Fiberglass/Resoglass guitar bodies - where to find them?

thecolourbox

Hoping somebody here might know of somewhere, there's a company in the USA who do wonderful full kits for these lovely guitars but I wondered if anybody knows of anywhere more this side of the pond that either do them or could do them? Maybe if anybody has come across them from China or anything?

Thanks

randomhandclaps

Is it to replace your Airline body?  Ultimately would it not be easier (and maybe cheaper) to flog the guitar and buy a resoglass one?  Just wondering.

steamabacus

You have a wooden Airline one, yes? Maybe you could get a custom moulding made using that as a template? I would try and find somewhere local and see whether they are up to it? There is a place around the corner from me that do one-off fibreglass castings (mainly set/scenery pieces if what I see outside their workshop is anything to go by) - just a small place on a light industrial estate. Anywhere like that near you?

A (very) quick internet search turned up this place - it seems they do one offs as well.

WezV

so you need two custom made fibreglass shells, wood blocks for the inside and  some way to join the two halves together.   

I am fairly sure you will quickly get to the cost of the USA kits, which will be comparable with a full refinish

thecolourbox

That is a very good idea @steamabacus can't believe I was to thick to think of that, it has to be with a try. I take the point @wezv but I might at least get a quote and see if it is worth it. The kits are 350$, plus a pick guard 20$, plus delivery which is at least 80$, total 450$ which is say £300 plus the usual 25% rule of thumb for importing stuff. I'd need a second pick up which is say £80 for an Airline style one. That starts to add up too

@randomhandclaps sadly not really, as the Eastwood's seem to be worth peanuts whereas the last resoglass on eBay went yesterday for over a grand...

randomhandclaps

Jeez, I didn't realise they had jumped that much.  I really wanted to buy one a few years back and the only thing that stopped me was the Jack White link.  To clarify I love Jack White but he wouldn't have been my reasoning for buying one and I thought it'd probably look a bit too fanboi-ish.  At the time you could get one for sub £600 if you watched carefully. 

Have you thought about asking the kit company if they'd sell just a body?   Edit - just realised, that's all you get.

WezV

the bodies are $199  almost all of the time - so $300 by your calculations.  i assumed you were just after the body and would reuse the parts from your guitar

http://www.guitarkitsusa.com/m7/1JTR--jetsons-res-o-glas-wlt-semi-hollow-guitar-body-red.html

that's currently about £200 which will also get you a refinish, maybe even a body refinish and postage both ways

if you can get a custom made fibreglass body made for less than that I will be very surprised... because whichever way you go the same thing happens - it all starts to add up

thecolourbox

It's a fair point re prices adding up, but will find out to make sure.

I want to sell the guitar I have to fund this ideally, so I wouldn't want just the body, I'd want the full kits they sell.

Will do some costings for the various iterations. Thanks guys

WezV

The same point applies. The price on those kits, whether just body or full kit, is very good for something so niche.

The cheapest and easiest option is a refin of the guitar you have. You know it all fits together. After that its the usa kits, there will be a bit of work to make everything fit but its a proven system that will work. Once you get onto speccing a custom body with a company that doesn't normally do them you introduce a whole new world of complexity which will end up costing you more even if you manage to get the initial shells for a good price.

thecolourbox

Yeah true. I shall see

The other vague optimism was based on somebody thinking they'd seen these toes of guitar kits available from China, which would be a godsend, but I've never managed to find one