Who are today’s craftsmen? Are they the people pushing buttons on CNC routers? I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, I know it takes training and skill to properly operate today’s high tech machines, but are they craftsmen? I contend the craftsmen are the folks who design the products as well as the technicians who write the software controlling today’s computerized manufacturing. Unfortunately, their work work goes largely unnoticed by the consumer public.
If you own an electric guitar made in the late fifties or early sixties, take a close look at the quality of craftsmanship. No doubt you’ll see tool marks here and there that illustrate how the instrument was made largely by hand. Aside from the tone these guitars possess, handmade craftsmanship is one of the reasons we cherish instruments from that era so much.
A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at new guitars at a local Guitar Center. What struck me was the number of reliced guitars for sale. These were brand new instruments that had been made to look old. In fact, some of them had tool marks added to make them appear more authentic. The irony was obvious. The manufacturers make a guitar with a CNC router and finish it by faking some of the traits found on old, handmade guitars. How weird is that?
The reason I’m bringing this up is because, like so many other hand builders out there, I struggle to match the precision of robot made guitars. I simply can’t do it. I can carve a nice neck with a spokeshave, but if you analyzed it with laser beams, you’d probably find some inconsistencies. Of course the true test is how it feels in your hands. The problem is, there’s a whole new generation of buyers who expect precision only because it’s possible. Never mind the fact that their brains aren’t sophisticated enough to notice. They just want to know it’s perfect.
Personally, I admire craftsmen who whittle a guitar out of a hunk of wood with basic hand tools. I’d much rather pay for a guitar that took a master luthier six months to build rather than one from a robot that took six hours start to finish. But, that’s just me.
Tags: CNC router, craftsmanship, electric guitar, hand made
#1 by Matt on February 19th, 2010 - 5:09 pm
Very well put, the exact reason I’m now building all of my own guitars.
#2 by paul on February 21st, 2010 - 5:42 am
yeah i agree, it feels like holding something thats ‘just add water’ these days.
by the way im getting that radius right! i hoped to install the fretts today but i ran out of double sided tape to finish the radius.
1 great technique i learned from the other builder who lives here is, draw with white pencil a lot of lines all over the frettboard that way you can see where you are and are sanding.
can you do a video on frett filing? he says i have to buy special files to do it but i am leaving this island soon and cant afford any more files… got any suggestions?
#3 by admin on February 21st, 2010 - 12:44 pm
The only specialized file I can’t live without is a double edge fret file. After crowning the frets, I sand with 400-1,500 grit wet/dry paper and I find it usually dresses the edges automatically.
#4 by paul on February 21st, 2010 - 1:09 pm
and theres no other way around it without buying that tool??
#5 by admin on February 22nd, 2010 - 2:28 pm
Not that I’m aware of. Unless you don’t mind flat-topped frets.