Building a PRS Style Guitar! - This One Had Me a Little Nervous!!

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[@DarrellBraunGuitar]

Build time!! That dye was really fun to work with and I think turned out pretty good! Enjoy :)

[@joshuataft5541]

I'd lightly San it with fine grit then put some lindseed oil...I always sand my necks but I only have crap guitars so I'm not scared to mess with em.. that body came out good.. I love the channel.i enjoy all the videos .I love the cheap guitars ..if u ever have too many I'd buy a single cut .I need and want one really bad

[@ejval48]

You left me wanting, lol next video now! Please seal that headstock.

[@Eric_K_Sr]

You have just won over Danish Pete with that purple guitar!

[@EwetoobSucks]

@@Eric_K_Sr But what about Cuban Pete ?!? He's the king of the rumba beat. When he plays the maracas, he goes chick chicky boom, chick chicky boom !

[@mystice214]

I also want to have one like this, PRS really looks beautiful guitar.🎸

[@vatican6666]

Being a seasoned woodworker, I was cringing as I watched the staining process. I watch all your videos so the only thing I will say is PLEASE watch a few videos on staining and finishing. The finished product will go from just OK to WOW. Thanks for letting us see the build.

[@Sitruc9999z]

This was the first message I saw when the vid started. I was thinking, "I bet this dude just came to complain about stuff." Then I started cringing while watching the staining process lol.

[@evilnineteen]

Not everyone is seasoned. Some of us are just salt and peppered. Lol

[@JRoss-zxzx]

+1 to that. Prep work, prep work, prep work.....and a bit of testing.

[@michaelhanna1889]

I have to agree. Think I would have wiped as I went instead of adding water

[@Jeremya74]

@@67Brigid don't just complain.please explain the better way to do it..or link a video.

[@toshineon]

This really makes you realize why some high-end guitars are so expensive, it's not the materials that cost, it's the craftmanship.

[@stenmartens7179]

while nowadays even cheap guitars (around the 500 dollar mark) tend to be technically good, there still is quite the difference in materials used for the more expensive guitars. using thicker pieces of wood for the top, glueing less pieces together for the body etc which add to the cost of materials quite significantly. craftsmanship is not really much of a factor until you start to get to handbuilt guitars which is why they cost way more. in terms of materials, decent pieces of wood and all the hardware tend to cost around 1500 euro's here where im from. you can work out from there what you're paying for the luthier's experience :)

[@GrimYak]

@@stenmartens7179 most "high end" guitars are CNC machined now. so no, i dont think paying 2000 USD for a CNC gibson is worth it. there are a lot more people building guitars by hand that are way better. majority of the price you are paying is the brand. i have had guitars high and low priced and the difference between them isnt really that far off. this is why i look for the wood, then I just enhance the cheaper guitar with some work om the fretboard and upgrade electronics. maybe decades ago guitar building was hard, nowadays, no.

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@GrimYak hehe. "no."

[@thefloop2813]

@@mihailmilev9909 There plenty of Sub 1k guitars that absolutely wipe the floor with gibson, all around. Quality control, finish consistency, fretwork consistency, customer service, turn around times for replacement parts. In literally every possible reguard (didnt use to be this way) Gibson is one of the shittiest guitar companies doing business today. Period. @GrimYak You chose a really poor example. Gibson claim to be high end guitars. They are not. Haven't been in about 25 years. Yamaha pacifica's absolutely demolish gibson in QC, finish consistency, and fretwork. And they cost like $300 last i checked. As far as product consistency and quality control goes, Gibson is even behind Squier now a days (even if theyre using higher end materials and hardware). Sad, but its the truth. You genuinely could not pay me to buy a Modern gibson guitar. I personally expect gibson to go under right around the time their loyal, old-head fanbase is croaking out.

[@Daddy53751]

From what I’ve been reading lately is PRS is starting to get the “Gibson Disease” and taking advantage of their name and customer loyalty. Starting to concentrate on building them cheaper and cheaper and letting QC start to slip. (Unless of course you’re paying for the big buck models)

[@rosstipps6781]

One major mistake is that you stained the back of the heel on the neck where it is to be glued to the body. You should never stain a surface that is to be glued, should have been bare wood for a better glue set up. You have created a barrier that could have the glue fail down the road. Also, always use a clean rag to apply stain, you will get much better results.

[@Arnd2it]

I picked up on the same thing right away. This is a major mistake and could have been avoided by watching a few finishing videos before starting this.

[@paulhudson2293]

@@Arnd2it I guess this is another reason why people fix the neck before staining. It also allows you to get a better colour match between where the neck joins the body and the body itself. The purple is certainly VERY dark.

