Parts Guitars - Body and Neck Suppliers - KNE, Parklane, Guitar Mill etc

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Bardagh

Bardagh

Well-known member
So I've been looking into putting together a guitar and I'm just wondering which all suppliers/builders are out there and which ones are the best to go with or may be considered equal quality? I'm aware of KNE, Guitar Mill, Parklane, and not really looking at the bottom of the barrel GFS stuff.

For instance it seems the Parklane necks are killer quality and look great and actually I have seen some pretty good prices if you catch the deals they do through their Facebook page, but what about Guitar Mill's necks? They're somewhat pricey finished, but how is the quality?

KNE has good prices on unfinished bodies and a good variety of shapes but are the Guitar Mill bodies better quality? They do finishing too for generally between $275-400 but otherwise it sounds nice that they claim to final sand all the unfinished bodies to 300 grit before shipping them. I don't know if KNE does the same.

Just looking for any feedback/experiences anybody has had or if there are any lesser known gems out there.
 
I’ve bought two KNE bodies, both are killer. I’ve used Warmoth necks in the past, great quality but they don’t have Charvel/Jackson profiles which defeats the purpose, so I’ve bought a couple of Musikraft necks, great profiles and quality. I’ve also used used MJT bodies, and I just bought a GFS finished body, looks good but I haven’t put it together yet so that’s up in the air still.
 
paulyc said:
I’ve bought two KNE bodies, both are killer. I’ve used Warmoth necks in the past, great quality but they don’t have Charvel/Jackson profiles which defeats the purpose, so I’ve bought a couple of Musikraft necks, great profiles and quality. I’ve also used used MJT bodies, and I just bought a GFS finished body, looks good but I haven’t put it together yet so that’s up in the air still.
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I had forgotten about Musikraft and MJT is a new one to me - and damn they have some good looking stuff if you're into aged/worn finishes.

I'm considering different possibilities for a first go at this, one being a floyd-equipped superstrat, because I haven't had a guitar with a locking tremolo in forever, and the locking nut would be easier to install. I would surely fuck up a handful of regular bone nuts before I ever got close to cutting one right. The bridge is a bit of a pain in the ass to get installed right and balanced but I've dealt with them before.
 
My best experiences have been with Warmoth, MusiKraft, and USA Custom but that one was a long time ago before ownership changed.

Guitar Mill has been mostly a miss for me but we are only talking about one Pine Tele body (good) and two necks (both not so good). So small sample size. They did take the return/refund of the second custom order neck. I paid extra for dark Rosewood and what I got had lots of blonde streaks in it and it was very expensive. They took it back no problem.

Warmoth reduced their options, I think when the pandemic-induced partscaster craze was in full effect. I just recently ordered a custom neck from Warmoth and it shipped in less than 2 weeks. So it would appear they are all caught up now. But the lack of options is sending a lot of people to their competitors. We’ll see if they stick to their low options model.
 
SpiderWars said:
My best experiences have been with Warmoth, MusiKraft, and USA Custom but that one was a long time ago before ownership changed.

Guitar Mill has been mostly a miss for me but we are only talking about one Pine Tele body (good) and two necks (both not so good). So small sample size. They did take the return/refund of the second custom order neck. I paid extra for dark Rosewood and what I got had lots of blonde streaks in it and it was very expensive. They took it back no problem.

Warmoth reduced their options, I think when the pandemic-induced partscaster craze was in full effect. I just recently ordered a custom neck from Warmoth and it shipped in less than 2 weeks. So it would appear they are all caught up now. But the lack of options is sending a lot of people to their competitors. We’ll see if they stick to their low options model.
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Guitar Mill’s prices are high on necks, good to know they may not be worth the trouble. Warmoth may be worth another look.

Parklane apparently has so many custom orders they’ve had to stop taking new ones until they get their backlog cleared, which also means they probably won’t have any “in stock” options to buy for a while either.

MJT has some stuff for sale through ebay, primarily bodies, a couple of which definitely caught my eye but would be plain old strats, not superstrats. The problem with them is they are all at least slightly aged so they’d look silly with a pristine and shiny new neck finish.
 
Tough to beat Warmoth and Musikraft consistency, longevity in the market, and customer service.

