Odd turn of events searching for a through-body neck

[mettelus]

@T Boog, this one is probably going to cater to you on here most, but I wanted to share for anyone interested. Past few months I have been on this quest for a through-body neck to build a custom guitar (just the neck), and while searching a particular "IYV" guitar (IP-300-TSB) kept popping up (Amazon of all places!). I sort of blew that off at first, but it popped up so frequently I finally opened it. There is a nice video by "Gear Report"(the 2:25 length one) that caught my attention for a couple of reasons... 1) the depth of that neck cut on the back is fairly extreme, and 2) the "binding" on the guitar is actually the exposed flame maple cap (PRS also does this with a few of their models). Those comments made me sit back and think about that further... the neck pocket doesn't even exist on PRS guitars... a flame maple cap alone (raw) is over half the cost of that guitar... and the company making them probably has the same engineers making the SE line (sad, but true). Since that review mentioned "on the heavier side" I Googled that and said "roughly" 10 lbs... not quite ideal, but not terrible. I actually blew off looking at it again since I thought it was a "Prime Day" deal, but came back a week later and it was still on sale (still is now even), so I ordered one.

It just arrived, so wanted to do a quick assessment:

1. That neck cut is so deep, I can butt the heel of my hand to it and lay my entire pinky across the 24th fret. Definite win there.
2. Sure enough, it has a full flame maple cap (one review said it was a veneer) and it is exposed instead of binding on the edge.
3. The guitar is supposedly CNC'd, and I think even the frets are. They need to be polished but are perfectly seated and leveled perfectly.
4. The fretboard is unfinished, so can actually stain that inlay to whatever suits you. Will think about this one a bit.
5. The NUT... not sure why people do this... that nut is plastic (not a huge deal), but is SKY HIGH (is a stock nut, just slapped in so was not trimmed down at all)!!! It is also wrapped on 3 sides, so getting that out might be a challenge (Grem had this issue when fixing one of his old guitars). Will come back to that one when I get time to tackle it, but that is priority #1, then can set the rest up. LOL... a PLEK machine cuts the nut while doing the frets... they could have done that on a CNC machine too!!!
6. Tremelo - knockoff, of course, but fully functional (another reason the price stuck out for this guy).
7. The neck Is a C-shaped neck profile... a little thicker than I prefer, but not a big deal.
8. Weight - 8 lbs on the nose. I guess I will consider that a "win" because I was expecting 10 lbs.

I didn't even plug it in (not too concerned about the pups anyway) since I won't really stress test it till that NUT is done properly (or replaced) so I can set it up properly. Potentially might swap tuners down the road, but otherwise the hardware is fine. I will know more once that nut is done, but the fret access is something to drool over. I will update this as I go with it, but "IYV" seems to have one of everything (one review of them cautioned that guitars are done in lots, so a particular model may "come and go" and you need to sort of track them if a particular model sells out).

[mettelus]

Still waiting for this to dry out (has spent days in a humid environment, but only a few hours in a climate controlled environment). I played it about half an hour to check it out further, and here are a few more quick observations:

1. Knobs are just volume controls (that caught me off guard actually.... will check pot setups later on), and plastic. One comment I read previously was the pickup mounting rings are for flat-faced guitars and therefore bowed a little (outward as you face the pickups)... this is true, but not really noticeable. Seymour Duncan Triple Shots have an arched variant, and that will yield 4 more switches as I think about wiring options (with two knobs I prefer volume/tone on the master output, so have sort of bought into a wiring mod from the get go).
2. Sustain is exceptional. I kept doing slides on the high E to the 20th fret just because the sustain was over 10 seconds. I seemed to keep zeroing in on that aspect.
3. The frets are done right (#1 concern with any guitar). They need polishing, but no issues anywhere with them (even the edges are done right).
4. Nut isn't as atrocious as I first thought although it still bothers me. It is out way more on the low end, but because it takes so much motion to detune a low string it isn't really noticeable (more a playability issue).
5.  (This one was a surprise) The neck pickup is rather weak. Although they recess pickups during shipping, it is significantly weaker than the bridge PUP (they seem to be the same pickup, but not sure). I didn't adjust height on them yet, but the bridge sounds rather good, and that dominates in the mid switch position; just the neck alone is not so great. This could be a soldering issue, so will dig into this more as things settle out... it may actually be linked to the "two volume knobs" (never seen that before??).
6. Switch is reversed to what I am accustomed to, but simple to fix.
7. Scale length is 24.875. I am used to playing 25.5, so anything shorter feels like putty. I thought that was an oddball length (was expecting 25 actually), but it plays well.
8. Fret access on the upper frets is a dream. No heel to wrap your hand around and that was really my goal with the neck search in the first place.

