I'm sure there will be a range of answers, but i was curious how long it takes for other builders from start to finish. I have a day job and build in what little spare time i have. No matter how much time it takes, i feel like i'm inconveniencing the customer. I put a lot of time and effort and usually take nothing away from it, other than the satisfaction of creating an instrument (that i hate giving up).

it all depends on how prepared you are (jigs, etc), what your design is, and what kind of finish you are going to apply.

If you have all of your supplies and materials (wood, pickups, bridge, tuners, nut, truss rod, etc.) and you plan to use a wax finish, then you could conceivably be done in under a week.

You could do a fretless neck in a day if you hustled... you could make a plain 1-piece or 2 piece body with no laminations in half a day if you have all of your templates prepped, and install your electronics in the same day. Heck, you could *probably* do most of it in a day, if did a bolt-on neck, used a polyurethane glue like Gorilla Glue for the fingerboard, and while the fingerboard was gluing, you made the body.

I think anyone ordering a custom bass should be prepared for a minimum of 12 weeks wait. Many shops quote 6-months to a year. And some people wait a year or more. (What was that one thread from someone that waited 10 years or something?) I'm not a fast worker, but I can keep it to about 12-14 weeks for a typical bass (meaning Alex's bass is taking a little longer) :)

True, I wouldn't realistically do a build like that for a customer. My normal lead time is 12 - 15 months, depending on options (custom ordered pickups, etc.).

I don't even want to talk about this ...my lead time just keeps getting longer and longer :( ...wish OTHER things behaved like that and maybe my wife would be happier about the time I DON'T spend with her to build basses.

I usually quote 6 to 9 months as I also have "daily obligations" and the bass building is a part-time thing. Customers usually know and expect a bass not be ready before a good 12-24 weeks anyway. The stuff I build is usually the multi laminate kind, so that does take a lot longer than a standard Jazz bass would. I'd probably bring that number down to 3 to 4 months for a simple build like a Jazz. At this point, I don't carry extra hardware so I do lose a good 3-4 weeks waiting for all the parts to come from the US.

I assume I'd be able to pump out one bass within 2 weeks (not including lacquer drying time as I let it dry 2 weeks before buffing) if I only worked on that one at a time and did this full time. However, I doubt I'll be doing this as a full time job before a very long time, if at all.

And yes, I also have a nagging wife asking for more attention which cuts down on the bass building time. :D

Building is a 2 to 3 month process for me. I do quite a bit else in between too so it's not that many hours. I too have a day job that feeds my family and there are all those other life obligations you know. Man can not live by luthier work alone.

BTW That does not include all the hours leading up to the build trying to define what it is.

Greg N

8-12 weeks, I only use 2 jigs, one for neck pockets and one for neck taper. I'm working on building several new jigs to help make that wait shorter.

Ok, I'm feeling better now. After Shawn's first comment I felt like a real slacker ;)

so the guilty "i didn't get your bass finished in 3 weeks" feeling is normal? And how about this rash? Is this normal too?

Ok, I'm feeling better now. After Shawn's first comment I felt like a real slacker ;)

I misread the OP thinking it was a question of what *could* be done... in theory, I *could* build a basic fretless Fender-esque bass with a wax finish in a couple of days... Would that ever actually happen? Absolutely not. I don't have a complete day *anywhere* in *my* calendar that I can dedicate to bass building... I'm already working 4 - 5 days a week (12 hours days) at my day job, and I'm *trying* to remodel my house, too...

so the guilty "i didn't get your bass finished in 3 weeks" feeling is normal? And how about this rash? Is this normal too?

The guilty feeling is permanent with me. I can't help you about the rash though, you might want to talk to whoever you had sex with last. :D

I have been telling people 2 months from the time I have the deposit and all materials but now because i am working on so many I have upped it to 3 months. good thread......t

so the guilty "i didn't get your bass finished in 3 weeks" feeling is normal? And how about this rash? Is this normal too?

I know what you mean about the guilt, its a humble feeling to have. You will feel less guilty if you convince yourself that your work is worth the wait. As far as that rash is concerned its probably not nothing that you can't fix with a little acetone!:D

So, here's a side question. What would you tell a customer if he wanted to pay extra for a faster turn time?

What if a friend of you or well known musician want special treatment?

I'm sure there will be a range of answers, but i was curious how long it takes for other builders from start to finish. I have a day job and build in what little spare time i have. No matter how much time it takes, i feel like i'm inconveniencing the customer. I put a lot of time and effort and usually take nothing away from it, other than the satisfaction of creating an instrument (that i hate giving up).

If you're well prepped? it shouldn't take you a week,(allowing for drying times,paint/stain/glue) It's not like you're building a boat. I break it down to systems:neck,body,electronics, hardware. Finishing is it's own category. Depending on what you'll be doing. Paint or stain taking longer than oil. Clock yourself in and out to establish a work time and charge accordingly. I suspended building for the reason you gave, I hate letting them go!

So, here's a side question. What would you tell a customer if he wanted to pay extra for a faster turn time?

I don't know that I would take payment to bump somebody ahead of an already queued build. That's just not kosher. Money is nice, but a good business rep really can't be bought, so I'd probably just refer them to someone else, if they weren't willing to get in line. I don't make enough money at this to play games like that.

What if a friend of you or well known musician want special treatment?

If a truly famous person (whose endorsement could increase my business exponentially) contacted me about a build, and wanted it expedited, I would be *tempted* to contact anybody on my current build list and ask them if they were willing to be pushed back a few weeks, etc. But would I actually do that? Probably not.

Now, if it was repair work, that often takes preference over new builds... and if someone contacted me about a build in a hurry, I might direct them to stock I already have on hand, thereby avoiding most of the wait time.

So, here's a side question. What would you tell a customer if he wanted to pay extra for a faster turn time?

I don't build basses for anyone else (yet), but my ethics would say no to that, assuming it's going to impact any other customers, or in any way reduce the quality of my work.

If the extra money is sufficient that you want to blow off some plans of your own which won't affect anyone else, I don't see anything wrong with that, but I doubt that's frequently the case.

I'd just explain that you've got other customers already waiting for their basses, and that you're going to get to their bass as quickly as you can anyways, so the extra money isn't necessary.

I used to have this happen to me a lot back in the days when I was working in a computer store. Occasionally if someone was in a pinch and offered me an extra $50 to stay an hour late and finish up their work before I went home for the weekend, I'd go for it. It's not hurting anyone else. But when I was backlogged and someone wanted to jump the line with some extra cash, the answer was always no. If it was some kind of emergency, and they couldn't wait in line, I'd refer them to a friend who worked part time doing house calls and such. I knew the guy well enough that I knew he wouldn't try and steal my customers, so really It's win-win. He makes a few bucks, gets the panic'd customer out of a jam, and it's not unfair to the other customers.

-Nick