skyguitarworks

I thought this one up a couple days ago... Couldnt sleep last night, so I got up early to work on it. Just finished it up. Pearlessence on an African Brown Rosewood board, 25 1/2 scale. The black lines are deliberate....Gives it depth. This one is going on a cool project....Stay tuned.

i love em!!!!!!!!!

thanx.....that helps alot

I don't know if this would work, but I think I'll do a test run tomorrow for kicks. I wonder if adding a tad bit of bleach to a batch of red dye will lighten up to a pinkish hue. hmmmm

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let me know how it turns out

has anyone here done a pink dye? if so where did you find pink or where did you find white to mix out a pink?

sure looks like an rgx model when they were trying to find an answer to the ibanez craze

I am building a guitar with 2 humbuckers and a warmoth pro neck, what kind of bridges do you guys recommend for this set up ( I know nothing )

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my first question to you would be what do you like to play, what type of music do you play, what feels good to you, etc.......

I want to see if anyone else has this problem.  I used standard elmers wood glue to glue up the blanks for a tele body I am making.  When I finish the body with lacquer based paint and finish (i.e. Krylon acrylic paint/lacquer) it seems to eat away the glue.  The reason I am saying this is because when I start to wet sand the guitar, the join line always seems to reappear and feels like a little groove in the guitar despite having been sanded flat before finishing.  Is my problem that the glue is dissolving, or is there a better glue to use besides standard wood glue?

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titebond is about the best

My question is this, how much should we charge hourly for work done on solidbody guitars? How much money have you guys charged for work? I want to keep ou prices low while still making a profit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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My thoughts on your situation are much different than the general concensus. I had the exact same advice for years when I wanted to start my guitar business. I was told I needed to learn how to balance my books, how to deal with customers, how to build guitars like a pro, how finances work, etc. Well, when I finally made the leap I had very little support (from friends and family). Why? Because I had not yet run a custom guitar business! Well now that I am running one I am learning more than I was ever given by way of advice. And I make good money at it too. Now my friends and family are a bit jealous when I take the day off because it is sunny and I feel like enjoying it.

The only way you are going to learn is to start your business and start charging money for every repair you do. Don't give it away and expect that word of mouth will get you anything but people looking to pay next to nothing for your work. The last thing you want to do when you start a business is to give away your work. What you can do is charge a fair price and take 3 times as long to get it perfect if you need to but don't give it away. And quote longer than you thinkyou will take. No sense starting out being late with every order because you are learning.

You do need to cover costs or won't last long. You don't want to have to supplement you money with a part time job, it will take up too much of your time. Charge at the very least what it costs you to do the work. I personally do not recoimmend this approach. What will happen is everyone will hear about the great repair guy who does his work for free. What will the pro guitarist do when he hears about you? Nothing. He'll go pay his tech (or repairer) good money for good work. Why will he do that instead of going to the cheap new guy? Because his good money will cover the cost of the repair and the occasional mishap. He will know that you can get the work done at all costs because he paid you.

I would say that to find the hourly rate you should take the minimum you need to work and figure that out into an hourly rate. For example:

Total monthly shop rent and utilities: $1000

$1000/24 working days in a month = $41.00 a day

$41/8 hours a day = $5.12 an hour to keep the doors open

Now add to that what you need to do stay afloat. Figure it out in a similar way:

Total rent and utilities: $800

Groceries: $250

Girlfriend: $1500

Total: $2550 per month

$2550/24 working days = $106.25 per day

$106.25/8 hours a day = $13.28 to keep you off the streets

That is a total of $18.40 for a shop rate. I would add 30% for taxes = $23.92. I would also add some room for error, like another 10% = $26.31 (that's cheap!). Add to that the materials needed for the job and always charge a minimum of at least one half hour or more. You have to keep the doors open somehow.

I charge between $50 and $65 an hour depending on how much skill is needed for the repair. I do not do much repair and I turn away most of it so I have time to build my custom guitars. If you really have a passion for restoration then you will do well.

One last thing. Get those orders from your friends and charge them a fair price (at cost is not fair to you). Then tell them 3-4 the amount of time you need to do the work. If you think it will take 2 hours tell them they can come back tomorrow afternoon. Give yourself plenty of time. The stress of having a client coming to pick up an instrument that is not completed will make you screw it up. Never fails. Just be honest, do good work, and never, ever call them and tell them all the little problems you are having. Figure them out on your own and give them a perfect guitar.

Just my opinion.

