A career in guitar making

[roachello]

What does it take to make a guitar empire like Fender? I have no idea what to expect, but what I want to do is what most of you guys are doing: making your dream guitar. I suppose it is a hobby for most, but what does it take to make your own line of guitars and to mass produce and distribute them? Most people in my major want to go into medical or toy design, but I want to design guitars and pedals. I'm the only one in my major who chose this focus. And I suppose it's like wanting to go into car design... and they say the chances of getting into the NBA are greater than becoming a designer for a major car company. The chances of being a designer for Fender is probably the same or worse.

I guess my main questions are:
What does it take to become a guitar designer?
How do you even start to go about forming your own guitar line?
and...
Does gender ultimately matter? I mean, do you think a girl like me even has a shot?

[light rail coyote]

My guess would be $$$ and connections

[cooter]

Sure you can. If you have a quality product. I think the first step would be getting some kind of legal control over your design. Then it seems like product endorsement seems to be the route for this kind of stuff. Just flip through a guitar magazine and look at all the ads. Anyway, I think most all of the big guys started off on a really small scale in the beginning. I think you have a shot. Go for it.

[DGNR8]

No girls! Actually I think that could be a major advantage, both in terms of gov't start-up money and winning market acceptance. I think if someone came out as a female owned sort of FUBU shop, other grrls might totally support it. (Of course I could also see someone coming out and demonstrating they were green eco friendly in their wood and materials choices). In fact, you could Rachael Ray onto television and go huge must faster than the average Joe. But they might ask some difficult questions about Sublimedo.

Just be prepared to change your mind a few times before you find your career. But I think even the market may be flooded with boutique shops, the market has never been friendlier to boutique shops. It's rare that I see a new model I even like made by anyone. Cars too. Maybe 5% of all cars on the road have any sex appeal.

I think being on a board of confirmed non-traditional guitar lovers is a good start. If you hung around Strats and Teles all the time you would never stray from the well trodden path.

[More Cowbell]

*joking people*

"GO ON DOWN TO THE LOCAL HOME DEPOT AND PICK YA UP A TRUCK LOAD OF SOME OF THEM MESSICANS AND MAKE EM BUILD GEETARS."

that should handle your cheap labor and cut down build time.

[fretman]

...I suppose it is a hobby for most, but what does it take to make your own line of guitars and to mass produce and distribute them?...
and... Does gender ultimately matter? I mean, do you think a girl like me even has a shot?

Do you really want to "mass produce" guitars, assembly line factory style? Or do you want to produce a small number of high quality, hand made instruments, with a small company - ie yourself and one or two employees? I think the latter is totally doable (Aug and Dave are setting out to do that very thing), without being considered a "hobbyist". The former though, is kinda like wanting to create a fast-food empire, as opposed to opening a nice restaurant, and is probably, as you say, about as likely as getting drafted into the NBA... Re:gender - I don't think it need matter - there's really no reason for anyone to even know what your gender is. "Roachello Guitars" - what gender is that!? However, if you want to, you may even be able to use it to advantage, as an advertising angle. There's a guitar shop here in Brooklyn that advertises itself as the "only female owned and operated guitar store on NYC", and I don't think it's hurt their business, probably quite the opposite. And there was a female luthier (Ziri?), who had to stop advertising on myspace, 'cuz she was getting WAY too many orders. Of course she looked like a Victoria's Secret model, but there ya go... If you go that route, you may lose a few sales from macho and/or closed minded types, but you don't want them playing your guitars anyway! Just my .02, fwiw.

[mezzio13]

Look at Aug & DDDave, they found a place and are having at it.

First thing you need is practice, learn the ropes, and how to do and just as important, why to do it.

The next thing will be tools. This can be expensive, but if you ween yourself into it, as your skills grow, so should your tool set.

You have the creativity, and you have some solid design skills, so that's not an issue there. You will need a day job for a while at least. The rule of thumb is that if you are starting a buisness, and that is to be your sole source of income, you should have three years income in savings. That means day job. Or sleeping in the workshop. This is important, and the number one reason for most small buisness failures. People start up a buisness, and then six months later have to throw in the towel because they're desprately broke.

