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Post by killemall1983 on Apr 15, 2009 12:58:12 GMT -6
I thought I'd post a vid of one of my guitars. It was a mahogany bodied Lp with a multi lam walnut/mahogany neck.
Its straight into my Marshall MG 50, built in chorus used.
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Post by cknowles on Apr 15, 2009 13:47:11 GMT -6
Sweet sounding Les Paul!
Chris
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Post by dnic on Apr 15, 2009 19:55:19 GMT -6
Yes nice sounding guitar. Where did it go, you said in the arsenal thread all you have is the amp plus the three guits you're building? dane  sorry it was the "whats in your rig thread", my bad |
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Post by killemall1983 on Apr 15, 2009 23:13:03 GMT -6
Yes nice sounding guitar. Where did it go, you said in the arsenal thread all you have is the amp plus the three guits you're building? dane sorry it was the "whats in your rig thread", my bad Thanks. I have sold all of my 30+ guitars i have built. This one was done about 3 or 4 months ago. I can usually make a guitar in about 7 days minus the finish, and 8 days with an oil finish, so i go thru a lot of guitars! Ive had about 5 or 6 since I had this one. Mostly explorers. |
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Post by dnic on Apr 15, 2009 23:43:15 GMT -6
Hey that's great. We've been talking on another thread about selling our builds but it seems like people want you to give it away. The one guitar I kept a log on took 43 hrs to build including lacquer and buff out and set up. I think the teak one was a bit longer and it has an oil finish and my rear set neck. You sell on ebay right? Could you link to one of your auctions? Do you buy or build cases? Thanks dane |
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Post by killemall1983 on Apr 16, 2009 9:16:12 GMT -6
Hey that's great. We've been talking on another thread about selling our builds but it seems like people want you to give it away. The one guitar I kept a log on took 43 hrs to build including lacquer and buff out and set up. I think the teak one was a bit longer and it has an oil finish and my rear set neck. You sell on ebay right? Could you link to one of your auctions? Do you buy or build cases? Thanks dane Thats the thing, you have to build things that are not easy to find. That is why i stick to building Ken Lawrence Explorer replicas. Complete guitars go for about 1k$, But i mostly sell them without parts, for about 400. I dont have any auctions up right now though. I dont build or buy cases.  |
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Post by killemall1983 on Apr 19, 2009 21:13:28 GMT -6
Hey that's great. We've been talking on another thread about selling our builds but it seems like people want you to give it away. The one guitar I kept a log on took 43 hrs to build including lacquer and buff out and set up. I think the teak one was a bit longer and it has an oil finish and my rear set neck. You sell on ebay right? Could you link to one of your auctions? Do you buy or build cases? Thanks dane OH yeah, forgot. Do you build from scratch? |
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Post by dnic on Apr 19, 2009 23:23:32 GMT -6
"OH yeah, forgot. Do you build from scratch?" Yes I do build from scratch. I designed my own body and head stock styles and they have evolved along the way but I still feel they are mine. Every time I build a guitar I am trying to do some facet of design or construction that I have not attempted before. Now I am about at the point where I have done all the types of construction and even have invented a neck joint not used before. So I am playing with wood combination's and finishing techniques and combination's. I have considered winding my own pups but just haven't gone there yet. I don't know how you make any $ at 400. Even 1K for a complete guitar sounds very low. The one of mine that sold went for 1250.00 but that was absolute low dollar. Included a case too. dane |
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Post by killemall1983 on Apr 20, 2009 11:29:38 GMT -6
"OH yeah, forgot. Do you build from scratch?" Yes I do build from scratch. I designed my own body and head stock styles and they have evolved along the way but I still feel they are mine. Every time I build a guitar I am trying to do some facet of design or construction that I have not attempted before. Now I am about at the point where I have done all the types of construction and even have invented a neck joint not used before. So I am playing with wood combination's and finishing techniques and combination's. I have considered winding my own pups but just haven't gone there yet. I don't know how you make any $ at 400. Even 1K for a complete guitar sounds very low. The one of mine that sold went for 1250.00 but that was absolute low dollar. Included a case too. dane Well, I have no reputation, so even at 1k, everyone complains that "who are you to be charging that much, when you aren't a renowned luthier?" 400 without parts is about 250$ profit. honestly, I'm happy when i sell a body and neck combo without any parts for anything over 200. There is just so much out there to buy, people just don't see the point of buying one of my guitars when they can go buy a strat (COMPLETE CRAP) for that same price. That's also why I have pro luthiers say "Well, since someone wont pay 4k for your guitars, they must be junk" Well first of all, i cant sell locally, as no one here really cares about guitars. Second, it would have to be COMPLETELY custom to the buyers wants, or else they wouldn't buy it anyway. As of right now, I am not taking exact custom orders. I am still not perfect at this, and usually something goes wrong with every build. I am not confident charging "custom shop" prices when all the pro luthiers tell me i shouldn't even attempt to sell them in the first place. |
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Post by dnic on Apr 20, 2009 15:02:30 GMT -6
Well we are full circle again. No rep is why I was thinking about giving one to some famous guitarist. Pride swallowed and all. With hard costs and at least a week of labor not to mention tooling and shop costs at 1500.00 a unit all I'm making is experience. And where that's not a bad thing it won't allow me to quit my day job. I wrote somewhere that I have toyed with the idea of just building guitars without the hardware and then finishing it when someone bought it. Then they could pick the pups and tuners they want. But I couldn't let someone else finish the guitar and do the set up. For me the set up is all about how that unit will play and sound and I wouldn't want my name on something without that control. Enough rambling for now, later dane |
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Post by killemall1983 on Apr 20, 2009 15:09:34 GMT -6
Wow, If your barley breaking even at 1500$, I cant imagine how much you are putting into them. I get all my wood cheap, because i have a business account with a local lumberyard. So, wood for a guitar costs about 50$ total. There really isnt much more besides frets and a truss rod to a guitar with no parts. I have offered the guitar with no parts for a while, and offer to put whatever parts they want on it for actual price of the parts. No one has wanted to so far.