I do think Warmoth has thinned down their ‘standard’ profile a bit over the years - my earliest Warmoth necks definitely felt chunkier than my recent ‘standard’ profile necks. Musikraft literally nails those early Charvel profiles. My current favorite is the .81/.81 Pro Mod. Thin without being Wizard thin.
 
I recently had good luck with a neck out of china. Nicely finished, good fretwork. about 100$. That said, most chinese necks have a finish on them which isn't ideal if you want to do the finish yourself or relic.

Body wise, sounds to me like KNE is the best bang for the buck with a good reputation to follow. For you US customers with your high powered dollar, Butala also makes good stuff from what I have been told. Your dollar will go a long way in Canada. I plan to order a couple of bodies from KNE later this year.
 
My two are Warmoth. It's been awhile so I really do not know who's out there anymore but My Warmoth experience has been great with good quality.
 
KNE, Musikraft, and Randy Buttala (though Randy takes a while but his work is insanely good).
 
FYI - Parklane is the old Musikraft production managers company...he was at Musikraft for 12 years prior
 
Rdodson said:
KNE, Musikraft, and Randy Buttala (though Randy takes a while but his work is insanely good).
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I was gonna say Buttala. Definitely kinda on the slower side but,super nice,quality work. I was just looking at his website and ordering another project.
 
I have a Parklane tele neck that is really nice. It just feels like someone put care into making it feel great.

I think this point, anyone with a cnc machine can make a quality guitar body. I will say guitar mill often offers something better in terms of a nice grain for stains/transparent colors.
But IMO the extra price isn’t worth it if you are doing a solid paint job

Pricey, but Gluff puts out some cool body shapes and nice woods
 
I have Lots of Warmoth stuff and a couple MJT builds, and have had Musikraft and USACG stuff in the past. I prefer Warmoth. The MJT stuff I have is somewhat unique and fun but the wood and routing is not as nice or tight fitting as my Warmoth builds, if I am honest. The Musikraft and USACG stuff I have had is as nice as anything Warmoth I have had but still got sold for one reason or another...

My newest build in progress is a double bound jazzmaster body. Warmoth shows the standard options on their builders but they will do non standard stuff if you want, just have to email them, they will tell you if they can do it and have to add it as special instructions/ notes on your order. I sent the body and its neck to MJT for paint as they offer colors Warmoth does not though, so pick your poison...
 
I only have experience with Warmoth and have nothing bad to say about them. I do have a USACG neck that I bought a long time ago but I've never used it. It's a strat neck but I'm going to use it for a Tele build hopefully this year.
 
I've been happy with stuff I've gotten from Warmoth, especially if you're wanting something pretty common and can find what you like in stock on their website.

MJT does some nice work as well, they're known for their relic finished, but that's not all they offer. I've had them do finish work on parts I bought elsewhere & had drop-shipped, and they were good to deal with.
 
SQUAREHEAD said:
I’ve heard great things re KNE.
Anyone tried Chris Locke bodies or necks?
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Locke maple neck and northern ash body. Sounds and plays great

HEJPgYn.jpg


This one is a Locke Frankie body. Neck is from Matt here on the forum

XSiN5L9.jpg
 
I built a thinline Telemaster using a mahogany body from Rosser and was very happy with it.
 
Fiesta Red said:
Locke maple neck and northern ash body. Sounds and plays great

HEJPgYn.jpg


This one is a Locke Frankie body. Neck is from Matt here on the forum

XSiN5L9.jpg
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I like that white on black grain finish of the first guitar. I’m assuming you had that done through a shop?
 
Has anybody run across this eBay seller from Germany Hermann's Guitars? Sells pretty much all Strat and Tele bodies and necks, a lot of which are nitro finished and at least appear nice. All good reviews but mostly in German (which I can read) all of which are the typical short, unhelpful eBay reviews.

One guitar I want to put together is kind of copying the looks of the Jason Isbell signature tele, but since I already have a pretty traditional tele I want the one I build to be non-traditional with a compound radius board, compensated saddles, a mini Pearly Gates in the bridge and a Fender CS Twisted Tele in the neck. MJT has a lightly relic'd Tele body that would be almost perfect on ebay right now but the bidding is getting high enough that it's probably going to cost the same as doing a regular custom order. Hermanns has the same type of body for sale for less it's just not relic'd.

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Here's the body MJT has on eBay (if I'm honest I kinda am not crazy about the flame maple veneer being on it) :

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Here's the one from Hermann's:

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