I ordered the kit from First Quality Musical Supplies. It arrived promptly and in perfect condition. The price was right (about $300.00) and the service was good. I have no financial interest in FQMS, and I make these statements only as a satisfied customer.
Upon receipt of the kit I opened it and looked through the contents to see what was involved. Everything seemed to be of high quality. I was especially surprised by the beautiful neck that came with it. The hooks and shoes and tension ring are all made of sturdy metal. The steel tone ring is chromed, and it fit just right on the pot. It is snug, and yet I did not have to force it on. As usual I pulled out the instructions and read them. If there is anything negative to mention about this kit it is that the instructions are a bit confusing. For example, in a couple of the steps, the instructions make a reference to Figure 6, and there is no Figure 6 anywhere in there.
A quick call to Goldtone revealed that the instructions had been revised and Figure 6 had been removed. However, the references to the figure were not removed. I assume that the information that was in Figure 6 is contained elsewhere in the document.
The instructions also called out construction steps in what appeared to me to be a strange sequence. For example, the instructions indicate that the neck should be finished before it is mounted to the pot. Since alignment of the neck requires clamping it to the pot and drilling out the holes for the hanger bolts, I decided that I would complete the construction of the kit first, and then I would completely disassemble it and put the finish on last. That way I would not put a lot of time into finishing the parts and then put that finish at risk by clamping and drilling. Perhaps at the factory they have the proper jigs and machinery to assemble finished parts, but since I will be using hand tools, I thought it best not to take the chance.
I have no real shop to do this work in, and I have no sophisticated power tools to work with. My "workshop" is an old bench which sits in a corner of the garage. So part of the challenge of building this kit is to do it with simple hand tools and in a less-than-professional venue. The advertisements for this kit say that no special tools are required. So I thought that I would put that statement to the test. The only power tool that I used in building the kit was my hand drill.
I made a quick call to Goldtone, and they popped one in the mail. I had it in less than a week. Problem solved; good, responsive service.