Y'all are spoiling me

[Eric Knapp]

I've been here for a few months and have seen some of the guitars you all make. Now I'm seeing pics of factory guitars and think they don't look very imaginative. Some are downright ugly. And the marketing around them is just awful. These are just factory-made guitars and basses, not magic amulets.

What's happening to me?

-Eric

[Gordon Bellerose]

The worst part of the whole factory thing for me, is that many mysteries hide under the paint, and trim.
They build to what is considered the successful shape and form.
The industrial CNC machines simply churn them out by the hundreds and possibly thousands every day.

A friend of mine who is a luthier at a local store gave me a body that had cracked paint, and was not being shipped back for cost reasons.
This body was from one of the biggies, and was painted a delicious cherry/plum red. I decided to strip the paint and see what was under it, and if nothing else use the body to make a template.
The expensive "tonewood" was a laminated body!!
This guitar was priced at 1599 in the store before the paint cracked.

Another example was in the same store. A wall of guitars were hanging, and looking at them I saw a repeating pattern on the tops.
Obviously veneer was used. Don't get me wrong, veneer can be used quite effectively and has been by a lot of builders.
The part that bothered me was that it was obvious, and that usually the factories use veneer over other "tonewoods" and charge exorbitant prices.
These guitars were priced from 2700 to 3300.

[Beate Ritzert]

Factory made guitars do have their right below a certain price tag, and then the custom instruments will take over. Meanwhile the level of craftsmanship has increased a lot. And in the range of typical "high class" factory guitars the custom instrument is clearly the better choice. (And below, it is quite often the amateurish DIY build...)

[Gordon Bellerose]

You make a good point Beate. If you are going to build a guitar and want to charge better money for it, you have to build a better product.
If your work is sloppy then the factory guitar may be a better buy.

The advantage of building, is that you get to choose the style of instrument, materials, woods, (hopefully real wood) hardware and electronics. All of these can be better than the factories use.
The disadvantages are the high cost of wood. The factories buy in bulk, making it less expensive.
The higher cost of electronics and hardware. (easily explained away by higher quality)

The real cost of building is in the tools, if you want to use power tools as much as possible, and the shop.
I can safely say that I have spent more on tools than wood. A lot of the tools are pretty specialized.
Of course some people can build guitars with simple hand tools, in their kitchen!! Many people do, and come out with nice instruments.

[Pat Foster]

There's also the flexibility in the design of custom instruments, such as compensating for wrist or shoulder issues, by making a guitar shorter, shallower, or whatever could be changed as we all accumulate birthdays.

Pat

[Randolph Rhett]

The flip side of being spoiled is the day someone picks up your guitar and says, "Wow! That's amazing. Reminds me of my Taylor!"

[Eric Knapp]

One of things that led to this thread is how beautiful your instruments are. I love wood and I'm feeling at home with a group of folks with the same love. The beauty and care you all put into your instruments is an inspiration. It makes me want to get out to my shop and make more progress. I'm a teacher and software developer. The results of my work are not physical. I put a huge amount of time and care into things that last a moment and are gone. I want to make things that might last a few years. My 100-year-old father is an architect and there are buildings still standing he designed 80 years ago. You are helping me get to that goal. Thank you all.

-Eric

[Eric Knapp]

The flip side of being spoiled is the day someone picks up your guitar and says, "Wow! That's amazing. Reminds me of my Taylor!"

Ha! I'm looking forward to that day. I'll have such a big smile, and I'll shake my head only a little.

-Eric

[Bryan Bear]

" I'm a teacher and software developer. The results of my work are not physical. I put a huge amount of time and care into things that last a moment and are gone."

I think you are seriously undervaluing the lasting effects of your teaching efforts.

[Peter Wilcox]

" I'm a teacher and software developer. The results of my work are not physical. I put a huge amount of time and care into things that last a moment and are gone."

I think you are seriously undervaluing the lasting effects of your teaching efforts.

But not the lasting effects of the software!

[Eric Knapp]

" I'm a teacher and software developer. The results of my work are not physical. I put a huge amount of time and care into things that last a moment and are gone."

