Official Luthiers Forum!

Pro or amateur, what is your normal build time ?
Start to finish. Excluding your built in wait list, just the actual bench time.


Thanks

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

As an amateur, I only have an abnormal build time, which was about six months, including six weeks in the white for tweaking and playing.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I could build a basic guitar (no frills) in about a week excluding the finish.

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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."

I quote 4 month delivery + or - a month but I only get to work on the guitars in the evenings.

Hard to say, since I got started I have never built one at a time. I would guess about 4 weeks each from start to finish.

Mike

[QUOTE=Don Williams] I could build a basic guitar (no frills) in about a week excluding the finish.[/QUOTE]

This is skipping the day job, I assume? OK, that's how many hours in the week? Good grief that sounds fast! Please clarify.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

I don't know, I know I'm real slow!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

My first one took 6 months and the second one is going to be closer to a year. I now have 2 commsions and I gave a estimated completetion date for both in 4 months from now.   

Well I guess I should have said typical man hours are around 100-120 not counting waiting on finish

I build 2-5 ukuleles at a time...all at different stages.

When working full time (About 10 glorius weeks a year!) they spend about 2 weeks around the shop...including French polish.

This is interesting! I remember from the book "History of Ovation" (I borrowed it at the lirary, OK ?), that they could never, during the '70's I believe, build them faster than 18 man hours. Charles Kaman (founder of Ovation) made fun of Martin and their primitve "clothes pin" building methods, but he admired the fact that they had been building guitars with 14 man hours for a long time.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Looking forward to being able to contribute to one of these discussions with
some completed guitars behind me.

My first is probably going to take 6 months of sporadic evenings and
weekends.

I've only built one, don't plan on finishing it myself, and I had the help of a professional builder...and it took well over 100 hours.

Man, I need some more tools and jigs!

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Rank amateur here. It takes me about 4 months.

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53% of all statistics are made up on the spot
http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/

About six months here.

My first took over a year. But, I had to build a fox bender, thicknesser, etc, etc as well. The second is almost finished and I started it in early Jan of this year, but I've had to build a go-bar deck, radiused dishes, etc, etc at the same time. I'd guess 100 to 150 hours once I'm finished tooling up, less once I get a few more under my belt.

[QUOTE=Bill Greene] [QUOTE=Don Williams] I could build a basic guitar (no frills) in about a week excluding the finish.[/QUOTE]

This is skipping the day job, I assume? OK, that's how many hours in the week? Good grief that sounds fast! Please clarify. [/QUOTE]

Yes, if I were not working a day job, and concentrated solely on building the guitar, it's about a 40-50 hour operation, as I said "excluding the finish".

The time consuming part of all this is waiting for the glue to dry...

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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."

I'm struggling to quote 3 months but I got two commissions with that quoted time so that's why I took a vacation day today. Better get back in there now.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I could (now that I have my necks CNC'd) it takes about 25-30 hours,
build a guitar that is ready for finish. Once it gets back from finish it
takes about a week and a half to finish off and let sit for a week to let it
settle in. But on average I spend 1 wee. So toal time, including the time
waiting for finish to be done, it takes about 6 -7 weeks.

I can make a soprano uke ready for finish in about 15 hours ready for
finish.John Mayes38840.8012268519

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Wow, John, that is fast! I started my Bouzouki around 2/16/2005 and I'll be stringing it up in the white tonight if I'm lucky. But I had to build a mold and side bending mold. So far it has been around 120 hours. I've got some of the finish done, but still about 2wks more for it to be 100% complete. This is only my 3rd instrument, and I'm getting faster. But still slow!
Tracy

I always tell people to expect it to take about a year. I often get it done much quicker, but that way I have plenty of time built in to procrastinate, ponder on the aesthetics, and fuss over the details.

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

80 Hours bench time (approx), not including happy hour. No day job, except for repairs. Current actual wait, 16 months.

Not including FP... maybe 18 more man hours.jfrench38840.9251967593

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Forty to fifty hours sounds about right, extra for fancy frills....

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Same as Don, (but not near the quality )...it looks like a guitar in a week, out of "quality control" in week 2, (I like to go back and look at it several times over week 2, tweaking, sanding, etc...), then off finish...then a week once it's back gluing the bridge, tuners, setup, and about 3 days in the house, playing it in and making sure...then I always use the cheesy, "but, I want to KEEP MY BABY!!!" line from all those Lifetime TV for Women movies...but in the end I make a responsible adult decision and give it to it's new parent!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com