[@kristopherkrahl1597]

I'm not denying this is an issue, and as a practice you are correct, you should never stain or seal anywhere you're going to glue. But, I'm not sure in this case. He isn't using stain, I think it's a water based dye and I don't think it's blocking the pores of the wood. I bet if you took a walnut stain over that it would soak in and cover that color right up. I may have to get some and test it in the shop.

[@henrydiaz720]

Yeah, but it's not that impactful with water based stain.

[@kirvin2]

Stains and dyes are also two different things. Darrell Braun is an obvious amateur and not a trustworthy source of good info.

[@fkun1156]

Small tip: before gluing up, check if the neck angle is right. Install the bridge. Place the neck on the body and place a ruler touching all the frets. The ruler should be just above the bridge (when it is in its minimal height). If the ruler is not above the bridge, you'll have really high action, and there won't be much you can do about it.

[@EwetoobSucks]

Scam.

[@duffman18]

@@EwetoobSucks just go through this comments section and report every spam comment from them you see. You look at the comments and see those 3 dots to the side? Click on that to bring up the "report" option. That's what I'm doing, to all their comments that I see. It should get their channel banned and removed very very quickly. So that they'll lose all their videos, and would have to start a new channel from scratch if they wanted to keep making videos. It's still not a punishment that's as harsh as they deserve, but it's harsh enough that it might get them to stop doing this. Because nobody wants to start a new channel all from scratch again.

[@timothyvaher2421]

Note: "No scam on here, contact admin for more". This hasty retort gives way to: "Contact admin for more". This channels feature would have Darrell's approval and he would be very specific about who, what and how a giveaway would apply. On top of it He wouldn't guide you to a random Telegram account. Yeah it's a Scam. Don't go there and submit any personal info!

[@EwetoobSucks]

@@timothyvaher2421 Amen, Brother ! Well Said !

[@seanbaines]

@@duffman18 I tried that. To scores of these comments on 3 different websites. Every one of them was restored 5 minutes later. Every! Last! One! KZbin couldn't care less. :(

[@heathpass3708]

I built this kit about 2 years ago. I wanted the quilted one but had to settle for the flamed maple. Turned out really well and I ended up putting seymour duncan p-rails in it.

[@ndmarshmello9804]

Same

[@gregorywilson3318]

☯️

[@dappawap]

what price are these at in Canada?

[@romannumeral5547]

Nothing wrong with using a brush but you'll get better results using strips of cotton cloth folded into little pads to apply the stain. This applies especially to the figured wood on the top. If you're doing a burst, apply the colour you want to be in the center across the whole top first. Apply the outer colour second and work your way in towards the center colour. Use a circular motion to apply the stain and blend it into the center colour edge. If the overall colour is a bit dark you can lightly sand it back a bit. This will make the grain pop. Takes a bit of practice but the results will be worth it.

[@Jeremya74]

@roman numeral your comment was on point..i was thinking why doesn't he add the first color all over front and then come back with second color?..it was almost like watching a child coloring for the first time..wow!

[@WithCarePlz]

Hey thanks for actually being informative rather than just negative

[@Levi89723]

Do you still use the motion he's doing for the first layer?

[@romannumeral5547]

@@Levi89723 I haven't re-watched the video so I don't remember the motion you're referring to. Brushes are ok for staining but not for guitars or furniture. Use clean cotton cloths and apply in a circular motion. It takes time and patience. You can even use a damp cloth to go over any areas that are too dark. If you're using water based dye you'll need to sand back after applying because it raises the grain. Using alcohol instead if water is better and it dries a lot faster. It's tricky so take your time and try it out on scrap pieces of wood first.

[@dirtbiker5182]

You still need to sand it back and probably another round of color. Smooth with steel wool. You also can't leave the body bare dyed wood. At a minimum you should use a rub on poly to seal it up. Watch Big D Guitars here on KZbin to see how to properly dye and finish a bare body.

[@Fahrenheit1407]

Mate at least watch the video. He said he's going to seal it all. Even mentioned sanding the neck down first too

[@bldallas]

Yes, I would do 3 or 4 rounds of stain and sanding (from 600 grit to 2500 or finer). Rushing to a clear coat will end up with a finish that looks, how do I say it politely, less professional.

