trinityamps.com

So, ive been working on a few guitars i plan to try and sell in a local music store. Been trying to keep my costs down, in order to be competitive with the imported stuff that fills most of the store.

I decided that a tele style is the easiest (and less hours mean cheaper cost) so I did three various styles.

#1 is a telecaster neck, ebony fretboard on maple neck. 12" radius, 22 jumbo frets, dual action rod. Side inlays only. Satin lacquer finish. Alder jag style body, with tele bridge & controls/electronics.

#2 is a dual P90 tele, with a maple/RW neck same specs as #1. Semi pickguard in white/black/white. string through body bridge. no contours on the alder body but a larger radius on the top & back.

#3 is a dual HB, with tele bridge. Alder body with strat style contours. black/white/black pickguard. same neck as #2 but thinner profile. Kind of like a metal/hard rockin' tele.

got the bodies and necks mated, and some hardware on today.

some quick cell phone pics..






The mindset (well to me anyhow) trying to keep costs down as low as possible is a new one. I am used to basically picking out whatever hardware, pickups and so forth I want in a guitar and not really thinking about costs, when I make a guitar for myself.

Since these are hopefully going to compete with the mid line stuff (but are basically a custom, hand made guitar with playability and fretwork, etc far better than the stuff I see hanging in the shops) I went with imported hardware - which saves a LOT of money... and a plain gloss black lacquer finish, no bindings, no fancy inlays etc. Pickups are also not small, boutique brands which I like to use. Big savings for a $30 pup VS a $230 one, especially when there are two!

Same with stuff like tuners ($30 vs $90), etc. But, I wont let them out of my shop unless they stay in tune, and are every bit as playable as my usual stuff.

I will be interested in seeing what the locals think of my guitars, once they are in the store and available to play.

AJC

ps the "tele-master" is really cool... love the offset body!

And if the local store happens to be in say Thompson, Mb?
Let me know.

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Fantasy Noise is what my shop of dreams is called and was the only way to beat my addiction, like many here I suffer from G.A.S.


Tele's make the best noise

OK that's it!! Road trip to Timmins!!

I love all three. I swear next guitar I buy will be an AJ.

they are done... and two are hanging in the store already. I hope they get some attention.

Cool guitars! I like your no frills with solid quality approach. It should be a winner. I like the look of the P90 one best. Hopefully one of them will be RW/RP, so they hum cancel.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

I like the ones with the TV jones style pups.


Well if they don't I know a store they will get attention.
If you want to expand your sales area let me know.
I would take those three no problem with payment up front,no consignment.

_________________
Fantasy Noise is what my shop of dreams is called and was the only way to beat my addiction, like many here I suffer from G.A.S.


Tele's make the best noise

Nice. What is the store selling them for?

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

The two tele bodied ones I have to get at least $550 each to make it worth my while. The store is going to price them at $750.

The jag bodied one I would have to sell a little higher, due to the Fender pickups and more expensive hardware, $650 is my price "wholesale". I brought the two tele's down. The jag/tele is sitting in my basement. If one of the other's sells I will bring it down as well.

I think I have between 7 and 8 hours total in each guitar, from rough lumber to ready to play. Roughly 2 1/2 hours in the neck (including fretting and leveling/polishing), 1 1/2 in the body, one for spraying the finish, one for wet sanding/polishing and one for assembly and set up, wiring, cutting the nut, etc.

I always thought, if I wanted to, I could hand build 5 tele style guitars in a 40 hour work week. But I would never want to do that... it would get boring pretty fast!

I often wonder why some of the "custom builders" out there doing pretty much plain jane tele's are taking months to turn over guitars. I can do one per day!

AJC

..but you are a pro AJ!!

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Hey aj...
Would love to hear an update.

Are you making the neck and body? why is it costing you 500+ to fabricate?

They look really nice.

Hours plus material plus profit.
You have to charge for the hours you work.
You have to charge for the materials. That includes woods, shop materials, hardware, finish.
There is an overhead cost. That is where you pay for your woodworking equipment.
The time that you own all of that without sales means that they are not bringing in income.
Find out what all that comes to and you find out why custom work costs that much more then mass produced.
550 is very reasonable. It probably should be higher.

_________________
Fantasy Noise is what my shop of dreams is called and was the only way to beat my addiction, like many here I suffer from G.A.S.


Tele's make the best noise

Yeah I make the necks and bodies from rough lumber. I dont buy pre made parts.

Why $500? Well, because I dont work for free... $60/hr is my shop rate. I thought I made these pretty quick for an all hand made guitar. WHen I get my CNC machining center (its in my future business plan) I imagine I could bring my costs down a wee bit, but probably not too much more.

I have a new 1/2 million dollar woodworking shop to keep running... $60/hr is my minimum rate I can charge and keep my business viable. But, I imagine if you check around to other custom woodworking businesses in southern ontario, I think $60/hr is cheap.

I didnt mark up the hardware at all.

AJC

All three still for sale... anyone want one at the wholesale price??

AJC

What brand of tuners and pickups did you put in them?

The tuners are either Schaller or Gotoh on the tele-stang (been a while, cant remember), and Wilkinson on the other two. The tele-stang has a set of Fender Texas special Tele pickups, the P90's are one Riogrande and one "no name" (assuming made in China or Korea, sounds pretty darn good) and the two HB's I bought off a guy here in Ontario, and they are also unbranded but sound great.

AJC

Well, I ended up donating two of the guitars (along with a nearly new PEavey tube amp I had but seldom used) to one local high school, that has a rock music class. The kids in the program are really good and I figured they could use the extra instruments.

The third (the jag bodied one) is at the shop, maybe it will sell.

I knew I better stick to making furniture... I am about 5 or 6 months back logged with work. Guitars just dont pay, even if I could make 5 tele's a week no one wants to pay me what I need to make it work. Thats not hard to understand, when you can buy an Ibanez from the local shop for less that plays pretty darn well.

AJC

It's hard to find people who appreciate craftsmanship these days. Cheap imports are all over the place.
But they are out there. I hope the school kids appreciate what they have. I know I would.

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps