyone building this kit. Several others have said they use the toothpick and glue technique to relocate the holes for the tuners.

[Brent]

Thanks cknowles,

It's interesting you mentioned the inserts because I was already thinking about using them if I ever built a bolt on neck, so I'm gonna give that a try and I wasn't aware that Home Depot sold them, thanks for the info.

My other concern is that the holes in the body don't align very well with the neck plate either. I'm gonna take a close look this weekend and I hope I can make that work. If it's necessary to adjust the holes in the body, would you just drill them out and fill them with dowels or some other method?

Also I purchased a set of Mighty Mite tuners expecting the tuners to be junk and they are, so I'm glad I got those. Those holes have to be redrilled along with the pickguard as well.

This kit is pretty bad and if it wasn't for the fact of wasting money on shipping to send it back I would. So if anyone is looking at purchasing a kit represented as a Saga from "Silentpro" I would double check prior to bidding.

[Mike]

Your best bet would be ordering from a company that sells them, rather than taking a chance on Ebay. I just ordered one from Online Guitars. I haven't opened it yet, but I did the research before ordering, and am prepared to do a little "twiddling". I'm making an EVH replica, so I don't necessarily care if the pickups hum, or the pickguard screws don't line up, etc. I just wish the Saga strats came with maple fingerboards.

I actually tried to order an AXL kit from Online Guitars because I saw it for $10 less than Saga on their website, but I was told they aren't available anymore.

By the way, I've heard the Saga stock tuners ain't so bad if you pop them open and lubricate them. I guess I'll find out. If not, I'll raid the Pings off one of my other guitars.

[Brent]

I know to be cautious when ordering on ebay, but when a seller represents a product and it turns out to be something different you have no way of knowing that. Also when I received the kit I wasn't able to work on it right away, so at first I didn't know about the problems. I guess the best thing to do now is look at it like a challenge and press on.

Have you guys wax potted the pickups with your kits or just used them the way they are?

Thanks for the info cknowles and I hope we can see that EVH Mike when your finished. I hope you guys are available to answer more questions in the near future. It looks like I'm gonna need it with this one.

[GuitarAttack Forum]

The Saga pickups I've rebuilt have been potted in wax. It is a very odd looking wax, but it is wax.

One thing I did see, though, is that the wax had not penetrated deep into the pickup. This leads me to believe that the pickups didn't stay in the "bath" very long, or the process was pretty primitive.

John

[cknowles]

Brent said:

Thanks cknowles,
My other concern is that the holes in the body don't align very well with the neck plate either. I'm gonna take a close look this weekend and I hope I can make that work. If it's necessary to adjust the holes in the body, would you just drill them out and fill them with dowels or some other method?

Since the wood in the body doesn't hold the threads, then doweling the holes and re-drilling is an option for sure. Just take care to make sure they line up nicely with the neck. Take your time don't rush, you don't want a mistake to ruin your day.

Chris

[Mike]

I was going to ask if anyone else had noticed a light wax on the Saga pickups. I finally got into the kit over the weekend, and noticed it on the bottoms of the pickups. For $79.99, my guess is that they sprayed the wax on after they were wound, and didn't actually "pot" them.

I also noticed that the sanding sealer on the body is a *lot* thicker than on the neck, which explains why nothing short of nuclear bombardment will remove it. It also looks like the routing and drilling were done after the sealer was applied.

Everything lined up well for the test fit, but when I attached the neck, I noticed a small gap between it and the neck pocket after the screws were in. The gap wasn't there until after I screwed it in. I was afraid to put the screws in too tight after hearing horror stories of them breaking off in the wood. I also need to enlarge the opening for the tremolo, because the sustain block keeps hanging up. I also need to cut an opening for a double coil at the bridge, and then I can start painting......once it warms up....which around Buffalo should be July.

Note to Self: Don't use a dremel tool to cut the headstock. The RPMs on those things are so high, the cutting disks scorch the wood. My next step is to find a jig saw.

[cknowles]

Hi Mike,

I had to re-drill the holes in my LP neck as well, and even then when I tightened the screws the neck would lift. I resorted to a clamp to hold it in place while I tightened the screws.

The SAGA pickups are quite cheap. Guitar Fetish store.guitarfetish.com/ carries a nice set of replacements that are quite reasonably priced and sound great.

Chris

[Mike]

cknowles said:

Hi Mike,

I had to re-drill the holes in my LP neck as well, and even then when I tightened the screws the neck would lift. I resorted to a clamp to hold it in place while I tightened the screws.

The SAGA pickups are quite cheap. Guitar Fetish store.guitarfetish.com/ carries a nice set of replacements that are quite reasonably priced and sound great.

Chris

I'm going to check the depth of the neck holes to see if they need to go deeper, I think that's probably the problem.

I won't be using the stock pickups because I'm making a Van Halen replica (black/white/red stripes). I'm enlarging the bridge route for a double coil, and I have a dummy single coil to use in the neck position.

I'd send pictures of my progress, but I don't have a digital camera.
All I have to show right now is a semi-hack job on the headstock until I can get my hands on a jigsaw.

I noted a few other things in examining the body - the routing appears to have been done freehanded, and it looks like the sealer was applied before the routing was done. The sealer also shows cracks in a few spots. Hopefully this won't affect the paint.

-Mike