[@Charles-Darwin]

steel wool isn't a great idea - it leaves behind residue, which would be terrible for a lacquer finish

[@duffman18]

@@bldallas what would I have to do to create a psychedelic kind of guitar? I've been meaning to make one for a while now, with a kit guitar. Because I'd really like one of the various psychedelic guitars that people had in the 60s, like Eric Clapton's SG, Jack Bruce's Fender Bass VI, Jimmy Page's tele, George Harrison's Strat, Jimi Hendrix's strat and his Flying V etc. From what I can find out, all of these guitars were painted in the same way. They'd sand the guitar down, use normal kinds of paints on the wood (apparently acrylic paint is the best) and then just clear coat it at that point, and it's fine. So are you saying that I'd need to paint the design on once, sand it down, paint it again, sand it down, etc like 8 times in a row before putting the clear coat on? What's the purpose of doing that? And why would you sand it off? What's the point of putting a colour onto the guitar, only to immediately sand it off so no more of the colour remains, and then doing all that just to add even more colour to the wood anyway? Am I missing something here? That seems like you're giving yourself a bunch of extra work to do that makes no difference to it. It'd be like if you're washing your car, you go through the car wash, and then purposely covering it in mud to make it dirty again, only to immediately go through the same car wash again to clean all the mud off, and then claiming that this convoluted process actually makes it more "professionally" clean, somehow. Seriously what on earth do you mean by this? I must be missing something here. You're talking about stains while I'm talking about paint, sure, but even then what you're saying makes no sense whatsoever. You're saying someone should stain their guitar, and then immediately sand all that stain off so none remains, all that's left being the bare untouched uncoloured wood, and then repeat that whole process 8-12 times!? You'd end up with a teeny tiny guitar that way, for one thing. Like you'd start off with say a stratocaster body, but you take so much wood off via sanding that you end up with a tiny teardrop-style guitar. So yeah I'm really confused by what you mean. Wouldn't it be better to stain/paint the wood, let it dry, and then add MORE of the stain/paint on top of it? So do the same process you're saying, except this way you DON'T sand off the entirety of the stain/paint you just spent ages applying. I really just do not understand in the slightest why you'd paint or stain a bit of wood and then literally just sand it all off and start again. Like if it's about sanding it, then why not sand it _WITHOUT_ staining it first? That way, you don't waste all the stain/paint. You get the same results regardless.

[@BambiTrout]

@@duffman18 Just to preface my answer: I'm not an expert, but this is my understanding of the differences between paint and stain. Stain and paint interact with wood differently. Stain "stains" the wood a different colour while leaving the grain visible, while paint covers the wood, only leaving the grain visible if you do a thin coat. Paint is how you get solid colours, while stain is how you get translucent colours. It's like icing vs food colouring, or body paint vs a tattoo - one goes on top and covers the surface of an object with a particular colour, while the other one is absorbed and changes the colour of the object itself. Now, you're right to say that sanding off paint would leave basically unfinished wood, and sanding off paint is basically pointless unless you made a big mistake and want to redo your paint job or whatever. As long as you're happy with your paint job, you probably shouldn't sand and redo your paint before a clear coat. What you see is what you get. Stain is a different matter entirely. Stain penetrates into the wood and fills the pores of the wood. Think of it more like coloured water than paint. The reason for sanding and re-staining the wood is to ensure an even coverage and a smooth finish. The reason that you might no longer have a smooth finish is that staining the wood tends to raise the grain due to water absorption (a similar thing still happens with alcohol-based stains). Additionally, the stain might not penetrate the wood evenly in all areas, particularly if your wood has knots or a particularly strong grain. As a result, if you want a super smooth finish, you need to sand the grain back down and reapply the stain. Sanding the grain down doesn't mean removing ALL of the stain - just making the wood smooth again. You still want the wood to still retain as much stain as possible between sandings to ensure the colour remains rich. Repeat this step a few times with decreasing grits and you'll have an even, silky smooth finish and a strong colour with a clearly visible grain. Basically, adding and then sanding paint repeatedly is just putting on and taking off the same surface layer again and again - usually pointless. Adding and then sanding stain repeatedly is enriching the colour and refinishing the surface - usually desirable (within reason).

[@jeremyklein9679]

A suggestion from a non-luthier, use a rag or cloth for the staining so you can use circular motions to get the stain into the grain of the guitar. Also, use a tinted grain filler first to make the flame/quilt pop!

[@speedohugo8646]

yup ...grain filler is a must.....unless youre going for a rustic look........learned that the hard way as I was trying to use the clear coats to fill the grain.......that took for ever....

[@TheBluesBox]

I learned this from a furniture maker, the cloth gave a better result like you say…

[@chickeee]

You can see the cloth paper towel in the PRS stain videos

[@fongy200]

Sound advice Jeremy.

[@mknewlan67]

What color of tinted grain filler? I just got a les Paul kit with flame veneer. Going for a jade burst. My first time building a guitar or woodwork really.

