Members KasterGuitars Posted November 27, 2013 Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 All the information below is correct. I can only build 8 guitars/year as a solo builder. So yes, I am doing my market research at HC where people care about guitars. The woods used, hardware mfg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alexilaiho Posted November 27, 2013 Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 1,000-1,500$ sounds like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Virgman Posted November 27, 2013 Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 120 hours labor @ $20/hr = $2400Materials $532What you have into it = $3,000You need to sell this guitar for $4,000 to build a business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted November 27, 2013 Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 I googled your stuff: If the materials for this one above cost about what you listed, then I'd say it's a very fair price at the $1400 you're asking on your site. Your other models offered are likewise reasonably priced for what they are. Not many single builders offer up prices like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted November 27, 2013 Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 Thing is, there's a lot of competition in the boutique market these days. I don't know if you have a reputation yet, but I think demand would dictate your price somewhat here. Do you do this for a living, or is this supplemental income? What is your time worth? If it's supplemental income from something you enjoy doing, and don't need to feed yourself or a family from the sale of these instruments, you can be more flexible with how much you charge for your time. If this is your career choice, you need to budget what you need to make in a year, divide by 8, and price the guitars accordingly. And then hope that a relatively unknown builder making relatively unorthodox guitars can fetch that much for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KasterGuitars Posted November 27, 2013 Author Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 Thank you very much for your input. If I charge $1000 that would be $3.90/hr. At $1500 that would be 8.06/hr. I am trying to be in the gap between $700-$1000 foreign made instruments and $2500 and up models that seem to be the standard in magazines like Premier Guitar. So $1500 could be the number. I could cut the time it takes to build/finish the guitar by not applying body, fingerboard or headstock bindings. I notice that many custom builders do not use them especially if they require mitering the bindings. For all who read this do not be bashfull about replying. Thank again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Virgman Posted November 27, 2013 Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 At $1,400 sale price minus materials of $532 = $868$868 / 120 labors hours = $7.32/hr.No good.You need to develop a clientele that will pay the big dollar. Maybe some NBA players or Hollyweird celebs who have money to burn. Like Shaq and his custom chopper for $50K.Forget competing in the moderate priced market. Mexicans mowing lawns make more than you are planning on making. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KasterGuitars Posted November 27, 2013 Author Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 This picuture has the body & fingerboard bindings. I really hadn't expected to post the picture. Just wanted some feed back on pricing. The shadows make the sunburst appear a bit uneven I assure you that is not the case. I am building full time, have another guitar (almost finished, that I have invested 150 hours) that has even more features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted November 27, 2013 Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 Potential buyers don't care how much all the parts cost. All they care about is the finished product. If the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, you're in business. If not, you'll lose on it. The workmanship will count more than the parts, and unfortunately so will the name on the headstock. People that will lay down $2K for a Gibson or PRS without a second thought will balk at an unknown name for half that.Until you establish a name for yourself, you're not competing against US built Gibson, Fender, and PRS, you're competing against the Asian imports who can get their materials and labor for a small fraction of what you have into it.Probably not what you want to hear, but I'm saying this out of my own experience. I've built and sold quite a few guitars, and often I barely recover my investment in just the parts and materials.I checked out your website, and you do beautiful work! Very unique designs as well, which puts you in a much better position than competing with more "me-too" LPs, strats, etc. Best of luck to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jpnyc Posted November 27, 2013 Members Share Posted November 27, 2013 If you can only make 8 guitars a year you need to start a luxury brand and charge luxury prices. Instead of selling 8 guitars for $1500 you need to sell 8 for $10,000. Spend $5,000 hiring a good graphic designer to do a good identity program and web site. Then outfit your guitars with something special that dumb rich people will pay for. Do something that makes your guitars a luxury items for noveau riche collectors with more money than sense or taste. Like anodized titanium knobs and a diamond dust encrusted pickguards on a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members yooser Nayme Posted November 28, 2013 Members Share Posted November 28, 2013 you simply cannot price a guitar based on that. sure you can factor in price of materials but when you buy from a custom luthier you are mainly paying for the luthiers reputation as a good builder. as is the case with custom luthiers like VIK, skervesen, etc. the materials are a VERY small portion of the cost. they charge so much because they have awesome reputations for making awesome guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KasterGuitars