Boston Musical Products KIT-SG-15, Manual

KIT-SG-15

Tools needed

Small Phillips screwdriver

2 gluing clamps

Good quality wood glue

Soldering iron and solder

Wrench 10 mm and 7 mm 

Hammer

The iconic rock ‘n roll guitar available as a DIY kit. Like the original, this has a mahogany 

body and neck. It is a slab body, so you can contour it to your own preference, very thin like 

the original, or a bit beefier for your personal touch. The same can be said about the squa-

red off headstock. Let your imagination run free and form the headstock to your own 

vision! The fingerboard is Cites-free pau ferro, a tone wood associated with custom shop 

guitars. The hardware is chrome and two chrome humbucking pickups are included. This 

kit has a neck that needs to be glued in, just like it has been since the 1960’s. The typical 

tone is in your hands.

body : mahogany

neck : mahogany, set neck

fingerboard : pau ferro

bridge : T.O.M. type, chrome

pickups : 2 x humbucker

hardware : chrome

frets : 22

Wood

The base of each guitar is the wood construction. The neck pocket in our kits is perfect. 

There is no need to work the neck pocket other than maybe a simple sanding. The neck 

angle is fine and the neck can be glued in without a problem. Use proper wood glue and 

apply the glue inside the neck pocket and that part of the neck that will go into the pocket. 

Slide the neck into the pocket and fixate the neck and the body with two gluing clamps. 

Let dry for 24 hours. To prevent indentations, the body and neck should always be protec-

ted from the pressure of the gluing clamps. This surface protection can be done with thin 

pieces of wood of cork.

After tightening the gluing clamps, wash away the excess glue with a damp cloth. All glue 

residue will show and leave ugly spots during colouring and finishing, be accurate about 

this.

Shape the headstock to your liking. Use files or saws and sanding paper to make your 

headstock design neat and tidy. Make sure you remove all saw and sanding marks.

Sanding and finishing

When the glue has dried and your kit begins to look like a real guitar, you can prepare it to 

be lacquered. Sand the body and neck with 320 grit dry sanding paper. After this step, use 

masking tape to guard those parts that you don’t want to colour/finish. Always follow the 

instructions on your finishing product, be it staining, spraying with aerosol cans or finis-

hing in a spraying booth. After the body and neck have been finished in the colour and 

gloss of your choice, and you have polished your guitar to the desired result, it’s time to 

install the hardware.

Electronics

Installing the electronics. First fit the earth wire from the harness of potentiometers to the 

studs. A hole is drilled from the electronic cavity to the stud of the tailpiece. After threading 

the wire to the cavity of the stud, install the stud to secure the cable. Installing the stud is 

done by tapping it gently with a hammer. Protect the stud by using a rubber hammer or 

inserting a piece of wood or rubber between the hammer and the stud.

Now start soldering. 

Install the pickups. The pickups are marked N and B. N is the neck pickup and B is the 

bridge pickup. Thread the cables through the drilled holes into the electronics cavity. Use 

the schematics to properly make all the connections. The potentiometers with the capa-

citor attached are the tone potentiometers, the other two are the volume potentiometers. 

After you have finished soldering, check if everything works correctly before closing the 

lids. In installing the potentiometers, output and selector switch make sure the nuts are 

tightened so they will not cause unwanted resonance.

Hardware

Install the machine heads. Don’t forget the washers. Before drilling or punching a hole to 

secure the machine heads, please align the machine heads on the back, so it looks neat 

and tidy. Now fasten all screws and nuts. A loose washer or nut can cause unwanted reso-

nance.

Installing the bridge and tailpiece. Tap the studs in with a hammer. Use protection so you 

don’t damage the stud. Install the wraparound bridge. Make sure the bridge is put on the 

correct way. The small indentation in the saddle is for the high e string, bigger indentation 

is for the low e string.

Put the strings on and start tuning the guitar.

Now the guitar needs a set up. Once tuned to pitch, check the neck curve and adjust to 

your preference with the trussrod key. Check the frets for level. If the frets are not level 

enough to your liking, level and polish the frets. Now adjust the string height so the guitar 

plays comfortably all over the neck and there is no string buzz.

Finish setting up with adjusting the intonation. Now you are ready. You have built your 

SG-15! Have fun playing it!