No Suhrprise to anyone - but here it is!

[Molly]

As the production manager in the PRS video I posted in this thread said: Let machines do what they do well and people do what they do well. I suppose as technology progresses more and more will be passed to the machines (PLEK is a good example of that) but there's still a lot that demands the human touch. I don't think it's a question of either or.

[willow13]

As the production manager in the PRS video I posted in this thread said: Let machines do what they do well and people do what they do well. I suppose as technology progresses more and more will be passed to the machines (PLEK is a good example of that) but there's still a lot that demands the human touch. I don't think it's a question of either or.

as a fan of the terminator movies I can't let that happen

[Molly]

When I introduce the topic 3D Modelling to my Y9 kids we start by watching a luthier working with hand tools to make guitars then progress to watching some CNC guitar production. There's a whole discussion around the question of quality and tangible v intangible etc. The 'romance' of hand-made and traditional ideas of quality compared to the precision of machines. There's so much to talk about but what does come out of it is that technology forces us to challenge entrenched ideas.

I think PRS have the balance right. There's still a lot of hand work in their guitars. Manufacturers with more hand work are more likely to simply be such small scale that tooling-up isn't a cost-effective option.

[willow13]

as someone who builds guitar by hand and power tools.....fuck I wish I had a CNC machine

[robnobcorncob]

Manufacturers with more hand work are more likely to simply be such small scale that tooling-up isn't a cost-effective option.

This is true, HOWEVER The Martin workshop only had a dozen workers around 1910 however by 1926 (with a slightly larger workforce) they were making 2000 guitars a year and 14000 Ukuleles in the days before CNC. Each person in the factory would have been highly skilled and their mass production processes would have been worked out very well so that everything ran like clockwork. The quality of these instruments is at an extremely high level and whilst there was no doubt the odd instrument that didn't sound as good as the others it must be said that MOST of these old instruments are really damn good.

So you can mass-produce without CNC, but unless you are Martin then quality control becomes a big issue once you start putting up big production numbers.

[Molly]

I wonder what the ratio of workers to guitars is today compared to then.

Part of me is disappointed when I see, say, a Taylor manufacturing video and a worker is guiding a cutting tool around a template. I think: 'I could do that' and then it seems less special. Bollocks really.

Anyway, I suppose given all the above there's no reason for a Mexican Strat to be inferior to a US Strat but I suspect the consensus is that they are.

[Polar Bear]

The grade of wood and electronics in particular differ on the standards.

[StratMatt]

I like my Mexi strat quite a bit more than I did my Am Std... apart from the trem. The Mexi really could do with an upgrade imo, very clunky. Easily remedied though.

[xCaptainx]

I'll tell you what, boy. Me and my buddy Bort used to do woodshop at school for about two weeks before we were suspended for hitting the hooch in the bathrooms at recess and we dang near never went n did that damn MANUUEAAL hand wood craft shieeeet. Yous got those fancy merrchines for them wood cutting jobs now!

[handsoffmatt]

perfection doesn't equal mojo

Completely agree. But they are also not mutually exclusive.

[mrmofo]

Another small point on CNC verses Hand Made

Hamer made somewhere around 55000 guitars from 1974 to 2013.
I would love to know how many USA BC Rich or USA Dean guitars were made in the seventies through to the mid eighties.

Gibson make about that many Les Pauls in 6 months using CNC etc.

Fender probably more than Gibson counting all of the builders and factories around the world.

Companies using CNC Machines do so because it is a much faster way to make a profit and stay in business. Almost everything else is marketing and fairy dust.

[Molly]

Companies using CNC Machines is a much quicker way to make a profit and stay in business. Almost everything else is marketing and fairy dust.

If you have the scale and means to set it up, I guess. The first production one off the machine probably costs a couple of million dollars.

[HackSaw]

On CNC, when Twangsnarl made (assembled I guess) my tele, I think CNC may have meant "chisels, nails, and chainsaws"... But damned if I can put that thing down! Though I have to say that I love my SG (CNC'd I assume?), and tele (actually I suppose the MJT body was CNC'd?) equally. Which is all a long way of saying, I don't care how an instrument is made. I care whether it rocks hard while looking badass when I pose in front of the mirror!

(I am aware, in the pose scenario it is the instrument that looks badass, and definitely not I...)

Back on topic, Ed's Suhr looks badass for sure, and I wouldn't say no!

[mrmofo]

Totes, I own a few CNC guitars. maybe two that aren't made that way. I honestly don't care how guitars are made as long as they ring out and sound good. My comment was meant as an attempt to add balance to the topic.

[jeremyb]

CNC is repeatable, consistent, and accurate, I like how Rick Toone blends it tho', cnc'd aluminium neck with the frets machined from the same piece of material, requires zero levelling or setup, attach to a hand shaped piece of wood, nice mixture of natural and high tech!