[@DarrellBraunGuitar]

"I've never owned a purple guitar before" *sees the purple guitar behind my head...🤣🤣🤣

[@G.S.W.SewmesomeMusic]

Losing track of what you have is a true gauge of success!😂😂😂👍☮️

[@blap20-00]

This is insane!!! I just started to look into guitar kits and this is one I wanted, there are almost no videos on KZbin about this kit. You are the best! Thank you!

[@jameslewis2635]

If you want to see kit builds Guns & Guitars is a pretty good channel to check out. Otherwise you can get a lot of really good guitar building tricks from the Crimson Guitars channel.

[@jeekyboi9564]

@@jameslewis2635 thanks

[@johnnorris1983]

If you get 1000 grit paper.. (used in the car paint repair industry) I used it to polish a brand new from shop guitar and gave a wax finish. The grain may not be raised but the 1000 grit sits it down VERY well…

[@johnnorris1983]

Cort g300 neck end-grain by the volute now satin and smooth.

[@the_algorithm]

Report the Bot

[@paullatta]

"deep purple" sounds like a great name for a band.

[@sumpsaver8129]

Something that works great for me, is an old tube sock instead of a brush. much smoother finish without the brush marks. works great with varnishes too!

[@larrystumph524]

In the middle of a p90 Les Paul kit,used rit bright red dye, turned out wine red, still happy,sealed with tung oil, turned out very nice

[@kristopherkrahl1597]

Darrell....I would say the areas where that water based stain would make the grain rise would be the end grain areas. This will usually be the case. That's why you didn't see any issues on the flat back of the neck or the top of the body. Great job! Loving it!

[@TheFULLMETALCHEF]

You’re like a kid in a candy shop…love your enthusiasm! Glad you went with the eggplant- am going to use that as well.

[@Zach-lv5qs]

Wow, this is awesome. I may have the guts to try it one day, but for now it's just cool to see the process of making that guitar once you have the components shaped and gathered.

[@RTM459]

PRS has a detailed video on how they do this . I’m sure plenty of pro builders have videos but PRS is very open about how they do things. Next time go all the way out to the edges with blue then bring in the purple rags would have helped as well.

[@veguitars]

Hey Darrell, also wanted to thank you. About 1.5 years ago I came across one of your build vids which inspired me to start building. Since then I have done 6 builds already. Turns out it can be quite addictive. Thank you ! Luv your channel. Cheers V

[@Gene_Cali]

In my best DBG voice " Yesssss!" I have never done a kit,..but your enthusiasm inspires. Thanks Darrell.

[@BarriePoole]

That dye is very forgiving. you can be aggressive while applying it and you can always use water to correct any problems along the way... Good choice Darrell. I was a bit nervous watching this too... I am putting together a Pit Bull Guitar Kit, A hollow body "Headless" guitar with F-holes if you can believe it. I've chosen yellows and different shades of brown to do some sort of tiger burst, but I am using leather dyes to achieve the burst or tiger burst that I am thinking off. So I will have to be much more careful when doing it. and I may need to use thinners as well to blend things together. Cheers and keep it up, you are doing Great!

[@miccullen]

I'd buy that kit too if it would ever come back in stock

[@AllenCH55]

Buillt a SG style , modified the headstock with horns, TUSQ nut, and all new hardware. Set neck a good fit, frets needs filing. Lots of work, but build the way you want. Purple is nice. Another in the works, ST style. All from Solo Music, great guys there.

[@barbmelle3136]

From Leo: You are a brave man, going right to the guitar. I dyed and stained about every board in the garage to try to learn before I put one drop on the guitar. I ended up with a single color top and dark on sides and back.

[@old4x4]

This was my thought. Lots of practice before the real thing!

[@robbysguitars8223]

Guitar finishing is a rabbit hole we carelessly fall into. It's gloriously maddening, trying to get a nice finish. If you persevere, you'll figure it out. It's a noble quest.

[@frankiechan9651]

You really need to watch some videos from BigD Guitars - he is the king of staining. I personally prefer to use rags over foam brushes as I find that easier to do the blending. The burst is looking promising though and the finish should both get it to pop as well as blend a little better. For a glue-in neck, I prefer not to stain the neck heel, so that the glue joint is bare wood on bare wood. Still should be OK though. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.

[@flapjack413]

Lol, I was just going to recommend he check out Derek's channel too. That dude is a wizard with stains.

[@alexkim3794]

I agree with you. As a wood worker, i like to use balled up rags over foam brush when applying stains.

[@bobhoover4494]

There's a kind of cool devil face emerging from the quilting of the top. Right between the bridge and tailpiece holes. I suppose it will get covered up once the hardware and strings are in, but he's just hiding there waiting for some sweet tones!