Since i still dont think i make A+ guitars, I just cant charge more or anything.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2009 16:58:56 GMT -6
Yeah, I have never thought of the labor in a guitar. But with out labor it still cost me around 600 to build a guitar. Paint, sand paper, pickups, (pickups can cost a lot!) well, you guys know the drill... By the time you buy parts pay for shipping it does add up. Even the kind of paint you use can add up. I checked around and to have someone repaint a guitar body around here is form 250 to 400 dollars. So to be able to do it yourself saves a lot. So I think a lot can be said in doing a guitar yourself. I like the idea of being able to build the guitars I have always wanted. Anyone can walk into a music store and buy a guitar but there is something about a custom made guitar you can't find in a store bought.
In fact if it ain't a custom then you ain't nothing!
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Post by killemall1983 on Apr 20, 2009 22:11:48 GMT -6
Yeah, I have never thought of the labor in a guitar. But with out labor it still cost me around 600 to build a guitar. Paint, sand paper, pickups, (pickups can cost a lot!) well, you guys know the drill... By the time you buy parts pay for shipping it does add up. Even the kind of paint you use can add up. I checked around and to have someone repaint a guitar body around here is form 250 to 400 dollars. So to be able to do it yourself saves a lot. So I think a lot can be said in doing a guitar yourself. I like the idea of being able to build the guitars I have always wanted. Anyone can walk into a music store and buy a guitar but there is something about a custom made guitar you can't find in a store bought. In fact if it ain't a custom then you ain't nothing! Well, yeah i see how it is that expensive WITH parts, but i thought we were speaking of without parts. I never really count all sandpaper, and really even that much labor. I just dont want to turn people off of buying with high costs. I mean, If You can go buy a COMPLETLEY custom guitar From Shamray guitars for 1800-2k$, there is no point in ordering from an unknown luthier. So, I know my work is not as good as a Shamray, so i wont charge NEARLY as much as they do. |
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Post by dnic on Apr 20, 2009 23:24:39 GMT -6
I don't pay big bucks for wood either but I'm know what a looking for and I avoid guitar wood sellers. Way to much hipe about guitar wood. All I'm saying is a one off guitar has a lot of time and care through the entire building process and the set up is immaculate. A Gibson Jimmy Page LP will cost you 10K. OK they're made in the custom shop but what are they really? An LP with a great set up wired the way Jimmy likes it. If it happens to be one of the LPs he has played and signed it will cost you 100K. Jimmy touching your guitar obviously makes it sound and play better. A one off custom guitar should sell for 2K-3K and if they want inlay all over it, it should be more. If your guitars are not A+ you must have doctored the photos. I've seen Shamray before but I'll look it up again. I saw a guy on ebay selling or asking 10K for some of his work and they looked great but they were still production guitars. I've beat this horse long enough, dane |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2009 9:01:41 GMT -6
The last custom guitar I looked at was at Guitar Center 27,000 dollars!
who in the heck would pay that much for some wood and strings? To me it wasn't any better than what I have seen here on guitar attack. I built a lot of custom cars in my day and people would pay me to do the work or go on down the road.
I fix guitars for people too but it's the same thing they pay me or go down the road. I also build custom computers but I don't give them away.
Now I am building guitars (one offs) But I'll let them set and rot before I sell them for 200 or 300 dollars. The guitars are as good or better than anything you can buy in the store. The only thing missing is the name.
But I still ask who would pay 27,000 for a guitar? I sure don't know anyone. I have known some people that build custom guitars and the do sell them for around 2,000 to 3,000 and they are not well known. It's like anything in the music world you just have to be in the right place at the right time. All it takes is someone who will pick up your guitar and play it. It will ether WOW them or not. If it WOW's them and they know people who are looking for custom guitars then hang on the next thing you will have to do is get a CNC machine. HE! HE! Just kidding about the CNC.
But I also think like someone told me in here that it is hard to compete with the big names. A mass produced guitar will always be less expensive than what we can custom build.
I don't know what has happened over the years but there seems to be thing going on about custom built anything. People just don't see like we do the work involved in the word custom.
If guitar builders (custom builders) would come together and have a set price on there build then it would change. Ever try and get a Fender for less money at a music store? I have they all tell me the same thing. Fender doesn't give them that much of a brake on the guitars so they can't sell them for less. So they have set a price and hold that price.
In my line of work I have seen my craft go from being a craft to quick printing. The craft has been cheapened by quick printing. So I feel that guitars have been through the same thing. And that is what custom guitar builders are fighting against. Plus there are so many builders that are willing to almost give there work away so that cheapens the market.
OK I'll stop. Kustoms or Nothing!
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