SerpentineGtars

I'm all for people selling their builds and all, but how is this not an outright copy of an Ormsby?

Sully

Not to be contentious here, but both are much identical to a PRS headstock with "slight" modifications. Id say they are both equally different from each other as they are from a PRS!

I mean... cmon...

http://a4.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/116/1347db8d01024971b1302369a8f3ef75/l.jpg

Vs

http://www.obmart.com/images/MickEquipment/PRSArtistHeadstock.jpg

That aside, the build is looking sick!

I see exactly what you're saying, and this is the problem when it comes to designing new shapes. What doesn't help is when you subconsciously incorporate an existing shape that you've seen and like.

Well, I'm back to the drawing board now, it's not easy so going to stick with my 6-inline head now - which I've been told looks like ibanez headstock?! ...

http://www.serpentineguitars.com/img/800x316/contact.jpg

I'm all for people selling their builds and all, but how is this not an outright copy of an Ormsby?

Sully

Ok, looks like there's a bit of an issue over my headstock design here... Similar comments were also said on the Ultimate Guitar forum too.

Basically, as I explained there, it is extremely difficult to come up with totally original designs nowadays as there are so many already, and in this case, it's purely coincidental and I would have no intention of deliberately ripping off one of Ormsby's designs.

Although I would recognise his 6-inline headstock shape, I had not seen his 3x3 shape (of which mine resembles) enough until I Googled it yesterday to consciously copy it.

With this coming to light in such early days of me using this particular headstock design, I will be withdrawing it as an option on my custom and stock builds and making my way "back to the drawing board" in an attempt to come up with an alternative 3x3 shape for Serpentine Guitars.

Ormsby; if you're reading this, my apologies for any concerns or offence I may have caused.

.

That is IMHO a really mature and humble responce. Cudos to you!

Thanks SwedishLuthier.

I have also been in touch with Perry who has been really cool about the whole thing... really nice bloke!

I'm all for people selling their builds and all, but how is this not an outright copy of an Ormsby?

Sully

Ok, looks like there's a bit of an issue over my headstock design here... Similar comments were also said on the Ultimate Guitar forum too.

Basically, as I explained there, it is extremely difficult to come up with totally original designs nowadays as there are so many already, and in this case, it's purely coincidental and I would have no intention of deliberately ripping off one of Ormsby's designs.

Although I would recognise his 6-inline headstock shape, I had not seen his 3x3 shape (of which mine resembles) enough until I Googled it yesterday to consciously copy it.

With this coming to light in such early days of me using this particular headstock design, I will be withdrawing it as an option on my custom and stock builds and making my way "back to the drawing board" in an attempt to come up with an alternative 3x3 shape for Serpentine Guitars.

Ormsby; if you're reading this, my apologies for any concerns or offence I may have caused.

.

Hello,

My name is Matt and I'm a British guitar maker with 20 years combined experience in guitar repairs, rebuilding and luthierie. In 2009, after selling a few of my handcrafted instruments on the internet, I started taking orders and building a portfolio of privately commissioned "custom made" and stock guitars in my UK based workshop under the guise of "Serpentine Guitars".

Serpentine Guitars build premium, handcrafted electric guitars for that ultimate tone and playability, hand made by a professional luthier and his meticulous attention to detail and perfection.

Our instruments are custom made from the finest tonewoods, hand-picked for their visual and tonal qualities, and hardware manufactured to the highest standards, including Gotoh, Schaller, Hipshot, Bareknuckle Pickups, EMG and DiMarzio, to meet your exact requirements.

I am currently taking orders globally through my website, where you can also read testimonials from my previous clients, and would be happy to provide a quote for your dream guitar using the online form - http://www.serpentineguitars.com

We are also running a competition at the moment giving one lucky individual the chance to win a custom made guitar - visit the website for details.

Thank you for your time.

Matt (Serpentine Guitars)

Moderators; the forum rules state "Sales and Services may be offered by anyone including retailers at any time as long as they are posted in the Classifieds Section Only". This topic is offering my services as a custom guitar maker.

Serpentine Guitars is now pleased to announce our flexible, interest-free payment plan - bringing your dream guitar one step closer to reality.

No credit checks and no finance agreement, simply put; you decide how much you would like to pay and over what period of time.

Visit our website for more details - http://www.serpentineguitars.com/payplan.html

Started off bit slow this week; the Flame Maple top is now glued to the Swamp Ash body and routed to shape. The Maple still needs a fair bit of sanding, but I'll be doing this once the carve-top is finished...

The back (Swamp Ash)...

Close-up of the Maple-to-Ash glue join...

No, and having had a proper look around at what else they have on their site price-wise, it looks like stock's either really nicely priced or too expensive! I wouldn't pay their body blank prices and I couldn't justify spending £200 out-right on neck blanks and fretboards alone.

Perhaps we should organise a group buy for members in the EU if we have sufficient interest. Not sure if it would save us that much after shipping of course but worth looking into nonetheless.

Shipping is only £23 to the UK for £200 of goods, so probably not feasible to start splitting up an order getting everyone their part of the order. Good idea if everyone was living in the same area though.

I just saw this having a random click through luthier shops:

http://www.tonewood.es/product.php?id_product=857

(too bad this is the guys with 200 EUR minimum order)

They're not bad prices either! Would even consider a bulk order if I knew for sure that their stock was good quality.

Looking forward to seeing the finished guitar now, keep posting yr updates

I was being serious Customers pay what I pay for materials unless there's extra work to be done on top of the standard build stuff.

