How much do you think this custom built Les Paul would cost me?

[Zakalwe]

I've given quite a bit of thought to what I believe would be a dream guitar for me and I'm wondering (very roughly) how much it would cost to have it built. If any of our luthiers could chime in with ideas on pricing, I'd appreciate it. Note that I'm not looking for concrete quotes off any one person and would not dream of holding someone to an estimate they made in 20 seconds while reading a post on the internet.

Left Handed Les Paul copy.

Neck and Fretboard:
60's neck profile or very slightly thinner
25" scale.
Volute
Rosewood fretboard.
MOP trapezoid inlays.
22 stainless steel frets
Bone nut
Bound fretboard, frets over binding (no nibs)

Headstock:
Grover locking tuners.

Body:
Mahogany with no chambers or minimal weight relief to meet weight quota of just over 9lbs.
Heel carve similar to the Axcess Les Paul.
Flame maple cap in tobacco burst
single bound cream binding.
Tonepro's bridge and tailpiece
modern wiring with sprague caps
Dimarzio DP100 distortion (neck) and 36th anniversary PAFs
Out of phase push/pull pot
coil split push/pull pot.

 

[cmjohnson]

I'd list that for 4500 but I'd grump over the Grover tuners. Schallers are far superior in my opinion. The stainless steel frets add a few hundred bucks to the build because of the extra labor and skill involved.

 

[Zakalwe]

Thanks for the reply and thanks for the tip on the tuners Apart from the frets, what else do you think is adding to the cost of this custom project?

 

[Barnaby]

Might one suggest that discussions of price could be best undertaken via PM?

Generally, in my experience, professional luthiers tend not to offer direct quotes on the open forum. There are good reasons for this.

 

['59_Standard]

Might one suggest that discussions of price could be best undertaken via PM?

Generally, in my experience, professional luthiers tend not to offer direct quotes on the open forum. There are good reasons for this.

You make me one for 5 dorrar and me wuv'wu wong time, Mr.

 

[nuance97]

You make me one for 5 dorrar and me wuv'wu wong time, Mr.

 

['59_Standard]

Actually its not - but its nice to be misjudged and pigeon-holed as one.

And it'd be: lacist.

 

[dennistruckdriver]

It is an odd question to ask in an open forum, instead of asking a guitar builder.

 

[Zakalwe]

Hi guys, thanks for the feedback. I was just trying to get a general ballpark feel for the price, not a proper quote. Didn't want to waste a luthier's time having them come up with a concrete price.If anyone does want to PM me a quote I'd be very grateful though!

 

[JEguitars]

I never quote things like this anymore because early in my lutherie career I found that people have their dream guitars all picked out, want you to search the internet for the rock bottom price on every little piece, They want an itemized list of cost, only to say "well I found that pickup over HERE for $xx.xx" Yes, forgive me on not wasting my time on a craigslist pickup that may or may not be actually working. Then you formulate a quote and never hear from them again.

I just don't waste my time with it anymore.

Im not saying you're one of them. Just relaying my experiences.

 

[Zakalwe]

I never quote things like this anymore because early in my lutherie career I found that people have their dream guitars all picked out, want you to search the internet for the rock bottom price on every little piece, They want an itemized list of cost, only to say "well I found that pickup over HERE for $xx.xx" Yes, forgive me on not wasting my time on a craigslist pickup that may or may not be actually working. Then you formulate a quote and never hear from them again.

I just don't waste my time with it anymore.

Im not saying you're one of them. Just relaying my experiences.

We have that in the tech industry too Clients can be absolute hell. A buddy of mine designs websites and the stuff he has to put up with is staggering.
Clients From Hell is a good read

 

[pfox14]

I'd list that for 4500 but I'd grump over the Grover tuners. Schallers are far superior in my opinion. The stainless steel frets add a few hundred bucks to the build because of the extra labor and skill involved.

For that price, you might as well a Gibson.

 

[Zakalwe]

For that price, you might as well a Gibson.

It wouldn't have the specs I'm looking for. It's difficult to find even a solid/traditional bodied Les Paul with a 60's neck in Left-Handed. The closest I can find is the Les Paul Signature T.

Besides, few can deny the skill of some of the craftsmen on this forum. Having Gibson on the headstock doesn't mean it's automatically better than a guitar a good independent luthier could produce.

 

[cmjohnson]

I stated what I'd expect that spec to LIST for, which can be considered to be the price you'd see on the hang tag in a store that doesn't understand the word "discount".

Of course there would be room for negotiation.


Personally I don't have any issue with saying what I'd build a given guitar for. If your prices are some great big secret, in my opinion something is wrong with your attitude.

I do not price my work to be a huge bargain. I set my pricing based on the cost of materials and parts involved plus the amount of labor I expect to put into it. What you get in return for that is a guitar made to the highest standards of workmanship that I am capable of at the time I make it, which hopefully will always be a steadily improving standard. You'd get a guitar made by someone who has a total passion for making instruments, and although I do not think I deliver perfect instruments, I do think that most players would find little to criticize about the workmanship, playability, tone, and looks of my guitars. All of which are also steadily getting better.

I really try to make every guitar in such a manner that I consider it to be one I have made for myself and never would want to part with it. I need it to be that good. I want the buyer to be every bit as enthusiastic about it
after he's had it for a while. I loved making it, I want you to love owning and playing it.

While it IS true that I can and will make a guitar that can be compared directly to a PRS Private Stock or Gibson Custom Shop instrument that costs 12,000 dollars from a dealer, I can hardly imagine asking more than 6K for it as there's just no NEED for me to do that. At a price of 6K I can assure you that it would be quite satisfactorily profitable for me. For that price you'll get VERY comparable quality, or, dare I say it, better quality than Gibson usually delivers.

