How is this done

spantini

spantini

COO of me, inc.
As far as Fender USA guitars go, are these body reliefs done by eye and feel so each instrument is basically a one-off, or are specific tools used to get the same angles and curves with each instrument, making them all the same? A combination, maybe?

Like, is there an angled table saw or mitre saw they use to slice a portion off then smooth by hand?

both.jpg
 
At some point early on, all or most of the process must have involved mostly handmade bodies and necks. I was just wondering how much, if any, of this is still involved. Looks like automation rules. I found this little bit of reading on the Custom Shop processes. I guess the only hands-on parts of the process is in the assembly, except maybe for when Masterbuilders get involved.

Fender Custom Shop Electric Guitars, Huge Inventory of Fender Guitars | Wildwood Guitars

View the expansive selection of Fender Custom Shop electric guitars currently available online at Wildwood Guitars. Artist Series, Stratocaster, & more
wildwoodguitars.com wildwoodguitars.com

Not clear to me is when this info mentions "If you pick out any one Custom Shop employee from the sawdust maelstrom and watch them for even just a couple of minutes, you begin to notice a certain ease in their motions that suggests total mastery of the task at hand. You come to the realization that you are surrounded by highly-skilled craftspeople for whom excellence is a habit rather than a goal to be striven for."

If everything is automated, what's the employee's "total mastery of the task at hand". If the machine is doing most or all the work, what mastery of what task?

I know I'm nitpicking, just trying to get a clear picture, this is probably all PR stuff to bolster the image and reputation - ya think?
 
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CNC produces identical woodwork or metal work - but even when the spraying is done pre-programmed, the buffing and polishing is manual, the soldering is manual and things like fretwork takes skill to level and flatten properly. Stringing is still manual, and so it the twanging them at the end. It takes a good eye to polish - too little is visible, too much shows too. Directions and reflections are important. I suspect that some spraying is also manual - sunbursts and blending change depending on the porousity of the wood. Manual tasks that are repetitive always flow and look so easy.
 
Yeah. That nailed it. Thanks, @markmann. My original question is answered at the 25:50 mark. The bodies are rough-shaped by the CNC then all the edges are hand worked. At the macro level these are pretty much identically produced, but at the micro level, with all the hands-on sanding and shaping, each one is a one-off to some extent. Then each one's painted color is applied by hand (robots doing under and overcoats). Also, each pickup's winding is a one-of-a-kind at the micro level - only the slightest differences from winding to winding.

I'm left with only one burning question. . .

Who the hell is buying all those guitars? I mean, it appears as if one in every ten people is buying one of these. That's wild. I could walk out my door right now and interview 100 people at random and I bet none would have recently purchased or be in the process of buying a new Fender. So where are these players?

Dude's playing my Daphne Blue Strat at the end there.
 
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spantini said:
I'm left with only one burning question. . .

Who the hell is buying all those guitars? I mean, it appears as if one in every ten people is buying one of these. That's wild. I could walk out my door right now and interview 100 people at random and I bet none would have recently purchased or be in the process of buying a new Fender. So where are these players?
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Yeah I thought the same thing when I watched the video and Gibson is the same. There are a ton of guitars going out somewhere and when you think of all of the manufacturers mass producing guitars it's mind boggling. I was also surprised at how much hand work still goes into each build.
 
spantini said:
I'm left with only one burning question. . .

Who the hell is buying all those guitars? I mean, it appears as if one in every ten people is buying one of these. That's wild. I could walk out my door right now and interview 100 people at random and I bet none would have recently purchased or be in the process of buying a new Fender. So where are these players?
Click to expand...
Are we playin those 'mind games' together..
 
spantini said:
At some point early on, all or most of the process must have involved mostly handmade bodies and necks. I was just wondering how much, if any, of this is still involved. Looks like automation rules. I found this little bit of reading on the Custom Shop processes. I guess the only hands-on parts of the process is in the assembly, except maybe for when Masterbuilders get involved.

Fender Custom Shop Electric Guitars, Huge Inventory of Fender Guitars | Wildwood Guitars

View the expansive selection of Fender Custom Shop electric guitars currently available online at Wildwood Guitars. Artist Series, Stratocaster, & more
wildwoodguitars.com wildwoodguitars.com

Not clear to me is when this info mentions "If you pick out any one Custom Shop employee from the sawdust maelstrom and watch them for even just a couple of minutes, you begin to notice a certain ease in their motions that suggests total mastery of the task at hand. You come to the realization that you are surrounded by highly-skilled craftspeople for whom excellence is a habit rather than a goal to be striven for."

If everything is automated, what's the employee's "total mastery of the task at hand". If the machine is doing most or all the work, what mastery of what task?

I know I'm nitpicking, just trying to get a clear picture, this is probably all PR stuff to bolster the image and reputation - ya think?
Click to expand...
Back before automation they were all sanded to a specification - and yes everyone could be a tiny minuscule different - then automation started and they bang
them out all the same.
 
Papanate said:
Back before automation they were all sanded to a specification - and yes everyone could be a tiny minuscule different - then automation started and they bang
them out all the same.
Click to expand...
Yeah. . I noticed in this last video they had mass quantities of templates which they used to get near perfect curves. Like custom router blades for crownwork. Template - sanding - Micrometer - sanding - Micrometer - sanding - etc.
 
spantini said:
Yeah. . I noticed in this last video they had mass quantities of templates which they used to get near perfect curves. Like custom router blades for crownwork. Template - sanding - Micrometer - sanding - Micrometer - sanding - etc.
Click to expand...
That's right - ultimately kind of boring to me.
 
spantini said:
As far as Fender USA guitars go, are these body reliefs done by eye and feel so each instrument is basically a one-off, or are specific tools used to get the same angles and curves with each instrument, making them all the same? A combination, maybe?

Like, is there an angled table saw or mitre saw they use to slice a portion off then smooth by hand?

View attachment 127893
Click to expand...
A properly programmed and set up CNC mill could knock them out in less than an hour. It's wood, it cuts fast. There would be some secondary sanding but it would come off pretty nice looking.
 
Back in the 19th century we had "copy lathes" These could shape a gunstock or a boot last or almost anything else that would fit in the 'Master Pattern' holder. CNC does the same except the "pattern" is in RAM!

Dave.
 
Templates and "go, no go" , calipers, etc. Reproducing shapes is old science. The final finishing, which does vary and was usually done by a craftsman, is often skipped or approximated and automated now.
 
dogooder said:
A properly programmed and set up CNC mill could knock them out in less than an hour.
Click to expand...

ecc83 said:
Back in the 19th century we had "copy lathes" These could shape a gunstock or a boot last or almost anything else that would fit in the 'Master Pattern' holder. CNC does the same except the "pattern" is in RAM!

Dave.
Click to expand...
I was a Class A machinist and CNC programmer for over thirty years and a machinist for over fifty. The "RAM" is only as good as the programmer.
 
dogooder said:
I was a Class A machinist and CNC programmer for over thirty years and a machinist for over fifty. The "RAM" is only as good as the programmer.
Click to expand...
Well of course! The 19th C copy gunstock was only as good as the master!

Dave.
 
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