Bad Cat Instruments Electric Guitar Kit, DIY ST Style Guitar, One-piece Zebrawood Body, 6 String Right Handed with Zebrawood Neck and Fingerboard, Chrome Hardware Build Your Own Guitar

First and foremost - This is not the same wood that most guitar makers call Zebrawood. This is an engineered wood. It's not "grain" it's dye. It's pretty decent wood. It's heavy and solid. No issues sanding and working it. It's solid - You can route cut and sand, and it's the same product throughout. It looks amazing. Really nice. Note that this is going to be heavier than a basswood or alder Fender. It's a chunk.Body was rough sanded nicely. You're still going to want to go over it with 240 and 320 to get it ready for finishing. Tru Oil (semi-gloss)/Classic Oil (satin) makes for a nice finish. I like that pickguard holes weren't predrilled.Neck is nice and solid. Again, a heavy wood. I sanded all the way to 1500 on the back of the neck and 3000 on the board. 2 coats of classic oil, sand back, repeat, finish with wax. Neck is bowling ball smooth and raw. Frets are decent and needed minimal polishing only and a few tangs cleaned up on the side.Everything else can be found by searching for it on amazon and looking for the lowest price. Tuners and bridge are serviceable. Electronics, pickguard and trem cover should be thrown out. This is not guitar snobbery. I have some old PUP's I threw in mine, so I used the pre-wired pickguard for an A/B test. The PUP's are horrible. After taking it apart, the pickup covers are just there... Unattached. They rattle. No wax potting, so you really get to hear that weird pickup cover noise in the form of microphonics. One of my pots wouldn't even turn. The pickguard and trem cover are some of the yuckiest plastic I've ever touched. The switch is so flimsy I wouldn't bet on it working after 6 months. Be gentle.If you're not confident enough to replace the wiring, then what are you going to do when it breaks? Budget an extra $100 for new guard and trem cover, passable tuners, some OK PUP's, and some decent pots. I have seen this same preloaded pickguard popping up all over the place... I didn't just get a dud.So, my final thoughts... It's well worth it for the wood. Minus 1 star for hardware that doesn't even work. The bar was low and this kit went way under it. Calling those pickups is generous. Since that makes it important... Aftermarket parts fit OK. I had to take a little off the pickguard to get it to fit, the trem cover doesn't line up with the string holes. Small things that can be big if it needs a tool or skill you don't have. Other than that a very easy build with limited logical finishing options that are as simple as possible. It's hard to screw up Tru-Oil.

I upgraded the pick guard,tuners and bridge to gold. Plays great. Easy to do. Used 10 coats of gunstock oil for finish.

Great kit! Zebra wood is heavier than most, and difficult to work due to the multiple grains. I cut off the fender nub on the headstock and upgraded the pick guard. I used 2 - 3 coats of boiled linseed oil for a satin finish. Spent the most time on the nut to make sure action would be nice and low, then set up the bridge and has damn near perfect intonation. Looking forward to another kit.

We bought this knowing it wasn't Zebra wood but manufactured wood. That said it does look great and the craftsmanship is very good.ProsLooks great, good crastsmanship, fit of neck to body, tuning head precut and I liked only 2 pick guard holes were pre drilled.ConsSmells bad when sanding and fit of loaded pick guard was a off and needed fitting.

The first one that I received had a large nick in the body so I returned it for a replacement. Fortunately Amazon shipped a replacement immediately. The second one didn't have any nicks but the neck did not fit tight in the body like it should. Spent some time shimming it to get it right. The rest of the build went fairly smooth. So in the end I am happy with the kit.

So some have said this product is made from Bakelite because it was mentioned on other listings but Bakelite is a polymer and this is definitely not a polymer, its not a dyed particle board or anything. Its made from solid wood. Not sure if its actually Zebrawood, or something else, but its not a polymer based guitar and it certainly isn't a dye job since it goes ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE BODY. And just to put the whole idea that it is a polymer to rest, there are videos of people here that have reviewed their builds and they used TrueOil to stain it. Bakelite/Polymer would not stain with an oil.I literally just rubbed TrueOil on the one I got and I can promise it is NOT a Bakelite product. Additionally, the comments that this is the product of a dye job don't hold up as the coloring goes all the way through the grain. The body is made from one piece, the stripes are a result of how the wood is cut. Its just a very unique body and neck that are being produced with a CNC machine.So if you are looking for a kit to build with a neat looking wood, you could probably do a lot worse than this. If you are looking for a starter kit that requires not tooling, go to BYOGuitar.com or some other sites as this probably isn't the kit for you.