I'm building a StewMac kit and thought I'd pass on some observations in case someone else might be contemplating this. First of all, this s a very traditional F style. Flat fingerboard, skinny frets, all in all very Gibson like. A bit rougher CNC work than the now defunct Arches kit I built, but a nice flame maple back and sides. Quality is very nice.
One thing really puzzles me, the binding is, I believe, four pieces you need to glue together. Of course, there is a StewMac tool for that. The instructions are minimal. There is a $90 DVD for that too. Probably using a bunch of StewMac tools. But a beginner would have a rough time with the binding. The W/B/W binding that came in one piece with the Arches is hard enough. But I was going to build an F 9 like mandolin anyway so no big deal. I'll buy one ply binding.
This leads me to another small nitpick. If you don't bind the peghead, the faceplate won't quite cover the peghead. Oh well. The full size plans are nice, and If I decide on radius fretboard and modern frets, it's an easy enough thing to buy a fretboard or radius the flat one.
It's a pretty good kit all in all, and choices are few.
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