Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Tuesday, 29 Dec 1992 12:07:07 PST
From: <WAUGH@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar,alt.guitar
Subject: Re: build a warmoth(?) & composite materials in guitars
 <MIZUTANT-291292102859@microlab7.med.upenn.edu>
 <1992Dec29.190830.10190@gtech.com>

In article <1992Dec29.190830.10190@gtech.com>, trp@gtech.com (Tom R. Peterson
(consultant)) says:
>
>A couple guitar building questions:
>1) Does anyone know where to order Warmoth, or other good quality
>   guitar components, with the intention of building a guitar?

Check the back pages of any popular guitar-oriented magazine.  The ads abound.

>2) Have you done this?  Could you end up with a better stat for
>   the same money?

Yes.

Probably not.  The cost of the individual components usually exceed the cost of
an American Standard Stratocaster and case.  Remember the parts are unfinished.
Unless you have access to an automotive-type spray facility it will cost around
$200 just to have the body covered with a professional-looking finish and we're
not even talking about the neck yet. Let's look at a sample listing:

       1. Ash or alder body, unfinished..........$150
       2. Maple neck, unfinished................. 150
       3. Floyd Rose tremelo..................... 100
       4. Pickups, 2 humbuckers.................. 120
                   3 single coils................ 180
       5. Tuners.................................  30
       6. Pots, switch, wiring, shielding........  25
       7. Strap buttons..........................  15
       8. Pickguard..............................  15
       9. Case...................................  75
      10. Strings................................   5
                                                 -----
                                         Total   $685 (w/humbuckers)
                                                  745 (w/single coils)

Remember, we haven't figured finishing into this total yet.  Neither have we
considered the cost of any specialized tools one might need, nor the time
involved.  What we have is a box full of parts, albeit nice ones, that cost
about $150 more than an American Standard Stratocaster.  With a nice looking
finish we get up into the Les Paul Standard range.  Any tools or otherwise
and we can buy a Les Paul Custom, Jackson Soloist, etc. instead of our home-
brewed, no-resale-value, "I made it myself." axe.

If you want the experience of building a guitar from scratch, and I did, then
do it for that reason.  Don't think you're going to end up with a super-guitar
for the price of a Korean clone.  Building guitars as a hobby is a lot like
building cars for a hobby; one never gets out what one puts in.  It is done for
the love of the activity and the education it provides.  You decide how you're
going to spend your time and money: building a guitar or buying one and
practicing for those hours you don't spend spraying, sanding, buffing, wiring,
mounting, fret leveling and dressing and the hundreds of other jobs that you
didn't realize went into the production of the easiest guitar to make, the
solid body.  If you really want to spend some time and money build an arch top.

>3) Someone posted that Steinberg guitars are made of composite materials.
>   I build R/C airplanes, and fiddle a bit with carbon fibre, fibre glass,
>   wood laminations, etc.  Does anyone know about this?

If you say you fiddle with that stuff, we believe you!

>4) Ever considered making a solid tempered Damascus steel strat?

I have enough of a time wearing a Les Paul for a four set gig.  I'll let
Herr Schwartzenegger play the "heavy metal."

>Any info would be Appreciated!

You're welcome, I'm sure.

>trp@gtech.com

Brian
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar