pauliemc Posted February 22, 2012 Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 Cool vid from Hofner of how they build the beatle bass. Nice to see they are so hands on with these things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott French Posted February 22, 2012 Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 I watched this the other day. Very inspiring! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotYou Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) That big machine at 6:50 Edited February 23, 2012 by NotYou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdshirtman Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Awesome. And all for just $399. Amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott French Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I would love to be proven wrong but pretty sure those Musician Friend specials are not German made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Doubtful. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/hofner?catId=site1A http://www.beatlebassdealer.com/Hofner-500-1-vintage-61.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I know that these guys have more talent and skill in their pinky then I do in their whole body, but some of this seemed a bit... "sloppy"? That aside, cool vid, and thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 its what traditional manufacture of stringed instruments looks like. certainly miles away from the precision and perfection we are used to seeing in modern factories, but i wouldn't call it sloppy i have a couple of old 60's Hofner bodies and necks around here somewhere ... made exactly the same way we have just seen those guys doing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 its what traditional manufacture of stringed instruments looks like. certainly miles away from the precision and perfection we are used to seeing in modern factories, but i wouldn't call it sloppy i have a couple of old 60's Hofner bodies and necks around here somewhere ... made exactly the same way we have just seen those guys doing I suppose! Im used to seeing these CNC manufacturers and precision machining. The hand drilling of the dots really blew me away. Not even a drill press! Its impressive at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 The drill bit had an extended point to keep it from walking.he center punched the marks first I imagine. I loved it...It's very fast paced work,but easy to see those guys know exactly what they are doing and their hands are very precise.Obviously most of us don't have the means to have those awesome machines and all of those templates and jigs.I loved the jig they use to align the neck.I can see myself spending some time to make some of those jigs.Actually It gave me a lot of ideas I never really thought about.The glue spreader is epic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 the dude doing the fretting was awsome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I couldn't see any templates or guides for cutting the slots. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Very cool video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YetzerHarah Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I couldn't see any templates or guides for cutting the slots. SR You missed what I thought was the coolest part of the video. If you pay close attention that board he puts on top of the fretboard & slams once or twice right before he frets puts little divots into the fretboard to mark the slots. (I had to watch it a few times on full screen to catch that) They make everything look too F@#$ing easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I couldn't see any templates or guides for cutting the slots. SR You missed what I thought was the coolest part of the video. If you pay close attention that board he puts on top of the fretboard & slams once or twice right before he frets puts little divots into the fretboard to mark the slots. (I had to watch it a few times on full screen to catch that) They make everything look too F@#$ing easy. I most definitely missed that little detail. I wonder how many slots you have to cut before the turn you lose to cut those slots freehand like that. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I think the most important part of the video was the fact that most likely every single one of us has a lot of room to improve in accuracy and speed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremyp Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 cool video! and these arent the cheap bases btw. The cheap ones don't have the zero fret and the bodies aren't made nearly as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted February 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 I think the most important part of the video was the fact that most likely every single one of us has a lot of room to improve in accuracy and speed... Id have to agree with you there. But repatition of the same process day in day out soon hones your skills. If you got 20 of the better builders on here & stuck us in a workshop, within a year we would be churning out serious quality instruments this fast & accuratly. But still. the dude shaping necks with the pearing knife blew my mind. I use a similar knife, but I wouldnt be just slashing away like he does. not if I wanted to keep my floor free of pints of blood, serious skills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotYou Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 (edited) I think the most important part of the video was the fact that most likely every single one of us has a lot of room to improve in accuracy and speed... Id have to agree with you there. But repatition of the same process day in day out soon hones your skills. If you got 20 of the better builders on here & stuck us in a workshop, within a year we would be churning out serious quality instruments this fast & accuratly. I was going to say the same thing. I'm a very, very slow builder (one reason my prices keep going up). I was impressed with how efficiently those guys seem to work. Whoever manages that, clearly does a great job! I can barely manage myself. But, like you said, doing the same task over and over again would make all the difference. They all seem skilled in general, but I bet if they had each instrument assigned to one guy, they'd move at an extremely slow pace. It's the whole Ford, assembly line concept. It really does speed things up, especially with this kind of thing where each person needs to be skilled. The more they do that task, the more skilled they get and the faster they work. Edited February 24, 2012 by NotYou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Obviously...but let's be honest,there is a LOT of room between how fast we all work and how fast they do...if we all got half as fast as those guys and still stayed precise,we could all churn out a new top quality guitar every 3 days with ease... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 Despite the speed and experience of those guys, there is so much room for error there that accidents WILL happen. I would not be happy chancing some of those tasks and I feel they have not suitably mitigated risk. Money is pressure of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 Mitigate risk? Are you trying to get a job in insurance?Woodworking is always a risk,just like whittling and driving to work.Nothing they do is any more risky that running a router into a guitar body or neck. Don't be scared to admit they are just better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 those guys build them assymbly line style. if you have a repetitious job like that your bound to get good and fast (well atleast the average person) if all you did day in and day out was fret guitar necks any of us would get fast. im still impressed with his and the other guys speed and accuracy but its not any thing that is unatainable. the problem with small scale is even if your turning out a guitar a week your still only doning one fretboard (well hopefuly only one) a week. you never get the time to get the practice that these guys get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 That's definitely true, however case in point - 09:56. Bam! He drops the points of the snippers onto the board which is presumably finished by this point. Completely unsatisfactory. This is why I mask off the entirety of fingerboards before I bring tools anywhere near them. 0,20€ of masking tape is cheaper than ten minutes of chargeable time repairing a ding in a finished board. The same applies to: 09:29 - extensive use of cauls behind the neck then, obviously. 10:24 - where the headstock is exposed to any kind of slip which would mar the finish. 10:36 - the edge of his file could easily create a V in the curve of the headstock. 13:12 - hunting around with the drill bit around the tailpiece. 13:50 - a slight miscalculation in angle and you have a scratch either on the headstock or the zero fret. No. I'm afraid that in as much as I like the fact Hofner have stayed handmade, I wonder how many mistakes end up writing off instruments or slipping through the net resulting in higher prices (absorption of losses) or B-grade stock in stores. I may be wrong, but I would certainly be unhappy producing products with this level of tolerance to mistakes and inaccuracy. Am I the only person who feels this way? Oh yes, nice vid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 ut its not any thing that is unatainable. Yup,that is my point.I for one would like to work towards obtaining those skills at least to some degree. I may be wrong, but I would certainly be unhappy producing products with this level of tolerance to mistakes and inaccuracy Well we really don't know of any mistakes going out the door,do we?I would think they have a quality control person inspecting and sending back mistakes...too many mistakes and you get replaced... Most if not all of the examples you list are only potential mistakes in your opinion that don't actually result in a "marred" product..Trust the craftsman to know what he's doing,because it just sounds a bit defensive to say "oh we don't work like that because (insert excuse here)" As we all know,even working at a much slower pace we all make more mistakes than they do on any given instrument,which still makes them faster and better. We are mostly just hobbyists and they are pros,which is great,but my thinking is that this video shows how much improvement is possible for us to strive towards. I loved the fretting.If I could pop out a fretted board that quick I could still run it through a fret press after and turn a multi hour job(for me) into a 30 minute job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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