So I hope the mysterious topic title caught your curiosity

I'm currently sitting down with a buddy of mine and were etching out a business plan to get a student grant (yay canada). Were trying to start a guitar building/servicing shop....I will spare you the details since they kinda lack pertinence for the topic. What I'm really wondering is how can we build a quality product at a value/economic budget. So heres what im asking you guys..the pros ?

Building a guitar can be relatively cheap if you buy the dirtiest and shaddiest of chinese mass produced parts to assemble with...on the other side of the spectrum you can take the brand name rout and pay through the nose for say..."guaranteed quality"? What were planning to do is buy the cheapest of the cheap and assemble a guitar at the lowest cost possible. Then analyse and deduct which parts need to be upgraded and refined for a better product. That being said I have my own expectations for what parts will inevitably need to be upgraded to add quality and value to the instrument.

What we are trying to do is find a balance point between say luxury upgrades that add little to the instrument and essential upgrades needed to keep the instrument functional.

These are the parts that i think we will need to drop most of our cash on:

Quality Tuners (well..to stay in tune? Gotohs?)
Quality Pickups (not sure which ones yet, any recommendations?)
Quality tremblock
a good neck...esthetic is not so important but a good feel is vital

the main peny pinching part would be the body.

This would be a Strat type assembly and a similar model could apply for a tele build.


Thoughts

'Humbly recommend you study Mr. Hartley Peavey. He did it and built an empire.

OOoohhhh Good call. Peavey are one of the great underrated builders of modern times.

Myself i wouldnt skimp too much on the body. You may be better off to make your own. BigJay could knock the first few up for you till your used to it .
For pickups wilkinson are fairly cheap though same again why not wind your own.

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U may can negotiate a bulk deal with a body manufacturer so as not to oversacrifice on quality. Same for the other parts.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Well theres plenty of beer and steak in the fridge hows that for supplies. I just thought a trip to Canada may be easier for you than the wifeswapping route .

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Heres a commision i had done for my spouse


How much do you think i drink.

Not at all.
the wifeswap as you know was more an excuse to get my missus out of the country whilst me and you raise hell.

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No no and no

Tiger is my pet name for her.

The amount consumed to dull down her constant nagging nearly got me sponsorship by banks's brewery of dudley.

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No no and no

Hi JackSteel. Gosh, I think that's an interesting question. In short, the answer is - you can't. I do hope it's just a theoretical project, because I think you'd find it a phenomenally difficult business to break into AND make money. There's an awful lot of people out there trying, and very few succeeding.

Writing a business plan?

Two opposite business models to consider. What you might (inaccurately) call the Western approach: start tiny and at the very top of the trade and gradually spread downwards to mid-market and below. The PRS route.

The other could be called the Asian approach (equally inaccurately). Start by churning out the very cheapest products and gradually work up, gaining a reputation for quality work. Think Ibanez, or more recently Gotoh. Or look at the new-ish British-owned company Vintage for an example of how Westerners can follow that trajectory.

(Keep an eye on China. I bet the next guitar world leader is there right now making fakocasters or similar at present.)

What you ain't ever going to succeed at is starting out in the middle market, assuming you're planning on building these things yourselves. "Quality but at an affordable price". Rich country wages make getting going anywhere but at the "bespoke" level almost impossible, unless you have many millions in startup money and a shedload of business experience and insider access.

If you seriously want to break into the guitar building world then I suggest you make a careful study of the careers of such people as Jol Dantzig at Hamer and Roger Giffin:

http://www.guitarguru.typepad.com/

http://www.giffinguitars.com/

It's a long, long road to travel - but then look at the beautiful instruments those guys make...!

Cheers - C

I agree with Ceri it hard to make money in guitars. The best thing you can do is get some work at a local shop then get them to trust you. Then from there may be able to pick up piece work from them and others. Even shops with there own repair people get backed up from time to time and can toss you cookies because its better then paying for employees to be on the roles. A little note some GC stores pass there repairs on certain people when you leave them there at locations.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

hey thanks for the feedback...and i guess the details of the plan should have been left with you all. We wont only be building guitars, setups and other misc guitar work will be part of the revenue aswell. Another thing i left out...is we have gotten into contact with a local wood distrubutor so that we can make our own bodies with a 3D CNC located at my old highschool. So making and finishing our own bodies/necks...could very well be a reality. Although i appreciate you all letting me know that its a tough business and the odds are totally against me...theres a certain inocence to the project.

Yes we could get that grant and yes the business could go under quickly but my number one reason to even bother with this is to get some experience and have some fun while im at it.

So if i could redirect my question, what part CAN I skimp on ?

Cheers,
Pat

Hi again Pat. As cvilleira is suggesting, the "setups and other misc guitar work" you mention is the way into this thing. Grab building work as and when you can, but don't expect to be able to get started as a builder straight out the trap. Though I must say, access to a CNC machine will certainly give you a good running start in that field.

At heart the issue is this. "Quality at an affordable price": essentially, that describes a mid-price Fender, doesn't it? Without all their facilities, machinary, experienced work force and enormous buying power for parts and materials there is no way in the world you are going to be able to build a product as good as theirs for as little money.

I presume you've built solid body guitars from scratch? Then you know that if you add up the hours it takes for the small builder and cost your time realistically then you can't come anywhere near the price Fender and the others can achieve and still turn a small profit.

You asked; "So if i could redirect my question, what part CAN I skimp on ?"

In the friendliest tone, I'd suggest it's the wrong question - or the wrong approach to be starting out with. I think you've got to aim to do the very highest possible quality work you can achieve, because it is the only way you can hope to justify the relatively high price you will have to charge. If you can find customers for guitars in the two-three-four grand market then the relatively higher prices you have to pay for parts and materials (compared to the big boys) becomes insignificant. But you have to do work of a quality to justify that price!

Far as I'm concerned, the likes of Fender, Gibson and others produce such excellent products at unbeatable prices that the only reason for a player to look elsewhere is to find combinations of specifications, and perhaps timber and finish options, that the big makers don't offer. That's the idea you gotta get turning around in your mind.

I do hope you can see I'm not trying to discourage you in the least? Just hoping to give you a nudge in a more achievable direction.

Be delighted if you want to carry on discussing the project. There's knowledgeable people here; in particular cvilleira, who posted above, already does pretty much what you are talking about. Listen closely to anything he has to say!

Best of luck to you - C