Well, not ENTIRELY accurate.
(Heya EP!)
We use the CNC to rough cut the bodies on most of our basses (shape, control cavity, neck pocket, pickup routs), and it does the (VERY) rough 3D carve on the LG 3005 now. The SKB is still not being cut on the CNC at all, but we use a pin router, which is a just a CNC machine with a human running it instead of a computer - not a huge difference in our application, except that the computer frees up the guy with the skills to take the rough cut and shaped piece and make it the final product to DO that.
Eventually, we will be CNC cutting quite a bit of what we do, bodies and necks. They won't be fully finished product of course, but just a very rough hewn beginning of the final product. The FINAL work will always be hand's on by someone that "gets" what it's supposed to look and feel like. That person is also in charge of running the CNC, watching what it is doing as it cuts things, and has the authority to shut the machine down if he's not happy with it. He's also involved in all stages of setting up to use the CNC.
For you gearhead/machinist types out there, we have a real dinosaur, it's a 1982 Campbell, which we retro'd digital controls on (when I got here we still had the ANALOG controller on it!). We are considering adding a Fadal....
Frankly, my take on this whole "argument" is that it's silly.
No one is talking parts off of a CNC router and putting them in a robotic sprayer, then a robotic buffer and putting it together.
No. One.
Seriously, do you actually think that this:
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Became this:
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Without a lot of HUMAN interaction?
There is still some measure of work that is done by a human, to make certain it is correct and will do what it is intended to do.
Further the whole "hand-made" argument is sillier. Hand-made? Really??? What, did you chew through the trunk of the tree, gouge the wood out with your fingernails, then rub it smooth with the ridges on your skin, and then finally finish it by rubbing that smoothly skinned surface with a combination of your sweat, skin oil, and tears?????
No, you used TOOLS. A CNC machine is a TOOL. That is all. It is one step removed from a pin router, which is one step removed from a simple router table, which is one step removed from a hand router, which is....
...TOOLS.
When you walk through our shop, in addition to the hulking behemoth of a dinosaur in the corner (the CNC router), there are two pin routers, a 36" bandsaw, a 16" horizontal resaw (heaven forbid - IT'S DIGITALLY CONTROLLED!
), a small detail bandsaw, a jointer, a planer, a time saver sander, a copy carver (which does the rough 3D carve on all the bodies except the LG 3005!), a gang saw for slotting, buffing wheels, a router table with a hand router mounted under it, several drill presses, various wood clamps, air-driven grinders and orbital sanders, belt sander, spindle sander, radius sander, arbor press, spoke shaves, rasps, sanding blocks, straight edges (you would be APPALLED at the cost of a good, accurate straight edge!
), spray guns, sandpaper of various grits, and on, and on...
TOOLS.
Anyone that sells you a "hand-made" bass is using that phrase for marketing, not accuracy. Well, unless you're Steve Wishnevsky.
(...actually, he uses tools too, just not as many as most builders...)
As for pricing, you're paying for the quality of the finished product. End of story. Not for the "hand-made-ness" or "incredible accuracy", but the PLAYABILITY, TONE, AND APPEARANCE of the instrument. How it arrives to having the value is of little or no consequence.
Is a Fodera worth what it sells for? That's up to YOU to determine. Is a Roscoe? Same answer. Is one "better" than the other? Hell no, they're DIFFERENT, that's all. I have nothing but respect for what they do, and how they do it, they are fellow craftsmen that do something similar to what we do. But they don't do what we do, they do what THEY do.
Now, stop worrying so much about our jobs (us folks that build them) and start worrying more about YOURS: play the damn things!