[@claudioscaglioni4473]

Thank you, Darrel from Italy, waiting for next steep & sound !

[@nau97]

I was thinking that the body and neck should really be sanded and maybe a 2nd coat of stain. I think the burst would blend a lot better if you use cloth or a rag. Love the process, thanks for posting this.

[@gregkelly1520]

My biggest mistake during my Solo PRS build was to see the blue one in the Solo showroom first. My best finishing efforts would still look like rubbish by comparison. Love the Solo stuff, will build another one sometime. Living in Canada without a spray booth is a bit of a hinderance for sure!

[@stuartcarter7053]

At 12:40 I thought "oh this is going to look hideous". But fair play, by the end it was looking pretty good. Can't wait for the rest of this as I really want to have a go too

[@codyshirley1334]

I love how you sound like Bob Ross while you're painting! "Ah yes, that is beautiful!" Darrell Braun.

[@bigfatengineer]

"I didn't watch any tutorials on finishing before this..." Brad Angove is weeping gently...

[@Speedro07]

Glad you went with the purple. I have a purple burst PRS Paul Allender. 👍

[@paulhancock7670]

Ignoring the 'internet experts' kudos for actually having a go at this. Its great to see someone learning by doing and making quite a good job of it. Really enjoyed the video and I'm encouraged to try a tele kit myself. Thanks :)

[@saxophool]

Anyone thinking of doing one of these Solo kits but scared off by the staining, drilling and soldering: I put together one of their Tele style kits with nearly no previous woodworking or soldering experience. I don't think there was any drilling at all on the Tele kit and the soldering was pretty easy. I think they even have an option for solder free electronics which just has push together fittings. And the bolt on neck fit like a glove. Free shipping and no tax to the US. Pretty cool. I sound like an ad probably but really, I'm just trying to encourage others to try this. It's super fun.

[@just4guitar558]

Yeah, umm….. you’re supposed to sand the stain back so the harder grain of the maple will lighten and make the figure pop. Usually would take 2 stainings and sanding to end up looking right.

[@timcobb1752]

1. use a clean t-shirt type rag, you will get better results than you would with a foam brush. 2. apply your base color across the entire top, (in this case azure) then add the eggplant and blend. 3.after staining seal the finish before sanding, you will still flatten the grain after it stands up, however you will not have to attempt to touch up the stain which can go horribly wrong.

[@glenngardin3561]

Great timing Darrell! My lovely wife gave me a Solo T-Style (semi hollow) kit for Christmas. I'm liking the stain idea. Seems much easier. I will be staying tuned in! Thanks for the excellent content!

[@Edric09]

The reply here is a scam

[@duffman18]

@@Edric09 just go through this comments section and report every spam comment from them you see. You look at the comments and see those 3 dots to the side? Click on that to bring up the "report" option. That's what I'm doing, to all their comments that I see. It should get their channel banned and removed very very quickly. So that they'll lose all their videos, and would have to start a new channel from scratch if they wanted to keep making videos. It's still not a punishment that's as harsh as they deserve, but it's harsh enough that it might get them to stop doing this. Because nobody wants to start a new channel all from scratch again.

[@Edric09]

@@duffman18 been doing that yeah hopefully this bot eventually gets banned

[@DMSProduktions]

@@duffman18 BOTS DON'T NEED VIDEOS! LOL!

[@cheesythegamer9771]

Love the burst, you defiantly made the right decision with those colors.

[@talsveta]

What a great video, thank you so much for sharing it. I hope you're enjoying your new guitar!

[@marcsangiuliano4273]

You had me worried when you said finishing the guitar wasn’t your thing but you did a awesome job! The body and the neck came out incredible and it will look even better with the clear coat! I’m really impressed, it’s gonna be beautiful!!! Makes me wanna re-finish my kit guitar with water based dye!

[@philipbeasley72]

I'm glad you wanted to make a burst with those two colors, and you can always sand it down if colors are too bright but should sand it down before a sealer coat. Please 🙏 do that

[@antoniocorsere5675]

Using lint free rags give better control when applying the stain. I just recently started my own PRS kit that my wife bought me for Christmas. I am going for a blue and black burst with the natural wood binding. I have pics but we'll unable to post here, lol. My kit was a cheap one. No hardware or electronics. And no pre drilled holes for the bridge only the pots and toggle.

[@yuhaosu6899]

Finally, I got the correct answer on how to apply the proper finish to a raw body. Thank you, Darrell!

[@sonicoffering]

This was one of the coolest guitar videos I've seen. Very zen and I learned a lot, thank you dude!

