Mahelcaya Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Ok , I have a bit of a moral problem here : I made only 2 guitars for now. But (with my pleasure !) had 2 requests already, for a custom handmade guitar , from 2 different friends of mine ! Ok I am dealing with one of them........ His budged is a bit low : 600 Euros ( 730 $ averagely ). My problem is that I want to make a great guitar for him, so I'll be setting up good Tuners, a nice TOM bridge ( thank god it's not floyd rose ) , but I would like to put 2 EMG HZ 3 passive hums.....just to make it sound good enough. The woods are not so expensive Mohogany body about 30 $, maple (one piece) neck and indian rosewood fingerboard. But I was checking the order bill and only for all the hardware and woods I'll be spending 450 $ + glues + stain dyes + shellac + Taxes from the Italian customs ( 80 $ at least ) + 30 $ shipping + TIME !!!!!!! That would leave me with about 150 $ maybe of work money........well I was going to do it anyway , because I like to build guitars. Should I save some money on the pickups? Tell him I need more money ? Or just do it, with no profit ? your opinion is important hehehehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 You could always ask him. He might be able to come up with the extra cash for some better pickups... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Definately check out Brian's site for the hardware, and maybe pickups. Quality doesnt have to be expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Its always good to have everything clear and up front. Too many friends are lost because of misgivings and misunderstandings. I would have initially set up the deal where your friend decides on what hardware he wants, then buys it and supplies it to you. From there you can dicker over the cost of your woodworking, finishing, assembling etc. You can always expect to take a few financial hits when making a guitar for someone else. But thats how things get started, if your friend likes what he gets and feels he didn't pay too much for it then he will surely tell his friends and acquaintances about your work when they approach him and say, "MY! What a NICE guitar you have there!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 We're dealing with the same thing right now. A friend of Kirk's wants us to build him a Gibson hollowbody copy (which we'd love to do). But we know that we must learn how to do it first and spend the time learning, and spend money learning, and getting the right supplies. FORTUNATELY this kid is definately not on a tight budget, which is good considering the $650 in parts he wants. I say go for it. Even if you're not making a killing off your instrument: 1. This guy is your friend, and sometimes friends get discounts 2. You DO love to build instruments so it's not like you're doing work you wouldn't do otherwise at some point. 3. Even $150 is enough to save and eventually buy some great new tool! -Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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