Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all,

When do you consider your guitars to be born (i.e. when does it get an assigned serial number)?

For instance, if you are building 3 at the same time, which one gets the lower serial number?

Is it:
- When you pick out the wood for back/sides?
- When you start removing any wood?
- When you close the box?
- When she's strung up?

Curious to hear your thoughts...

Mark

I put the sn on when the box is closed, but she isn't born until she cries! (stringup)

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Brad Tucker

That struck me as pretty funny today.

Three at once? I don't know if I could handle raising triplets. Just getting the first one done with the right number of appendages in the right places was tough enough. I gave it its born-on date when I closed the box up, but after only one guitar, it's hardly a standard operating procedure.

Darrin

When i close the box.But she's still in the womb at that time.She's born when she cries.

Ok, I think I'm starting to understand the birds & the bees of guitar building:

1) Hey honey, want to have kids? (wood chosen)
2) What night this week? (rims bent, brace her up)
3) Conception, pregnancy, kid named. (Box closed)
4) Birth (String her up)

So far, the gestation time for my instruments seems to be longer than 9 months though!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I usually wait until it's been strung up, settled in, and I'm absolutely sure it's ready to face the cold hard world.
Then I give it a number and stick in the label. I write the number of the build along with any other info on the sound hole cutout to keep track before that.
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Just wait until they're teenagers - unruly and smart aleck, aggressive and pushy. But once they reach adulthood and mellow out, they'll appreciate you much more!

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

And once they get out into the real world, if they end up drinking too much (humidity), they'll more than likely end up doing crack too. Then you have to put them through special treatment for rehabilitation.

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

The label goes on my guitars just before the back goes on but its the date the label went on...the date the guitar gets finished could be up to two years from the date I stick the label on. Anyway its probablly the least important part of a guitar so I dont fret about it too much.

Frank Ford did a tour of C. Fox Guitars one day. At the end of the tour he shows Charles playing a brand new Fox Guitar and called it "spanking the baby." I've always liked that. Doctor Charles has welcomed many a newcomer into this old world. No one does it better.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com