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Creating a real Custom Shop masterpiece is easier and less expensive than your customers would believe in this popular Saga Electric Mandolin Kit! All the contours, critical angles, and pre-finishing work has been completed, eliminating any guess work and the possibility of making an unplayable instrument. So simply designed and crafted that no sophisticated woodworking tools, complicated jigs, or soldering are required. Detailed instructions are included to make the process simple.
From the Manufacturer
MT-10 Electric mandolin kit
JT 101
August 14, 2025
Needed to replace a ground wire that was too short by a 1/2 inch, which then required some soldering. Otherwise, everything else was as it should be. Pretty easy do-it-yourself project and it sounds good, looks good and plays nice.
SWilliams
July 3, 2025
The kit arrived on time and in great condition. My husband has enjoyed the process of "creating" a unique instrument. We only had one issue: there were no tuning knobs in the kit we received, so he had to purchase a set elsewhere.
Randy
June 30, 2025
Nice Product, Fun to build
Hmmm
May 20, 2025
My 14 year old son was very excited about the idea of creating his own instrument. Unfortunately, there was no channel drilled in the instrument for the ground wire and some soldering needed to be redone. The instrument when put together is also somewhat out of alignment. We discovered these problems after my son had put a lot of work and some money into the paint job, so we went ahead and bought a soldering iron and relocated the ground to made it work. Its a fun product but it seems like there are quality contol issues with many of these DIY string instruments that could easily be avoided. I don't know whether the seller would offer some compensation for this type of problem, it really was quite a hassle to make it a workable mandolin.
Cowboy
April 20, 2025
Here's my experience assembling the Saga mando kit: it took about 3 weeks, given drying time for stain, poly, plus solving numerous little problems, ordering drill bits, etc. The guitar body is fine, except that there's no channel for the ground wire. Do this first!! You have to drill it with a 6" x 1/8" bit; the channel is about 5" long. Also, problems threading ground wire through the channel; but you'll solve that I'm sure (hint: wire and string help). The neck and tuner hardware are OK, except the neck itself doesn't seat properly in the body; you'll need to sand/remove a bit of wood to make that happen. The nut and bridge slots need to be deepened. This is a real challenge as nut files are too expensive. I bought some faux files (which are actually welding torch cleaners, for about $8. But the biggest hassle is the bridge...whew! I had to drill 1/4' holes for the posts and fill them with silicon sealer to seat the posts. Major hassle! Also, the strings are garbage; theirs broke; so replaced with guitar strings. This will never replace my "real" mandolins, but it was a diversion. Sounds OK through an amp. Play-ability is so-so.Tools I used: scroll saw, elec drill, nut drivers, heat gun, screw drivers, maybe more?
Timothy J Chrry
March 22, 2025
relatively easy to build but you should switch to a hard tail bridge w/ intonation adj. floating trapeze bridges are a pain. otherwise good parts.
Larry D.
March 21, 2025
Very neat and complete kit.
Gabe Leavitt
December 2, 2024
Decent quality body, neck, and frets. Electronics are cheap and noisy. I will probably replace the pots. Decided to use a different bridge and made some adjustments to the neck to lower the action. Overall a great deal for the price.
Cody Waite
November 21, 2024
Don't expect to just assemble this kit and have a playable instrument!The bad:-The neck was as twisted as a ram's horn-The fret ends could double as a rasp for woodworking or maybe some light farrier work-If you look up the word "Sloppy" in the dictionary, you will most likely see a picture of the neck pocket-The bridge and nut both appear to be made of some sort of hardened cheese-The bridge location was not correct and intonation is not adjustable-The electronics are as cheap as they come-The veneer on the face is brutal, squish any dream of a transparent/translucent finish before orderingThe good:-I expected all of this before making the purchase-The tuners were actually a reasonable qualityTo summarize:I have the tools, knowledge, components and time to make a pile of garbage like this work and to be fair, it turned out better than I was expecting (keep in mind I threw out everything aside from the neck, pickgaurd and body (all of which still required gobs of massaging to bring to a useable state)). However unless you are willing to spend the time and/or money to have it done properly, save your coin for something a little more expensive.
David O'Rourke
November 15, 2024
The parts are (mostly) well cut and finished and the completed mandolin played very well. A tunnel for the earth wire was missing. This has been reported by an earlier customer - so it is not unique to me. Personally, I would have preferred a pre-shaped peghead - too much hassle doing it myself. Wrong instructions (for a bass guitar) were included, so they had to send another full pack with correct instructions. Finally got an expert to it set up. Cost me an extra £42. YouTube assembly & set-up video would be useful. I love it though - despite the aforementioned.
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