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If you had 3 months time in which to construct guitars from scratch, and you need some sort of inventory to be on display as a vendor, how many guitars would you attempt to build and have completed by that time?

I have 2 brand new instruments nearly done at the moment. And I am trying to decide how large of a batch to begin to fill out an inventory. I will be building them all in a large batch.

I am not doing any kind of outrageous inlay or anything that would be incredibly time consuming. Some hollow body. Some with F holes. Unique body design of my own. Some with binding. Some without. A few with nitro finishes. A few with tru oil finishes. Some color, some clear.

How many do you think you could pull of in 3 months if it was your full time job? I am thinking about doing a batch of six.. But maybe I can do more.

Are there budget constraints? Electronics sure add up. Are you trying to make samples so people can order their own custom guitar from you, or is this more of a model that you want to sell over and over.

I am in the same spot, I am a part time school teacher, with one week left, luthiers start your engines. At first I was thinking 5 ukes and 3 of the electric fingerstyles, but with some feedback from the great exposure I got last weekend at out local Eclipse Concert, I will skip the ukes and just work on the electrics. I have nothing to add to a uke that is original enough to justify what it needs to sell for, and I think I will have a hard time moving them at the $500 price tag that I would need to make them worth the time. Similarly with the acoustics, I think it would be harder to move then the electric, though I have included modern features in the acoustics not available on factory guitars, smaller and harder market to get established in IMO.

The electrics on the other hand, I think I can move at 1200+ and get them sold. The string spacing and electronics are a unique enough combination that there can be a small niche. It is also easy enough with them make the axe then buy the electronics as needed without breaking the bank. Another consideration on budget, if you make and sell something sooner, does that help buy a tool that can improve efficiency on the rest?

I am going with a batch of 3 of the electric fingerstyles to start. After that I will see how the weather is. I have all the tools and fixtures I need to be efficient with these right now, and the feedback from the musicians indicates that this is a guitar they have always wanted but is not readily available.
Great question,
Rob

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I've never done production, but assuming I had everything I needed to complete them, I don't see how I could exceed three finished guitars in that time frame. I would be comfortable with three, four would be pushing it.
And, looking at this as I have from the perspective of one day trying to make a living at it, I've thought this through very well. Three would be my limit in that time frame.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

If I'd be pushing it (huuuge check at the other end) maybe I could finish 2, but I'm hand tools only

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Build log

I realize this is in the electric guitar section, so this anecdote is probably not that relevant, but I made this guitar in two weeks, including the nitro finish! Never again...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

One if I put off my household chores.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

It entirely depends on the design.
An archtop is way more work than a solid body, without a cap,
so.
I would build 3 at a time, of the same design,
that way your jigs and tools are set up only once for each operation.
Also, if it's full time, you get into a rhythm which greatly speeds things up!
I work full time as much as I can,
and when it's slow, instead blowing my brains out,
I build guitars .
During that time I work twice as fast, and do better work,
because I'm tuned in to building.
I never timed how long it takes,
so I don't know how many I could build.

If it were simple teles or the like, one to two per week would be do-able. On the other end of complexity, one, maybe 1.5 archtops in three months would be my rate. I remember Kenny Hill writing that it does not take a month to make a guitar, it takes a week. Everyone has their own individual pace and standards.

Symmetrical acoustic, no cutaway, simple appointments about a dozen in 3 months. If I had all the jigging on hand for solid body electrics, dovetail neck, probably around 20, bolt on necks 25 or so. But then it's what I do for a living and have a fire breathing shaper...
-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

The tools you have access to really have a huge effect on this one. If you have a CNC (or some very good shaper jigs), a UV finishing setup, and a good process you could pop out 5-10 Telecasters a week. A Les Paul would take about twice as long as a Tele due to the increased carving, sanding, spraying, and buffing time (and wouldn't be doable with only a shaper). Setting up for production can take some time, mainly in designing the process and fixtures, so that would have to be factored in...though the best way to get started is to steal everything you can from the factories.

In my experience (ghost building for clients), selling guitars quickly is much harder than making them quickly.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Depends on design and tooling at your disposal. Finishing would bottleneck me most, methinks (leaving at least 6 weeks for the entire process including buffing and at least decent finish curing for the lacquer, much less for TruOil).

With a good template and decent wood prep tools, the woodwork on fender style instruments should be relatively easy, and I'd say maybe 4-5. I've done two in little more than a weekend in terms of gluing up blanks and basic shaping. For carved top electrics, fancier woods, laminations, set necks and the like (i.e. the kinds of guitars I normally build) I would say 2, max 3 at my current comfort level.

This is purely speculative for me - maybe I could do more, but I do this as a hobby alongside a full time job and a fairly busy social schedule.

I'd have a fingerboard done

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I use cnc equipment to build.

It took about three months to do this last batch of a dozen. I did 35 necks, 80 headstock facings, 20 fretboards, and 20 bodies in that time.....assembling a dozen out of that lot.

I do believe, however, that it will take me the rest of my natural life to finish these twelve.....the way it's going.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Should I ever feel like building is a job...I'll quit and buy a pool table.

Time is not a factor in my builds.