Author Topic: Suggestions for a good luthier who doesnt charge the earth (Read 6309 times)

Fosse Fox · « **on:** February 24, 2006, 12:37:06 AM »

OK, I would like a maple fretboard putting on my Ibanez S470DXQM, any suggestions?

Sean

maxingwell · « **Reply #1 on:** February 24, 2006, 08:26:07 AM »

Feline?

willo · « **Reply #2 on:** February 24, 2006, 12:02:57 PM »

I'm getting a custom guitar made by Trevor Usher (http://www.soundsinscale.com); his prices were very reasonable. My guitar should be here very soon, so I'll be able to let you know how the quality is when it comes.

Bob Johnson @ Legra guitars is a thoroughly decent chap, he's a member on this forum too. Same with Ron @ R2E guitars. Feline too. Plenty of choice!

mikeluke · « **Reply #3 on:** February 24, 2006, 01:36:21 PM »

Where are you in the UK? I know a good guy in Reading but I can tell you that it will not be a cheap job!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/julian.mullen/

He earns most of his living via guitar repairs but he is a fully trained luthier and does really good work.

Cattivo Ragazzo · « **Reply #4 on:** February 26, 2006, 02:05:07 PM »

Have a go at doing it yourself. It would be a nice project, and very rewarding. There's lots of tutorials on the net about fingerboard removal and attachment. I removed the board from a cr@ppy guitar last week, got it for that purpose, as a practice piece. Went really well. I have to get some wood and fret wire now. I think putting the new board on is going to be a little harder, but FUN! Everyone should learn to do all this stuff themselves, you'll save yourself a fortune in the end, plus, you can do it for other people too, when you know how.

Cattivo Ragazzo · « **Reply #5 on:** February 26, 2006, 04:38:55 PM »

http://www.projectguitar.com/ This has loads of info. If you're born with sight & sound, two hands, and a brain, you can do anything. Wood doesn't tend to be too expensive, the only big cost is the fret tools and other bits, but that stuff more than pays for itself after time, especially if you do it for your friends and stuff.

Skybone · « **Reply #6 on:** February 26, 2006, 05:33:43 PM »

If you are in the UK, there's always the http://www.baileyguitars.co.uk/ "Build Your Own" experience...

There's not much info on the site now, but there have been some fantastic creations on there in the past that ordinary folks have built themselves with Mark Bailey's tuition.

HJM · « **Reply #7 on:** February 27, 2006, 08:37:32 PM »

It will and should be expensive - luithiers are very skilled people and shouldn't have to work for nothing!!

A new finger board will mean a refret as well - so given that £100-£170 is the going rate for a good refret you've got to be looking at least £250-300 I'd guess....

But if you want to do it go for it...

:D

May be easier and cheaper to get a new neck made....

FELINEGUITARS · « **Reply #8 on:** February 28, 2006, 12:22:32 PM »

As the neck in question is an ultra skinny Wizard 2 neck I have suggested the benefit of having a new neck made:
I'll cut and paste the reply here so that other curious players can appreciate what is involved.....

It would possibly be cheaper/more effective to make a replacement neck
We can do a new neck for about £300-350
The task of removing the board from the old neck., levelling the neck, attaching a new board and inlaying and fretting would be almost the same price
And if you have a new neck you can sell the old one for £££
You can also make any changes that you might prefer for the design of the neck too.

But HJM has it right.... skilled work takes time and a lot of care and there is much that can go wrong - even for a pro.

I do have a seletion of old necks that people can have cheap if they want to have a go at themselves to find out what is involved......