Anybody tried to recoup the costs of DIY project by building an extra to sell?

[Bassinflux]

So I am about to buy some pickup winding stuff to make a set of pickups for another project, and I realized that the price for the component and the wire is significantly less than what custom shops are selling new PU's for.

 

I realize there is (potentially) a huge difference in the quality of DIYers like myself and professional DIYers like the some of the custom shops, and they have further buying power due to a better economy of scale. So I realize these are entirely different playing fields.

 

The idea came to me the last time I was making a neck from a beautiful hunk of quartersawn maple... I could have very easily cut two through-necks from this particular hunk, and with a little work I could have put it up on ebay (I gave the leftover to my dad, who used it to good effect on another project) for like 75$ which would have been way under the price of most custom through-necks ($99+).

 

I want to be clear that I am strictly a hobby builder, and I have NO intention of making PROFIT on ANY project (i.e. i usually expect to take a HUGE HIT lol)... but I can't deny that some well-chosen duplicates (like getting two necks out of one blank) might be low-hanging fruit to recoup some of my (ridiculously expensive) hobbies. I am just worried that this line of thinking is a rabbit hole where I will a) eat up all my time and b) fail to find a market for the "here an there" duplicates.

 

Now having written like 8 paragraphs over a simple idea that I'm pretty sure EVERYONE has had while working on a project, what I am really asking is... does anyone have success stories?

 

I know a lot of you actually sell stuff, and I would put you in a different class than me. I am a lowly one-project-per-year hobbiest, not an expert/guru like some of you!

 

Also, this is my first post on these new boards (don't get around to visit much). Definitely not as bad as the last "new" boards.

[Tomm Williams]

Just because you do this as a hobby does not mean there is not a bit of profit to be made. It's a matter of building a reputation. I do this as a hobby also and sell two or three guitars a year. (I only build two or three a year) Each guitar has around $500-$600 invested and they sell for around $1200-$1500. That's enough profit to make me happy and it keeps this hobby as a hobby. I have no interest in it becoming a job---------then it's no fun.

[musicdog400]

You know, that is a great idea. I don't think it is that much harder to build two. I am always building something unique for myself and wouldn't want to part with it, but I would part with one of two. With pickups, there are a lot of pickup makers out there. But if you made some 7, 8, or 10 string blade pickups, there aren't nearly as many choices.

[WRGKMC]

Twice the work, Twice the Time and Twice the Cost. Even with the most excelent builds they are only worth the money someone pays you. If you can sell for more than it costs to build you're ahead in supply costs but usually fail big recouping your work time invested. Unless you want to work for free you need to figure that in. Even with minimum wage, you usually loose money. If you have alot of time, unemployed, No day job, then anythings better than nothing but you have to buy your supplies, woods, electronics dirt cheap to make any profit.

 

Most of us dont live in the orient making $5 a week, Building guitars at a cost of maybe $20, then selling them for $120 to local music store chains then they add they're profit on top and sell them for maybe $225 if they can get it. If you invest $200 which is probibly the cheapest you can do a build, Getting the money back covers what you put out. It doesnt cover the time which would be the biggest item. Untill your pay yourselff a living wage, you arent even into profit territory yet. You need to add the supply cost, and the labor time together. Building two guitars at once, or even 5 or 10 may save some labor time. But you still have to have buyers who will pay you a profit on top of that or theres no sence in building other than your own enjoyment as a hobby.

 

You do acquire parts over time doing upgrades, buying in bulk when the buying is cheap. I've done many fine builds but Its unlikely get paid for all the time I put in. I dont do it for profit though. I build specialized studio guitars built for tone mostly now. If I get hard up for cash some day and need to sell then I'll likely be throwing away alot of time investment unless I get luckey selling.

[Belva]

I see this as a win. I just sold a partscaster that I had $86 into, got $100. Add in my time and you're talkin' about 3 cents an hour for my labor costs. I really don't care. I may consider doing this just to help offset the costs of this ridiculously expensive hobby. It's just the fun of it. If you're gonna do this anyway......................