Hey guys... been a long time since I've been on here, since I don't have an internet connection at my apartment (it's STUPID expensive down here in Savannah!).
So I've been here at Benedetto almost 4 months now... and it's pretty amazing. I am the one man sanding department (except for the guy in finish who does all the wet sanding..). This includes sanding the sides after the top and back are flush routed, so that the binding channels can be cut... then after the binding is in I flush up all the binding (using an air powered orbital!) and sand the whole body to 220. Then the neck gets put on, and it comes back to me.
I am also the one man pickup routing/drilling (volume, tone, switch, output, tailpiece) department. I do all of this when I get the guitar after neck fit. Then when I'm done, I tape off the fingerboard and I final sand every instrument to 320 before it goes to finish. The finish guy looks over each guitar before he starts, but other than that I'm the last guy to see them before finish.
I had a pretty good eye before I worked here... but MAN, doing all of the final sanding for the past 4 months my "eye" for detail has improved an incredible amount. Bob is a very "particular" guy, and so is our finish man. He worked in Gibson's custom shop shooting finish, and he's tough on me. It's good though. He hardly ever brings anything back to me because it's not good enough... that doesn't really happen. I'm to the point now where I see things that he doesn't.
Bob has his own personal workshop where he builds most of the flagship and all of the custom stuff, and he has two guys who work directly under him. But, lately we over in the main shop are getting more and more involved in the high-end process... I'm now in charge of sanding those guitars too. They START at $24,000... and can reach the $40,000 - $50,000 range. That was nerve racking at first... now it's not so bad. I'm just incredibly anal about my work surface being clean if I'm drilling/routing, so I don't put any unnecessary dings/scratches for myself to sand out later. And routing a hole for a pickup in an $18,000 guitar falls under the "nerve racking" category too... I just double... then triple check my measurements.
So overall, it is amazing. Got my first raise at 3 months (a nice one too!), and there's just no substitute for the experience I'm gaining. While I was at Roberto-Venn, I built 4 instruments. That was over a total of 10 months including my 5 months as a workshop assistant.(spent more of my time helping students with theirs). In the past 4 months I have work on approximately 160 instruments. That's just a general number... our goal for production is two guitars a day. And for me, that means two bodies sanded and ready for neck fit AND two guitars routed/drilled, final sanded and sent to finish. That's if everything goes well. Some days it can take you all friggin day to get just one done, some days you can bang out 4... it's just how it goes.
So I just wanted to say hi and let you all know what was up. Not sure how many of you even remember me! Hope you're all doing well... and hopefully me and some of the other guys will get a shop set up at one of our houses down here so I can start working on some of my own stuff again.
Take care,
Ray
So I've been here at Benedetto almost 4 months now... and it's pretty amazing. I am the one man sanding department (except for the guy in finish who does all the wet sanding..). This includes sanding the sides after the top and back are flush routed, so that the binding channels can be cut... then after the binding is in I flush up all the binding (using an air powered orbital!) and sand the whole body to 220. Then the neck gets put on, and it comes back to me.
I am also the one man pickup routing/drilling (volume, tone, switch, output, tailpiece) department. I do all of this when I get the guitar after neck fit. Then when I'm done, I tape off the fingerboard and I final sand every instrument to 320 before it goes to finish. The finish guy looks over each guitar before he starts, but other than that I'm the last guy to see them before finish.
I had a pretty good eye before I worked here... but MAN, doing all of the final sanding for the past 4 months my "eye" for detail has improved an incredible amount. Bob is a very "particular" guy, and so is our finish man. He worked in Gibson's custom shop shooting finish, and he's tough on me. It's good though. He hardly ever brings anything back to me because it's not good enough... that doesn't really happen. I'm to the point now where I see things that he doesn't.
Bob has his own personal workshop where he builds most of the flagship and all of the custom stuff, and he has two guys who work directly under him. But, lately we over in the main shop are getting more and more involved in the high-end process... I'm now in charge of sanding those guitars too. They START at $24,000... and can reach the $40,000 - $50,000 range. That was nerve racking at first... now it's not so bad. I'm just incredibly anal about my work surface being clean if I'm drilling/routing, so I don't put any unnecessary dings/scratches for myself to sand out later. And routing a hole for a pickup in an $18,000 guitar falls under the "nerve racking" category too... I just double... then triple check my measurements.
So overall, it is amazing. Got my first raise at 3 months (a nice one too!), and there's just no substitute for the experience I'm gaining. While I was at Roberto-Venn, I built 4 instruments. That was over a total of 10 months including my 5 months as a workshop assistant.(spent more of my time helping students with theirs). In the past 4 months I have work on approximately 160 instruments. That's just a general number... our goal for production is two guitars a day. And for me, that means two bodies sanded and ready for neck fit AND two guitars routed/drilled, final sanded and sent to finish. That's if everything goes well. Some days it can take you all friggin day to get just one done, some days you can bang out 4... it's just how it goes.
So I just wanted to say hi and let you all know what was up. Not sure how many of you even remember me! Hope you're all doing well... and hopefully me and some of the other guys will get a shop set up at one of our houses down here so I can start working on some of my own stuff again.
Take care,
Ray