~David

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david, one of the best answers i have seen here, it seems that it is so easy for someone to ask a legit question and just get smashed with negitive comments and called stupid, i agree, we all started somewhere and i am sure if we all listened to the people that did not support what we wanted to do none of us would A. have any skills. B. ever made a dime at it. C. never found the love of the art. my hats off to anyone that can make a living at something they love doing, one thing i seen from duol is the fact that he said if he thought the job was too big they would be professional enough to tell the customer. and i gotta gree with dave do not give your work and skill away, because just like feeding a stray dog, they will return and usually bring others.

just my two cents, jim

could not agree more, a stack is overkill as is 100 watts.......if you must have that kind of wattage and money is not a biggie i have been lusting over my buddy's randall warhead combo........i love it, i have been using a 5150 stack for years, have not played out for over a year (long story, involves wife....lol) i finally sold it last week cause i felt bad how it was just sitting there in a room in my house......i agree with what was said before though, for the money and value berhinger makes some nice amps, peavey has a few nice at a good price too......but for your good really look at a stack if that is what you want and then think, hmmmmm do i really wanna have to move this around.........not sure your age, but i know how i feel at 38 and i have no desire to move one anymore.....lol besides, thats what they make a mic and p.a. for, mic that little amp.......lol

marine grade stip eze works good too, also while your letting the stripper work if you seal it in a plastic garbage back it will help it work the finish

if you have a lowes or a home depot close to you they have a rubber coating for hand tool handles, would be easy to brush on and is very durible

home depot or lowes or whatever big home improvement store you have in your area should carry wood bleach, i am not sure how it will do on the stain but i have used it to lighten the natural wood and had good luck with it.

should be a decent pic on musiciansfriend.com or americanmusical.com......they both sell the cheaper models of that, or you may try the bc rich site

another good place to check about get it gold plated is your local car dealerships, they usually have people for gold plating the emblems and chrome on some cars, toyota, nissan, etc.... are the main ones in my area that do alot of this

the 89 is an 85 with coil tap......same pick up same sound........there are no conflicts between the 89 and 81......there are diagrams on site to wire them.

i love em, but it is all opinion too, myself i love the 81 in the bridge and the 85 in the neck......another pick up you might wanna check out too is the duncan live wires, a very hot pick up, it all depends on your ears, i like the emg better but the duncan is hotter i believe.

the stewmac bodies and necks i have seen have been high quality, but i have to say, warmoth is one of my favs, i have never had a bad experience with them, before i started making my own bodies i used alot of warmoth bodies and still use thier necks most of the time, making my own neck is not my strong point, i can do it and it gets done right but i take forever on it and i find that warmoth necks are somne of my favorite.

Got some feeler gauges laying around? They really help when adjusting all the different things on a Strat. Also, what gauge strings are you using and how many springs do you have on the trem?

On another note, are you a pro or is the "skyguitarworks" for some kind of show? I'm not trying to bag on you, but they really do suggest that if you're not a pro builder or tech that you try not to pass yourself off as one in your name. There's been some problems with that in the past and a lot of hurt feelings because of some misrepresentations that happened here.

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the guitar has a set of 10's on it, i have feeler gauges and the trem has 3 springs, the trem is adjusted correctly.

now to the second question, i have been doing repairs for a few years now and for the last 2 years have been building guitars, so i guess you could say pro although i feel i have more to learn and with guitars like all other musical instruments there is always a ton more to learn, i by no means think i know everything there is to know by far, as with this question i have never run into this with a strat other than if the frets were in bad shape, so i threw the questions out there.

i hope you do not take my answer as being short or bagging on you but i have sat back and read since i found this board and not posted alot yet just trying to get a feel for the board and people here, so i do not feel i am trying to pass myself off as anything, just another builder here to learn and pass on what i may have to add.

Did it ever play well?

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now that i can not answer, this is the first time i have layed eyes on this guitar, i came in in the middle of this one

gotta agree with allstellar, it will fit and it will work, but i hate that pick up in there cause i can't keep my pick off of it

did not stick to factory specs, just after i had tried all else i used that as a starting point, the guitar is not well played, it is less than 2 years old and does not show any wear at all. i will check frets and do a fret level if need be, but just from the guitars appearance i did not expect to have to go there.

did not stick to factory specs, just after i had tried all else i used that as a starting point, the guitar is not well played, it is less than 2 years old and does not show any wear at all. i will check frets and do a fret level if need be, but just from the guitars appearance i did not expect to have to go there.

i got an american strat that is giving me fits, was brought to me by a buddy, the action is awfull and for the life of me i am either having a brain fart or i am just lost for some reason.........have set the trem, the truss rod, nut, saddles, neck tilt all the factory recomendations and can not get action worth a crap, if ya get the strings at a decent hight they buzz like hell, it is not the nut have checked it also.....any ideas guys, what am i missing........if this has been covered i appoligize, i did a search before posting....thanks guys

titebond is about the best, although garilla glue does work good for some cases but i would not think this would be one of them

You got to VERY careful with ESPs cause the quality varies a whole bunch. Get someone who knows guitars to play THE one you are to buy and give you an opinion of the action, etc. DO NOT mail order this guitar because you will have to return three to get a good one. When they good, they great. When they bad, they suck.

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i have found that problem with the ltd's but i have owned 4 different esp's and i gotta say i have been thrilled with them all, great action and craftsmanship....just my two cents