Presuming that you are moving product, take all of the money and re-invest it in the buisness. Maybe you're using hand tools, but you've saved enough where you can buy a CNC, giving you consistent repeatablity and increased production. (Btw, small CNC tabels are relatively cheap, considering what you do, and given your CAD skills, CAM would be an easy step for you.)

Well there's some starters...

[roachello]

Thanks guys I have somewhat of a better idea now. I'm not gonna aim too high and say I want to be Fender or anything. I mean, it took them YEARS to get where they are today. I'd be satisfied with merely a small business. I totally respect ZVEXX pedals for the reason that they keep things humble, make quality products that look and sound amazing. They're probably gonna be my influence. As using gender towards my advantage, I'm not sure. The whole Daisy Rock thing just pisses me off ;P I wouldn't milk it force it into the spotlight, but I suppose the most I'll go is a pink color alternative. None of that hearts and ruffles shit. But it looks like hard and broke times lie ahead. I suppose I should minor in business or something. But thanks for the tips, I'll be prepared to keep on trucking no matter what

[gaybear]

*joking people*

"GO ON DOWN TO THE LOCAL HOME DEPOT AND PICK YA UP A TRUCK LOAD OF SOME OF THEM MESSICANS AND MAKE EM BUILD GEETARS."

that should handle your cheap labor and cut down build time.

=]

[mezzio13]

I suppose I should minor in business and work as a secret daytime prostitute in LA

And of course, hookups up the butt for shortscale.org members

Um... don't make those two statements in the same post again. Just saying....

[robert(original)]

you can essentially have everything you need to build a guita from scratch fro about 1,000.00 thats going cheap, and thats a solid body, you need a bit more crap for acoustics.
the small number thing is alot better than factory style, there are a few people that will make a number of bodys and necks and just have them sit on the wall until someone wants a guitar.
the only prolby with that is, if you want o increase your skills you need to be able to anything a with a piece of wood that someone wants, not just the same crap ove and over again, like fender does.
prs was a good company until santana started playing them, then they went mainstream and the way of the cnc machine, i don;l know how they get off by charging so much for a factory cut guitar.

[euan]

I'm pretty sure Santana has been playing PRS guitars since before they went mainstream.

[robert(original)]

santana picked up his first prs in the mid 90s tho didn;t he?
after that he poured money into his stuff and then prs moved shops and started to jump on the same band wagon as all the other companys.
the main reason i down them so much is that i know someone(from school)
that works for prs in maine, or marylan, or wherever.
they run a 24 hour business there. and they take all the possibly shortcuts
the only plus is that they have benefits but besides that its just like a factory.
he said that for 3 months he did nothing but shape fretboards and shaping fret boards to them is taking a pice of wood, putting it in something like a thickness planer and it comes out the other side all radiused and cut, takes about 8 seconds or so. so 3 months of just doing that.
and the guy could be a great luthier but instead he is stuck there.
and from what he had told me all the "custom prs guitars"
all the ones that are signed by him anyway are bullshit,
mr smith basically just walks in the factory finds one or two that have been bookmatched and writes his name on the headstock, then they are automaticallyworth 1500.00 more

[jcyphe]

You have no idea what your talking about.

[Aug]

You have no idea what your talking about.

don't be a dick about it...explain what was wrong.

[jcyphe]

You have no idea what your talking about.

don't be a dick about it...explain what was wrong.

Um he's just spouting off stuff it's clear he has no idea what he's talking about. Carlos Santana has been playing PRS guitars since the 80's he was one of the first big names to do so. Anybody can google and find that info, so i don't see how it makes me a dick to point out he doesn't know what he's talking about when somebody already told him it wasn't the case.

[robert(original)]

im not a santana fan, nor a prs fan,
i only know what cliff told me, would you like to talk to him?
im not shitting about this info, even micheal boggeman(you can find him in the guid of luthier registery) my teacher has toured the factory, he speaks of the same things as cliff the guy i go to school with.