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OK, I admit to being a bit new to this craft. I just ordered up all the materials I would need to do my first build. Nothing fancy--just the basic stuff: fretboard, fretwire, bridge, tuners, nut, PUPs and electronic parts, etc. Not counting the cost of my tonewood (I'm using some local woods obtained at a much lower cost that what a purchased neck blank and a body blank would cost), I'm already right at $300. I will still need to get things like nitro and other finishing materials. I was a bit shocked at the cost of the "hardware" once I totaled everything. If I had bought my tonewood and neck blank, I would have easily had $400-$450 in the project. Is this about normal, or am I going about this all wrong?

Don't get me wrong. I understand that buying a ready made instrument is often cheaper, and the "satisfaction" I will get out of playing something I built will be immeasurable, but I certainly won't be able to do very many instruments as a "hobby" at this rate.

<LOL> the factory made that are all solid wood dont run in the $400-600 range either more like the $1500 range. And you are right materials cost about 30% more when you are buying one at a time. factories buy thousonds at a time. My typical commission builds typically have between $500 and $700 in materials not counting inlay material or extrem exotic woods. It is a whol lot cheaper if you resaw your own tonewoods. You are paying about a 60% mark up for the resaw and dimensioning. But most of us are not set up to resaw back and sides or to store billets as apposed to sets. Sooner or later you get over the sticker shock.

There are a lot of ways to cut costs. The first, and easiest, is not to buy your hardware/electronics from a supply shop (Stew-Mac, LMI, etc.) Now, I'm NOT bad-mouthing them at all - but they're a little pricey. Shop around and you'll find a cheaper outlet. For pups, I'd advise eBay, specifically to look for used sets.

FWIW: I made a poplar/maple Tele for around $150, a mahogany/mahogany LP with a bloodwood top for $335, and I'm in the slow process of a really fancy monster that I have $175 invested in the neck alone. The price of parts, pups, and woods will vary so much depending on a lucky deal or how high-end you want it that it's almost a pointless discussion.

_________________
Bad decisions make for good stories.
-------John


My blog - http://poplarmechanics.blogspot.com/

Yes, some very good points. I hope when I finish that I have some of that 1-1.5K quality. And, if I really get into this, I have no doubt that I will begin to buy some of my supplies in bulk. I just didn't want to put money in a pound of fretwire or a 100 abalone dots just to have 'em sit around the shop. I do figure I can save some money on my woods. I've been woodworking a while now and have gotten pretty good at finding ways to get good wood cheap, and I do already have some of the equipment I need, so that will help.



Yes, pricey was the word that came to mind for me as well, although I am surprised at the selection they have and they do cater to the guys like me who are building one instrument at a time. At least you can get what you need by the piece without buying a case of materials. As for e-bay, I let a nice bridge and set of tuners slip by last week. Guy had a set off a Les Paul he was unloading, and the pic looked like they were very clean. The whole setup went for lesss than $50. I just have to be more vigilent.

You can save a lot by finding a lumberyard and buying your 'tonewood' in full boards, seasoning it a little yourself. Hardware costs money, only real way to save bigger sums on quality stuff is to increase buying power (ie, buy more than one set of whatever at a time, make a deal with a distributor, and/or become a dealer).

My cost breakdown for an electric tends to look something like this (price estimates in dollars):

Body wood: 35 - 65 (African mahogany, limba, ash, alder, honduran mahogany)
Fancy top: 20-150 (range from thin drop top light figure to carved top full quilt/flame)
Neck wood: 15-50 (top end would be highly flamed maple, lower end african mahogany or lumberyard maple. Honduran in the middle)
Fingerboard: 4-20 (lower end EIR, upper end ebony or madagascar rosewood)

Tuning machines: 35-100 (almost always Gotoh, lower end machines work just as well as 510 series, but I love the XN finish locking mini 510, and they ain't cheap)
Bridge: 30-200 (lower end: perfectly good wilkinson wraparounds, midrange: hipshot, gotoh 510, schaller, high end: double locking trem systems)
Pickups and electronics: 100-300 (in general, depending on brand and type. Cheaper if you wind yourself, and depends on your taste).

Then add a bit of cash for truss rods, finish, that sort of thing.

Short version: the price range can be pretty massive. Ballpark figures, my strat/tele twin project (swamp ash bodies, maple necks, EIR fingerboards, CF reinforcement, GFS pickups, gotoh tuning machines, gotoh VS100 trem for the strat, generic tele bridge for the telecaster) cost me about 300 for the tele and 360 for the strat, give or take a bit.

The thing is factories get everything on the quantity discount. Wood, hardware and other supplies which make it much cheaper for them to build and instrument then small timers like us.