The $999.00 hand made guitar

[Bob Matthews]

I would like to begin building a good, hand made, all solid wood guitar that I could sell for less than a kilobuck and still have decent money-per-hour left over for my trouble. So I'm asking for suggestions about how to proceed.

The idea is to offer a "Model-T" that sounds very good and is easy to play. Fancy, not!

1. Body style - Talking from a UK perspective I would go for a 00 style or similar, this is what most of the young up and coming guitarists are buying and playing due to several pop stars using this style - nobody here I know wants a dread-not and only a few a jumbo. Also, a great advantage of making 00 sized guitars is that you can get away with classical sized back and side sets.

2. Top, sides, back, neck, fingerboard woods. - Spruce or cedar top, I'd go for spruce as it's tougher. IR back and sides, only a little more expensive than mahogany, but twice as beautiful and dead easy to bend without any breakages and much more sale-able. "Ooh a rosewood guitar!"

3. Finish. 2 pack automotive lacquer.

4. Tuners. Grover Sta-Tites.

5. Embellishments: rosette? bindings? position markers? Here's where you could lose a lot of time (money) - you need something simple to execute but striking or subtly pleasing to the eye.

6. Brace pattern. X brace.

7. Neck construction and joint with body. Mahogany or sapele, scarfed headstock, stacked heel. Bolt on joint with hanger bolts.

8. Adjustment rod or other neck reinforcement. 2 way rod

9. Bridge. Pinned every time. Pre-made? Or get a batch cnc machined once you have a set design.

10. Use of pre-shaped parts. Bridge and a pre-freted fingerboard of your scale choice would cut down a good few hours of work.

11. Production methods. Thickness sand many tops and back and side sets all in one session, same with neck blanks, prepare a batch of them. Spend time preparing brace stock to your usual dimensions.

12. Other. Always give a guitar time to settle in after stringing up before doing the final set-up, a month is good. Any sooner and you'll get returns which will cost you time and money.

HTH.

Bob

[John Link]

Ken, please do start the thread about "manufacturing and selling strategies for the guitar maker's shop". It has been relatively easy for me to make money doing repairs, but selling whole instruments has been a bear. Part of the difficulty in selling the whole thing is once the price gets into D-18 or D-28 territory, buyers become very distracted, no matter how much they like the instrument or how much more it offers than the Martin at the same price point.

The guitar market is dominated by factories. Famous, wealthy players can have anything they want. Inevitably it is this or that model by this or that manufacturer made in this or that year. The equivalent performers in the violin world never think that way. They want a vintage hand made instrument.

I started thinking about this when a Canadian wood supplier agreed to hand select Englemann tops for me if I bought in lots of 10. The price for the last batch, including shipping, was $170. I told him "flaws" were not an issue, just give me well quartered, light and stiff across the grain. All of them tap out with twice the sustain of a $250 Adirondack top (also flawless and remarkably white) I bought from Old Standard 10 years ago. And they are creamy white, basically flawless. They will look good finished and not require a client to adjust his or her "aesthetic" in any way.

Ken's suggestion to not leave off embellishment is a good one, I think. But Tim is doing quite well with his unbound "basic" models (though I am curious how many elect to at least embellish with binding). As per a suggestion I made to John P recently, I could embellish each top uniquely without much trouble and rosettes could vary according to wood species and/or shell used. Rather than make each rosette the same I could strive to make each one different. My thinking here is to give the client something that says "custom made, one of a kind" without burying myself in decoration. But binding seems important. A one piece plastic or wood fiber piece that installs easily in a channel cut with Ken's excellent binding fixture won't cost much, is quick to do, and may actually help over ride flaws in the joint.

Looking more at Tim's web site, I lean to thinking price point has a lot to do with his success, given his already excellent reputation in his local area, which is probably the other key. Anyone looking around the guitar mags for handmade gits does not see $1,000 when they visit the maker's site. They are lucky to see $4,000 as the starting point. (Those ads have to be paid for.)

I personally love ladder braced sound. The three brace Oscar Schmidt approach fits well into the work flow I would like to establish. It is how the famous Leadbelly 12-string was braced and it had a 26 inch scale. There is a great following for Harmony 1260 dreads that use FIVE braces instead of three, to the detriment of their bass response, but like Ken says, sound does not seem to be that much of an issue. But it is almost a biblical revelation that x-bracing is the way to go in the minds of most players. The holy grail for many 1260 owners is to get them converted to x-bracing. The footprint of the 1260 box interests me. It is a little easier to hold than a Martin dread and, well, does not look like a Martin knock off.

So far, I think overall "look" and playability are probably the most important considerations, once the price point is satisfied, for sales. How to get there and make a little money in the process is still a large question. I don't need to make a living at this. I just need to make sense of the time involved, without resorting to repairs, which I dislike so much I only do them for friends now.

Keep your ideas flowing, please.

[John Link]

Dave, Ervin actually lists just 15 differences between hand and factory made.

http://preparedguitar.blogspot.com.es/2 ... mogyi.html

[John Link]

About body style: perhaps I will take a serious look at the local Guitar Center's offerings. Building a smaller size is appealing for obvious work flow and wood cost (thanks Bob) reasons. My vague memory of the last time is of a lot of dreads.

Indian Rosewood, of a lesser grade, makes sense too. The upcharge is for exceptional figure, but at this price point, just having rosewood seems like a selling point. Ken's report underlines Bob's suggestion. B&S sets can be had for $60 which is about the same as the same supplier charges for standard Hog.

Let's see, materials cost so far: Top, back, and sides = $77.

[Tim Benware]

But Tim is doing quite well with his unbound "basic" models (though I am curious how many elect to at least embellish with binding).

About 85% so far opt for binding but the unbound prices get them into the shop where I have and opportunity to let them play my demos and talk about options.

[John Link]

More on material cost.

Indian Rosewood fingerboard - $8
Maple (ebonized) bridge - $4
IRW head plate -$4
2 Way truss - $25
Gotoh sealed tuners chrome - $31
Frets - $4
Bone bridge and end pins - $14 (splurge)
Brace material - $6
Kerfing - $15
Rosette stuff - $10
Binding - $15
Bone nut and saddle - $10
Finish - $15
Misc - $15
H. Hog neck blank, scarf joint, stacked heel - $35
End blocks - $10
Top, Back, Sides - $77

Total = ~$300

If I could build it in 35 hours that would yield $20 per hour.

[ken cierp]

It is certainly a personal issue -- but for me, the stress and added work (planning, special purchases and most importantly the timing) related to a commission sale is something that I will "never" deal with again -- If I were to have public offerings they would be completed speculation units.