Normally, our electric guitar kits are prepared with all wiring completed and all holes drilled. But we give you the option of having us not do this work. We offer several options on wiring and drilling. This page gives you details of these options.
Why have Alloy Guitars drill holes for you?
Good question. Drilling seems like a simple enough thing to do by yourself. The difficulty comes in the precision required to “get it right”. Placement of pilot holes in the neck are critical for getting a good neck/body alignment. Exact placement of holes for bridge mounting is required for proper alignment and guitar tuning and intonation. Holes that are off by even a small fraction of an inch in mounting the pickguard can make it difficult or impossible to get the screws in straight. We drill these holes using very precise CAD models of the bodies and neck, together with highly precise alignment mechanisms on our CNC machines to drill just the right holes, in just the right spots. The result is an instrument that goes together easily, and works wonderfully. This is very difficult to do with a hand drill or even with a drill press! And improper placement of critical holes can render a body or neck completely worthless.
Hole drilling includes the following:
- Neck Mount Holes in the Body: These four holes through which the neck mounting screws pass are always pre-drilled.
- Neck Guide Holes: These are four guide holes for neck mounting screws in the neck proper. You must have these pilot holes drilled before trying to screw in the neck mounting screws! It is nearly impossible to screw the large screws into the solid maple necks without the pilot holes (and even with pilot holes, it takes patience, a good screwdriver, and some strength).
- Pickguard Mounting Holes: Both T-Style and S-Style guitar kits
- Control Plate Mounting Holes: T-Style guitar kits only
- Tremolo Cover Plate: S-Style guitar kits only
- Output Jack Mounting Holes: Both T-Style and S-Style guitar kits
- Bridge Mount Holes: Four on T-Style guitars, 6 on S-Style guitar kits. Placement and alignment of these holes is critical.
- Tuner Screw Holes: These six tiny holes are required to be able to screw in the anchor screws for the tuner in the solid maple headstock without stripping or breaking the tiny screws. Placement is critical to have the tuners align properly.
- Strap Pin Holes: Both T-Style and S-Style kits.
We are happy to provide you with a kit that does not include drilling of the pickguard, control plate, output jack plate and bridge mount holes.
Why have us pre-wire the guitar electronics for you?
Though this one is in many ways easier to do on your own. However, if you have no experience doing basic soldering work – or you don’t own the correct tools – then this can be hard. Our wiring includes simple snap together connectors to complete wiring of pickups, grounding wires, control knobs/tone circuitry, and output jacks. We are happy to provide you with a kit that does not include this pre-wiring. Just let us know when you place your order.