[@robbysguitars8223]

Kudos for doing it live.

[@bdubz5150]

I owned a very successful boutique guitar manufacturing company for over a decade. Staining guitar tops is an art. It’s super easy to do, but an art in making a PRS quality stain. We used only alcohol dyes, never water based. Water based swells the grain fuzz, and use UV resistant stains to avoid what happened to EBMM’s when the first ran the purple EVH models. Always use a rag or cotton ball and circle blend the dyes. Using a black or dark color first then fine sanding it off before the final lighter dye color will really pop the figure.

[@fixedguitar47]

These kits are great for kids. Imagine 30+ of them and your walking them through it. It’s a riot!

[@waynebrown1394]

Darrell Braun Guitar You can also use top grade artist oil paint this guitar. You take the color you pick of the top grade artist oil paint and start hand rubbing it in then use Japan drier to spread the paint so it will dry. I built a filter box where the guitar dried with out dust or lint.

[@AxemanMTB12]

Super excited for this build. I've been eyeing this kit on the solo website for a while now. This would be my first kit build so I'm considering doing a tele first

[@nicolassanchez3099]

Yuuuusssss!!! This is my favorite series! 💖

[@paulrobertson8689]

Absolutely buzzin you went with the purple I was sat here screaming purple purple at ya when you showed us the ink

[@paulrobertson8689]

I’ve just message you Darrel 🥳

[@paulrobertson8689]

Hey Darrel scammer alert brother

[@duffman18]

I've been thinking about building a guitar using a kit for some time now. Because I'd really like one of the various psychedelic guitars that people had in the 60s, like Eric Clapton's SG, Jack Bruce's Fender Bass VI, Jimmy Page's tele, George Harrison's Strat, Jimi Hendrix's strat and his Flying V etc. But I don't want to potentially mess up one of my existing guitars by painting them. And I don't want to have to spend days sanding any guitar to get the original paint off. So I was just gonna buy one of the Harley Benton kit guitars, probably even the PRS style one they sell much like the one you've made here. But yeah I'm pretty terrible at painting or drawing. But these psychedelic guitars look incredibly easy to do. They're really very simple, just big multicoloured blocks of paint. I'll definitely practice on paper first before attempting to paint any part of the guitar though. It seems with a lot of these guitars they just kinda made it up as they went along. Especially ones like George Harrison's Strat. He was no painter or drawer. As far as I can find out, he never went to art school like John Lennon did. And his psychedelic strat up close definitely looks somewhat amateur. But it still is great looking So I feel like I could definitely be able to paint a guitar in this style with ease. It can't be that hard. I remember when I was a teenager doing art lessons at school (cos it was compulsory), I managed to paint things very similar to a lot of these guitars. Especially Jimi Hendrix's psychedelic guitars. Somehow I stumbled onto this thing of making my paintings look a lot more complicated than they actually were, by doing all these tiny intricate leaves and stems and flowers. My art teacher complimented me on them, but the truth is they were absolutely piss easy to do. So I got away with it. And so yeah whaddayaknow, a lot of psychedelic guitars have the same exact kind of patterns on them, and they look great. Hendrix definitely seemed to like the plant-based design, and so do I. Other than painting it, I'll buy some very good pickups for the guitar to use instead of the ones that come with them. Probably something like some humbucker-sized filtertron pickups. Oh and I'll paint the neck too. In all the best psychedelic style guitars, the neck is also painted. It looks really good when you do that even though only you the player actually can see it, because it's on the bottom side of the guitar. But yeah I'll use masking tape to mask off the fretboard completely and paint the neck, and then I'll apply the clear coat varnish afterwards when it's dried. I'm not sure how guitars are normally coated with the clear coat varnish. Whether it's wiped on, or sprayed on. I'd rather not have to spray it cos I live in an apartment building, so I wouldn't be able to take my guitar outside to spray it and it'd be dangerous to breathe it in indoors. So a wipe on polyurethane finish would be best. I'll do as much research into that as possible. From a quick googling it looks like indeed you can get wipe-on finishes as well as spray cans. So yeah. This whole thing is so exciting though. I've always wanted to build a guitar. But I never got around to it.

[@murpsman]

Your Canadian compatriot, Brad Angove, would be a perfect mentor for this.

[@billthompson2860]

At first I was shaking my head but not anymore. It looks great and your only halfway. I am impressed. At first it looked like third grade finger painting but quickly came together. Thank you for this. I can't wait to see the next video!