That Buckeye Burl came up nice, how did you find working with it in general? We don't get that stuff here in the UK because Customs don't allow the export of its bark (or so I was told by a seller in the States), but I had a customer manage to get some past Customs when it was sent over for his custom build... I hated it! Had a big void to fill which went OK, the whole thing was then treated with superglue to fill the many smaller voids... but finishing was a nightmare! Three resprays in the end and it still didn't look 100%.

What are you finishing the with?

Yeah, I know of Exotic Hardwoods and you're correct about the premium. Still, when "instrument" wood is good then the premium exists to soak up losses and work put into controlled drying/storage. Certainly, in the visakoivu I have ready to go into the kiln there are a lot of knots which I am having to plan around in order to get good material for archtop back/sides or even LP-size 3/4" bookmatched tops. For general use outside of instruments I could happily include those as minor faults (being sound knots) but they're going to have to go the way of the Dodo. Newer-growth Rosewood is rarely straight whereas yours appears straighter than as not. I wouldn't like to imagine what you paid charged the customer for it! Actually, I would. ;-)

Looking forward to seeing this one develop and perhaps seeing your first GOTM entry?

Exactly the same as I paid... honestly!

Wonderful clean and attractive work. That Mahogany DC is exceptionally beautiful in its execution.

Thanks Prostheta

Where did you acquire the Indian Rosewood blank from for the neck? It's so scarce in good large straight pieces!

Exotic Hardwoods UK Ltd in their Instrument Wood section < Google them. I don't normally like buying milled timber/blanks specifically for instruments like this as you pay a premium, but it's expensive stuff and I didn't want to buy more than I needed.

You could also Google hardwood suppliers and find someone that might have some off cuts, but the Exotic Hardwoods stuff was quartersawn and nicely seasoned (I believe it's reclaimed timber).

Thanks guys

I take on full custom jobs. However I have a list of specs that the customer have to sign before ordering a guitar so that there are no discrepancies in the future.

I also refuse phone conversations about custom work. Only E-mails. Those can be answered when you have the time and you can be very clear and specific in your communication. And phone calls tend to take forever with those guys...

I make sure I earn money on the custom jobs. When calculating the price I add extra margin as there will be some things here and there that you cannot foresee like you can while building a customized standard model.

I make very clear that if the customer suddenly would like to change the specs he will need to pay for parts originally ordered, and additional parts and even some additional time. Its all in the specs/contract he has to sign before ordering

The customer has to pay 50% up front when placing the order. That way I'm covering my parts costs if he's suddenly bailing out, or disappears from the surface of the earth. And I can probably sell the guitar anyway.

Within those frames custom jobs are fun as they challenge you as a builder and pushes you to perform at another level.

+1... This is exactly the way I work, spec sheet signed off, email contact (good paper trail if customer claims something's not as requested), changes (where possible) paid for upfront and 50% deposit usually covers everything I pay out to build.

Had no problems with custom builds, except a Buckeye Burl top but the customer was actually nice about it when I explained the problems I was having.

I'm in France at the moment. For some reason I thought I can only get it from the US and never came across the stuff in the online UK shops I was looking at but just after I read your reply I checked again and indeed - it even comes up on amazon and at least one of the merchants doesn't have the annoying "only UK shipping" limitation that hit me a couple of times already.

Looks like I'll be ordering some of that stuff then.. Thanks!

Good to hear you found it

Nice work! The buckeye burl turned out beautifully! I like the V too - very nice with just dyed wood instead of painting it black.

So are they all finished in just tru-oil? The end result is top-notch and looks like exactly the type of finish I'd like to achieve myself. Just less resistant to abuse than nitro or poly I'd imagine, but on the other hand easier to "refresh", no?

Does anybody know any equivalent of this stuff that's available in Europe??

Thanks pan_kara!

All finished in Tru-Oil except the Buckeye guitar (2k gloss clear). No, won't stand up to the same levels of abuse as lacquer but easy to fix, refresh or completely refinish.

Where abouts in Europe are you? I'm UK based, no problems buying Tru-Oil here (Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil) - try eBay if you can't find it elsewhere.

Robbinst and Shelvock; thanks for your comments

I really like that Carve-top Mahogany DC. Nice work.

Thank you.

I have another carve-top DC (Ash body w/ Flame Maple top, Indian Rosewood neck and Ebony fretboard) in progress at the moment - I'll start up a seperate thread for that soon.

Some really nice work you have there. Particularly like the 4th one, the Baritone DC.

Thank you curtisa... More to come soon!

This next guitar is a commissioned build, now with its owner in Switzerland; Mahogany RR-style body, Maple/Black Walnut/Maple neck with Ken Lawrence-style headstock (we won't be doing any of these again), Indian Rosewood fretboard, Schaller Roller (TOM) bridge, Hipshot machine heads and IronGear "Steam Hammer" pickup. The guitar (body) is finished in solid black dye and Tru-Oil...

Carve-top Mahogany DC with Maple/Ebony/Sapele/Ebony/Maple neck and Madagascan Rosewood fretboard, Gotoh hardware and EMG pickups.

Another commissioned build; Baritone DC - Sapele body with bookmatched Wenge top, Maple/Ebony/Sapele/Ebony/Maple laminate neck and Madagascar Rosewood fretboard...

Complete...

Our next guitar was a commissioned build; C*nklin-style body (Ash with Buckeye Burl top), Birdseye Maple/Purpleheart (five-piece) neck and Ovangkol fretboard.

The Buckeye Burl top roughly shaped, in need of void fills - horrible stuff to work with; smells bad, dents easy and does not take an oil or lacquer finish easily...

Mother of Pearl inlays (based on PRS-513 birds)...

Headstock blank...

Buckeye Burl and Ash body glued up, neck ready for carving...

Contouring the back of the body - recessed heel and tummy carve...

Clear coated and ready for assembly...

Finished...

Vowed never to work with Buckeye Burl again!