westhemann Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 That's what I thought you would say.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I'd hold out for what else I could get Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I'd hold out for what else I could get Like adding Paz Vega into the mix as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 (edited) [code]I don't see guitar building is a "cheap" alternative but a labour of love. To tool up further to build necks and fretting, to find and purchase timber and things is impractical for me and many others. To tool up to make a guitar and the cost of materials has to exceed $500. To make a good squier great can require only a few basic tools, a new set of strings and a lot of fiddling around and cost less second hand than some body blanks...just a thought. well, since all the tools have been availible to me, i diddnt have to buy any tools, except for the fretting caul, and a planer. the planer i barley got last month. for me, i can get most woods fairly cheap, and buy for most builds ahead. like neck wood. all of my neck wood i get in large 14'X6" wide. that costed me 45 bucks (african mahogany) i buy all of my parts from guitarfetish. even with extras, parts are only 210 for 1 guitar. body wood, also african mahogany. i get $1.22 off a bd/ft because i have a friend that has a business liscence, and we put it on file with them and they give a discount. so it comes out to $5.65/bd/ft, a good 2"X8"X14' is a little over 100 bucks. so even after the 210 for parts, 100 for enough wood for 6 guitar bodies, 45 for 12 guitar necks, 50 for fretboard/ truss rod, and like 15 for sanpaper and finish (either linseed oil or polyurathane ((8 bucks a quart)) that still only adds up to $420.00 for a guitar, even though that wood will do a ton more, and i wont have to pay again because i already have it. see what i mean? even though im sure no one cares... Edited September 17, 2008 by killemall8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Sure, if you say so. But we both obviously have very different ideas of what a guitar is worth. I would have no reservations spending 4k on a really special acoustic guitar. We're completely on the same page, methinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 No...it is interesting, and I have most tools except fretting and such. Timber here can be a problem and importing things runs risks in terms of freight costs and customs problems. There are specialty timber places but expensive generally and none around here. In addition to the 420...time is a factor. So an equivalent guitar retail you would probably add 40% retail mark up, numerous taxes and freight and the cost of your time. To pay a craftsman (or yourself) and considering all these charges, it is easy to see how brand name guitars can end up costing so much. While I have messed around and made guitars since a kid in one way or another and most aspects...my biggest achievement was making a 4metre timber sail boat with cedar with very few tools that worked out great. Making guitars...I consider the cost and time and end result of what I could do with that of buying a good secondhand instrument and stripping it down to the very basics as with my tele and other guitars. The infamous sustainer-strat cost $50 plus a few parts and switches...all the rest were leftovers and ideas. Building guitars is great, but you can be involved and creative with out going "all the way" if you don't have the space and tools that a lot of people don't so I try and encourage that as much as I can. Making a guitar (or a boat, or a set of shelves, or whatever) is it's own reward with a lot of lessons to be learned that affects all kinds of things down the track. I have gotten work with buildings for instance because people saw the boat and figured if I could do that I could nail gun siding onto a wall! Playing guitar allowed me to go back to school and through university at 20 on audition. You never know... Still think there are a lot of great guitars out there and some of the classics are the most imitated of designs for good reason. I love an explorer, probably not get the use of it...and the epiphone korina's that I have seen have been very good quality and exceptionally reasonable...even cheaper than 420 with similar specs to yours...but it is not the same as the pride that you obviously have gained from making one...so more power to you! pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Pete, im not saying that it is easier or cheaper for everyone. but in my situation, it works out much better for me building my own, and i love them more than any other factory guitar. thats all im saying. to me, my own time is nothing. i have nothing better to be doing, until i get another job. sheesh, why is everyone so... mleh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 sheesh, why is everyone so... mleh? My appologies K...I am particularly cranky these days, for reasons some of which have been shared. It is a thread that invites comment though, just giving an opinion and it is not unreasonable to expect a wide and varied reaction after all. Many have agreed in a way that they do in fact only play their own guitars...others would play anything. My posts were trying to be constructive to the topic and forum...not really you. There are people who come here for the "project guitar" aspect...to see what others are doing or renovate and start their own modifications, not only to build their own from scratch. Often I have heard and get the impression that building a guitar is the main focus. Obviously I have spent most of my time till recently helping out the electronics and particularly the sustainer thing as only a very small part of guitar building... sorry...must be something in the air Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Pete, i wasnt really directing that specificly twards you. i agree, not everyone here can or wants to from scratch build. and obviously, you being a guitar wiring genius, your going to go more twards mods and such. thats cool for me, im sure you enjoy it more than i enjoy building. honestly, i enjoy building more than playing now. its just sad that i can make a really nice guitar, and not really know what to do with it. i mean, im never going to be in a band, or ever play live. and also, i never really get any better or anything, i just kind of stay neutral. building is my ONLY hobby. this is all i have to take out my frustration on. and when the antidote becomes the poison, i am stuck in a horrible state. like right now. many things going wrong with everything, and it just builds up. but whatever. also Pete, i wouldnt start these topics if i diddnt want peoples opinions and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I don't really care, as long as it isn't pink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGman Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 (edited) I don't really care, as long as it isn't pink. +1 I can't say i play any guitars that i have built, all of them played fine, just the small problems i couldn't live with. Getting there though. Edited September 17, 2008 by RGman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I don't really care, as long as it isn't pink. Funny you say this...before I bought my Ibasnez sabre,in about 1989 or 90 I was looking through pawn shops and I found an awesome guitar...a high end sabre exactly like the one I have now,except it was pink...hot pink... I wanted it so bad...but it was pink...they were willing to let it go for $400(these guitars were msrp for over $1500 at the time),but my buddy kept saying "dude...you can't get it...it's pink" it was about 2 or 3 years later I found my blue one (in south carolina)...someone had ordered it,then never picked it up,and it sat there for over a year,so I got it with the custom hardshell case for $700 I know what you may be thinking...well,that aint much of a deal"...but anybody that remembers the price of a good guitar back then knows what I am talking about...and these japanese sabres were the ultimate in quality at the time,aside from ESP japan... