Official Luthiers Forum!

Many of you on the forum will remember our old friend Don Williams of The Williams/Fleishman Binding Cutting Jig fame. Don has always been one of the more talented guys with an active imagination and a talent for creating new and improved methods of doing the things we do ...only better.

For some time now he has been building and perfecting his CNC system. For the past year he has done work for me as well as a few other guinea pigs in getting the system qualified, validated and finalized. During that time, he has produced accurate inlays, templates and fixtures. Most recently, he has been working on some FB and neck designs which show a level of interesting detail and accuracy.

I love it when we have choices and sources for our components that give us options. I mention this only because I know that there are few suppliers who will take on the 1sy-2sy jobs that we sometimes need. Those who used to be able to supply to the small builder are now in high volume production mode. Don is now ready for prime time and has finally agreed to take on such work...I highly recommend him!

So if you have such needs...give him a shout! You won't be sorry.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Hey JJ,
I think you may want to post this in the electric guitar and main forum. Most of us have a CNC and do this for ourselves. Just a suggestion.

Mike

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I'm outside looking in, just farther from the window than most.

That's great, JJ. It's good to know there's a micro-shop alternative (I'm not really qualified as a small shop yet, so I'm a micro-shop....maybe even a nano-shop). I would love to bring my headstock inlay to a professional level, even on early instruments. Thanks for the tip. Does he have a website? Beth

Good news, I`ll give him a shout out.

Hi all, y'all can contact me about stuff via PM or via my email, don@dewguitars.com.
I'm hoping to fill that niche of helping builders with limited orders at hopefully reasonable costs. I know how expensive this trade is, and maybe this is a way to help folks out where other services won't take on the work.

Thanks to JJ for the announcement - and thanks to Lance for allowing the post! Much appreciated...

Don

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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."

Awesome! It's great to have you back publicly, Don!

Apprx. how much is it to get a bridge set up and made?

This is great news Don (and JJ ) I would not hesitate to use your services Don. I've been lucky enough to see your quality first hand and you do wonderful work.

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jw ( o)===:::

It's more appropriate to say that the cnc does wonderful work. I just tell it to start.


Thanks Joe!

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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."

Hi James,

The short answer is " It depends. ".
It depends on the design, the complexity of the cut, how many operations are involved, etc.
Do I have to make a custom jig to hold the part? Am I machining the bottom to a radius? Lots of options.
If it's something as simple as a pyramid bridge, or a belly bridge, then very minimal time and expense goes into it.
If there are already drawing files, then it's easy.
If we're starting from scratch on something funky...well then I don't know.
I'm charging a standard rate for design and setup, and then a very reasonable rate for cutting, and discounts for 10 or more parts. Send me a PM, or give me a call and we can talk about it.

Don

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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."

Good for you Don, good luck with your venture. The only thing better than getting a CNC is paying it off...!

Trev

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

Yeah...that could take years! And years!

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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."