If you’ve browsed the DIY electric guitar kits at Amazon, then you have probably come across the name Ktaxon. And if you are like me, you aren’t even sure how to pronounce this brand you’ve never heard of before. You may also have noticed that some of these lower priced DIY kits are very similar to each other – maybe even identical.
Is a Ktaxon kit worth trying? I decided to pick one up and give it a shot. Actually, I was pretty impressed, and since they were priced so low, I decided to get another one of a different style altogether. Here is my experience with these kits.
Is It a Ktaxon? Or Is It a Glarry?
That seems like a strange question to ask, but there is indeed a similarity. The first Ktaxon DIY kit I ordered was a Jazz style DIY bass. I’m a bass player, and the Jazz bass is my favorite. This one is identified as a “Kjazz,” which is interesting because Glarry calls their Jazz bass a “Gjazz.” In fact, on the Ktaxon website they sell finished (not DIY) Glarry basses.
This Ktaxon DIY Kjazz bass kit is definitely not the same as the finished Glarry Gjazz bass. The Glarry product has a basswood body, and this kit is mahogany. However, Glarry does make a DIY Gjazz bass kit that is mahogany, and it looks exactly like this Ktaxon kit, right down to the last detail. The Glarry DIY Tele kit also looks exactly like the Ktaxon kit. Both are sold on the Glarry website, but are not currently offered at Amazon, and prices are higher than the Ktaxon kits.
Ktaxon is a newer entry in this space (it started showing up more prominently around 2022–2023), while Glarry has been around longer and is more widely reviewed. Officially, there is no publicly confirmed connection between Ktaxon and Glarry. These may well be private labeled OEM kits coming out of the same manufacturing factory in China. Maybe there a some distribution agreement between the two companies, though that is also not public.
My Ktaxon DIY Guitar Kit Purchases
After purchasing, and before completely finishing, the Ktaxon Kjazz DIY Jazz Bass kit, I was so impressed that I ordered and received a Ktaxon KTL DIY Telecaster-style electric guitar kit. I have written elsewhere that, if you are a beginning kit builder, a simple bass guitar or a simple Tele-style guitar is a great choice. You can pick these up at the time of this writing for well under $100.
Both kits arrived very quickly from Amazon warehouses. I didn’t have to wait on anything to ship from overseas. And both were packed very well, actually better than a lot of other kits I have ordered. Each was in a Styrofoam lined box with a cutout shaped for the Jazz or Tele body shape, a cutout for the neck, and one for the components. In both kits, the pickguards were attached along with the pickup that is in the pickguard.
The mahogany bodies and the necks, fretboards and fretwork were exceptional on both of these kits. I chose to do the bass in a burgundy Keda wood dye similar to Strat-style kit I had previously built, finished with Minwax Wipe-On Poly. For the Tele kit, I applied several coats of Minwax Tung Oil Finish, revealing the beauty of the Mahogany. Both were three-piece bodies with very good grain and color matching. I finished the necks with Minwax Tung Oil Finish and used Dunlop Fretboard 65 Lemon Oil treatment on the rosewood fretboards.
Final Assembly and Set-Up
Neck pockets were tight on both the Jazz bass and the Tele. As always, I test-fit everything before fastening anything down. The Jazz bass went together very easily and alignment was great from the outset. I re-attached the pickguard so I could align the strings over the pickup poles, installed the bridge, then used kite string to fine-tune neck alignment. With that set, I clamped the neck and then installed the neck plate and screws. The rest was straightforward, and the electronic components were all solderless plugs.
Now, the Tele was a different story. The neck was a good, tight fit, so I installed the loaded pickguard, installed the bridge pickup in the bridge, and got my kite string ready for final alignment. However, with the pickup installed, none of the holes in the bridge lined up with the pre-drilled holes in the body. Using the kite string for alignment, I marked the proper location of the bridge screw holes, which were off by about 1/4-inch. Then I had to fill the original holes with dowel and wood glue before carefully drilling new holes. In the end, it aligned properly and looked great, but this wasn’t the simple build it should have been.
I have built a lot of kits, many basses and quite a few Tele guitars. It isn’t necessary for me to look at any instructions, but because I am reviewing these kits it was important to examine them. Honestly, they are a joke. At best, they give you an order for installing components, which isn’t the same order I use as I am constantly checking alignment. You can see that these “assenbly” steps are pretty useless, however the back of the pages do refer you to a helpful YouTube video.
Setup was easy with no surprises following the T.R.A.I.N. method. I installed D’Addario EXL170 strings on the Jazz bass, and it sounds pretty good with the stock pickups. The Fender-style open gear tuners are better than I expected. After installing D’Addario EXL110 strings on the Tele and filing the nut slots just a little, it sounds great and plays very well
Ktaxon – Worth Taking a Chance
I was very impressed with both of these Ktaxon DIY kits. The only issue I encountered was the misaligned holes for the bridge on the Tele body. That was a pretty easy fix, and the modification is underneath the bridge so it is not visible. They arrived quickly, went together easily, and they look, play, and sound very good.
These are low-end kits, perfect for a beginner and well worth the inexpensive price. However, be aware that does not guarantee you will have the same experience. Perhaps I was fortunate enough to get two great kits. But be sure to check out my previous experience with an unbranded kit from Temu. It turned out to be a Glarry kit, and it even shipped from Amazon. But the mahogany body was horrible, and I am certain what the Temu seller sent was a factory second.
That’s why I recommend getting these low-priced kits from Amazon. Whether Ktaxon, Glarry, or some off-brand that probably comes from the same Chinese factory, you can know that Amazon customer service is there for you. Just make sure before you order that it is sold with the option for a refund or return. In my experience, Amazon is very easy to work with.
Try one of these inexpensive kits from Amazon. If it is damaged, something is missing, or it looks just completely overwhelming when you receive it, just return it. And if you happen to be the one that messes it up (and that really isn’t likely), then you have gained some valuable experience at a relatively low cost. Just order another one and try again.