I think you are seriously undervaluing the lasting effects of your teaching efforts.

I know, and that's why I love being a teacher of smart adults and can't do any other job. I also want to hold things I've made. I've never stopped doing that, but the last decade was a busy one and the things I made were small and not very challenging. Now I'm fired up to get my shop back together and make the things I bought all these tools for in the first place.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

-Eric

[Eric Knapp]

But not the lasting effects of the software!

Ha! I don't think any code I wrote is still running out in the wild. Now I write code to help me teach.

By the way, your beautiful walnut and redwood instruments you posted was one of the reasons I started this. After seeing your pics I got some marketing emails from a guitar store with pics of a famous company's instruments. They just aren't the same as yours and the others I see here.

-Eric

[Gordon Bellerose]

I think I may have left something out of my earlier post.
The satisfaction that I feel, and I assume this is universal among builders, upon completion of an instrument cannot be measured.
When people ask me about my guitars, they always are amazed that they are built from blocks of wood in my home shop.

[Eric Knapp]

I think I may have left something out of my earlier post.
The satisfaction that I feel, and I assume this is universal among builders, upon completion of an instrument cannot be measured.
When people ask me about my guitars, they always are amazed that they are built from blocks of wood in my home shop.

This! I am so looking forward to this. I showed the fretboard I made to a colleague. He'd never seen a multi-scale fretboard and wanted to see it. He was amazed that I could make something like that. Just that little taste of that feeling was wonderful. Darn day job has me grading final exams or this would make me run out to the shop. Every little step forward gets me closer.

Thanks,

-Eric

[Barry Daniels]

The normal non-craftsman has no clue. One person suggested that since I make guitars I could also make napkin holders to sell at craft fairs. Another person said my finishes looked as good as that on furniture. I just smile and say thank you.

[Eric Knapp]

The normal non-craftsman has no clue. One person suggested that since I make guitars I could also make napkin holders to sell at craft fairs. Another person said my finishes looked as good as that on furniture. I just smile and say thank you.

Ha! I'm not sure I've ever seen furniture with a guitar-level lacquer finish. They must exist.

Napkin holders... One of the best furniture makers in our area makes incredible pieces. He also makes breadboards for arts and craft shows. They are great breadboards and I suspect it gets him more furniture sales. But, still...

-Eric

[Peter Wilcox]

But not the lasting effects of the software!

Ha! I don't think any code I wrote is still running out in the wild. Now I write code to help me teach.

By the way, your beautiful walnut and redwood instruments you posted was one of the reasons I started this. After seeing your pics I got some marketing emails from a guitar store with pics of a famous company's instruments. They just aren't the same as yours and the others I see here.

-Eric

Thanks Eric, I'm glad you like them.

I admit there is satisfaction in the completed instrument, but for me the major enjoyment is in the designing and building process itself (and in hiding the defects caused by my mistakes, and learning to avoid them in future builds. )

[Gordon Bellerose]

[quote="Peter Wilcox"
I admit there is satisfaction in the completed instrument, but for me the major enjoyment is in the designing and building process itself (and in hiding the defects caused by my mistakes, and learning to avoid them in future builds. )[/quote]


Darn straight Peter! The learning curve for guitar building is pretty much a vertical line at first.
I've only built 10 or 12 instruments, and I am still learning, and will be as long as I build. I find that each one gets a bit easier as I cannot keep making the same mistakes!
Making a mistake and being able to recover the project is a must, I'm afraid.

[Steve Sawyer]

Making a mistake and being able to recover the project is a must, I'm afraid.

Like others around here I'm coming from a general woodworking/furniture building background, and many of us in my local woodworking group have said that being able to correct your mistakes is a critical skill in developing your craft. Errors in judgement and execution are inevitable, and almost every project would end up as firewood without that skill.

[Clay Schaeffer]

"One person suggested that since I make guitars I could also make napkin holders to sell at craft fairs."

Barry,
Maybe he was suggesting you make a product that would be a little more lucrative than building guitars.