Bobcad user looking for suggestions.

[nelZ]

What's that? a Telecaster? Right handed, seen from behind?

[ger21]

Back side of a right handed Strat is what I see.

[mmoe]

Gerry is correct. It's a strat-style guitar, but not an exact copy really. I do the belly carve a little different, which has more to do with the difference between CNC technology and how they did it 60 years ago. I can be far more specific about shapes than they could be back then. I'm still working on some of the design and specs that I'll make available in terms of routing styles, but at some point I'll start producing them early next year and see how they go. I'll make most of them more of a classic style than the model here (3 pickup/pickguard style), since classic will probably sell best. I've had some requests for a Tele style model as well, so eventually I'll probably get one together. I can make the most complex version with Floyd Rose recessed cavity and humbucker cavities that don't get rings covering them up (extra tool change needed) in about 30 minutes each, ready for sanding, so hopefully they will be profitable. The most classic strat-style should take about 20-25 minutes each. The most basic Tele style probably only takes about 10 minutes each to cut. I have a multi-head machine, so it does more than one simultaneously, possibly 3 at a time once I get set up.

[nelZ]

mmoe, you have luck in selling them? I make basses (as so many do) and haven't had much luck with the selling end of it. I wind up playing them (don't know if I can complain there)

Here's one . I took it to a bass only store, the owner weighed it and said nobody would want it....too heavy.

11 pounds. I guess he never picked up an Alembic. But the sustain!!

[mmoe]

Nice work! Is that Zebrawood? Did you hand build or is that CNC?

I used to manufacture bases to the point of assembling electronics and setup (he did those items himself) for a guy a while back who sells them under his own brand name, but not sure if I should say who. He still sells them, but I don't think they are an easy sell at all. Most of his sales have ended up person to person, rather than through a dealer. He's since gone with his own smaller CNC machine, which works fine for onesy twosy quantities, where it's hard for me to produce anything at a competitive price unless it's in quantity. So far, I don't think he's figured out how to use his router, which is a K2, and I think he's using a duplicarver to produce them which is how I did it back before CNC.

I used to make a couple instruments a year on the side while doing cabinetry, and sold them through a local dealer that was a couple blocks from my shop. I would build them on spec, then he'd hang them in his shop on consignment and I'd typically have one sell every 6 months or so. I never made much on them, but they were fun to build. Since I'm very good with finishes, I got quite a lot of his customers asking for refinish work, and saw quite a few cool instruments come through for that.

I don't make whole guitars for sale at this point and doubt that I will for at least a couple years, if ever. If I build anything, it may be flattops as they are my favorite to make, but they don't really require much CNC work outside of the necks and fixutres. I worked for Gibson in the flattop division for quite a few years, and I know the finishing end of the guitars as well as anyone so my finishes are always just like a factory look, while the woodworking side I've learned over the last 20 years on my own (mostly self employed). While I could build productions of finished instruments (and have), I think the parts are generally more profitable and will focus more on that. I've got a couple builders that are interested in buying bodies from me to assemble into full instruments and I'm planning to sell them to DIYers via the big auction site. With the cycle times I can run them at, and the level of quality that they are being made to, I think I'll be able to compete with any US made body for the price of some of the Chinese imports, and still makes a decent hourly (I factor $100/hr for production machine time) for the CNC plus a small profit on the part above that. That's also why I think they are attractive to builders. Getting US quality machining for little more than Chinese pricing makes it easier to be profitable on the whole instrument.

I just don't have the overhead that other shops producing these parts have, so I only have to worry about my time, the machine time and some other basic misc. costs. That results in a part that I can charge half as much as any US maker for, so I should have an advantage while my profits will probably be similar per part. My shop is at my home in a large detatched garage-turned-shop, and I'm adding a second shop space which I'll be able to use for free. It's about 500 sq. ft of high ceiling industrial, has 16 ft roll up door and tons of 3 phase in a completely unshared space with separate entry. The second shop is being supplied by a customer that wants me to be closer so they can coordinate with me easier on jobs they supply (usually several per month), and it's annexed to their shop which makes it very convenient for them, so a great win-win (I get paid for the jobs as normal as well). I think they mostly want to appear to do their CNC work in-house, but they also don't really want to learn the CAD/CAM to the level they would need to, which makes my services worth enough that they want me around. I'm looking for another industrial router to put in that shop for early next year which will probably be a single ATC 5x10ft router. At that point, I should have a ton of capacity to manufacture parts and could even run both of my machines daily if needed. I estimate I could produce up to 25 bodies per day once completely set up. Trying to build complete instruments would take a lot more space and additional equipment that just doesn't translate well to other aspects of my business, while sticking to strickly CNC production means limited (though expensive) tools and manageable spaces which are streamlined just for one purpose, cutting stuff for other businesses. I have always made my best income producing parts for others, and any additional work I do usually is far less profitable.

All that said, I'm sure I'll be making a few instruments for myself and family.

[nelZ]

You got it, zebra. I use rock maple for the necks from Niagra lumber up north. Expensive but a good source. Fingerboard is birdseye maple. The only CNC on these guys are the neck blank. (they're neck thru) I make bunches of necks to my copyrighted headstock shape ( ) doing the periphery first then doing a roughing of the back of the neck where your thumb lives. I use CNC for electronics pockets, and for the tiny little inlayed mother of pearl and other things. Fret slots are so easy on CNC as you know.

Worked for Gibson, eh? Before or after the stuff a few years ago of the ivory-like endangered species debacle?