I ordered an LP Junior kit on Amazon, got it today. The description says the body is Basswood and the neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. Here's the pic from Amazon's website:
When the kit arrived, I opened the box, and was a little surprised to see this:
First of all, the body is definitely not basswood... judging by the colour and grain I suspect it is actually Mahogany! That's a pleasant surprise. And the neck is bound and has inlays instead of dots... I actually think this might look a little weird on a Junior instead of dots/no binding. But hey, I can't really complain, as the binding and inlays look good and are well done. Fingerboard looks too dark to be real Rosewood, and has some kind of sealer applied to it. Not sure why they would seal a Rosewood fingerboard, unless it is a different wood that has been dyed. Maybe it's even one of these engineered woods, since CITES has thrown a monkey wrench into the Rosewood trade for musical instruments. Still looks and feels nice, though I would have preferred raw wood on the fingerboard. But overall not a big deal.
Bridge actually looks and feels pretty nice:
It's a wrap-around bridge, but with TOM saddles so it can be intonated. Not bad!
The rest of the parts is the usual assortment of stuff one expects to get with these kits: tuners look OK, they look like the typical sealed ones you get with an Affinity Squier. I might upgrade to some Kluson types, or not. We'll see how these hold up first.
Electronics look like garbage (they usually are with these types of kits), I've already ordered quality pots and jack for when I wire up the guitar.
The pickup looks like a real dog-eared P90, can't see the magnet so I don't know if it's alnico or ceramic. I'll keep it if it sounds good.
My plan:
Cut out the top of the headstock to have the open-book/moustache shape like on a Gibson. I will need to buy a coping saw to cut the shape. I will try and find an amusing headstock decal. Not one with a Gibson logo, since it's a copy, but hopefully something that looks cool/funny/amusing/LOLs.
Finish the body in tinted polyurethane. I would have loved to dye the wood, but the body has a thick coat of clear sealer and I can't be bothered to sand it off. Will probably try some of this stuff:
Not the black stuff in this particular pic, but rather this colour:
which is what they call "Natural Cherry". It's a wipe-on polyurethane which can be applied over an existing finish (or clear sealer in this case).The headstock will be painted black, the back of the neck (which also has a coat of sealer) will most likely be painted with Tung oil, we'll see, I might change my mind.