I may get a surprise when I get around to checking the wiring (sort of expecting that now), but with the bridge PUP only it is playable "as is."

[DeeringAmps]

@mettelus

dam you, curse you! Is this what you wanted to see!

 I grabbed the double cut tv Junior ($150) and the semi hollow (I think it’s semi hollow) at $223 (includes CA sales tax).

what could possibly go wrong?

🙃

t

[mettelus]

3 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

dam you, curse you! Is this what you wanted to see!

LOL, sorry Tom!!  🙄 I forgot to mention the guitar is friggin' gorgeous, so maybe that makes up for something??

On a serious note, structurally the one I got was "almost" spot on out of the box, and I always assume there is going to be some tinkering involved with things I haven't had a chance to examine yet (go figure). After my last post I was wondering if this guitar DOES have a "tone" knob and the neck pickup is wired to it directly (?) ... will know for sure in a few days when I set aside time to dismantle it, but the wiring/pots/PUPs almost always fall into the tinkering bucket. Be sure to let us know what you think when they arrive!

I was almost laser focused on the "through-body neck" so got what I wanted and then some. I was actually a little concerned to post this, because after I posted on that LP kit I did from StewMac 4 years ago, Gibson went after them and made StewMac stop carrying that kit 😞 LOL, IYV sells their LPs for cheaper than that kit was and they are already assembled and painted!!! Amazon, go figure... even as I clicked "Place Order" I was thinking, "If it is a POS, I can always return it for free!"

[DeeringAmps]

5 hours ago, mettelus said:

"If it is a POS, I can always return it for free!"

There’s always that! As I said above “what could possibly go wrong?”

 I picked up a PRS DGT SE recently. On sale from John Mann, $653. Fit and finish on a par with the PRS “core” (as they refer to USA built now), thought that was a “DEAL”. 
(btw, been a PRS player since ‘94, I might own one or two more than I need)

Anyway, I’ll post pics and review as soon as the IYV’s arrive…

t

If the nut is a bit high on the neck thru, no worries as long as the spacing is correct, and the E’s are where you want them. Nut files are a bit pricey, but if go slow and careful, it’s not as intimidating as you might think. 

[ZincT]

Interesting, thanks @mettelus

I had not heard of IYV guitars before - they look pretty nice and are even available on UK Amazon, with a decent variety of body shapes.

I recently sold most of my guitars (they weren't getting used), so I now only have my good old USA Fender Tele Deluxe and Yamaha Acoustic.

Must resist 🤦🏻‍♂️

Edited Tuesday at 12:31 PM by ZincT

[mettelus]

8 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

(btw, been a PRS player since ‘94, I might own one or two more than I need)

+1, I am in PRS country here (an hour or so drive from corporate) but never owned one. An old friend of mine has two McCarty's... he is going to have a cow when I show him this when I finish it up. As I was measuring the scale length I kept thinking to myself, "Please, PLEASE, be 24.594!" LOL. His are both gold and for some reason I absolutely hate that color on a guitar. Seeing Gibson or Fender guitars in live venues in this area is pretty rare because of the PRS dominance here.

8 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

If the nut is a bit high on the neck thru, no worries as long as the spacing is correct, and the E’s are where you want them. Nut files are a bit pricey, but if go slow and careful, it’s not as intimidating as you might think. 

I always knock the nut out and file down the bottom edge to get the proper heights, leaving the top edge intact. Not sure if you remember what happened with Grem, but his shattered when he knocked it out because it was literally slathered with glue (and glued on 3 sides)... total overkill. A chunk of that was my fault because I led him down that path (but NEVER seen what he experienced)! Even the leftover fragments gave him grief because of the amount of glue used  This nut is wider than I am used to, plastic, and 3 sided contact, so I am bracing myself for a "hefty dose of reality" when I go to knock it out. Worse comes to worst, I will just slot it and crush it, then replace it with a better one.

Edited Tuesday at 08:21 PM by mettelus

[mettelus]

7 hours ago, ZincT said:

I had not heard of IYV guitars before

Was the same for me. I kept blowing off that search link and wondering why it kept popping up. I finally broke down and started reading reviews about them... I always read the 1 star reviews first and keep asking myself, "Is this 'issue' something that I cannot fix?" None of them mentioned fretwork or structural issues (all I really care about), but even then I blew it off thinking it was a "Prime Day" thing and I could log in later and say "Oh well, I missed the boat!" That didn't happen, so the "I can always return it" became my fallback excuse for trying it out.