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 (edited) Hey K...no worries...as I say... must be something in the air i enjoy building more than playing now. its just sad that i can make a really nice guitar, and not really know what to do with it. i mean, im never going to be in a band, or ever play live. and also, i never really get any better or anything, i just kind of stay neutral. building is my ONLY hobby. this is all i have to take out my frustration on. and when the antidote becomes the poison, i am stuck in a horrible state. like right now. many things going wrong with everything, and it just builds up. I am sure a lot of us know what you mean. Still, it is an interesting time...while live opportunities are getting rarer, more opportunities and technologies for recording are opening up. Who knows...the way the internet is going...perhaps more collaborative efforts can be had to make music in the future sending files back and forth. For now...if building things is enjoyable and you have the tools and opportunity...why not...a guitar is a technical achievement and a challenge and a thing of beauty...all good for the soul if nothing else. If a guitar is out of reach or you have enough for now...a lot of these skills are directly transferable to other things besides. I bet your girl (very attractive by the way...a lucky man) would love a jewelery box or similar...even your parents. You could practice things like inlay on it for instance and use up scraps. People start to look differently on what you are doing when they get something out of it too. Also, who knows...the market for such things is bigger and the outlay smaller and you get to use your skills and hone your craft at the same time...could be a sideline...just an idea! pete I'd play a pink guitar...I'm not proud...be kind of ironic...besides, girls like pink right...so I like girls...so that could have worked for me. Instead...I used to play a mean looking black les paul custom, I took it out recently and it is soooo heavy! Edited September 17, 2008 by psw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 If a guitar is 99 % looks and shape, the sound of any guitar is 99.9% player... Haha I like that quote, and so true. That should be on a sticker on your guitar case. Than when the ladies comment on how good you sound you can just point to the sticker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer7440 Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I only have the LP I finished up last winter. I played it for a while and I decided it played as good or better than my USA strat plus, so I sold the strat. I currently have a PRS type guitar that is almost finished (just have to make the nut and install the pickups). At this stage in life there is no way I could afford to buy these guitars. I find if I don't go crazy with fancy wood...it's not too expensive. I am like you Killemall....I build way better than I play. Maybe someday I'll knuckle down and practice...we'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 i dont know about everyone else but the reason i started building in the first place was because i was fairly obsessed with guitars anyway. I already had about 14 guitars before i started building, mostly very cheap. That obsession didnt disapear as soon as i had built some of my own. I still get major GAS for guitars from other makers, but i like to think i have better taste now - its also more expensive taste as most of the guitars i want would be interesting and unique customs rather than bog standard factory stuff. for the record i cant afford any of those customs because i am not overly well-off either, not crying poverty just yet though. I still want them and if i had the spare money i would purchase them in a second at the moment i have two non-WV instruments in regular circulation, both are cheap, both are old.. both sound and feel completely unique in a way i couldnt possibly replicate. 1 is an old abused teisco spectrum bass from the late 60's, the other is a framus plywood archtop from the 50's. neither plays particularly nicely compared to my own stuff but they look great, sound nice and i enjoy holding and playing them immensly (and smelling in the case of the archtop) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 (edited) gotcha Pete. i agree. i have been meaning to start some little projects such as boxes and what not. Edited September 17, 2008 by killemall8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 hos tools :D Maybe something went wrong in the translation...or you listening to to much gangsta rap! .... Your phrase about the antidote becoming the poison really stood out to me. I know exactly what you meant too and recognizing it for what it is, is more than a lot of us ever do! ... You would be doing yourself a service if you were to branch out and a service to others here if you were to share ideas that might encourage others to get up and join you. ... When I finally got my tools back after the split (about july last year) I built a set of bookcases so I could start emptying out the masses of cardboard boxes my life had been packed into. It was very therapeutic at the time to be able to "do something" that was kind of useful and turn cheap materials into something worthwhile. Sometimes the guitar building is an 'escape' but like many things, not always the promise that it held. I built a boat...now I have a boat in the shed that never sees the water and I am thinking of giving it away . However...as I say, you will get a lot of respect and admiration when you turn your skills to other things. Even yourself, as I did with those book cases...people can understand it better and it can still be an escape if you put the same care and attention into it as you would a guitar. pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 (edited) bet your girl (very attractive by the way...a lucky man) yeah, psh. i dont need Selma! i have her. more beautiful to me than any other girl could be Edited September 18, 2008 by killemall8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 See what I mean...now go make her something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 yes sir!!!!! now i should probably take that pic off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 Since I am single now I play my own instrument more than I would like....thanks for reminding me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 and what class does that instrument fall under, wes? woodwind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 You said it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 and what class does that instrument fall under, wes? woodwind? Since I am single now I play my own instrument more than I would like....thanks for reminding me... Unlike a clarinet though...you have to do yoga to blow it...or is that what the exotic marshal arts is for? I believe Sting has mastered the technique through tantric Yoga and his wife is happier now he can do it himself...what a guy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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