Profit margins?

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mac639
Posts: 208
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:06 pm
Location: Carleton Place, ON
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Profit margins?

Post by mac639 »

I was undecided whether I should ever bring up this subject but.....here goes anyway.
Now we all know that building a pedal steel is a "labour of love" so to speak, but if you don't make just a bit of money in the exercise by selling them why would you do it. I've built a few (18) and the actual out of pocket cost per guitar is minimal to me. I don't know for sure but I figure it takes me over 200 hours to build one with the machinery I've got. If I sell it for let's say $2500.00 that's not much more than minimum wage just for the labour and that's not counting material. And then there's the material. Wood..... there's beautiful maple, cherry, walnut etc. all over the place in Canada. It doesn't take a lot of wood for a cabinet. I don't think I've ever spent more than $20.00 for a board to make a guitar. A lot of my wood comes from old lumber stored by our ancestors in barns etc. Ya' just gotta' keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground. Aluminum......Most of my aluminum is free or nearly so. A friend of mine that has a solar panel framework company recently gave me over 100 feet of various sizes of square tubing, when I saw it up into the pieces I need, there's enough to last me the rest of my life. I also just lately found a place just a few minutes from home that has loads of 6061 aluminum sheet cutoffs etc. I just got a nice piece of 1/4" plate about 9" by 36" for $5.00. That'll make a lot of fingers. Legs..... You'll think I'm "cheap" but the adjustable aluminum legs I now make from car wash brushes work for me.....light, strong, nice clutch assembly, and $8.00 apiece. Most other bits & pieces can be got at Home Depot or Lowes. The great Shot Jackson when asked by a customer where to get some springs for his stop screws, said..."just go buy yourself 10 cheap ball point pens, take out the little springs, throw away the rest, and you've got'em".
When I look at some of these absolutely beautiful creations others have made, I think I could never do this as well....but what the heck, at 77 years old, I have fun doing what I do, play my guitars out on gigs, sell a few, and just keep on doin' it.
So I don't want to start any great arguments etc. on the profitability of building these labour intensive guitars, but any and all comments on this controversial subject would be most interesting for us that continue to work long hours creating these unique instruments.
Thanks,
Mac
woodslanding
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2013 9:49 am

Re: Profit margins?

Post by woodslanding »

What brand of carwash brush do you use?

I haven't started building my steel, but I've built a few keyboards with built-in legs, and I've used walkers for that purpose. Light, and strong. On my latest keyboard, I made them fold out so I don't have to take them on and off.

But I like the carwash brush idea. Are they infinitely adjustable? I guess they also already have the threading where they attach to the brush? I love this kind of repurposing!

Any pics of them in action?

got nothing to say about profit margins. A few people asked me about making them a custom keyboard, and I just said I'd have to get $20k. Hey, it took every spare moment of my life for 13 months!

But mostly, I really don't want to make another one ;)

Here's a pic, even though I know this is not a keyboard-builder's forum.....

cheers,
-eric
RigWithTouchscreenSmall.jpg
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