The nut issue is more me being OCD, but the PUP issue is not. Just keep that in mind. I am a tinkerer by default anyway, so not intimidated by much, but some folks have a cow if they cannot unbox something and immediately go on tour with it. I joked with Grem about his nut that "They might have just grabbed folks off the street and said 'glue these in there!'".... For my PUP issue, they might have grabbed folks of the street and said "Solder all the lose end wires to 'something'!" The neck PUP on mine would "effectively disable it and warrant a RETURN" for many, so that can help with your "Must resist" 😁

[mettelus]

Stroke of luck, setup got completed tonight (neck PUP still outstanding):

Nut - The nut had finish against the headstock side, so I ran a utility knife down that to separate it (is also the lower side). Fretboard side is unfinished, so I turned it around and said, "Now if you will just bend over for me..." and it flopped right over! Wasn't expecting that (never works on women), so I figured fine, I will finish the setup tonight. The nut is actually bone (was obvious once out), and was only too tall on the on the low E (0.031") end, the high E was fine (0.012"). I took the low E side down to 0.022" and put the nut back in without any glue for now.

Truss rod - I actually added a 1/4 turn of tension before measuring the nut. This link is a good reference for the proper order with things, but I don't quite agree with the values given 100%. 

Intonation - The saddles were actually loose (weird), so set intonation and tightened them down.

Set the pickup heights to where they should be.

Played it for a bit after and got another kicker with the electronics... On the bridge PUP (only now), the volume and tone knobs work as expected (tone knob was obvious with the PUP at the right height). With the switch on both or neck, the tone knob also acts as a volume knob. Maybe I didn't fully test the mid position previously (more than likely), but the neck pickup is definitely wired wrong. The neck output is higher raising that PUP height, but that wiring needs to be redone. Ran out of steam for the evening so will tackle that one later on.

[mettelus]

Okay, she is done (yay). @DeeringAmps the PUP issue was sort of a manufacturing "oopsie" and not obvious, but what was very obvious was (very isolated) corrosion in the cavity when I popped the back plates off. Nothing major, but was on the threads to the tremelo spring plate screws (2) and pot stems (I pulled one and seemed to be on the aluminum only).  Something to check when you get yours. Mine might be a refugee that swam to the US to get here, but my only assumption from seeing that is that the IYV factory (or wire harness assembly) is in a salt-air environment (near the ocean).

Anyway... there are both positives and negatives from me delving into the guts:

1. The humbuckers are 4-wire, so can coil split them if desired without replacing them. Without punching more holes in the body (very little room for extra pots anyway), either push/pull pots or Seymour Duncan Triple Shots (my preference) would be the way to go. The humbuckers are potted and nice and shiny, so no issues with them.
2. The soldering was all done properly to the pots (no corrosion on anything but the pot stems and trem screws). Way more ground connections than I would do, but no harm, no foul.
3. I start checking resistances and was getting flaky readings on the pots and the PUP... so was going to pop that PUP out and do coil/polarity checks... BUT...
4. The coil connection (white to green) on the PUPs was shrink wrapped (I thought that was a nice touch actually), but then pulled the one off to the bad PUP and it was not soldered, only twisted. Of course I untwist it and aluminum oxide rains out of the wires. Grabbed the soldering iron, snipped those ends off (not a "lot" of extra wire in there for playing, but had enough), and soldered them. Checked the other PUP and that one was soldered, but I resoldered it anyway just for good measure. I ran it to the amp before buttoning it back up to check, and all is now GOOD.

Bottom line, between that one connection not being soldered and the salty environment, it was causing massive (and erratic) resistance spikes. None of the rest of the guitar shows any salt damage whatsoever, so this could be that they "prefab" the wire harnesses where the salt can get to them. No idea, but wanted to bring your attention to that.

Will post pics when I get a chance later but she is DONE (at least till I get a wild hair for some mod)... ZERO fret work required (that alone is worth an honorable mention).

Edited Wednesday at 08:58 PM by mettelus

[jude77]

On 7/22/2025 at 7:25 AM, ZincT said:

I recently sold most of my guitars (they weren't getting used), so I now only have my good old USA Fender Tele Deluxe and Yamaha Acoustic.

Must resist 🤦🏻‍♂️

Resistance is futile.  Order today.  Embrace the urge.  

[jude77]

I very much appreciate this thread!  I know this forum tends to focus on software deals, but I always enjoy the hardware heads-up as well.  Many thanks for the in depth review.