[@BayandurPogosyan]

1. Use a rug, not a foam brush. 2. You can't get it even with one coat. You do a coat, sand it with 800 grit, then add another coat. Don't burn through the veneer. 3. To add accents to the flame, first you'd do a full purple, then sand it off, the purple would remain in the darker parts ever so lightly. Then do a full blue on the whole face, 3 coats or something in the same ballpark. Then purple the edges. Then blend them with a wet rug.

[@stealthracer]

Tip to prevent the dye raising the grain: Wipe the body over with a damp cloth and let it dry overnight. Next day sand the grain down where it is raised. Repeat as necessary. All will be fine now.

[@APK-pn4qh]

Oh man, kits are so much fun, so much stress, so much feeling of accomplishment, and so much terror! 😉 Made a BYOG kit last year during full lockdown, a 5150. Came out looking amazing but had a real struggle getting the Floyd balanced and setting the action and intonation. In the end I brought it to a guitar tech and he did a full set up and now it plays like BUTTER. Love it. Enjoy the kit Darrell.

[@APK-pn4qh]

Hi Darrell, many thanks but I had no idea I was in a competition! How does one send a telegram in this day of email and instant messaging?

[@boppermacca9346]

Great to see a kit build again.

[@jmc1186]

QUICK TIP! Initially after you've scuffed the first time. Take a very very lightly damp rag and wipe over that wood figuring and then scuff the surface back up 😊 Itll pull the grain up and then when you stain it, it articulates it better. Cant wait to see more and/or the next build! 💜

[@jdavid1006]

Anyone else getting some Bob Ross vibes listening to Darrell talk while putting the stain on? 😂

[@budgetguitarherogeartv4143]

One of your most entertaining video's yet. I was laughing so much at your attempt of painting the body, it looked terrible until it dried.

[@jaderene]

Wow!!!! That Custom guitar is going to look soooo amazing!!!! Plus it features my favorite color🤯❤️🤍🔥

[@roelschouten8834]

Hi Darrell, nice work. just one tip, make sure you tape off the neck heel where the glue will be applied for before applying the satin finish. this will insure the wood glue will adhere properly when glueing the neck in. Cheers

[@thepneumanator]

I cannot wait to do a couple of these kits from Solo! Definitely see doing a PRS style like this in my future. Thanks Darrell, always a pleasure!

[@guitarzleo]

Nice build Darrell!! Just a couple of tips: 1) Don't touch the stained body with bare hands (especially if you have a lot of sweat) - besides it will get messy, aniline water-based dyes are harmful for your health. 2) Make sure to mask properly the area of the neck heel that will sit inside the neck pocket before you apply sealer or clear coat, because you got to have bare wood to glue the neck and the body together. I'm lookin' forward for the next episode! You have fun!

[@wyattsdad8561]

Hey that looks way better than I thought it was gonna look with how you did the burst. I dig it!

[@evenmilla]

finish looks great so far!

[@dillonlankford7594]

If you stain it black first, sand it a bit then add your color it’ll make the figuring on the top really pop

[@terryshrives8322]

Looks good, can’t wait for the next video

[@TheSkillotron]

I really like those colors, it's like a galaxy burst or something, and the quilting really lends itself to that cosmic aesthetic.

[@jamiewhite2971]

i think prs is one of those rare companies that has popular products because of the quality. prs makes consistently flawless guitars, well designed, engineered and built around being played, that kind of goes out the window with a kit, but if you like the shape and setup there’s nothing wrong with it

[@UriahRoxx]

I was thinking of doing an SG style build with that deep purple stain one day. Good choice!

[@oldguy5381]

Once it drys you can sand back and it will make the grain pop. Starting with a black then sanding back would bring out the quilt top. Fun to watch.

[@tim_shipp]

When you were doing the top burst, I heard a Bob Ross type of enthusiasm. So awesome! "Happy little guitars". \m/

[@robertr4193]

Hello instead of using the foam brush if you had used a small piece of cloth like part of an old t-shirt I believe you would have had good luck controlling the dye application and thinning it just a bit as well. you can sand it back to lighten it up but if you start with a thinning the dye with a bit of water if it isn't as dark as you want you can always apply a second or third coat till you get it to the depth of color you want. That way sense the veneer on the top is as thin as it is the less sanding the better and you are less likely to sand through it.

[@CrooksNannies]

Loved how that burst turned out! I wasn't sure about it at first but man.... that's pretty. If you use water based stains you can always raise the grain first with a damp cloth, then apply stain after sanding. This way you don't have to sand a stained/dyed surface after. I do this for cutting boards, works like a charm. Cheers

[@MrUSFT]

Love that you're just going for it! I find that really motivating!

