Leo JaymzDIY Electric Bass Guitar Kits - Roasted Ash Wood Body, Maple Neck and Laurel Wood Fingerboard - Fully Components Included

For my second home build I chose the Leo Jaymz IB5 Five String DIY kit. Saw a number of good reviews on Leo Jaymz products and the price was good. The kit arrived quickly in excellent condition, like my previous build I was mainly interested in the body, neck and electronics as I ordered higher grade hardware. The body is billed as roasted ash but looked, felt and worked more like mahogany. It sanded well, took stain and finish very nicely and the neck was straight and just needed the ends of the frets touched up a little. The head was easily sanded into a more unique shape. The neck fit perfectly, no shimming needed.Hardware mounted easily, the pre wired plug and play pickups actually sound pretty good after being set properly and the pots work smoothly with no crackle.The finished bass looks great, the grain pattern pops with the stain and finish. Sound works for me.The only thing missing is an instruction book like other Leo Jaymz products but assembly is pretty self explanatory.I may just build another at some point. Thank you for an excellent kit!

Updated review 2025: I'm happy with this bass. I was a whiny wimp complaining about a bass for 130 bucks. People always compliment it. The pickups ended up sounding fine when i hooked it to a good amp.See the pic, looks pretty cool right? Sadly there are some issues, but it is a good looking instrument.Build and assembly went pretty well, but unlike another Leo Jaymz kit I got, this one has zero instructions included. It's pretty self explanatory though, so not an issue.-Frets need some leveling (not flush with fretboard, so aren't fully installed. Ends need filed. Not unexpected, and this isn't my main complaint.-To ground it I had to scrape paint off the back of the bridge. I confirmed it was grounded with a multimeter. The paint on the saddles also prevents grounding, but it is thin and the strings themselves penetrated it. Their tech support couldn't help me with this, so I had to research it myself and figure out a solution.-After assembly and stringing I found the neck needed to be shimmed... another inconvenience.-The nut is super thick, will need to be adjusted, but guess that's probably to be expected.-They shipped it with the wrong pickup springs... They are too long, and can't fully compress like other pickup springs I've seen used. I luckily had some other springs that worked, but I would like a proper tapered spring that can fully compress.-My biggest complaint though: The output from the big E-string is super low. I tried each pickup individually, and together. I wonder if the string isn't lined up with the pickup optimally. The pickup is just a plastic box, so I can't tell how the magnets are laid out. I put the pickup as close to the string as possible and it's still weak output. Good output on the rest of the strings. I don't wanna have to buy new pickups :-(

I have been looking for just the right kit to build a fretless bass out of. This one had the shape and pick up config I wanted. Took me about 6 weeks to complete but I am very happy with how it turned out.To start out, I had to pull the frets. These frets came out very easy. I didn't notice any glue at all. I only had a couple spots I had to fill due to tear out. I contacted Leo Jaymz through this site to inquire about perhaps buying a neck that didn't have the frets pressed into it yet but I never heard back. Turns out, it didn't matter.I filled the fret slots with dyed maple veneer pieces I ordered from here. I used red around the double dots as a little accent. It was my daughters idea so I named the guitar for her.If you look at some of the other customer photos, you'll see how heavy the grain pattern is on this kit. It's great if that's the look you are going for but I wanted to make a smooth body. Took about 7 coats in total of epoxy finishing resin to fill in and smooth out the grain. It's not perfect but close enough for me. For the paint, I primed it with white nitrocellulose lacquer. Then I mixed white pearl mica powder with clear gloss nitro and used an LVLP gun to spray it on. I painted the back of the neck the same way. I used the same technique for the headstock but used a black mica powder instead. I don't think the powders are the best way to tint clear nitro lacquer but it did work. After I got the color sprayed, I sprayed about 10 coats of clear. That was part of what took so long. I'm in SW FL and the weather here is not always conducive for spraying nitro. Between thinner, retarder, and waiting on the weather all in an effort to avoid blushing. I am pleased with the result and the color. I'm going to try using some 2k acrylic for the next one. It should be less affected by my weather. Or so I hear.To continue with the little touches of red, I bought some red bone nut blanks and cut a new nut. I was going to have to modify the plastic one anyways going to fretless so I took the opportunity to attempt to make a scratch one. It was pretty simple. I roughed it in on a stationary belt sander machine then used the included nut to transfer the slots over. Little file, little polish and it's a red bone nut. Yea!I made a few minor modifications to the body. For example, I recessed the input jack a bit and I did the same for the electronics cover. The way it comes, it's meant to sit on top of the body. I think it looks a bit cleaner recessed. As for the electronics, I didn't change anything. I know there were some complaints on the pickups etc but they sound good to me. I can always change them later if I want. Same goes for the dime size pots. They are all pre-soldered. It all went together very easy and very obvious. The only thing that gave me pause for a moment was the pickups not being marked. Turns out they both measure the same at 12500 k ohm. So it doesn't really matter which one you put where. Finally, if you cover the electronics compartment with the included copper tape like I did, watch out for shorts. You'll know you have a when everything is plugged in but you get no sound. Ask me how I know.Overall, I am very happy with this kit. This is my third kit guitar and It's the best one yet. I am not great at painting but I'm learning. When I started this hobby, finishing is one of the skills I hoped to learn.Oh yeah, almost forgot. It sounds great! With two pickups that have separate volume and tone knobs, you really have a lot of options for your preferred output to your gear. Have fun!