[DeeringAmps]

The double cut junior has arrived. Weighs in at 5lb 12 7/8oz. I guess that's the basswood.
Quite a bit of back bow in the neck. I've let the truss rod off well over a quarter turn.
That's put a "tiny' bit of relief in the neck; capo at the first fret and string held down at the 22nd.
I tuned her up a half step, hoping to help her relax a bit; can't tell if this is a "vintage" truss rod or a
"modern" two way. When loosening a vintage truss rod, it should get easier to move. This one remained
"tight"; hence tuning up. 9's on these? I play 10's so that should help a little.
As to the nut, the high E and the B are maybe a little too low, but I got to get the neck "straight"!

Boy is it an ugly yellow!

stay tuned...

t

[mettelus]

A few quick pics for those interested. 

How it is shipped, plain old cardboard box:

The fret access (why I bought it!). The heel of my hand is against the cavity cut on the back of the guitar, so my pinky it parallel to the 24th fret:

The front/tremolo - A couple things with this pic... first, you can see the bow on the pickup mounts (they are flat-top mounts on an arch-top guitar)... and second, after actually playing this, I am not so sure that tremolo is a knockoff, but rather a "special buy" from the Wilkinson factory in South Korea. The arm on that tremolo is unique to only two models of Wilkinson that I could find (no plastic end cap). I have never been a big fan of trems, but this one is tight and keeps tune even through some pretty serious usage (that shocked me actually):

Have a few others of the front, back, and fretboard, but they are identical to the advertisement. I couldn't get a good picture of the cap edge, but the "binding" IS the flame maple cap peeking out the sides.

Overall review of this from getting to run it through the ringer just a bit:

1. Construction - Surprisingly nice, for the price this is extraordinary! A flame maple cap alone (raw) costs more than half of this guitar.
2. Frets - Exceptional.... first guitar EVER I have not had to touch the frets on at all.
3. Pickups - More than adequate. They have "average" output, but also have all 4 coil wires exposed, so could be coil split easily. For tinkerers, the cavity has enough room to work, so mods and pickup replacements would be straight forward.
4. Fret Access/Playability - Exceptional. The neck is slightly thicker than I prefer (just me), but the access, sustain, and playability (because the frets are done RIGHT) makes this stand out right away.
5. Nut - Average. The nut is bone, but was (fairly) high on the low string side. It "could" be played as it was, but not ideal. Fortunately that nut came out without needing to do much more than run a utility knife down the headstock edge (I didn't even need to tap it out).
6. Hardware - Average overall. Tuners are fine. Mounting rings "should" be arch-top variants and they are not incredibly rigid; i.e., the pickups can be moved around inside that mount more easily than they should be. Knobs are plastic, but also easily replaced. The mounting rings, knobs, and tuners are a straightforward upgrade if desired.
7. Tremolo - Above average (not quite sure how to rate tremolos TBH, since I do not cater to them). Again, not quite sure now that this is a knockoff. It has three springs installed (makes the initial tuning a lot of fun), but once tuned it stays there. Definitely usable, but not run it for extended periods yet. Since it comes back to expected tuning, I guess that is all that really matters.
8. Finish/look - Exceptional. Some of the details are taken from the PRS line (exposed cap edge). The fretboard is not finished, and this may very well be intentional, since it would let folks stain that ivy inlay as they see fit. If the fretboard was finished, modifying/customizing that vine would be a significant challenge.
9. Issues - The only issue I had was the bad coil connection on the one pickup (so I may very well own a RETURN, no idea). The "salt environment" (if true) means to check/verify everything (even in the cavities) if you get one. As my issue was something I couldn't see (under shrink wrap tubing), I would advise pulling shrink wrap off so that EVERY solder connection can be visually verified. Although this manufacturing defect was easily fixed, it would be catastrophic to some.

Edited Wednesday at 11:59 PM by mettelus

[mettelus]

2 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

When loosening a vintage truss rod, it should get easier to move.

I have had instances (and even done it myself) where finish had creeped into the truss nut cavity. Freaked myself out because I had bound one nut (and later thought it was a rod issue and was afraid to torque it enough to break it loose), then a luthier laughed at me and said, "It is damn near impossible to break a truss rod, you worry too much!" Have you tried backing that nut out all the way with no tension on the strings (this will also let you see the max relief you can get sans string guage)? If I ever pull the nut out completely I do the beeswax thing to the threads and outer surface just so it functions as expected afterwards. They shouldn't require undue torque to move for sure. The one I just got did have some overspray on the end of the nut, but it hadn't creeped into the cavity (was recessed); seems the ones that give me grief have a portion of the nut barrel exposed.

[kitekrazy1]

Didn't Schecter make one of these?  I know it wasn't one of their premier guitars.  I remember seeing one at a GC years ago and it wasn't premier priced.