Guitars available for pre order

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

The 15,000nt guitar that I am selling is 15,000nt because I’m freezing the design to something that’s more standard, automating whatever time consuming tasks I can in order to build a guitar that requires less manual input from me, so that I can sell a guitar that meets people’s budget rather than me charging 80,000nt starting for any old guitar. Customers may opt for cosmetic or functional upgrades (such as a cutaway, bindings, or other embellishments) for an additional cost.

No custom luthiers would build a guitar for 15,000nt. Unless you want them to work for free.

The reason there’s a 20,000nt premium is because I can’t use standard necks that I can buy pre made, the neck must be made from scratch, as a 12 string neck is wider, AND since you need 12 tuners, the peghead must have space for that many tuners. You can’t just slap extra strings onto a neck.

Or I can do a custom build at my usual custom build price, which is 80,000nt. Then I’ll build you a 12 string for the same price, and I’ll even include cutaways. It will have bindings, purfling, and there will be a list of back and side woods that you may choose from that’s within reason (basically nothing really expensive, so right now that’s purpleheart, padauk, indian rosewood, mahogany, Ovanko, and zebrawood) as well as AAA grade top (I use lower grade top in the 15,000nt guitar). The fingerboard and bridge will be ebony rather than rosewood.

Here’s a guitar I delivered to a customer for 80,000nt: Shipping was another 15,000nt which he paid. It went to the states

He had the upgraded tonewood, the back and side is Taiwan acacia.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

By the way this table was released by Farida… It’s all in Chinese though.

It shows you what to expect with each level of guitars.

With higher prices the cosmetics actually decreases (cheap guitar is 100% cosmetic, that’s what those kind of customers fancy), while more expensive guitars actually look worse cosmetically, but is better in every other way. Because people who plays guitar tends to not care about cosmetics, as people hear guitars, not see them.

[Andrew0409]

Does the wood change the function of the guitar or is it just cosmetic?

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

The back and side wood has an effect, but it’s about 10% or so of the sound. The top wood matters more, or more specifically, the bracing and thickness of the top wood, and its voicing, is about 80% of the sound of the guitar. The back and side wood I’d say is more or less cosmetic but with minor differences.

When you are buying an acoustic guitar, it is actually the construction, not necessarily the wood it’s made from, that affects the function of the guitar. This is why you can buy 2 guitars with a spruce top and indian rosewood back and side. One from Cort, with a list price of around 1000 USD, and say a Martin D-28, with a list price of around 3000 USD. Same wood and everything right?

The Cort sounds ok but is kinda muffled, while the Martin D28 sounds much better, why is that?

It’s the construction. Both are factory guitars but Martin is still a more of a higher end guitar factory (basically the third column from the left on that chart posted above). But they do have certain tradition.

A luthier is making a guitar by hand, reading and shaping the wood to suit. I can work with cheaper materials if I have to, and get the best sound out of it, and I can use lower grade top and still get a good sound.

The construction and workmanship of an acoustic guitar is what determines its sound/function, and therefore price. You really get what you pay for. But do remember that all factory made guitars are graded on cosmetics. They are more focused on cosmetics than sound. The workers will be building a guitar the factory told them to build, and the QA agent will be rejecting guitars that have cosmetic blemish, not sound blemish.

Play a few of my guitars and tell me what you think.

By the way this applies to some extent to electric guitars too, however the workmanship is going to affect the playability of the guitar more. The sound of an electric guitar is actually 20% pickups and 80% amps it’s played through!

[ponlaihop]

@Taiwan_Luthiers

the neck must be made from scratch, as a 12 string neck is wider, AND since you need 12 tuners, the peghead must have space for that many tuners. You can’t just slap extra strings onto a neck

I suppose it needs to be built stronger too because of the higher string force. And setting up the string action will be more time consuming I guess.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

The neck often needs additional reinforcement, a truss rod isn’t sufficient. The string tension is double. That 12 string guitar I restored had no truss rod, it also had to be tuned much lower than a typical guitar.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Here is the 2023 price list for guitar related work

Price list 2023.docx

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Work done in the last few days…

[cluckin_bell]

What does “full setup” include for an electric?

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Full setup means I make adjustments on your guitar, from neck relief, to nut height and bridge height, as well as a once over to see if there’s any hidden problems, fret issues, fret wear, etc. along with changing the string.

I charge more for electrics because there’s a lot more to adjust compared to acoustic guitars… and in particular on Floyd roses even just a string change takes forever.

It does not include fret level however if the frets are uneven or worn out.

Almost every guitar Mike brought me has worn frets. He plays a lot.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Guitar shell

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Lining

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Mass producing bridges

[Joebie]

You should post pics of the raw material before you make it into the parts you’re showing. And maybe a few pics in between. Very impressive imo.

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

Evertune bridge install

[ponlaihop]

interesting to see the inside construction, what’s the thinking behind non-symmetric bracing of the acoustic top?

[Taiwan_Luthiers]

I’m not sure… it’s just the design that has been used for almost all steel string acoustic guitars. There are other bracing techniques but I haven’t really explored them.

[frank_hnd]

Understanding Acoustic Guitar Bracing Systems - Guitar Space

[Taiwan_Luthiers]