Building this guitar was probably one of the most fulfilling musical experiences of my life. I’m serious! I felt such pride putting this guitar together, sourcing all the parts, and laying out the design. It’s definitely my favorite guitar and it’s the one I use most often, mainly because of the sense of accomplishment I feel for creating this darn thing! I’m also very proud of the guys who started creating these fiberglass bodies again, and their great website is here at Guitar Kits USA. Before I praise these guys, let me tell you a little about the Valco fiberglass history and my back story with these guitars.
Being born in 1973, I was able to just catch the tail end of affordable vintage guitars. There were so many guitars I saw in my youth that I would sooner laugh at than consider great guitars. These “plastic” guitars were one of those weirdos that I just couldn’t wrap my mind around (I don’t think many players of the 1960s could either) at the time. I always figured I’d break them! I saw two of these in the late 80s, early 90s (a map and this body style, often called a Jetson or Hutto model), and I recall the prices being $400 for the map style and around $300 for a white, three pickup Jetson model (with a factory Bigsby!!!). I would have never guessed that just a few years later Jack White would buy one of these from Jack Oblivian and these Valco fiberglass guitars would be worth thousands. There’s whole lots that isn’t fair in life. Some big things, some little. Just two of the little unfair things is that the Oblivians never became as huge as the White Stripes, and the other is that these guitars are now super expensive! One day I’ll research and write about the Valco fiberglass guitars, and figure out who designed these radical things, but for now I’ll just give you the basics. These “fiberglas” models began replacing and mixing with regular wooden guitars around 1962 and lasted until about 1967. They were made in Chicago by the Valco company, and the Airline branded models were sold through Montgomery Wards stores and catalogs.
In their day, the fiberglass models didn’t sell too well, and as the 80s came around everyone wanted super-strats and neon colors and solid state amps. Guitars like these Airlines could be had on the cheap if you could find them. As with the other Valco guitars, the necks didn’t have truss rods, but the pickups sounded great and the guitars were easy to take apart and repair. Around 1994 I bought two solid wood body Supro guitars and right around 1998 I bought my fiberglass Supro Dual Tone. I soon became so hooked on the sound of these Valco guitars that it was like an addiction! But I was a poor college student with virtually no income, so I slowly watched the prices creep up and up and by the time I had a job, these guitars were just about out of reach financially for the average player. There are plenty of players and guitar nuts that all bemoan the high prices on vintage guitars, and it often seems like that 1% that’s often talked about when it comes to the wealthy in America also applies to collectors who’ll shell out huge amounts to own a rare guitar. So it goes, and thankfully I’ve gotten to the point in life where I’m not bothered by who can afford what. But luckily for all of us the boys over at Guitar Kits USA noticed a disparity and decided to help all us out!
Whenever I email the crew over there I always talk with a nice guy named Dan, and basically what Dan and the guys decided to do was reissue these fiberglass bodies as kits. The idea is just great, and it seems to me like they’ve been in business now for at least four or five years. I’m so glad to see a company resurrect guitars like these with success, and what I also like is that these kit guitars are so customizable. For my build, I decided to use three vintage Valco pickups, and thankfully the guys at Guitar Kits make reproduction pickup mounts (Valco pickups are slightly longer than standard humbuckers).
I always liked the shape of the Jestons guitar but I never liked the placement of the tone and volume knobs, which rested right in the way of my strumming, so I configured my Jetsons build with just a simple master volume and tone knob. The pick guard, neck, tone switch plate, and tuners came from Mike Robinson at My Rare Guitars. The pickup surrounds, binding, and tailpiece came from Guitar Kits.
The bridges on these guitars are the floating kind, but when you find your scale length you can pin it if you choose. The hard part is finding an arch top bridge with a flat bottom, or you can just fashion one like Dano did for me. I bought the bridge and base for about $10, and Dano sanded the rosewood base so if fit fine on the flat top. He also rounded off the edges for a clean look!
I designed the layout which was totally satisfying work. It was like making your own custom shop guitar to your own specs!!! Guitar Kits gives a nice packet of instructions, and using that as my guide, I was able to drill all the holes for pots, pickguard, and pickups. I also aligned everything so that it would be true to the angle of the neck. Mounting the internal wooden blocks was easy, but a little messy. Simple epoxy holds everything in place and I like how the neck is attached internally for a clean look. All that was left to do was wire everything up, and again, I left it up to the Valco master himself, Dano Dave D’Amelio!
Guitar Kits provides foam rubber strips for a snug fit, and once everything is mounted and the epoxy is dry, it’s time for the rubber binding that goes around the two body pieces and creates a nice seal. This was the hardest step for me!! Because the body has a lot of angular lines, you have to make a lot of cuts in the binding so it relieves the kinks that occur. It’s tedious, but well worth it for a nice look. I think they now offer a simpler stick-on binding now.