Posted November 28, 2013 Author Members Share Posted November 28, 2013 yooser Nayme, Do you know how VIK, ans skervesen achieved their awesome reputatons? I believe I have built a pretty awesome guitar. Thanks for you time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr Temporary Posted November 28, 2013 Members Share Posted November 28, 2013 A fair price is whatever you can get somebody to pay. I'm not sure I'd want to get into the business of building solidbody guitars (maybe basses) but that's just my opinion.Only other thing I'd add is that you're taking too long to build these. I can build an acoustic archtop guitar in 120 man/hours, and I'm not the most proficient and efficient builder out there. Going CNC would be great, but there's a number of small shop production techniques that will help you cut your time dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KasterGuitars Posted November 28, 2013 Author Members Share Posted November 28, 2013 Mr Temporary- I have two basses under construction. I spend a great deal of time doing things like engraving the headstock, cutting the mother of pearl letters for the logo, on this current build I found it took an entire day to rout the spaces for the block MOP fret markers, sanding between finish coats, and on and on. I would appreciate any tips to save time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allthumz Posted November 30, 2013 Members Share Posted November 30, 2013 Kaster - My brother in law builds and installs custom cabinets. He has been at it for about 15 years but from day one his philosophy has been, "I'm slow, expensive and you the customer will not find a better product." He bids and sell on a one to one, face to face basis. His margin is big enough that he can give a little if necessary. When he sells he is selling his quality and reputation. He knows he is the best and he gets this across to the customer in a calm, confident no bull{censored} manner. He is a very good listener and picks up on visual clues from the customer and is always positive. He asks astute to the point questions. He never, ever rushes but is quick. He doesn't suffer fools gladly but is a nice guy with a huge clientele. I agree with some others you have to charge more for what you as a custom builder brings to the table. If I see $1000-1500 for custom work I immediately think there is something wrong with the product which is you and the guitars you make. If your work is great then charge for it. Custom buyers aren't afraid to pay for quality. If they give you a hard time they are not buyers of fine guitars. They are wasters of your time. I'm not putting you down or your guitars. They look fine. If they feel and play as good as they look you need to feel good about asking and getting top dollar. And it takes time to build that reputation though. Think like Rickenbacker not First Act if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6down1togo Posted November 30, 2013 Members Share Posted November 30, 2013 Beauty,they say, is in the eye of the beholder. I am very much a traditionalist in terms of guitars but I do appreciate an aesthetically pleasing, modern design. Yours is not aesthetically pleasing. As I mentioned, post one on ebay and you have a free focus group whose feedback and acceptance of your design can be gauged by what is bid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted November 30, 2013 Members Share Posted November 30, 2013 OK - please don't take my reply the wrong way. I have built quite a few custom guitars for people over the years so I will speak from my experience. To me, your material prices seem high for certain items. The best way to maximize what you're going to get for a finished product is to lower the costs of your raw materials. I'm not in any way suggesting you lower the quality, only the cost.Example - you have a body blank for $70, $38 for a top, etc.... Those prices to me seem very, very high. Do you have a jointer and a planer? If you do, there is no reason those prices couldn't be slashed by as much as 50% because you could buy rough stock and square it up yourself. Ditto a "neck blank".I would even suggest you start experimenting with winding your own pickups, because after you get the hang of it your ROI will be much better and it will also give you a unique selling point on your instruments.Also, look at the market and see what you can get for $1500. My guess is that you can probably buy quite a few guitars with 2 humbuckers and a bolt on neck (I'm assuming that's a bolt on?) for $1500 - some of which are from known companies with a lot better resale value - regardless of if your instrument is better or worse.If I were you I would probably look at ways to build up a stock of bodies and necks that could be customized for orders. Make a couple to keep around so people can check out what you're making, but this way you could take orders to customize things (pickups, bridge, controls, etc...) and have them delivered in a regular amount of time. Doing things in batches (bodies, necks, etc...) also makes things go a lot faster so you reduce your production time and increase your profit margin without any knock to the quality.From the builder perspective I would refine your body shapes and pickguard a little bit. I think things could be a little smoother for lack of a better word. Also a nice website with video clips would be cool.Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KasterGuitars Posted December 1, 2013 Author Members Share Posted December 1, 2013 Thank you allthumz. Want to say your input is pinpoint. New to the site, haven't figured out kudo's yet.OK, not too observant. Kudo's Allthumz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 5Strings2Many Posted December 2, 2013 Members Share Posted December 2, 2013 KasterGuitars wrote:All the information below is correct. I can only build 8 guitars/year as a solo builder. So yes, I am doing my market research at HC where people care about guitars. The woods used, hardware mfg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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