Silent Guitar Scratch build ideas

[Simon Barden]

Hopefully JINHO actually make them and don't just buy them in from China!

[Zandit75]

Looks like they are the real deal. We will see when they arrive.
The seller got back in touch with me, and they have several sets available.
Australian Seller, so I should have them in about a week.

[Simon Barden]

Fingers crossed for you, Zandit.

[Zandit75]

New tuners have arrived, and a new Graph Tech Nut!
As mentioned, these ones are made from Jinho, in South Korea. This company makes Wilkinson products under license.

Just looking at the box, it's easy to see a jump in quality over the eBay specials I bought a while ago, which arrived in a Zip-lock bag!!


Everything is in it's place, and well packaged




Immediately, you can feel the quality difference between the Elcheapo's and these units'
The locking shaft is well lubricated with a dry grease, and they spin up and down quite freely.
The keys are very solid, and while firm to rotate, they do so very smoothly.
Also of note, the string post is very solid feeling, unlike the eBay items which have some side to side slop.


While I bought both of these sets on eBay, there is a world of difference in the quality.
The cheapies cost me $18.00AUD with free freight, and took a month to arrive. The Jinho tuners cost me $54.00AUD also with free shipping, but were from an Australian seller, so took less than a week to arrive.
They may be 3 times the price, but the Jinho locking tuners are more than 3 times the quality of the others.

[Zandit75]

Hmmm.......$320.00 so far!
It starts adding up when you replace some items!

Neck = $85.62
Jinho Tuners = $54.99
Fishman Pickup = $35.99
Cheapo Chinese Tuners = $21.99
GraphTech Nut = $21.50
Total of these items is $220.09

The remaining $100 covers everything else, String thru ferrules, bridge, strap buttons, Titebond Glue, Timber for main body, Veneer, and other miscellaneous items.

[Simon Barden]

Don't forget to add at least one set of strings!

And you can't put a price on the care and effort you've taken in the building.

But you will be getting a unique hand-built instrument at the end of it.

[Zandit75]

Yes, strings. That's my next point of call.
I signed up to a website over a year ago called Guitar Strings for Life. They supply you free guitar strings every month, or you can just order them as needed, you only pay the freight which is $3.98USD for each set.
The rules are, only one set per order, and I think you can only order one set per day. Each time it will cost you $3.98USD.
So it's not really free, nothing ever is I guess, but it would be interesting to see what the quality is like.
The brand they "give away" is called Vincent.
I'm thinking for this build that I'll get a set of ultra lights and standard lights to see which is better for this guitar.
Because I'm using an electric guitar neck, I'm not sure if I'll run into any issues using acoustic strings versus electric strings.

EDIT: I had to change the price. It was $2.98 if you live in the US.

[Simon Barden]

I don't think so. Being of a generally heavier gauge than you'd use on an electric, they may wear the frets a bit faster; but then again, the bronze/phosphor bronze wound strings should be softer than the wound steel strings of an electric set.

[stan]

You should have no issues with acoustic over electric strings.
I get strings from the USA from a site called Strings and beyond. They are more than the Vincent ones, but you can choose name brand strings at a much more discounted price than what you get them for here - and if you wait for a special they occasionally offer free international shipping. I bought 10 sets of D'addario phosphor bronze strings for around $50 shipped and they take about a week.
They also sell picks and other bits and stuff.

[Zandit75]

You should have no issues with acoustic over electric strings.
I get strings from the USA from a site called Strings and beyond. They are more than the Vincent ones, but you can choose name brand strings at a much more discounted price than what you get them for here - and if you wait for a special they occasionally offer free international shipping. I bought 10 sets of D'addario phosphor bronze strings for around $50 shipped and they take about a week.
They also sell picks and other bits and stuff.

Yep, I'm a subscriber to that site also. They have a special on strings at the moment. Buy 3 for the price of 2 on coated PB D'Addario's.
Not badly priced.

I have looked recently to see what the consensus is on the Vincent strings, last year they were an unknown.
I'll do some more research.