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Hi Darren,

I would say closer to 200 hours than 300 hours. I've made about 20 of them, but I've never logged all my time in detail.

Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

At hour 278 he started stringing it up. So apparently it took 11 hours to string up. At that rate, I can easily see a build taking 300 or more hours.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Have built several.I haven/t timed it , the video is vy well presented.It would take me at least 120hrs, but we like to use a lot of power tools, jigs clamps , hand tools , etc.Am not a proponent of finding longwinded methods of work.Life is too short.

Takes me somewhere between 120 and 140 hours to build a Classical. A Flamenco is no more work. I'm all hand tools and I'm certainly not quick. There are guys who could build one in less than 80 hours using hand tools only. 300 hours is a gross exaggeration - near on 2 months per Guitar!

I just watched the video again. It also took him 1 hour to pick up the piece of wood and walk across the shop. He was walking in slow motion, so that explains it a little.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Yes, 300 hours seems like a lot. Glad you guys can do it in half the time. Beautiful video, though!

on another forum (these viral ages...) someone suggested they counted the hours one waits for the glue to dry. i suppose they did.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

That video was very well done and a joy to watch, thanks.

I've only built one Flamenco but have built about 30 Spanish/Classical guitars and I don't really see a difference in time. In fact if anything a flamenco has 2 less top braces and pegs instead of slotted head so it should even be a bit faster I have only once ever timed a build and it was steel string that I had completed in 90 hours and that was before I had a drum sander.

BTW they said lacquer but it looked like shellac to me.

......No where near 300 for me (probably more like 100 though I've never had the courage to actually log it).

I think this is the kind of promotional hyperbole that Martin used when they described "thousands" of pieces of pearl hand inlaid into their D-45s.
Actually it was between 200-300 but once the ladies put the old style solid abalone strips in, and snapped them as they went, it probably did become thousands.
Just makes it sound like the customer is really getting their money's worth.

Another good excuse to get the price up!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

It also takes longer when you have to add a whole lot of saw dust to each piece so you can blow it off in slow motion for the film maker for an artful affect.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Can you smell the coffee and cigarettes? I could.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I actually wrote my time down for the lastest "Flammer"
65 hours 22 minutes.
That included the F.Polish.
I used "Pegheds"
I only use a jig for cutting the fret slots.
Router for the bindings.
Fish glue & Elmers Carpenters glue.

Mike

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Mike Collins

By "pegheads" do you mean wooden tapered friction tuners?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I do believe I am the slowest builder west of the Rockies. Maybe even from coast to coast. But 300 hours? That is painfully slow even under my standards.

Nice video, nice music

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

www.pegheds.com
planetary geared tuners that look like ebony.
They thread into the headstock.

Mc

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Mike Collins

That is a cool video. Thanks for the link.

On average I crank out about one guitar a year, so 300 hours seems downright speedy to me.

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George :-)

You have to take the video (and the info in it) for what it is: a commercial, with all the twisted truth commercials carry. Customers paying 5000$ to 10000$ guitars like to think there is a lot of hours put in their precious instrument. That may motivate the the maker to exagerate a little regarding that aspect...

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)