Who could build me a reasonably-priced fano-style body?

hessodreamy

I wanted a fano rb6 thinline style body. I found saylor guitars (alpine-oregon) in the US who does a rivolta combinata, which is close, and says he’ll do it as a thinline for £140, which I’m down with, but with shipping and duties it’s another £100. 

I’d rather not pay that much or, if I did, have it go into the build itself and not logistics. 

I checked the builders list here but they seemed out of my price range. Any more budget-focussed builders who might be able to help?

Danielsguitars

Custom builds and cheap do not go together, have you thought of doing something yourself, that's what I do if I can't afford something

hessodreamy

Danielsguitars said:

Custom builds and cheap do not go together, have you thought of doing something yourself, that's what I do if I can't afford something

I had thought about doing it myself. I’d like to. Maybe I will one day when I have more time. I’d also have to tool up, which would start costing. Then factor in how many blanks I’d waste doing a poor job!

Danielsguitars

hessodreamy said:

Danielsguitars said:

Custom builds and cheap do not go together, have you thought of doing something yourself, that's what I do if I can't afford something

I had thought about doing it myself. I’d like to. Maybe I will one day when I have more time. I’d also have to tool up, which would start costing. Then factor in how many blanks I’d waste doing a poor job!

A wood blank on it's own is anywhere between £40 and £100 plus depending on what you want

WezV

The price is too cheap for a custom thinline body. Its two sets of custom templates someone else would need to design and make, and 2 or 3 times as many hours to build as a solid body

hessodreamy

WezV said:

The price is too cheap for a custom thinline body. Its two sets of custom templates someone else would need to design and make, and 2 or 3 times as many hours to build as a solid body

I figure he’s just using the rivolta template he already uses and...I don’t know how you’d get from there to a thinline, but seems like a legit guy. Lots of eBay feedback. 

WezV

Yes, but you will be hard pressed to find someone else who already has the templates... It's not a common request.  Someone who might normally be a cheap UK option will need to charge you for making two sets of custom templates 

johnl

Honestly £240 shipped sounds like a steal - I'm semi interested too. Have you got a link to his eBay please? 

GoldenEraGuitars

Tbf to Saylor Guitars, this is the text from one of his listings...

“ This unfinished guitar blank is right off my cnc machine.  I've done very little finish sanding. This is how I can sell all American made unfinished bodies for less than most manufacturers. You save money by shaping the contour edges and finish sanding.”

Soooo.... if you want to save money you’ll have to roll your sleeves up and hope you don’t cock up the sanding. 

hessodreamy

@GoldenEraGuitars yes, the bodies are unsanded. Figured it’s something I could learn to do myself. Though it’s very possible I haven’t thought this through properly and it’s more work than I anticipated!

johnl

hessodreamy said:

@GoldenEraGuitars yes, the bodies are unsanded. Figured it’s something I could learn to do myself. Though it’s very possible I haven’t thought this through properly and it’s more work than I anticipated!

In terms of sanding there'll definitely be a lot of work but nothing difficult - I certainly wouldn't let that put you off. Take it slow and I bet the results will be great. The bodies look pretty decent too:

GoldenEraGuitars

hessodreamy said:

@GoldenEraGuitars yes, the bodies are unsanded. Figured it’s something I could learn to do myself. Though it’s very possible I haven’t thought this through properly and it’s more work than I anticipated!

If and when you start into the sanding part, take a note of the time you started. Then, take a note of the time you finished. 

After you applied the finish to the body, look at all the bits you missed or didn’t refine as much as the others. 

I’m not trying to be a smart ass, if you pay a UK builder to make the body you will pay more... but you’ll end up with a quality product. 

GSPBASSES

I used to make those, haven't made any for years, not sure if I've got the jigs anymore.  Before you buy the body find out what scale length the body needs. The originals are Gibson scale, 24.75”, If that's what that body requires you will have trouble buying an off the shelf neck that will fit. Looking at the photo above that looks like it would take a Jazzmaster neck, I think that particular model is their version of a Jazzmaster.

johnl

GoldenEraGuitars said:

hessodreamy said:

@GoldenEraGuitars yes, the bodies are unsanded. Figured it’s something I could learn to do myself. Though it’s very possible I haven’t thought this through properly and it’s more work than I anticipated!