The only guitars I'd charge more for are my Super 400 class acoustic archtops, which start at 7500 dollars. But there is a LOT more labor involved in those.


But I'm not offering to build Zakalwe's dream. I haven't made any lefties and would HAVE to make at least one FIRST before I'd consider taking on a commission for another lefty. I firmly believe in proof via prototype before offering a product.

Incidentally, I don't even mind if the customer provides certain parts for a build. In this case I'll discount it by the amount I would have had to pay out to buy that same item, but that is ALL that gets discounted.

If I build a guitar for 5k and total materials and parts cost is 1K and the customer sends me a big box full of ALL those materials and parts so I don't have to go out and buy a single thing, then I will discount the 5K price
by 1K so it'll still be a 4K guitar. This actually is more profitable for me as you can see.

 

[ARandall]

^ Well, making a lefty LP is the same as a righty for the entire neck build....but with a set of dots on the other side as well.
The body cut for the maple and mahogany can be done with the templates set out righty if you want, but making sure the 'top' is down, or just flip the templates. The routs are the same, again just with flipped templates

The only part that is a bugger is the secondary cavity rout for a 59 clone - you can't just flip the template for that one as they usually have wedges on one side only.

 

[ARandall]

It wouldn't have the specs I'm looking for. It's difficult to find even a solid/traditional bodied Les Paul with a 60's neck in Left-Handed.

I'm hearing you.....thats why I decided to start building my own.

As an alternative, look at the PVX Singlecut kit.
This was one of my first kit builds. It has a super-long tenon glue-in neck, with a curved access-style joint at the 17th/18th fret. The heel is only about 30mm, and access to the 22nd fret is great. The neck is 3-piece mahogany and a volute....like early 70's Les Pauls. It has a shallow c profile but with shoulders. Body is maple/mahogany and solid, with a carved top.

You'll have to do the finishing, but you can hand rub tru-oil, or do a simple amber or red + clearcoat using re-ranch nitro in a can.

 

[Zakalwe]

I'm hearing you.....thats why I decided to start building my own.

Believe me that when I say building is a dream of mine! I have Melvyn Hiscock's book, and have oodles of PDF plans downloaded into a folder somewhere. I honestly think I spend more time fiddling with my guitar/amp/pedals setup than I do playing some time Unfortunately I currently live in an apartment, work full time and am finishing my PhD.

After the PhD, starting off with something like a kit as you suggested is a great idea. I do love working with my hands and I'd need less tools to start off with and have an opportunity to learn.

 

[Barnaby]

Believe me that when I say building is a dream of mine! I have Melvyn Hiscock's book, and have oodles of PDF plans downloaded into a folder somewhere. I honestly think I spend more time fiddling with my guitar/amp/pedals setup than I do playing some time Unfortunately I currently live in an apartment, work full time and am finishing my PhD.

After the PhD, starting off with something like a kit as you suggested is a great idea. I do love working with my hands and I'd need less tools to start off with and have an opportunity to learn.

Sounds familiar...I had a long list of things I was going to do once I finished my PhD, and, funnily enough, I wound up doing quite a few of them, including guitar building with minimal tools in an apartment. Sadly, my top priority (involving Megan Fox, Jessica Alba and a bathtub filled with baby oil) didn't quite work out.

Doctorates have a way of occupying every spare moment. Once it's done, something like guitar building is a great way to take up the sudden slack in your routine. Otherwise (and this is a well-documented phenomenon), depression is common.

I agree with Arandall that starting with a kit would be a great way to go and then you can work your way up to building your dream guitar. It's incredibly satisfying to play something that you made yourself, and amazes others at the same time.

Of course, if you do plan to build, please post on here and you'll get lots of support and advice, as well as inspiring others along the way.

 

[ARandall]

All I had was sandpaper and spray cans when I did mine. Paul can drill bridge and tailpiece studs to your choosing, and the kit is quite inexpensive actually for what you get.
Obviously it doesn't have ALL of your requirements, but it has enough of them for you to get some playing time on something that won't cost an arm and a leg.....and also to see if your dream specs really match reality. You probably have somewhere about $1200-1500 in this by the time its done - plus some cool factor included as you did some of it.

 

[Barnaby]

Personally I don't have any issue with saying what I'd build a given guitar for. If your prices are some great big secret, in my opinion something is wrong with your attitude.

I get where you're coming from here, but JEguitars has it exactly right. Zakalwe's "Clients from Hell" also has good examples of weird client behaviour. Every time someone puts up even a speculative quote in this section of the MLP site, they run the chance that it will be seen as gospel by a web-trawling potential customer. It makes things harder for proper professional luthiers.

You admit that you've not done a guitar of this type and are not actually offering to build it, but have provided a definite figure, which seems an odd thing to do. That's now out there on the Web and is likely to be taken out of context in the future. People almost never bother to read all of a post or thread to understand the context - they focus on what they want and leave.

Also, a lot of professional luthiers are kind enough to visit this forum and offer advice and guidance for the rest of us. If they all quoted their prices on threads like this, then we'd be seeing undercutting, open argument about who is best and all sorts of other negatives. Also, if one is insensitive enough to be actively quoting (whether or not with intent to sell) then surely one should have at least "vendor" status on the forum.

Personally, as an amateur builder and user of this site who derives great benefit from the wonderful posts of all members, I would rather this continue to be a place for discussion and sharing of information, not a marketplace. We have a classified section for sales and PMs for talking about things that it is best to avoid on the open forum.

Advertising prices on a personal website (which many of the pros here do) is perfectly acceptable, but it's a different context here, I think.