Is anyone interested in...

[stratobastard]

tropical Hardwood guitar & bass accessories?

I'm considering making some things in my spare time, I have access to most species & sub-species of locale specific quality tropical hardwoods. I'm a competent carpenter with many years of custom trim/finish work experience, I'm currently doing finish work on custom homes in the $1,000,000 - $4,000,000 price range, so...quality craftmanship & skill is not a question.
The Question is, is there a small market?
Here's a list of things I plan on making:

pickguards
trem, control & switch cavity, & truss rod covers
trem arm & switch tips
knobs
pickup rings
saddles
bridges
nuts

If anyone has any interest in this please let me know, your opinions will be appreciated.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

i would be interested in a pickguard for a tele cut for a strat neck pickup. 50's style with 5 screws

 

[nuntius]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

I think a flamed maple scratchplate for a strat or tele would look awesome. Also darker woods might look great on lighter coloured strat/teles would look cool also.

Personally I don't think a wooden whammy bar would be that good of an idea, I could imagine it snapping under heavy usage.

 

[hellrider77]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

how much you gonna get for the pickgaurds and coverings for say a strat. flamed maple of course. or at least im thinkin maple. what would you recomend on a 3 tone burst start. just an idea. thanks
___________________________________________________________________
beer and strippers are proof that god wants us to be happy

 

[stratobastard]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

I think a flamed maple scratchplate for a strat or tele would look awesome. Also darker woods might look great on lighter coloured strat/teles would look cool also.

Personally I don't think a wooden whammy bar would be that good of an idea, I could imagine it snapping under heavy usage.

LOL..not a bar made of wood, a tip, like the little plastic tips on Strat trem bars.



I won't be completley set up to do this for 6 months or so (I need a few specific tools & templates)

As far as pricing goes, I'm not looking to get rich just recoup what I put out for material + a little for labor, all pieces will be individually hand made, probably custom made to order.

Like I said I'm not completely set up to do this yet, Guitar parts require a tremendous amount of specific tools & templates, they're not cheap either.
The proper tools = a much better product, usually with less work. It seems to be getting a favorable response so far, in the short time it's been posted. So I'm going to officially start this project, I'll keep u guys posted as to when I'll be ready to take the first order.

BTW....keep posting ideas
thanks.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

Can you give any kind of ballpark price for strat-style pickguards, like what the starting point be?

 

[stratobastard]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

Can you give any kind of ballpark price for strat-style pickguards, like what the starting point be?

I'm really not sure yet, this is pretty much going to be a labor of love for me (it would probably take years to even make back what the tools cost).
Depending on the price of the wood, I'm going to go out on a limb & say strat pickguards will probably start around $65. for a standard sss, now don't quote me on this & keep in mind, it will be very much dependent on how much I pay for the wood, if it's made out of something I have laying around it will be cheaper than if I have to buy a piece specifically for it.
I sincerely appreciate the beauty of wood & I imagine anyone interested in this does also....but.....what looks good to me, may not look good to someone else. So I plan on buying a decent digital camera so that I can take pics of the raw material before it's purchased, therefore giving you a chance to pick a certain color, pattern, grain, etc...
Right now I don't have a reasonably priced source for American hardwoods (I'm working on it) But, I do have access to pretty much every species of tropical hardwood.

 

[Imp]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

man, this is a cool idea :burnout:, you're in the same ballpark as the stainless steel or anodised scratchplate market...

you seem to have all of the bases people would look for covered, but having a lovely wooden bass scratchplate and a white plastic thumb rest (the little bit of plastic next to the neck pup) would look odd.. i guess the thumbrest would be the simplest bit to make, too

good luck with this man, it seems a real for-musicians-by-musicians thing

 

[remingtonbo2001]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

Yeah, I would be very interested. Possibly, in large quantities. Could you make custom knobs for amplifiers, custom grills? You can PM if you want.

 

[big_black]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

I would be interested.

 

[Devil Tiger]

Re: Is anyone interested in...

Do you have an 3-ply strat pickguards (B/W/B)? I need two.