If and when you start into the sanding part, take a note of the time you started. Then, take a note of the time you finished. 

After you applied the finish to the body, look at all the bits you missed or didn’t refine as much as the others. 

I’m not trying to be a smart ass, if you pay a UK builder to make the body you will pay more... but you’ll end up with a quality product. 

Right but it depends if his goal is just "have a Fano but without spending a lot" or "have fun putting together a fano-style guitar". I guarantee that every single one of my partscasters is worse built and worse finished than if they'd been built "professionally" but that wasn't the point - the point was the enjoyment I got from doing the work myself and I learned a huge amount on each of them. 

GoldenEraGuitars

@johnl while I agree that there are two sides to this coin the opening post was heavily oriented around the price and whether it could be done, in the UK, for less than £240. 

Based on that I’m going to opt for the former of your suggestions. As someone who spends 10-12 hours a day finishing bodies (a lot of which I’m told are “ready to spray” - no, they’re chuffing not!) I’d be hesitant to recommend buying one of these bodies unless he is willing to spend a lot of time sanding. Of course, it also depends on the finish being applied as well. Because if he opts for the “easy” option of staining and or oiling the sanding will have to be rather good. 

I think it’s only fair to present the pitfalls of such a purchase given that it’s going to cost £250 to get it to the UK. 

Jez6345789

I do agree that getting even well-finished bodies takes time, but as I don't do it for a living it's one of the parts I really find therapeutic and happy to spend the hours especially if I can sit in the sun outside. 

The other one to look at is Rosser-Guitar who does the Rickenbacker/Fano RB style. These days he just tends to do lots of bodies in basic pine and stuff cheap 80 dollar range. I asked him a few years ago if he would do me a mahogany RB as a junior style. 

Again as said, nobody over here is set up to produce RB and getting set up to do a Thinline would take twice the time to make templates program stuff or whatever. 

I also think it would be fair to say that price/value perception has become very distorted over recent years with generic Strat and Tele bodies on eBay for budget builder prices and whole guitar kits for sub 100. 

So again as said rip his arm off for £240 :-)

GSPBASSES

No, I do not have the jigs anymore, I did find the PDF of the plans on my hard drive, and printed them out.

Jez6345789

@GSPBASSES ;
You are the guitar builder for all season LOL
I love you can pull that one off the hard drive just like that 

Nice

Do you know what the shelf radius was?

GSPBASSES

Jez6345789 said:

@GSPBASSES ;;;
You are the guitar builder for all season LOL
I love you can pull that one off the hard drive just like that 

Nice

Do you know what the shelf radius was?

The plan dose not actually show what the radius is, I used an Ogee Twist router bit to do it. The plan only shows outlines there are no measurements on it whatsoever, but it is to scale so you can take the measurements directly off the plan, not that you need  any.

GSPBASSES

@hessodreamy what version of the guitar are you looking to buy? As I might be interested in taking the job on, I could certainly make it for less then £240 (body only) particularly if it’s the solid flattop version. If it’s a thin line version with the sculpted top then it would be £240, this is presuming you’re not looking for mahogany with a flame maple cap. There is also the question of the neck if you already have it then I would need a few measurements or the actual neck to make sure the neck pocket fitted and the bridge was in the right place. 

I might make the jigs anyway, and then make one as I need a break from Fender type guitars and before I get stuck into these Gibsons type builds. 

Teyeplayer

GSPBASSES said:

@hessodreamy what version of the guitar are you looking to buy? As I might be interested in taking the job on, I could certainly make it for less then £240 (body only) particularly if it’s the solid flattop version. If it’s a thin line version with the sculpted top then it would be £240, this is presuming you’re not looking for mahogany with a flame maple cap. There is also the question of the neck if you already have it then I would need a few measurements or the actual neck to make sure the neck pocket fitted and the bridge was in the right place. 

I might make the jigs anyway, and then make one as I need a break from Fender type guitars and before I get stuck into these Gibsons type builds. 

These would be very cool; I don’t need another guitar, let alone a build but the mention of these peaks my interest too.