[@minkorrh]

Over the past two years I've become a big fan of 'how good cheap can be'. I recently finished a Solo spalted ash Tele kit. Only issues I had was second-guessing whether I could sand the veneer as it is so thin, so I went with a colour, and then ended up sanding, and more colour and sanded again, and stopped as I realized I just could have black/purpled it. It ended up some sort of taupe mushroom colour lol. It's fine and still looks nice, with about 15 coats of wipe-on poly that was wetsanded. If you have any doubt, replace the tuners with a cheap $25 locking set from Ali Express (this is mandatory as the supplied ones won't hold tune, or tune well), and a $1.50 bone nut from the same place, as the one supplied is plastic garbage like the tuners......put sandpaper on the table and rub the bottom and test. Keep doing this until you get the correct nut height as opposed to cutting nut-slots deeper, as this is very easy top mess up if you don't have experience doing it and requires more tools/money. KNock out the old nut with a screwdriver and a hammer. Gently tap until it pops free and then clean up the groove. Sand/test, sand/test, sand/test and then use CA glue to fix it once the height is correct. I shimmed the neck also, to get a better angle to lower the action ($5 for a set of 4 shims/Ali X), and used the thinnest one. After replacing the tuners, nut, strings (obviously) and shimming I have an extremely playable guitar with a beautiful action, and I'm not lying when I say it's so stable. I can play hard every evening for a couple of hours and it just stays in tune. I pick it up the next day and it's still tuned almost perfectly. I'm very happy with it and never expected to have such a playable, tune-stable guitar, but you need to spend the extra $30.

[@stevebostic4874]

I really enjoy your videos. I learn and and entertained at the same time.

[@michaelelliott2280]

Something I did with a kit build I bought recently was hydro dip it. You can get a good amount in a kit for like 30 bucks usa

[@Rustinpeace117]

Been looking at these kits from Solo!

[@mickwells9431]

Looking good Darrell ! I like the eggplant you went with. Looking forward to the next video and the finished product.

[@mikeg.9238]

I got a tele kit for Christmas , i finished it a few weeks ago. It was an enjoyable experience , i would definitely do another in the future!

[@michaelwilson2497]

SWEET DUDE!!! Now I will be able to build mine. Thanks Darryl!!! You da man bro!!!

[@tonisiret5557]

Great video DB. Thanks for throwing caution to the wind, as I'm too afraid to! 😬😆

[@billburns2915]

I made your kit.... I swapped out the pickups, tuners and replaced the frets & fret dots. Enjoyable build & update.

[@geneevans8951]

smart man. turn this into a build channel. it's gonna be the new trend.

[@BillWeiselMusic22]

I did this exact same kit! I did a blue to black burst, though, not plum. Looks awesome and it's a great kit!

[@Steven_SK]

Nice job! Yea I have had a bass kit shoved under my couch for over a year! Finish fear is real.....

[@everTriumph]

I did a 'PRS' build, but sourced the body and neck separately. My body had a thick maple cap on mahogany body.The neck stood too tall in its socket for my taste, so I re-cut it so the neck binding was at the body face. I used a Wilkinson combined stop bridge and took an extreme amount of care setting the neck to the correct angle. I have stained guitars before, but this one was en-natural and clear oiled. Came out nice.

[@Canadianwheelchairguitar]

Looks great! I've never tried assembling a kit guitar because I'm nervous about the outcome. Watching videos like this educates me more on this stuff & makes me slightly more confident to try it.

[@scottbrian6799]

Great kits well worth the money.

[@briankuyken9788]

I have a purple PRS custom 24 with zebra coil pickups. You made a good choice.

[@Ken-yg4um]

Nice when doing a finish like this it's best to apply a black stain first then sand then stain with your choice of color the black brings out the flame/quilt

[@FranciscoGarcia-sk8sy]

Love the builds, always something interesting to do and learn! Keep up the good work!

[@speedohugo8646]

Hi Darrell, Great job, in my experience I do find that using a wood conditioner....in this case water base , does really help the wood take the dye or stain in a more even fashion......so less chance of blotchy spots....just a tip.....from Kingston ontario.

[@ejej6934]

Agreed. It takes some patience, staining wood.

[@BHRAGE]

Nice job on the finish, Bob Ross! Where the happy trees at? 😂👍🏼

[@johnfaassen1890]

I just finished my 18th build, which happens to be a PRS style, natural stain with all gold hardware. Done Strats, Teles, LPs, Jags,etc., but really love the PRS style with quilted or flamed tops - when dyed or stained the grain pattern looks great.

[@johnfaassen1890]

vou

[@metalhead7181]

Thanks Darrell, great video.👍 That guitar is going to look awsome when its finished.! 👍🤘