Official Luthiers Forum!

yeah I see you can get it for like .30 cents an inch. never knew about that place, but they seem to have quite a selection. www.mopsupplies.com

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Remind me what are the average upcharges for a d45 style inlay?

A top inlay?

What are the various profit margins and time expended on each method?

Who cares, the upcharges are enough to justify any material you like.... just work with what you prefer from a materials POV.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I charge $2.75 for a full D45 inlay. Maybe I should raise my prices....

Gosh I'm a smarta#@!#

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Maybe you should raise your prices to $30/hour....

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

That would be tripling what I paid myself (well what it worked out to after all was said and done) when I was building my guitars full time (I'm not really joking)

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Unfortunately I know what you mean.....

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Well as I said I pay $.70 for select grade paua and red heart and Andy provides a better quality of shell than I found any where else so I don't feel bad about it. If you get it cheaper good for you.

Funny thing is I meant this post to be about how to figure out the economic advantage or disadvantage of a new improved or time saving product. The discussion became a defense of ablam vs natural shell. I know that was the product I used for the example but I explained that it was not my intent to buck a product but rather show a comparison that gave a formula to determine if the extra cost of a time saving product added to or reduced cost via the time savings. We talked basically only about if natural shell was better than Ablam.

I am sorry that my point seemed to lead this in the wrong direction.

as with a lot of things Michael, it boils down to whether or not you feel you can do something at a reasonable rate, or in a reasonable time .... to some folks, the differnece between doig something in an hour vs 4 hours is immaterial .. they are only doing it once or twice per year. If you are not charging a higher rate per hour for some things vs others (ie do you ask more per hour for a custom inlay vs what you pay yourself or charge for making a basic guitar per hour ???)

I personally dont care much for abalam, unless I need a big palette to cut from, or some type of shell that I only can find in lam, like korean awabi .. I prefer real shell, I can match it up however I like (I showed a couple students recently how by selecting shell, I made one back strip look green, the other blue .. all from the same bag of shell strips.

I can see how this stuff will make a 41 42 or 45 style trim easier and less time consuming - but it will cost you. As for a rosette, maybe .. I can do one pretty quick with real shell.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Tony,
How much /inch at 500+ inches? What source? Feel free to PM me... Thanks

go to www.mopsupplies.com Terry . Its all there. No discounts on that type of volume that I see, but its just much less to begin with.

As I mentioned, I have tried a few places, and this is just as good a quality as anywhere.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Ditto on the MOP supplies. Yes, there's a bit more waste, but it means I can be all picky about which pieces I use and which I don't. I don't like working with or the looks (particularly) of Abalam, so I'll stick to solid shell, and a thin purfling on the top is already verging on 'too much bling', so full D-45 is out of the question, but I don't think Peter's comparison of Brazilian vs. Indian rosewood is valid; the products are different, one is 'better' because it's easier to install, but there's nothing wrong with the look of solid MOP.

Dinosaur that I am, I find a kind of pleasure in doing purfling with solid shell. I also have found that I can spot ablam and it has come to look cheap to my eye.

I do realize that this OT to the original point.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard,
maybe its time you give ZipFlex a try then.....

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

I read all the info you made available, but I don't see how my objections to ablam will not apply equally to Zipflex. Those objections are personal and not intended to fault the product.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard, I hear you..... but you know, sometimes its worth giving a new thing a try or even a second look at. Kevin selects the best stuff and the Abalam he uses is the best available.

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Also, what about the greater widths mentioned in the PDF? .047" of abalone is quite narrow.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

For the group buy to keep things easier Kevin decided to go with .047" but he will be offering the other widths soon. Also, if you look at the photos of the completed guitars on Kevin's site or in my examples the shell is about .047"
It may sound narrow but it works out quite well.

thanks,

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com