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Only the world's best CNC machines!

#101
My day job is a supply chain quality assurance auditor in the Aerospace industry.

I've been in Aerospace for roughly 25 years and I've circumnavigated the globe a few times.

I can tell all of you that hands down, with the exception of "maybe" the Japanese....the Germans hands down beat the world in engineering and machining capabilities.

I'd buy a German bass in a nanosecond if I ever got the notion or desire.
 
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#105
Neveragain55 said:
My day job is a supply chain quality assurance auditor in the Aerospace industry.

I've been in Aerospace for roughly 25 years and I've circumnavigated the globe a few times.

I can tell all of you that hands down, with the exception of "maybe" the Japanese....the Germans hands down beat the world in engineering and machining capabilities.

I'd buy a German bass in a nanosecond if I ever got the notion or desire.
Click to expand...
Personally I would put the Swedes up there also.
 
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#106
Neveragain55 said:
My day job is a supply chain quality assurance auditor in the Aerospace industry.

I've been in Aerospace for roughly 25 years and I've circumnavigated the globe a few times.

I can tell all of you that hands down, with the exception of "maybe" the Japanese....the Germans hands down beat the world in engineering and machining capabilities.

I'd buy a German bass in a nanosecond if I ever got the notion or desire.
Click to expand...

ill have to agree with this..i attend quite a few of the international trade shows for machining just to keep up with whats cutting edge and the Germans are still quite a bit ahead of the curve.
 
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#107
You need to build one, get out the spokeshave and get to work.

Need to build 10, hire a person or two to help, get out the spokeshave and get to work.

Need to build 100, have someone 3d surface scan your necks, send data to contract mfg and have them shape them.

Need to build 1000, sign a lease on a CNC.

CNC gets you repeatability and volume. A human CAN be just as accurate if you give them infinite time to complete the task. But that makes as little sense as getting a high $$$ employee to spend days writing a program to mill one neck.

The accuracy of CNC is irrelevant at low volume production.
 
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#108
bassbenj said:
Beavers? Nope. Wrong kind of beavers anyway. The absolute best basses are never made on CNC even the highest end N-axis ones. The ONLY basses I"ll ever own are so high end they don't even have a name on the headstock. That is to keep them from becoming widely known by the rabble. They are TOTALLY organic! Swamp Ash, Alder and mahogany bass body blanks are shipped to the far North of Alaska where during the long winter months the women of a secret Inuit village gently chew the blanks into proper bass shapes. Their saliva passively soaks the wood resulting in a tone so unsurpassed that it takes a mortgage on your house to put a down payment on these basses. Even the rock stars that own them won't admit to it for fear of leaking out secrets.

I've said too much about this already!
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Well, if these women ever change their diets then theoretically their saliva will change its chemical makeup thus resulting in tonal differences from the earlier basses they produce.
 
#109
Actually in Commonwealth Bay in the Antarctic (the windiest place on earth) there is a tiny commune of displaced aboriginal, Sahara desert Eskimos who make basses that are shaped exclusively by erosion. I commissioned one and expect delivery in July of 2073. I paid a guy named David Schwab, up front. He even gave me a tracking number!! I can't wait!!

Here's how it looks so far :)
Fossilized_wood_at_Petrified_Forest.jpg
 
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#112
Like it or not, CNC is here to stay for manufacturing.

The more precise the parts, the more consistent the instrument. Even for acoustic guitars!

I've touring the old Guild factory in New Hartford Ct. three times and they make all the guitar components on CNC equipment. There is no way a human can produce that level of accuracy or repeatability!

Check out all the CNC equipment in this video.


 
#114
scourgeofgod said:
I don't think diagonal cuts is what the other 2 axes add per se, simply utilizing the forward/backward+left/right axes simultaneously would provide diagonal cuts, the 2 extra axes allow the cutter to rotate in space, meaning the cutter can rotate side to side and front to back while also moving along the already established axes. It's just more versatility, maybe it shouldn't be an advertising point, but I don't see any reason to make fun of Warwick for mentioning it, just as I don't see any reason to shun instruments that were made on a 3 axis machine. As long as the finished product is well constructed, who cares?
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#116
There is a difference between manually shaping a chair leg with a spokeshave, and using a lathe. I consider one "by hand", the other machine asisst.

All CNC does is automate an existing tool. An automated spokeshave is inaccurate just like a human operated spokeshave. You take say an existing 5 axis mill, add belts and motors and automated control. It was an accurate tool to begin with, now it is automated. Or a lathe, or welder, or whatever.

A trained, skilled machinist can match a CNC machine, IF they are basically using the same underlying 5-axis machine. The human is no match for CNC in the speed dept though. You could get a small mill w/o CNC and do extremely advanced highly accurate shaping, just at low production.

After a while, the tolerances don't matter anymore and you've hit a point of diminishing return.
 
#117
Will playing a bass made on the world's best CNC machine make me sound any better than playing a 50 year old P bass? That's all that matters, really. If you're happy with your equipment it doesn't make any difference if it was crafted on real estate on the other side of the ocean or in your backyard, or by someone who you can speak with in your native tongue as opposed to a "foreigner", or if it was made on a CNC machine by robots. S'long as its a sunburst/rosewood/ tortguard/ P bass with tons of mojo. Or a Ric.
 
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#119
Coolhandjjl said:
I assume it is a German CNC machine. I know lots of people in various aspects of manufacturing, and in general, German production machines seem to be better. (Better may not be defined, but for this replay, take it at face value.)
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The 5-axis routing centre and the CNC copy band saw are the only Italian machines in the production line... The rest is German.
Italian companies have specialized for a while already in 5-axis CNC for carved furniture and chairs.
Obviously I agree with your sentiment towards German engineering, in particular high tech wood working machinery ...
 

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