build a guitar body

[mayfly]

Check out this guy:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ijIQdai2l1c[/youtube]

 

[PhilHill]

Check out this guy:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ijIQdai2l1c[/youtube]

Thank you, I needed a good laugh this evening. And I was not aware there was a "standard" size pickup. I would like to meet the people who are willing to pay him up to $150. bucks for that body.  Why does the name P.T. Barnum suddenly come to mind?

 

[Seamas]

I've seen a number of Rex's videos, some can be pretty helpful.

 

[PhilHill]

I've seen a number of Rex's videos, some can be pretty helpful.

I understand, and I don't mean to condemn the guy, but he gives off the attitude that it takes little to no skill or training to construct guitars. That's kind of like saying that anybody can wire their own household electrical system, or install their own plumbing system. As a sideline I built and repaired computers for family and friends. It took quite a few years to get proficient at doing it. I don't know how many systems I had to rebuild and reinstall software on for folks that saw somebody on the "Tube" tell them that it was totally simple and easy, ANYBODY can do it. They soon found out, at some expense, that such claims are not true.

 

[mayfly]

I watched some more of the guy's videos and I actually quite liked them.  Guitar stuff aside, he's a straight up guy.  He has a video on how he injured himself on his table saw and he didn't pull any punches about how stupid he was and how to not be that dumb 

 

[PhilHill]

I watched some more of the guy's videos and I actually quite liked them.  Guitar stuff aside, he's a straight up guy.  He has a video on how he injured himself on his table saw and he didn't pull any punches about how stupid he was and how to not be that dumb 

I have watched some and I see what you guys mean. He does seem alright in some ways. I guess I just tend to be overly sensitive about the subject. Right now I have bad news to give someone, a friend I used to work with has a grandson who is quite talented on guitar, hoping to help the boy progress well grandpa bought him a new American Performer Telecaster about a year ago. Well the grandson had watched numerous videos on both the benefits of stainless frets and fret work in general. So the boy decides that he's going to remove the frets and replace them with SS ones.
I don't know how many folks here have seen close up what happens to a fretboard when an inexperienced person pulls the frets, but I can tell you, it's not pretty or in any way easy to fix. So now grandpa has a choice, pay a large amount in labor and materials to fix the neck, or pay a couple hundred to replace it with either a Fender neck or what I will suggest, a Warmoth neck.
Grandpa hasn't seen the neck or heard the findings yet. I am wondering now where I can get a defibrillator to have on hand when he hears the news.

 

[Cagey]

I guess that's where I come down on the thing. Videos like that are perhaps inspirational for someone who has the tools/experience in that type of work to try on for size, just like a cabinetmaker might not balk at making a chest of drawers when his main experience is in making dining room furniture.  Saying you can make/sell bodies for $150 is pretty ambitious, even though it sounds good on the surface. Materials cost is actually not very high, so it could look attractive. But, without some automation (read CNC machines, etc.) by the time you take into account how much time you put into it, a lot of the bloom is off the rose. You could be working for minimum wage or less.

I can understand making your own guitar(s) - there are a lotta reasons to do it - but you really have to consider the reality of time. You don't generally charge your self, but if you wanna make money selling your wares, you better have a way of doing it very quickly or raising your price, or it just becomes a make-work project, like knitting.

 

[PhilHill]

I guess that's where I come down on the thing. Videos like that are perhaps inspirational for someone who has the tools/experience in that type of work to try on for size, just like a cabinetmaker might not balk at making a chest of drawers when his main experience is in making dining room furniture.  Saying you can make/sell bodies for $150 is pretty ambitious, even though it sounds good on the surface. Materials cost is actually not very high, so it could look attractive. But, without some automation (read CNC machines, etc.) by the time you take into account how much time you put into it, a lot of the bloom is off the rose. You could be working for minimum wage or less.

I can understand making your own guitar(s) - there are a lotta reasons to do it - but you really have to consider the reality of time. You don't generally charge your self, but if you wanna make money selling your wares, you better have a way of doing it very quickly or raising your price, or it just becomes a make-work project, like knitting.

Excellent point. I wasn't trying to say the guy is a jerk. Probably a very cool guy. But he's promoting an idea that's unrealistic. He may well not realize what effect can result from his actions. Making your own guitar can be satisfying and rewarding, a good way to build self confidence. But making them for public sale is a whole different matter. Ask the folks at Warmoth if they think that just anyone, even with some wood working experience, could do their jobs and achieve acceptable results without training and experience. I suspect they have all worked hard at getting good at what they do, and take pride in the fact that not everyone can do it.
A true professional puts in a long effort to achieve the education and experience to allow them to do their job well. And it's hard enough to get folks to realize that such talent doesn't come cheap. Promoting the idea that making a guitar is as easy as stuffing envelopes doesn't help matters.
He does, in some areas, give handy advice. But teaching people to drill the string through body holes by using a hand drill alone, is not good advice.

 

[Orpheo]

a tele, simple? no, not really. What makes a tele really, really hard are the string ferules for the back. They have to be drilled in a straight line, evenly spaced. That, without a template and a REALLY tiny router bit, is very hard.