Went there this past weekend- I don't think the Nashville factory allows tours. The shop was full of very expensive hollowbodies, LPs, Vs and doublenecks. Also some Valley Arts Guitars and a few Epis. No Steinbergers, and the salesman was confused as to why I wanted to try one. I played a natural ES175 and plugged in a new ES-339 (wow!). Also tried a LP BFG with fret ends sharp enough to cut you (tore up some skin before I realized). The BFG was signed by Les Paul, and had pickup tape coming off the non-level pickups and washers on the switches that were too small- you can see the hole underneath. And it was $4k. This factory makes the archtops, no solidbodies. So none of the LPs, SGs, Vs, Valley Arts, etc in the shop were made here. No pictures allowed of the tour, though.
I really liked the 339, but still, the edge dug into my forearm- it was a lot more comfortable than a 335, but at $5k, even with the sound as good as it was, I have to be comfortable when I play.
The factory tour was cool, if short (30 min?) for $10. No real skilled workers, as machines do much of the work. When asked, workers make about $10 hr, with painters (by hand) getting paid more ($12-14hr, and $1 hr raise a year. They looked happy, but it isn't like they are skilled luthiers. I am sure there is skill involved (a PLEK does the frets), but it really is skill in running the machines.
A good experience overall, but I was amazed at how clean the factory was, and how machines do almost everything from arching the tops to bending the sides. Binding is scraped by hand, but, while intensive, isn't really a skilled position.
I really liked the 339, but still, the edge dug into my forearm- it was a lot more comfortable than a 335, but at $5k, even with the sound as good as it was, I have to be comfortable when I play.
The factory tour was cool, if short (30 min?) for $10. No real skilled workers, as machines do much of the work. When asked, workers make about $10 hr, with painters (by hand) getting paid more ($12-14hr, and $1 hr raise a year. They looked happy, but it isn't like they are skilled luthiers. I am sure there is skill involved (a PLEK does the frets), but it really is skill in running the machines.
A good experience overall, but I was amazed at how clean the factory was, and how machines do almost everything from arching the tops to bending the sides. Binding is scraped by hand, but, while intensive, isn't really a skilled position.