My end result was a guitar that sounds like the vintage original and looks like a vintage original. I am still so happy with this guitar of mine and I encourage anyone with a sense of adventure to check out Guitar Kits and try your own build. So far they have three body styles (the map body coming soon), and offer most of the components you’ll need to complete your build. For under $300 you can have your own fiberglass guitar! How about that for American ingenuity and affordability?!?! Lastly, check out Mike Dugan having a grand ol’ time tearing up my Res-O-Glas build. Fun for days!
Drowning in Guitars! 
Amazing build. Quick question. Did you ever glue the binding at all on one side of the guitar? I am currently working on my Res-O-Glas kit, and the gaps on the binding are driving me nuts! Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Oh yeah, the binding is tough. I did glue one side of the binding. I used Gorilla glue, but really, some simple 3M adhesive would work too.
I’m building a res o glass kit. Where can I find find that cool tone switch cover you have. I looked on Eastwoods website and can’t find one. Very nice res o glass you built. 😉
I did get that switch cover from Eastwood. He used to sell all sorts of parts on ebay, but I guess he’s not doing it anymore. Glad you dig the guitar!!!
I see res o glass sells a polished steel one. I guess I’ll get one of these. 🙂
That will look nice, good luck with your build!
You can still get those tone selector covers. I just got mine a few weeks ago. Just contact Mike at Eastwood guitars directly. He does have them listed on ebay, from time to time. Under my rare guitars. Hope that helps.
Kim
Hey, I’m building one of these… Well, sort of building. My dad and I were working on it, and then (given the fact that neither of us had any experience with building guitars whatsoever) gave up after a few months. However, I do have some quick questions for you so I can see if I could try and finish this project.
1. What do you use to keep the pots in place and not fall off?
2. What did you use to keep the strap pins in place and not slip out? (My dad was really concerned about that one)
3. I know you didn’t use the pickup rings that Guitar Kits USA sells, but since you seem pretty knowledgeable in this field, I’ll ask anyway: There are two pickup rings in the package, one is short and has no backing, and one is taller and has a backing. Which one is for the neck pickup and which one is for the bridge?
If you could answer these questions for me, that would be awesome 😀
Thanks,
Jay
Hey Jay, the hurricane knocked out my power but I’m back online and can answer your questions.
1. Pots and drilled through the body and held tight with nut/washers.
2. I positioned the wood blocks inside the body so I could drill through the body and into the wood blocks.
3. I did use the Guitar Kits rings, but I’m using old pickups so maybe that’s why it looks different. Either way, the taller one is used at the bridge, and the shorter one is used for the neck.
Hope that helps!
Hey I am currently building a black reso kit and could only find a red airline neck from eastwood aka my rare guitars. Is yours an Eastwood repro neck? Also, I am a little apprehensive to use it cause it was built in Korea and I’m worried about the craftsmanship and feel. Thinking about getting a warmoth custom copy but that’s pricey so not sure. Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated! Your guitar looks awesome btw!!
BEst, Erik
Hey Erik, my neck is an Eastwood repro and I like it just fine. It’s on the thinner side, with a wide fretboard. I think the craftsmanship is just fine, and it has the look.
Hi how did you do the kit ? Make or buy it ?
I bought the kit from Guitar Kits USA. You can look them up online. Great company!!
One more question …
Could you tell me some infromation the kit. For example .
Thickness of the fibergalss
Hmmm, can’t say for sure what the thickness is, but the boys did make exact replicas of the old ones. Check out their site here: http://www.guitarkitsusa.com
Do the kits they sell include more important hardware, like the bridge and tailpiece?
I think GuitarKits USA sells accessory kits to go along with the guitar bodies, but I don’t believe the bodies come with all the parts. I think it’s because people like to add their own various parts.
Could you please tell me what kind of pickups you put in the guitar and where I could find some? I really love that jazzy tone!
Sure man, I used vintage Valco pickups on this one. Sorta hard to find, but if you search around for them they usually pop up now and again.
Cool! I’ll definitely try to look for some! Thank you so much!
Would you be at all interested in selling that guitar, and if so how much would you want?
Sorry Max, I can’t sell this one right now. When you make one of these guitar kits, you really bond with it.
Hi! I know this is an old post but I just stumbled on it while looking up old Airline axes. Really love your build, and want to try to build a similar version, possibly though with 2 p-90s instead of the 3 Valcos. Can’t seem to find a black neck like yours though on ebay or reverb or anything. Any suggestions? Nice work, can’t wait to get started on my own some time soon hopefully!
Hey Jordan, I got my neck from Eastwood guitars. For a while that guy was selling necks, but I guess he doesn’t anymore?
how do I get an airline res o glass kit and what do they cost