Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi.

I am doing some work for ASIA and I am interested in conducting a few straw polls for some quick and dirty numbers while I am putting together a more formal study.

The point of these polls is that, it is my belief that luthiers spend a good deal more $$ on tools, wood, supplies, etc. than the average wood worker.

I would like to test that theory here before conducting a more formal study.

I will put up 3 polls, tools, wood, and supplies.

Please take a couple of minutes to answer these. You can remain anonymous if you like. I am just looking for trending data.

Thanks for your help.

Brock Poling38526.4248148148

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

This one is going to be less accurate than the other polls on account of
spending trends can be a reflection of how long the person has been
building. The longer a person has been in business, the tool collection
grows and annual costs go down.
Perhaps you'd get better data if you separated out one time type
purchases (chisels, planes, etc) , fixed machinery, and new jigs, fixtures
and specialty tools.
-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

Brock, I'm with Chas and I suspect you are sampling from two (or more) pretty distinct subgroups within the larger population of interest: those who for one reason or another have most of their tooling and those who don't. Estimates of purchases within those groups are likely to be different.

I'd also guess that OLF readers are a biased sample as well, with those newer to the craft probably being better represented.

In my first few years of woodworking I probably spent a couple thousand per year; now I spend a heck of a lot less.

Not trying to be critical here, trying to be helpful. Two cents from a guy who deals with sampling issues as part of his job.

I'm with the others as I can't really decide where I'd fit in to the poll. I've spent a lot over the past 2-3 years getting started, but it has tapered way off recently.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Yep....large outlay the first few years on tools, not as much after. Eventually, I'll buy newer, better tools, but that's out of the scope of this poll.

I wonder how many CNC's will be calculated into this?!

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"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."

Yeah I agree, and I am not trying to be overly scientific here. I just want to see if the trend validates the theory.

However, in practice I think the OLF might represent the community at large (presuming a lot of people participate in the poll) in that some members are newbies and some are old veterans. So the cross section might track against the larger population...

but I get your point, and I agree.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Theres a real variety on here.. I spend thousands a year just on blades.... the new spiral head jointer was the best thing we bought this year by far

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Outsourcing might also be a consideration--finishing, inlaying, etc.

Carlton

You could ask each person to average their annual spending over the entire time they've been building. That would take into account everyone's initial investment.

Just a suggestion...

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

John ! ! ! !

How the heck are you?

What took you so long to find this place?!

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"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."

to be meaningful, perhaps the survey should be stratfied by number of years involved, type of involvment, i.e. part timer, full timer, builder, builder/repairer, supplier, etc. for those newly involved, previous background is very relevant to their need to spend. an experience woodworker will not normally have to spend much to build his first, but a virgin termite will have a high tooling up expense.

for instance, jason mentioned his blade purchases are huge, but are no doubt almost totally driven by his supplier activities. no doubt the same for bobc, steve roberson and the other suppliers of woods.

I have answered the poll, but the numbers I have given include a heavy amount of setup costs, as this is my first year full time. Is this what you wanted Brock or will that distort your figures?

No. That is what I want. Again, I suspect that we represent the community at large. Some are established (and have low tooling cost) while some are rather new (and have high tooling costs.)

I realize this is not very scientific... I have a more formal survey planned, but this was just a quick and dirty to grab some trending data....

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Not counting my business tooling I spent about $3000 in tooling. Mostly sanders and routers. Grizzly gets alot of my cash and stew mac is another. May be worth Lances time to talk to Jay Hostetler about a little sponsership

If I ever figure out what tablesaw to buy, my numbers will go way up. Funny how well I can get along with just the bandsaw

I got by without a tablesaw for a long time too. Bandsaw is the way to go for the stuff I do. But, once I got the tablesaw its amazing how much I use it. Still wouldn't give up the bandsaw for a tablesaw.

Also, wondering how many on the board just build instruments. I don't think I would have bought alot of the tools I have if all I did was instruments.

Joe Volin

Don,

I'm good, thanks. Busy busy.

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

Hello John! Welcome to the OLF!
Were you at ASIA? If so I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to meet.

Lance

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

There is also a big difference whether you do most for your work with hand tools vs power tools. However, high quality hand tools cost quite a bit as well. And its definitely harder to get by with lesser quality tools when the precision needs go up.

Thanks, Lance. No, unfortunately I wasn't there.

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

And I'm one of those people just getting started. So even though I have been working wood for many years, I am buying one-time purchase specialty tools as well as reconfiguring my shop to better suit luthery.

I expect that my expenditures will drop off considerably after this year.

Steve Brown