What guitar could you buy for the price of the bits to build a guitar

Rocker

I often wondered about this.  Buy wood, hardware, decent pickups etc. and you could end up spending a fair penny.  Apart from the satisfaction of actually making a guitar, what could you have bought if you had bought a guitar rather than the parts.

Around twenty years ago I built two guitar amplifiers.  Each cost around €250, they are still working and get frequent usage.  At that time, there were very few valve amplifiers available in Ireland for €250.  Second hand possibly but new, no chance.  Guitars are priced differently.  It is possible to get a fairly decent guitar for what I paid for a pair of Jason Lollar P90s a year or two back.  So builders, partcaster constructors etc., where do you stand on building costs etc. etc.

notanon

Power of the production line and bulk buy same with most things isn't it? You only save if you build top quality. Pointless building a PC unless you are heading for high spec gamer. Hand made one off clothes compared to cheap tshirt, jeans, socks ... a couple of quid.

If you have the tools then you still beat the price of a high spec from any company don't you? Plus all the kudos of a one off.

paulnb57

I'm not sure its an answerable question, I build Partscasters to get the guitar I want, not whats on the shelf.
I could probably do a budget job for the price of a Squier or similar but it wouldn't be what I want....

Jez6345789

I don't really think about it in those terms.

As I am getting exactly what I want in terms of spec wood, hardware finish etc.

it will always be worth less than the sum of the parts have little future value.

so for what I spend getting parts say 400-600  I could get MIM quality.

what I turn out for me is close to custom shop or better in terms of wood quality, weight, all the time I put into getting a played in feel to the neck and the hardware.

it takes hours but it's the joy of the work the satisfaction and bonding with something you have a hand in.

you could try and build down to save money waiting for that cheap old squire neck and those nameless 1969 Chinese pickups but for that type of partscaster you are better off buying  a Squire. 

Hope me that makes sense

Ravenous

I don't think there's an answer.

For example: I assume you paid a lot for those fancy P90s. If you think they're decent then a "decent" guitar should surely have the same quality of pickups, so is going to be more.

My point is, no matter what components you buy (or what production guitar you use compare the build cost with) someone will always nitpick about whether they're "decent".  Especially nitpickers like us lot

WezV

It still surprises me how many people think building a guitar is a way to save money?

Corvus

All of the above. Just look at the builds, they're different to off-the-hanger stuff. You can buy a Squier for 250-350 say but you can build exactly what you want and better quality.

Same in any area. Guys build hot rods or chops for their own reasons, no-one thinks well I could get a s/h Audi instead. My friend scratch-buildsher own hifi amps too I'm sure the drive is nothing to do with price.

Sporky

WezV said:

It still surprises me how many people think building a guitar is a way to save money?

Indeed. I think if you've already got a grand of tools and some experience then you can probably make something for less in parts than having it custom made, but that involves not valuing your time (or regarding building as an enjoyable activity, which isn't an unreasonable stance).

When I did the £100 challenge I couldn't make a neck for anything like the price I could buy an acceptable one.

Roland

notanon said:

Power of the production line and bulk buy same with most things isn't it? You only save if you build top quality.

If you have the tools then you still beat the price of a high spec from any company don't you? 

Pros of bulk manufacture:
Bulk purchase discounts
Production efficiencies
Ability to borrow to buy tooling 

Cons:
Overheads - rent, rates, power
Payroll - employees, distribution, salesmen, marketing, lawyers, accountants, HR
Distractions - legislation compliance, labour disputes, malicious law suits, patent protection 
Constraints - customer expectations, competitor design infringement, inherited debt

sawyer

I think a lot of the value of building or modding comes from the sheer satisfaction of creating something tailored to your own requirements that can't be bought off the peg. I think we all know they end up worth less than what they cost to build. But that's not where the value lies. 

Rocker

Agreed @sawyer but a lot of partcasters end up in the 'For Sale' section...

Adam_MD

Rocker said:

Agreed @sawyer but a lot of partcasters end up in the 'For Sale' section...

That's true of all gear though.  

Roland

Rocker said:

Agreed @sawyer but a lot of partcasters end up in the 'For Sale' section...

Some turn up for sale. I guess the majority of partscasters either hit the spot, get modified until they do, or are disassembled and reused.

notanon

@Roland yep, and most of the cons have one thing in common - people (judders) :-)

sawyer

I don't think they turn up for sale any more than other guitars pro rata. There most be thousands of people built them considering there's a seemingly thriving industry feeding our addiction.

Bork

I build because I have very specific requirements in terms of design, an insatiable curiosity about construction and materials and I get to play with the outputs afterwards.  I like cooking for exactly the same reasons.  

Building a guitar is a high risk game - so often what looks good on paper can still turn out a pretty disappointing instrument.  Best way to start is to commission an instrument from someone who already makes instruments that are within the ballpark of what you want in terms of sound and then just tweak.

Alternatively, if you have sights that are set reasonably low it's possible to make a respectable sounding instrument from pretty easy to find materials.  (So long as the wood is properly dried...)

Bork

Roland said:

notanon said:

Power of the production line and bulk buy same with most things isn't it? You only save if you build top quality.

If you have the tools then you still beat the price of a high spec from any company don't you? 

Pros of bulk manufacture:
Bulk purchase discounts
Production efficiencies
Ability to borrow to buy tooling 

Cons:
Overheads - rent, rates, power
Payroll - employees, distribution, salesmen, marketing, lawyers, accountants, HR
Distractions - legislation compliance, labour disputes, malicious law suits, patent protection 
Constraints - customer expectations, competitor design infringement, inherited debt

And let's not forget R&D (with the exception of Behringer of course) to stay one step ahead of changes in fashion or competitors...the constant need to Refresh(tm) product line ups to Keep Customers Interested (pat. pend.) 

Funkfingers

Bork said:

Building a guitar is a high risk game - what looks good on paper can still turn out a pretty disappointing instrument. 

Expecting a random bunch of commercially available parts to add up to one's dream instrument invites disappointment. It is pointless choosing pickups until you know the acoustic properties of the wood and the hardware. 

Many Partscaster project guitars are the unintentional spawn of commercial instrument tweakage. After upgrading the dogbreath bridge, tuners and pickups of a mid-price guitar, it occurs to you that the surplus bits could be turned into a whole 'nother guitar. 

That way, madness lies. Bwa-ha-ha-haaaa!

Bork

Indeed - you've pretty much described my own journey for both guitar and bass!  

I've found pickups to be a fairly blunt tone shaping tool.  Basically pickups have a hump that can be shifted up and down in the frequency spectrum, highs can be rolled off and output increased.  That's about it for single coil or humbuckers.  I know a number of boutique makers wax lyrical about orange drop caps, cloth covered wiring etc. but I've yet to be convinced about the difference they really make.

I have a huge amount of time for Paul Reed Smith's ideas as they reflect my own (far more limited) experience.  I think it's far better to get the construction and dampening of the instrument sorted out first, the pickups will (for the most part) just replicate whatever they get fed with in terms of string energy.  

Bork

Well that killed the thread rather nicely, I thought.  Have I inadvertently ostracised myself for mentioning Paul Reed Smith or something?

Funkfingers

My fault. In my previous post, I suggested that guitarprojectitis is a sign of madness rather than, as is widely thought, a way of life.