Official Luthiers Forum!

About 4K, my shop is 24x24, it was existing and I only need to buy a joiner, 14" band saw and 15" drill press. Of course I dropped a few $'s at blues creek for quality molds, bender and binding cutter--I figure the guitar stuff costs me about $4000. Got another $1000 order to go out to Stew Mac soon and that should set me for quite a while other than more buying zoot!

Noth'in, all this stuff was given to me free at a deceased estate clear-out sale being run by the redheaded wife of a now dead luthier who was dumb enough to post how much it had all cost him on the internet.

Cheers

Kim larkim39048.8413078704

IT NEVER STOPS!
This shop was (started) built in 1976, at the same time we built our houes. It was originally 16x24 and was used to do all the mantels, raised panel wainscot (think Ozzie & Harriet or Leave it to Beaver homes) and held my collection of luthiery supplies at that time (the results of 6+ years of collecting goodies). Circa 1982 an "L" was added, again 16x24, to house my vintage race car...see my avatar. When I decided to return to luthiery full on in 1996, all this space became "available" for my demented pursuit of taking perfectly good wood, sanding half or more away, and turning it into musical instruments.
Tools...they started in the late 1960's and never seemed to stop...heck I just ordered a bunch of those trick new aluminum kerfing clamps a couple months back.
Total invested, Lord knows! But the building is insured for $50K (Replacement value) the tools, etc for
another $40K and the woods and supplies at $50K (that 50 year old Brazilian rw gets expensive to replace.

So...enjoy the entire process and don't dwell on the moment. Thirty-five years from now you won't hardly feel a thing, but you will be happy when you reach for that tool you need in YOUR OWN SHOP. Hank Mauel39048.852037037

_________________
Hank Mauel

Gird your loins, Turbo! It's EASY to drop well over $100.00 just to stock up on sandpaper. The real pain comes when you have to choose just one of the ten things you absolutely need, because that's all you can afford.

How much did my shop cost? I never really kept a running track, here's my guestimate. A note to you fellows who caution about spouses see this. Building for most of us is a hobby (or perhaps an obsession). In my case it helped me cope with the usual life stresses and tough times we all go through.

So if someone ever gives you a rough time over cost -- think of the cost of some hobby alternatives - golf (equipment - green fees/membership -- monthly chit), sports car (and it depreciates quicker than tools)...I could go on....if you are $7000 in -- it's still a hell of deal. Or hey why not just drop $5000 on a great home entertainment system and sit and vegetate like 70% of the population.

You shouldn't be thinking of amortizing your set up costs over one guitar -- that's not why we are here! Any fool can have a guitar commissioned for $7000 but it takes a real man to build a mediocre first guitar for that price

$42,000. Wait, are you guys counting last year too?   

Seriously, it never does end. If you want a great tool collection, you have to focus on it. It's not the big tools, it's the thousands of little tools. Example, I was at the grocery store the other day and noticed that they had a $.99 tea strainer with a finer mesh than the one I use now, so I bought it. During the chisel discussion, someone mentioned a $12/ea. German chisel that I had not heard of before, so I ordered one (it's awesome, btw).

Instead of drooling for years over the 800pc tool set at Sears, grab a couple screwdrivers or a wrench that you don't already have and leave. Do it every time you go there.

_________________
John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

Tools..... $25-35000.00

The education, thrills, spills, and especially the thought of sharing it all with my 8 year old son Josh....... priceless!

_________________
Paul Bordeaux
http://www.bordeauxinlay.com

You have some pretty good lists here to go on, I really don't have a clue what I have spent. Buildings were in place and I would estimate $7,500.00 over the past few years.

Mike

Well, guys -I hope you are happy.
All this talk about tools got me so excited I just had to run out and buy a really nice one!!!
Now I can finally miter my purflings perfectly!!









Check out these two cool features-
digital miter and bevel settings:








and a laser guide:

Yep. Tool envy. I got it...

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

...(sigh)...    I wish I had a nice mitre saw like that!!!!

_________________
I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

[QUOTE=Brad Goodman] Well, guys -I hope you are happy.
All this talk about tools got me so excited I just had to run out and buy a really nice one!!!
Now I can finally miter my purflings perfectly!!



[/QUOTE]

That's funny Brad

TAS at it's finest right there.Rod True39049.9923726852

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Oh geez, I'll play too..... Many of my tools came long before guitar building, but plenty of dough has been spent tooling up for this adventure as well. I'd say at least $15,000 in my shop....I bet if I really tallied it up it would shock me, yep $15,000 is all I have, yep!

_________________
Gwaltney Guitars

Don't get me started on this one. I'm leasing a 50x20 shop in the industrial park here, and I put in a half-size second floor to store wood and supplies. Since I'm just opening up business, I have very accurate records of what it cost to set up and it's really close to 100K Canadian. That's the cost of the Fadal CNC, bandsaw, jointer (that's all my big power tools) and the supporting infrastructure (compressor, hand tools, dust collector, tooling).

The thing that gets me is that there's a guy with a two-man machine shop in the same building as me, and I know for a fact that his business cost him triple or more what it cost me to set mine up. And he didn't overpay for anything. Knowing what it could have cost is the only thing that stops me from fainting every time I hear the word 'debt'

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Hmmmmm. Fortunately I was already a woodworker when this illness struck. I built a new shop 5 years ago when I built a new house. The shop is 30x40x10'high, but I only use 1/2 of it for my woodshop (so far ). It is sort of insulated but no AC. I have a kerosene "torpedo" heater that I fire up to take the chill off cold days.

That building cost me $18,000, I already had about $15,000 in tools BL (before lutherie), and I don't know how much more I've spent for lutherie specific items and home made tools and jigs, but it has been a significant amount. Good tools are very expensive, but cheap ones will cost you much more.   Also, These guys have said that the drill press really shouldn't be used as a spindle sander, so I'm getting one for Christmas. I also will be adding a good dust collection system very shortly, and adding a climate controlled room inside my shop when I can afford it. It really does never end.

Ron

_________________
OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Brad,
    I love my Hitachi sliding compound miter(mine is a couple years old, before they added the fancy look). It has been very reliable and has great accuracy. Best of all. My wifes dad bought it for me as a Christmas present(I didn't even have to beg for it ).

The never ending quest for slick tools. It would be sad to have to stop buying new tools(it is just too much fun playing with new toys).

Peace,Rich

The cost of my shop?
I wasn`t there, I wasn`t drinkin` and you can`t prove it!

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Lets just say when I started I did this because I couldn't afford a martin d28 , with what I have invested now , I think I can buy a D100 and a D50. I do it as a business now so that does make a difference. I have a total separate building with heat and humidity control , and I hate to say I keep adding.
   john hall
blues creek guitars

I don't want to think too hard, but I have at least 5000 in tools and basic shop fixtures. And my only stationary tool is my bandsaw.